Who leads the Tea Party?
 

You might have heard the term 'tea party', some where along the way, and realized they weren't talking about Boston, or Wonderland.
Slate has listed the tea party's movers & shakers, with a brief summary of what each organization has attempted and accomplished.
Of course these are only the faces of these organizations, and not the power or the money.

FreedomWorks - Founded: 2004 - Leaders: Dick Armey, Matt Kibbe

Americans for Prosperity - Founded: 2004 - Leaders: David Koch, Tim Phillips

Independence Caucus (iCaucus) - Founded: early 2008 - Leader: Frank Anderson

Our Country Deserves Better/Tea Party Express - Founded: July 2008 - Leaders: Sal Russo, Amy Kremer

Smart Girl Politics/Smart Girl Nation - Founded: July 2008 - Leader: Stacy Mott

Senate Conservatives Fund - Founded: 2008 - Leader: Sen. Jim DeMint

Tax Day Tea Party/Liberty First/Liberty.com/American Liberty Alliance - Founded: summer 2008 - Leader: Eric Odom

Campaign for Liberty/Young Americans for Liberty - Founded: September 2008 - Leaders: Ron Paul

Grassfire Nation/ResistNet - Founded: 2008 - Leader: Debbie Dooley

Tea Party Patriots - Founded: 2009 - Leaders: Mark Meckler, Jenny Beth Martin

The 9/12 Project - Founded: March 2009 - Leader: Glenn Beck

Oath Keepers - Founded: April 2009 - Leader: Stewart Rhodes

Palin, Inc. - Founded: July 2009 - Leaders: Sarah and Todd Palin

Tea Party Nation - Founded: 2009 - Leaders: Judson and Sherry Phillips

Liberty Central - Founded: February 2010 - Leader: Ginni Thomas

Tea Party Caucus - Founded: July 2010 - Leader: Michele Bachmann

Karl Rove is the puppet master behind them all.

Karl Rove is America GPS and America Crossroads. Note the founding dates. All this made necessary because of an activist Supreme Court that trashed all campaign reform laws. Who said it was good to have every TV show sponsored by attack ads, lies, and people who need not attach their names to those lies.

My god. The recession has ended. Job losses have severely diminished from when they were greatest - the last months of George Jr's reign. The economy is slowly and strongly in a ten year recovery process. And a majority are so manipulated by attack adds as to think our nation in complete economic default. Is anyone is the Cellar that foolishly deceived by attack ads?

Well if those myths were true, a footnote. This has been a spectacularly successful few years for any informed investor. How much better could it get?

Well, lower unemployment and not owing a mountain of money overseas would make it better, but so would a tasty sprinkling of mature cheddar cheese. That makes anything better.

Whoever is leading the Tea Party, they must be either a mad hatter or as loony as a March Hare.

Oh no, not loony, they know exactly what they are doing.
Now most of their followers, are just everyday people that have been frustrated with the politicians for a very long time. Seeing it get more blatant and feeling helpless to do anything about it... vote for the lesser of two evils, big whoop.

So this tea party thing comes along, and provides a glimmer of hope, a chance that they can actually do something to make things better. Mr & Mrs Average join up, get on the mailing/email list, and maybe even contribute a couple bucks, in hopes this will work.

In theory it would work too, if they worked within the system to make sure better candidates got elected locally, then worked their way up, all the while holding the politicians feet to the fire, to keep them (reasonably) honest. Knowing if they fuck up they're out, and they don't need the corporate money to get reelected.

But the tea parties have been conned by people like Karl Rove, who really is working for GOP/big money, telling them it's all Obama/Democrats fault. Pumping them and full of half truths, distortions, and blatant lies, by saturating the airways & internet. Telling them all the countries ills can be solved overnight, by following their lead.

It would be almost funny to watch the tea party being led down the path to complete corporate control, fucking themselves, if they weren't fucking the rest of us and the country, along with them. O'Donnell, Angle, Paladino, Paul, Webster, good grief, be careful what you wish for, they'd set this country back a hundred years.

Now maybe some of them would like to turn the clock back a hundred years, or maybe just 50, to when god fearing people were in charge, niggers & fags knew their place, and women did what they were told. But you know what, you can't go back, the cat ain't going back in the bag.

They seem to want to create the same conditions that put us in this shitter... not that the Democrats have a viable alternative.

The tea party is run by Whitey.

:lol:

It didn't put them in the shitter. Lower taxes, less regulation, American workers desperate for jobs, and willing to be "more productive" (more work for less pay). A large segment of the populace so pissed off at government for bailing out big business that they'll support exactly what big business wants directly.

It's their dream come true.

Its the Tea Party Supporters blindness to that truth that is troubling. It doesn't say much for our race, that we are so easily misled.

Ha! I say that, and then later read this perspective...

Why Business Should Fear the Tea Party.

According to a recent Bloomberg Poll...

Also...

Why should this alarm big business?

Tea party in Delaware has shattered the Republican Party there. Apparently the rest of the Party will not 'celebrate' on Tuesday night at the same location that Christine O'Donnell will (according to polls) concede. At last report, nobody announced where O'Donnell will hold her election night party.

I heard an O'Donnell ad in the wee hours of this morning. It went along blah, blah, blah, Come on Christians, she needs your support (or vote, don't remember which).

