I don't get this whole "Tea" party thing.

[Buzz Killington]

Are they just a bunch of dumb old white people mad about being ruled by a strong, young black man?

 

[blazerboy30]

Bush spent a lot too!

 

[mook]

Whatever you do, DON'T call them "tea baggers." I've learned from personal experience that they get quite irate over that (and believe me, they seem plenty pissed off as it is).

Ironically, the typical "Tea Partier" hates both tea and Massachusetts.

 

[Buzz Killington]

alot of seem like white suburban trash. bunch of old people with too much time on their hands. pretty scary. most of them are really stupid. all they say is "small government!!!!" without anything more.

 

[Denny Crane]

Whatever you do, DON'T call them "tea baggers." I've learned from personal experience that they get quite irate over that (and believe me, they seem plenty pissed off as it is).

Ironically, the typical "Tea Partier" hates both tea and Massachusetts.

Tea Bagger is a fair term. The movement started out with people sending tea bags to their congressmen.

 

[Buzz Killington]

Tea Baggers!

 

[Buzz Killington]

I have a theory that within america, there are so many little pockets of freaks like this...guidos are another one, and every race. just a bunch of fuckers....this will all end in race wars!

 

[Colonel Ronan]

So, anti-Obama or pro?

 

[BrianFromWA]

From what I get, Tea Partiers aren't necessarily anti-Obama/Democrat. They're anti-Big Government. They're anti-A Ruling Class That Doesn't Listen to Who Elected Them. It just happens that President Obama is the leader of the country and pushing for the things they don't like. And they're using their right to assemble and protest to assemble and protest.

 

[TradeNurkicNow]

I have a vague feeling you're being ironic

 

[Denny Crane]

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/a82cfe04-10f5-11df-9a9e-00144feab49a.html

Moody’s warns US of credit rating fears

By Michael Mackenzie in New York and Gillian Tett in London
Published: February 3 2010 19:53 | Last updated: February 3 2010 19:53

Moody’s Investors Service fired off a warning on Wednesday that the triple A sovereign credit rating of the US would come under pressure unless economic growth was more robust than expected or tougher actions were taken to tackle the country’s budget deficit.

In a move that follows intensifying concern among investors over the US deficit, Moody’s said the country faced a trajectory of debt growth that was “clearly continuously upward”.

Steven Hess, senior credit officer at Moody’s, said the deficits projected in the budget outlook presented by the Obama administration outlook this week did not stabilise debt levels in relation to gross domestic product.

“Unless further measures are taken to reduce the budget deficit further or the economy rebounds more vigorously than expected, the federal financial picture as presented in the projections for the next decade will at some point put pressure on the triple A government bond rating,” the rating agency added in an issuer note.

This week, the White House forecast a $1,565bn budget deficit for 2010, which represents 10.6 per cent of gross domestic product and is the highest such ratio of debt to GDP since the second world war.

While the budget gap is forecast to fall to about 4 per cent by 2013, it is based in part on economic growth not falling below government expectations, Congress agreeing to tax rises and a spending freeze on non-security discretionary spending.

Crucially, projections of the overall debt-to-GDP ratio for the US are seen rising from 53 per cent in 2009 to 73 per cent in 2015 and 77 per cent by 2020.

Moody’s, however, says this understates the overall US debt level.

“Using the general government measure, including state and local governments as well as the federal government, which is used internationally, this ratio would be well over 100 per cent in 2020.”

(more at the link)

 

[Buzz Killington]

From what I get, Tea Partiers aren't necessarily anti-Obama/Democrat. They're anti-Big Government. They're anti-A Ruling Class That Doesn't Listen to Who Elected Them. It just happens that President Obama is the leader of the country and pushing for the things they don't like. And they're using their right to assemble and protest to assemble and protest.

I think they're the conservative version of scum-sucking hippie protesters.

 

[Fez Hammersticks]

I like green tea and mint tea.

Red tea is nice, too.

Yeah.

 

[Buzz Killington]

We need to start our of faction. Kind of like the "bluetooth headset group" from 24 where we just kind of kick ass.

 

[mook]

Tea Bagger is a fair term. The movement started out with people sending tea bags to their congressmen.

I tried pointing that out to the ones I inadvertently offended with the term. They were still offended. *shrug*

As a liberal I'm always inclined to respect how any group wishes to self-identify. But as a liberal I'm also naturally inclined to think they are assholes idiots who chose a symbol with comically unfortunate undertones. My compromise is only to call them "teabaggers" behind their backs. *double shrug*

 

[Denny Crane]

I tried pointing that out to the ones I inadvertently offended with the term. They were still offended. *shrug*

As a liberal I'm always inclined to respect how any group wishes to self-identify. But as a liberal I'm also naturally inclined to think they are assholes idiots who chose a symbol with comically unfortunate undertones. My compromise is only to call them "teabaggers" behind their backs. *double shrug*

The undertone being like the Boston Tea Party, where they dumped tea in the harbor to protest excess taxation?

 

[mook]

The undertone being like the Boston Tea Party, where they dumped tea in the harbor to protest excess taxation?

Nah. "Teabagging" is also a sexual act where you hang the scrotum on the face or in the mouth of your partner (dunking it like a tea bag, I suppose). I'd never actually been made aware of what the term meant until I called a Teabagger (the political kind) the name and they took umbrage, explaining the sexual definition.

