Questions For The Tea Party Movement

16 Responses to “Questions For The Tea Party Movement”

1. Matthew Hurtt writes
   July 13th, 2009 3:29 pm

   There’s one: http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D979POSG0&show_article=1

2. Tom Paine writes
   July 13th, 2009 3:47 pm

   Matthew, this is a totally bogus argument.

   To say that Obama raised taxes on people earning less than $250 by signing a Congressionally passed tobacco tax increase is a complete red herring.

   First of all, the tax isn’t mandatory. You can avoid it by not smoking. Second, the health care costs you avoid by not smoking (and therefore, not paying the increased tax) more than offsets the tax increase.

   To swallow your argument whole, you’d have to acknowledge that Bush raised taxes on all income levels by crafting and passing the No Child Left Behind legislation without the accompanying funds to pay for the federal mandates.

   As concerns the tea-baggers, let me ask the question John Oliver asked tea baggers at a rally in DC: which do you believe is more oppressive, the current federal government or the British government the original tea partiers were seeking to overthrow?

   Answering that they’re equally oppressive shows just how detached from reality the tea-baggers actually are.

3. Blake writes
   July 13th, 2009 3:55 pm

   Cross posted at KnoxViews:
   ———–
   A few points about your post:

   1) It’s not just Republicans (even though the numbers are larger because of disaffected Republicans, and some of those no longer consider themselves Republicans because of the last 8 years)
   2) The noise was going on before August, but it increased due to the perceived lurch to the left it seemed like the country was going to be heading in (larger bail-outs, bigger corporate welfare, healthcare, cap and trade, etc).
   3) You discredit yourself by calling them “tea-baggers.” Get yourself out of the gutter.
   4) You narrow your question down from January and just to “Constitutional” rights (as if rights are only granted by the Constitution).
   5) There are a large amount of people involved with these groups that have been screaming for longer than the last 8 years. You just prefer to shift the argument to bring in Bush apparently.

   But all those points aside…to answer your question, there are a few tenants that people are basing themselves on here (and I may not cover them all, but it’s why I’m interested in the movement):

   -Both parties have let us down. Republicans grew government at an out of control rate. Democrats are putting it into overdrive.
   -Does anything Congress do anymore fall under it’s authority granted by the Constitution? It’s been shredded well before your narrow time-line. This (unfortunately for your argument) has less to do with Obama than you think.
   -The proposed Cap and Trade bill would create taxes that would be passed on to citizens.
   -The government takeover of private companies (shredding Constitution).
   -Transparency has taken an even further back seat with this administration, but it’s been suffering for many years.

   You are narrowing the argument down to just Obama, but…again…I hate to tell you…it’s not about Obama. It’s about the government as a whole. But, at the same time, what’s being proposed and what has been happening is not really going to be good for this country (and that’s not limiting the timeline to just since January).
   —————

4. DADvocate` writes
   July 13th, 2009 3:57 pm

   And I can avoid sales tax by not buying anything, etc, etc. Talk about bogus arguments. I’m sure if I bothered to point out rights lost or rights threatened, you would consider that bogus alsol

5. Ben writes
   July 13th, 2009 3:59 pm

   The teabaggers are complete malcontents that complain regardless of circumstances. They live on the victimology fed to them by conservative opinion leaders.

6. DADvocate` writes
   July 13th, 2009 4:07 pm

   Anything to delegitimize the tea partiers, heh, Ben. You make a good bigot.

7. Drinkin' the Franklin Kool Aid writes
   July 13th, 2009 4:25 pm

   I’ll answer knoxviews questions after they can show how much CHANGE we got.

   We get the HOPE part of Obama’s platform every day.

8. Noodles Sarducci writes
   July 13th, 2009 4:36 pm

   Screw you, MADDADvocate, calling anyone else a bigot.

   You hate the world because your ex-wife dumped you.

   It’s obvious that you and the other teabaggers can’t stand the fact that a black guy is president.

   You, MADDAD, are transparent, and batshit crazy.

9. Blake writes
   July 13th, 2009 4:41 pm

   You, MADDAD, are transparent, and batshit crazy.

   Well…there goes any credence you had in your argument, Noodles.

   Thanks for playing.

10. Kay Brooks writes
    July 13th, 2009 4:46 pm

    For those suffering a job loss…taxes (specifically payroll) have certainly gone down. Good job, Mr. President.

11. MattCollins writes
    July 13th, 2009 5:10 pm

    The better question would be:

    How many times and in what ways has Congress and the President violated the Constitution in the last 115 years?

12. Mad Max Rocknstanky writes
    July 13th, 2009 5:20 pm

    Kay, STFU!!!!

    Your beloved George W. Bush spent 8 years running the economy down the toilet. Job losses - Bush’s fault. Obama is pulling us out of the ditch. Overnight? No, but we’ll get there soon enough . . .

    And you and all of the whining teabaggers will look like the fools that you are.

13. TNVolunteer73 writes
    July 13th, 2009 5:27 pm

    Mad Max..

    If you look at the Economy, the Economy was fine until the Democrats took control of CONGRESS.

    2006 Republicans controlled both houses of congress (The Money Management Branch of Government)

    The Dow was 13,500

    Unemployment was between 4.5-5%

    Houses were selling like hotcakes

    inflation was 3.1%

    GDP was growing at 3.2%

    The Defict had been cut by over 50% from the 2004 High of 380 Billion to 182 Billion

    Democrats take over the Congress (The Money Management Branch of Government)

    Unemployment is 9.5%

    Defict has Grown 600% from 0.182 Trillion to 1.1 Trillion

    Housing market is in the toliet

    Car companies are Bankrupt

    Banks are Bankrupt

    GDP is growing at NEGATIVE 0.7%

14. common sense writes
    July 13th, 2009 10:59 pm

    Typical … GOP drives the bus into the ditch then blames Obama for not pulling it out fast enough.

15. The Rep. writes
    July 14th, 2009 12:02 pm

    The numbers will not match. The tax increases will be felt by generations yet to come to keep up with the intrest payments on deficites Obama is creating.

16. TNVolunteer73 writes
    July 14th, 2009 12:46 pm

    Common Sense

    What was the Dow in 2006 13500

    What Was unemployment in 2006 4.5-5%

    What was the Defict in 2006 182 Billion (0.182 Trillion)

    What has happened since DEMOCRATS took control of both houses of Congress.

    Dow 8300 45% decline
    unemployment 9.5% 100% increase
    Defict 1,800 billion (1.8 trillion) 300% increase.

    Remember, the CONGRESS is the MONEY MANAGEMENT branch of Government, not the Executive Branch.