"Both the major parties are kind of in our back pocket, so there's no need for business to run with one side or the other," Catellani added. "We're just basically against anything that rocks the boat."

UT, you lean libertarian, right?

I used to but now I'm sort of in the muddle. I'm a member of the Confusion Party. We have no principles and we are certain we don't know what the best approach is.

funny UT !

Well then since you have the background, what do you think of the 'libertarian' Koch's backing of the Tea Party Movement? Is it truly based on libertarian principles?

Shouldn't this entire thread be under the "Humor" thread?

It is normal. All ideological movements have backers.

No UT, it's genetic for liberals... they just can't hep it.

Funny but very true. I consider myself a moderate partisan as well. I'd like to see America get her mojo back but can't figure out how to elect middle of the road compromisers to actually address our national lassitude ennui shititude. The passionate people in both parties lock out reasonableness, so we tic toc to the extremes subverting any chance to build for the future... not that I know what to do about it outside of trying to determine the least extreme candidates on my ballot.

Sorry, Im having trouble expressing my meaning. As a former libertarian, do you see the tea party as libertarian in their principles? The reason I wonder is because 1) the Kochs are backing them and 2) a few of their candidates, Rand Paul, for example, are (or at least were) libertarian. But actually, I'm also wondering, are the Kochs even true libertarians?

Thanks Pic for the clarification, and for the opportunity for me to enjoy the sound of myself typing a lot of words.

I think it's formless enough to create a coalition. I think the people who were first-in did not define it very strongly, so like Obama's formless "change", one could define it however one liked and then proudly claim to be a part of the movement.

But I could be wrong. My libertarian friend, still a true believer, feels like these are the Ron Paul Revolution leftovers. I don't think there are enough of them, and certainly those folks are not Palinites, but perhaps he sees some of his fellow tru-believers at the meetings.

There are roughly two wings of libertarianism. One seeks a philosophically pure utopian ideology. I consider these the "true libertarians", and now they seem similar to me as "true marxists": you have done some interesting work, and it is nice of you to be so optimistic about the human spirit, and it would be nice if humanity worked that way, but apparently it doesn't. Oh and sorry your general school of thought has been taken over by those assholes over there, who are sort of misrepresenting it. Shit happens.

The other wing of libertaria is more utilitarian. It simply notices that markets often create great productivity, we might as well get rid of all drug laws, and light rail is usually a glorious moneyhole fuckup. And certainly, along with many less sensible notions that get floated...

The Kochs seem to be of the latter variety. They gave up on the official Libertarian Party early, which is good because it has long been a remarkably ineffective crew, broadly infested with the utopianites. The Kochs concentrated on the Cato think tank and stuff like that.

Well, good on them. Like Soros and many other wealthy folks, they are welcome to contribute to the well of ideas. Let them say what they think, and let us examine it. Less of their money has gone to promoting ideas than all the money spent on promoting Palmolive... and I don't use Palmolive. In the long run, as an optimist, I think we will find truth and get along with or without their help.

You're welcome UT. I really enjoyed reading your explanation and I appreciate the time you took expressing your viewpoint. I'm an optimist too. I keep hoping that one of these days, the best of all these ideologies will finally work together.

I am not acquainted with many libertarians. One I knew on another forum was still basically a kid (just out of college) and he was rough. He had a really nasty cold-hearted side to him, but because he was siding with the dems in trying to get Bush out of office, we tolerated him. But he didn't really sell me on libertarianism. He seemed naively attracted to it its simple message of self and liberty.

What worries me about Koch's involvement with the tea partiers, is he is using their disenchantment due to the bad economy and no jobs to get them on board with many of the libertarian principle he endorses. Which happen to be really good for his company and other really really rich companies, but may not not be good for the the working class that is actually making up the tea partiers. Most of these people say they want to shrink government, but they dont - they don't really want to give up their medicare, their minimum wage guarantee, their clean drinking water, clean air, etc. Koch wants no corporate taxes and no government regulation (Koch industries has put out a lot of money in the past due to regulation infractions). It feels like they are in bed with the lions.

They are. If the corner butcher poisons you, you can put him out of business, maybe put him in jail, certaunly kick his ass. If a Corporation poisons you, forget it. To walmart or Monsanto you're a pest to be squashed. The only way we can protect ourselves from these giants, is to band together. That's called government, law, and enforcement, and it costs money.

Mr Macho Headstomper thinks he can take care of himself, but he's a fool. When walmart kills or cripples his children, what's he going to do about it, sue them, burn down the store, bitch on the internet? That's not going to help the kid, and he'll be squashed like a grape.

LP's ideas of what a government should spend tax dollars on and the TP's ideas about it do fairishly coincide.

The Libertarians are a party (for a given value of party) while the Tea Party is more of a mindset.

You should have titled it as a list of people who have attempted to co-opt the Tea Party message.... and have tried to align themselves with what has been an otherwise grass roots organization with a naturally popular base. Palin was the first big name to try to claim it as her own. Then you throw in the people that the Dems tried to put up as Tea Party members, who were actually plants, in elections, throwing eggs, carrying signs, and the water has become quite muddy.

Breadfruit. Those were plants. They ended up getting thrown off the HMS Bounty.

:lol2: