The Tea Party held its annual Tax Day rallies this week, and not that many people showed up. In 2009, the Tea Party turned out tens of thousands. This year, crowds of a few hundred, or a few dozen, or even just a dozen. "Judging by their public events -- which is what we used to judge them by when we said they were strong -- the Tea Party seems to have peaked," Rachel said on the show. "It seems to be over. Someone please tell the Beltway press."
If you want to see a political movement on the wax as opposed to the Wane, check out the drive to recall Wisconsin Republican state senators. @Triumph68 forwards the pic below of petition signatures to recall State Senator Luther Olsen being delivered yesterday. Organizers says they're delivering the signatures required to recall State Senator Sheila Harsdorf today. They join State Senators Randy Hopper and Dan Kapanke on the recall list -- meaning recall proponents will soon have four of the eight contests they seek.
@MSpicuzzaWSJ
Delivering signatures to recall Wisconsin State Senator Luther Olsen.
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I'm wondering if the tea party is dieing out because the people are beginning to realize that the people they sent to washington aren't going to be able to change anything?
I mean, haven't we seen a similar disillusionment in some of Obama's supporters? They elected him thinking he could bring change to D.C. and when he couldn't (or couldn't do it fast enough), they kinda went "meh!" and went back to their lives.
Newly disillusioned idealists are often apathetic for a while.
I think they realize that we have to have the Senate and Presidency as well, and will peak again before the 2012 election. Remember, these are ordinary folks, working Americans, and not your typical activist. They don't do this for a living.
I believe you will see a historic 2012 election. The power is in the vote!
"These are ordinary folks, working Americans, and not your typical activist."
That's for sure. I don't know if you've noticed, but most of the people who show up to the Tea Party events and are interviewed have not a clue as to what the real situation is. Most of them have no idea that under President Obama, they're taxes went DOWN. Mostly they're just screaming about how they hate taxes and Obama is a socialist Nazi facist Kenyan. (Which goes to show that they don't understand much about history or political philosophy, either.)
Most activists are far better informed about the topic that they are passionate enough to take to the streets for. And it's for this very reason that I'm personally rather gleeful at the thought of this puppet master "let's get the rednecks who don't understand anything about taxes stirred up so that they'll help to lower our corporate taxes" movement being no more.
Yes, t-partiers are working Americans. They don't get paid to be activists for a living! So, I think its all good. Time will tell. Most of you didn't think they were a factor in last year's election....but we see what happened.
The arrogant left are the clueless, but don't take my word for it. We will find out what happens in 2012.
Kathy, they are going to gang up on you for that!
I'm sorry, I meant to spell Katy.
Did FOX news promote the Tax Day Tea Party rallies this year? If they didn't, that could account for the much lower numbers. The Tea Party, in many ways, began as a construct of that network.
Seeing what Republicans have done and continue to do to this country, their support is dwindling, this is the time for the Democratic party to come out of the shadows and start fighting for the working people. Elections 2012 here we come!!
Whether or not the electorate in general is willing to punish the Republicans for their shameless power grab remains to be seen.
Shameless power grab? did you see Pelosi after the Dems took control in 2006'? She actually said "WE won so WE make the rules". That was the downfall of the Democrats right there. Backroom deals, late night votes, offering jobs so candidates would NOT run, etc. 2012 will be an interesting election.
Rachel's commentary on this was interesting last evening, and to it I will add this: All during the run up to the 2010 elections the DC/NYC/LA media dismissed the tea party labeling it a fringe group of Beckerwoods. Those of us "out here" could see it was a legit movement of the right, but the incestuous supercilious big-time media types did not believe it. After all, no one they knew was in it, except Dick Armey, and if they did not know anyone in it it could not possibly be "real." Then, BANG! it arrives and suddenly they change their tune. Now they are all gabbling about how powerful it is. But it has passed; like a thunderstorm, it has passed. However, it will take the media awhile to get that message, too. Meanwhile in the salons of Georgetown or the Upper West Side or Brentwood the media will continue to believe, as they always do, that they are on top of things.
And that is the same reason the media do not see the rising on the left now.
The solution? They need to get the hell out of NYC and DC and LA and actually go to flyover country and look. Btw-- you can get good Martinis out here too, and we have hotels with Concierge floors. :)
Beckerwoods. LOL! (Gyad, I hope I never have to see that guy again.)
The signals out there for growing Dem strength are hard to trust. If I go by, for instance, a general sense of my Facebook friends (and I do actually know everyone on my friends list), liberals are completely outnumbered by people who believe to varying degrees in what the Tea Party is supposed to be about. They complain bitterly about the "left wing media bias" and frequently repost statistics and stories that are provably false and links that make me just... Gah! Cringe!! Like yesterday I spent the whole day boxing my friend's ear for posting a link to a video called "Left Taunts, Harasses and Hurls Racial Insults at African American Man Attending TEA Party." It was one or two guys in a group of about 8 people supposedly protesting... total hack job.
On the other hand, the quality and tenor of FB posts on my government officials' FB pages seem revealing. The posts on Cliff Stearn's FB page: 1,077 friends. Lots of birther spam, some "you better toe the line" posts, some "good job toeing the line, we're watching" posts, and some rather vigilant trolls who bite your ankles if you try to discuss anything worthwhile. Stearns' posts have few likes and no real discussion. It feels fringey and staid. On Bill Nelson's page, 5,800 friends. Tons of comments, plenty of "like" hits, interesting (and sometimes heated) discussion of issues. Very busy page but in general congenial.
OK so yeah, I have only seen a tiny tiny sample of what's out there, not nearly enough to form broad opinions. I would be very interested in hearing what other viewers experience within their social networks. I would be great to see some evidence that we outnumber the radical hatemongers that pollute the web with quite a lot of ugly noise.
I hope you're right, Rachel.
Frank, not everyone ascribe to facebook or putting their political views in public. Some groups of people still ascribe to the old..... there are 4 things you never discuss...... religeon, money, sex and Politics. LOL
There are folks of the older generation who are pretty pssd... er.... annoyed. No doubt their children might be getting a bit pssd too, as they realize that if things go as planned by these Paul Ryans and the Gang of Six types, then they may either be on the hook for their parents' care or their parents may not be able to leave that family home and/or that nest egg (inheritance) to them after all..... LOL
On the other hand there are some who like to believe that they are not middleclass and are instead a part of the ruling class, thus they will be exempt from whatever happens to the other or little people. LOL
There are even some who because they have a retirement account that may be well flushed at the moment, do not seem to care what happens to other people not as fortunate as themselves, because those less fortunate folks should have knowned how to have ''feathered their nests'' or about the stock market etc instead of depending on the ''government'' for social security.
They seem to forget that not everyone had/have jobs that paid/pay enough to save some of or to put in the stock market or even in a 401k if the company they worked for offered one or even how to set up a private IRA.
That is the level of their selfcenteredness. But as I tend to remind these folks ...... hope that you or your child/dren do not need some high cost surgery like a heart transplant etc, that your for profit insurance company may not cover all of the cost of and have to be away from work for over 6 months or more with most of the time without pay and see how long that ''feathered nest'' will last before you are hoping that some governmental entity will help you. You will be hoping that Medicare or Medicaid will pick up the cost...... LOL
That is the level of disconnect in this country amoung some of the more fortunate (professionals) folks and that is why these republicanconservativeteabagger types were voted in...... because some of these folks who were fortunate to be able to pull them selves up by their bootstraps (often times with the help of less fortunate family members) now no longer see the needs of the less fortunate.... even amoung/of their own family who were not highly paid wage earners like them.
Most people on these boards know of which I note...... If they don't they are either intentionally blind or are too selfcentered to notice what is happening to many in this country, and worse would not even lift a hand to help their own so they can continue to entertain their equally vacuuous friends.... so why continue. Sigh
Thanks for a thoughtful reply. We agree on a lot of points, except the spelling of my name! ;)
I'm wondering if the Tea Party gatherings are diminishing because the gatherings are not longer being supported by the Koch brothers. They got their Republican's elected with the Tea Party momentum they created and no longer need that turnout, at least for now.
