Tea-Bagging inspires more cheekiness, snark

In between the allusions and encouragements to pop right on to the Interwebs to check out Urbandictionary.com if you somehow have not by now learned the slang definition of "teabagging", I think a few interesting points are raised.

The first is, however the "tea party" movement began (although it looks like Dick Armey and Freedomworks and other top-down organizers planned this stuff a while back), the people it attracts are kind of Libertarian and fringe-y and Ron Paul-ish. Which makes it really weird when Fox News and Michael Steele and other Republicans want to hop on the train. On one hand, the events are supposed to attract the spontaneous, active conservatives who feel like they need to agitate for something, some kind of change, but they end up getting money and press from the same old gang of people who just aren't really grassroots, activists, or anything other than self-promoers.

The second point is that they are unfocused. Although there may be issues for people to be concerned about, deficit spending in the midst of a recession, when many economists agree it needs to happen, and tax raises when a major tax cut was just passed, don't make a lot of sense. But then again, neither do some of the people trying to light a fire under this movement:



I'd like to point out that Beck has called himself a "rodeo clown." The job of a rodeo clown is to distract the bull so it doesn't kill or trample the cowboy trying to rope it in. If you recognize the bull is his viewers, you might be catching on.

He's agitating, but what is his real problem, and how much of it stems from the current administration?

The answer is, he hasn't got a problem so long as he has ratings. The goal is people tune in. Ditto anyone else, whether they are Alan Keyes, whose "birther" nonsense will get another airing, or TX gov. Rick Perry. These aren't people who've suddenly noticed a creeping fascism--they just don't have anything better to do and still can't figure out why the dominant conservative party isn't in the lead.

That being said, I think something that could've been a real movement to get people talking about FAIR tax, cutting back the role of the IRS, and a variety of real libertarian concerns about pot, sex, and stuff, is getting lost with corporate sponsorship. (Seriously! "South Park Republicans" are people, too.)

Anyone, I hope if people do turn up for them, they have a good time, anyway. But I still don't really see the point.