 

[e_blazer]

I'm not especially fond of the Tea Party nonsense, but frankly, I'm a bit surprised that there aren't more young people involved in protesting the insane levels of government spending going on in Washington. After all, once us older farts are dead and buried, it's you guys who will be bearing the brunt of the massive national debt.

 

[Natebishop3]

I'm not especially fond of the Tea Party nonsense, but frankly, I'm a bit surprised that there aren't more young people involved in protesting the insane levels of government spending going on in Washington. After all, once us older farts are dead and buried, it's you guys who will be bearing the brunt of the massive national debt.

The world is ending in 2012... didn't you hear?

 

[maxiep]

From what I get, Tea Partiers aren't necessarily anti-Obama/Democrat. They're anti-Big Government. They're anti-A Ruling Class That Doesn't Listen to Who Elected Them. It just happens that President Obama is the leader of the country and pushing for the things they don't like. And they're using their right to assemble and protest to assemble and protest.

Yep, and it's a bottom-up phenomenon with no real leaders. That leads to a diffuse message and why it's so hard to define simply. It's different things to different people. Mostly, however, it's protesting the encroaching role of government in our lives. At least that's my take.

 

[Rodolfo]

[video=youtube;lUPMjC9mq5Y]

 

[oldguy]

Are they just a bunch of dumb old white people mad about being ruled by a strong, young black man?

Putting your racism aside, it was a BIG bunch of 'dumb old white people' in DC last year. Well over a million, and some reports say pushing two million.

Check the pics out at this site. [video=youtube;TwoCJjH4gwQ]

I'm not a tea bagger, sexually or politically, but I know a few of the latter. I would describe them as people that are tired and disgusted about being lied to and betrayed by their leaders. That leader group would include that strong young black man you refer to.

You get that a lot of those stupid white people voted for that strong young black man, right?

Go Blazers

 

[Sug]

Yep, and it's a bottom-up phenomenon with no real leaders. That leads to a diffuse message and why it's so hard to define simply. It's different things to different people. Mostly, however, it's protesting the encroaching role of government in our lives. At least that's my take.

So the fact that Dick Army has put tons of money into organizing the "tea party" movement is a bottom up movement?

 

[Ed O]

So the fact that Dick Army has put tons of money into organizing the "tea party" movement is a bottom up movement?

That's not a complete sentence. Can you try again?

Ed O.

 

[Eastoff]

Nah. "Teabagging" is also a sexual act where you hang the scrotum on the face or in the mouth of your partner (dunking it like a tea bag, I suppose). I'd never actually been made aware of what the term meant until I called a Teabagger (the political kind) the name and they took umbrage, explaining the sexual definition.

hahaha really? that would have been PRICELESS!

 

[jlprk]

From what I get, Tea Partiers aren't necessarily anti-Obama/Democrat. They're anti-Big Government. They're anti-A Ruling Class That Doesn't Listen to Who Elected Them. It just happens that President Obama is the leader of the country and pushing for the things they don't like. And they're using their right to assemble and protest to assemble and protest.

They are a bottom up movement, not a sexual movement....

Aside from that little bon mot...

If their only issue is too much spending, and they aren't just a glossy new Palin-type face invented solely to energize the Republican Party, then where were they when all this spending started? You know, when Bush destroyed the miraculous Clinton deficits in the months before 9-11. Why weren't they motivated to complain when a Republican was doing the big spending?

 

[Denny Crane]

They are a bottom up movement, not a sexual movement....

Aside from that little bon mot...

If their only issue is too much spending, and they aren't just a glossy new Palin-type face invented solely to energize the Republican Party, then where were they when all this spending started? You know, when Bush destroyed the miraculous Clinton deficits in the months before 9-11. Why weren't they motivated to complain when a Republican was doing the big spending?

What was Bush's approval rating for most of his 2nd term?

 

[BLAZER PROPHET]

I have a theory that within america, there are so many little pockets of freaks like this...guidos are another one, and every race. just a bunch of fuckers....this will all end in race wars!

Let me get this straight.... there are some predominatly elderly people who are fed up with rising taxes and tax & spend policies from liberal politicians. So, excercising their constitutional rights they lobby their Congressmen, protest and vote.

So, if I continue to follow your logic, since their views are not your views they are to be silenced and ridiculed.

Oh, ok, I get it.

 

[MrJayremmie]

What was Bush's approval rating for most of his 2nd term?

Reminds me of something funny...

[video=youtube;8abEJ2tKEcE]

 

[maxiep]

They are a bottom up movement, not a sexual movement....

Aside from that little bon mot...

If their only issue is too much spending, and they aren't just a glossy new Palin-type face invented solely to energize the Republican Party, then where were they when all this spending started? You know, when Bush destroyed the miraculous Clinton deficits in the months before 9-11. Why weren't they motivated to complain when a Republican was doing the big spending?

They were there and dissatisfied (as shown by President Bush's approval ratings), but the spending pattern driven by a combination of a Democratic Congress with the most liberal president in history pushed them over the edge. To pretend that spending is only incrementally higher is to deny reality. By the end of this fiscal year, President Obama will have added as much to our national debt as President Bush did in eight years.