Rolling Stones - on the Tea Party: with working link!
- Thread starter Styler316
- Start date
I like some of his stuff and could leave some of it. It seems to me that he knows who he is writing for and isn't really trying to inform so much as say what his target audience thinks but can't quite put into words. He sure as shit ain't trying to convince anyone that isn't already sympathetic to his point of view.
I think his piece on the banksters was pretty damn good. For those interested, here it is:
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/12697/64833
I don't think I read that one. I thought his writing on the healthcare bill was pretty good.
Maybe, I was too harsh.
http://www.martybeckerman.com/interview-matt-taibbi
I am pissed that Palin was allowed to take over the Tea Party too. Rand Paul leaves me uneasy, but I am still hopeful that he will be more like his father once he gets into office.
Alright, I take it back. After you get past the first page of venom it is not so bad. It's actually not much different than my take on it.
Meet the New Boss, Same as the Old Boss
The Tea Party movement has lead to numerous upsets within Republican Party primaries, but where will it lead?
The early beginnings of the Tea Party seemed quite libertarian and promising. It began as a reaction to the first stimulus under Bush. It seemed to indicate an awakening of the fiscally conservative wing of the GOP. While party bosses had kept social conservatives happy with gay bashing circuses and sated the hawks with preemptive wars they had failed to deliver on any promise to limit the burden of government and ignored warnings over our economic situation. There were signs that it might even have connection to Ron Paul's candidacy for the GOP nomination.
I have been skeptical from the start and figured that it was just a matter of time before someone got in front of this parade and lead it right back into the tent. By engaging with Palin the Tea Party betrayed any libertarian roots it had. In the last couple months the neocons have done much to gain the mantle by, again, waving the bloody shirt and inciting hatred against Muslims.
While the Tea Party celebrates its strength in the primaries it is now most vulnerable of becoming completely co-opted by establishment Republicans. If there is not some sort of reemphasis on economic issues soon then this movement will be folded back into the flock. The fiscal conservatives and the problems of runaway government spending will once again be ignored. Party bosses will once again focus on delivering endless wars for the benefit of the military-industrial complex, tax breaks for the rich and whipping the rubes up with various witch hunts against minorities.
The libertarian hope for the Tea Party will die just as any hope that the MoveOn coalition and peace movements would bring an end to war or a restoration of our civil liberties. It's the same story over and over, like a television series that had a short production run but lived on in syndication.
The party faithful rise up, often critical of elected members of their own party. The enthusiasm leads to incumbents being turned out. Then the party bosses co-opt the movement, by taking control of the new nominees via partisan PACs, and try to use the enthusiasm to gain general election success. But win or lose the power structure remains unchanged.
Meet the New Boss, Same as the Old Boss
The Tea Party movement has lead to numerous upsets within Republican Party primaries, but where will it lead?
The early beginnings of the Tea Party seemed quite libertarian and promising. It began as a reaction to the first stimulus under Bush. It seemed to indicate an awakening of the fiscally conservative wing of the GOP. While party bosses had kept social conservatives happy with gay bashing circuses and sated the hawks with preemptive wars they had failed to deliver on any promise to limit the burden of government and ignored warnings over our economic situation. There were signs that it might even have connection to Ron Paul's candidacy for the GOP nomination.
I have been skeptical from the start and figured that it was just a matter of time before someone got in front of this parade and lead it right back into the tent. By engaging with Palin the Tea Party betrayed any libertarian roots it had. In the last couple months the neocons have done much to gain the mantle by, again, waving the bloody shirt and inciting hatred against Muslims.
While the Tea Party celebrates its strength in the primaries it is now most vulnerable of becoming completely co-opted by establishment Republicans. If there is not some sort of reemphasis on economic issues soon then this movement will be folded back into the flock. The fiscal conservatives and the problems of runaway government spending will once again be ignored. Party bosses will once again focus on delivering endless wars for the benefit of the military-industrial complex, tax breaks for the rich and whipping the rubes up with various witch hunts against minorities.
The libertarian hope for the Tea Party will die just as any hope that the MoveOn coalition and peace movements would bring an end to war or a restoration of our civil liberties. It's the same story over and over, like a television series that had a short production run but lived on in syndication.
The party faithful rise up, often critical of elected members of their own party. The enthusiasm leads to incumbents being turned out. Then the party bosses co-opt the movement, by taking control of the new nominees via partisan PACs, and try to use the enthusiasm to gain general election success. But win or lose the power structure remains unchanged.
Mott the Hoople
Sweet Jane
They can't. Hell I've been to local tea party rallies here where I live and his description and assessment of the tea party is spot on. The vast overwhelming majority are geriatric angry white guys with a corp of psuedo-intellectual libertarians who are, in general, quite clueless when you start discussing the specifics of governing. He is also correct in his assessment that the tea party has been co-opted by the Republican party driving it even further to the right.
Mott the Hoople
Sweet Jane
Oustanding article. We need more journalist like this. H.L. Menken would be proud.