The tea party gatherings are diminished because they don't need to be out there gathering right now. They handed the Democratic party their asses in the last election, it's a state union issue in Wi and wasting time and energy on stupid stuff is just that, a waste. Rachel claiming they are a non-issue is her way of convincing dopes that her stand on the issues is the right one. If everyone watching her show knew what they are capable of, they would know they should change sides. Discrediting someone is her way of making people think she is right. Why does she have to repeat herself 3 times in the same sentence with everything she says? So it sinks it to the dummys brains. Why does everyone here think MSNBC is always talking down about the Tea party? If they were such a non-issue and nothing to worry about, all four shows on MSNBC would talk about something important, Like how 7% of the people working in America hold the other 93% hostage. Have you ever heard a day go by that FOX news or Palin or some other character they didn't like were NOT mentioned...get on with the freakin problems of the country and get off your enemy, they never mention MSNBC (yes, I watch them and msnbc all day, I'm handicapped) I have to say I'm ready to jump ship because of all the negative talk about the Tea party and FOX news. That is not important to me.
As far as I could tell, no MSM outlet showed the video of Sarah Palin's
speech in WI last weekend. Usually they hang on her every word.
Could it be they passed on this speech because the labor protesters
drowned her out?
Why no mention of the PowerShift 2011, even when Chris Hayes brought it up on 4/18?? Huge disappointment!! Serious drop of the ball, TRMS. We get it, enough already on the little tea party girls and boys. How about some serious coverage of environmental news?. Your coverage of the Japan disasters was amazing.
If you want to see an environmental revolution that actually has a chance at curbing C02 emissions, we need a leader at a large, Large, LARGE microphone. The guys at PowerShift are great but it's once a year. Come on Rachel; speak up where Rachel Carson left off. It's really the only fight worth fighting. The boys and girls will play politics and do name calling till the end of time.
The Earth needs your voice and mike.
I agree with your statement that environmental issues are the most important issues today. GOPers talk about passing on a debt burden to our children and future generations. It would be nice if they would wake up and think about leaving behind a livable planet.
For me an intelligent energy policy would cause me to vote for any one. I received a Democratic questionnaire that listed the top political issues and and asked me to rank them. There was no mention of global warming,climate change or even energy policy.
Pretty discouraging.
I'm doing a happydance at the thought of never having to hear on the news ever again the following terms:
Tea Partier
Tea Bagger
Tea Party Rally
That combined with never again having to watch a backwoods redneck rant on tv about something which they have only the shallowest of understandings, is enough to make me damn near ecstatic today.
Liberals continue to live in fantasy land....
Umm...Okay? Is this supposed to be some kind of witty comeback or something?
CoraH: It's just a worthless troll being a worthless troll.
Funny! You crack me up! Really!
CoraH, you only see the two dopes that every gathering has. You don't think MSNBC is going to put the one hundred people that got interviewed who had a great knowledge of what is going on in the world on tv do you? That would not show their position is a good light or convince the people watching what they wanted them to believe are facts. Even Obama had stupid people show up and say stupid stuff. Do you think they walked up to those two people, did an interview with them and went back to the station? They interviewed all day and could only come up with those two dopes.
As far as the Tea Party goes, there were a lot of folks identifying themselves with the movement who drank the Kool Aid before they read the ingredients. With the events in WS and MI my guess is some TP's have bailed.
I believe it is time for a new rally. I think we need signs that say Tea Partied Enough Already! It shall be known as the T. P. Movement. (LOL)
I noticed a lot of 30 to 50 year olds at previos tea part rallies.Could be the low turnouts as of late may be due to them finding out that the teaparty/gop inc is a fraud.They're finding out they wont have medicare when they reach 65.Also if they happen to become disabled they get no medicaid.All the while giving huge tax breaks to the wealthy and subsidies to corporate america.The tax breaks didnt create jobs.So now the repubs want to take us back to the same policies that caused the mess were in.Also the tea party helped get these new dictator governors elected.Mich.Ohio Fla.Wisc.to name a few.I dont agree with all democratic policies,but they are 99.9% better than anything the teaparty/republicans come up with.
I just love democracy in action.
The Kochs' don't need the Tea Party anymore to further their ends. They now how Gov. Walker, Gov. Snyder and others to privatize the US bit by bit. Meanwhile, tax cuts for the wealthy are pretty much a given in spite of pubic opinion. Public opinion can't reach as far as Congress as we saw during the health care "debate." Welcome to the Third World.
The greater the wealth one can attain because he/she is priviledged to live in America, the greater the moral obligation to support America with his/her taxes so the nation will endure. Multi million dollar income progressive tax rates should be 50 to 75 percent. If the wealthy, or their corporations go off-shore, the patents and copyrights they hold should be invalidated.
Is everyone here smokin' dope? the Tea party has no interest in the Union crap in the states mentioned here. They will kick our asses in the next election, you all talk a good game but get nothing done. Keep calling them tax cuts...it is the CURRENT TAX RATE, if you want it to go up for rich people, SAY SO, get a backbone. The Rich should be paying more taxes. See, I did not get struck by lightning!
I always had this "feeling" that many of the people who showed up for Teabaggers were just paid to be there. There were so many, and they were bussed in. Who paid for the buses? Just sayin'......
Is everyone here smokin' dope? the Tea party has no interest in the Union crap in the states mentioned here. They will kick our asses in the next election, you all talk a good game but get nothing done. Keep calling them tax cuts...it is the CURRENT TAX RATE, if you want it to go up for rich people, SAY SO, get a backbone. The Rich should be paying more taxes. See, I did not get struck by lightning!
Grandma, Nobody was paid to show up at Tea party rallies. They were so many people because there are a lot of people that are fed up with Washington doing whatever they feel like without taking the taxpayers into consideration!.67% of Americans said they did not want this healthcare plan but it got jammed thru in the middle of the night anyway. And do you think nobody was bussed in to the State house rallies in Wisconsin for the unions, do you think nobody was bussed in for the rallies for the illegal immigrants in Arizona?
Interesting take, Rachel. I would say that the Republicans fear and invoke the Tea Party not because it suits their agenda, but because it was a real force in the last election; even more so because it worked outside of, and against, the Republican establishment.
The thing establishment politicos fear most is losing their power, and the Tea Party has become a threat. If you recall, many Republicans dismissed the movement, ridiculed it, and fought against it in the last primary season. Now they know they have to live with and acknowledge it or risk the consequences in the next election. Whether they attend staged rallies or not, the fact remains that there is a significant network of grassroots Tea Party organizations that has proven its ability to have an impact at the ballot box.
When a progressive faction within the Democrat party is well organized and independent enough to primary and defeat a significant number of incumbents, it too will achieve "credibility", regardless of how many or few people it can put into a conference room in a non-election year. What many progressives seem to be struggling with today is the realization that the president they were so passionate about electing two years ago turned out to be not so progressive after all. Unlike the Tea Party, which focused on house and senate elections, the progressives mostly focused on the presidential election and voted for establishment Democrats in the house and senate.
Now that we are approaching another presidential election the dilemma is whether to be silent about Obama's betrayal of progressive ideals and support him in order to ensure another 4 years of a Democrat in the White House, or to air the grievances - perhaps even run a real progressive against him in the primary - in order to further a truly progressive agenda. The almost complete evaporation of progressive public demonstrations against war and government disregard for civil rights since the Democrat administration has essentially adopted the policies of its predecessor do not bode well for a revolution inside the Democrat party anytime soon. In this regard - reacting against the hypocrisy within the established parties and attempting to steer discourse back to traditional ideological positions - the Republicans seem to be ahead of the Democrats.
gjdavis60, that was so eloquently said, and I concur whole heatedly. If something does not change(not Obama change) soon, the Democratic party will be handed the other side of their rear-end in the next presidential election.
Obama's going to be the Democratic nomination. I'd prefer a candidate like Anthony Weiner, but the populace pays so little attention to politics that they'll vote with whom they're familiar with. About the only way Obama won't be the candidate is if the economy completely tanked, which would likely ruin any true progressive's chance at winning the presidency anyways.