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If you've been to a tea party you already know there are Independent tea partiers, and Democrat tea partiers, and yes, even black tea partiers (despite what you might have heard).  People like Keith Olbermann, Jeanine Garofalo, Rachel Maddow, Chris Matthews, are saying tea partiers are all white racists.  They are obviously woefully ignorant of the facts, explaining the black Americans in attendance at the tea parties by calling them names like Uncle Tom.  They need to watch this video. 

Tea Party Continues to Confuse and Anger Liberals

Shawn at Wizbang shared video of MSNBC's Dylan Ratigan going berserk in a segment on "Anger in America" saying Tea Party members allowed those who wanted to "kill black people and kill Jews" to be associated with them. Today Hot Air links to Michael Bader's piece at AlterNet about those nutty Tea Party people.

These Tea Party folks seem to most liberals -- well, to most of us who live in the "reality community," or, as I like to call it, "reality" --- like crazy f*ckers.

As a recent New York Times article reports, this hodgepodge of people and groups spout frankly paranoid beliefs as received wisdom, e.g. the Federal Reserve is our enemy and should be abolished; citizens should stock up on ammo, gold; and survival food in anticipation of an impending Civil War; states should "nullify" federal laws and even secede; medical records are being shipped to federal bureaucrats; the army is seeking "Internment/Resettlement" specialists; and Obama is trying to create crises in order to destroy the economy, convert Interpol into his personal police force and create a New World Order.

Conspiracy theories involving shadowy elites like the Trilateral Commission and the Council on Foreign Relations have resurfaced. Self-defense and armed resistance are frequently called for. Racist stereotypes, innuendo and hostility run rampant. The Constitution is its sacred text and Glenn Beck its most beloved prophet. They don't usually wear aluminum hats but perhaps they should.

I hate these folks but I also understand them. And, well, uh, I also empathize with them. They share the same psychology as the paranoid patients I treat every day. The only difference is that the paranoid beliefs of the Tea Party movement are political while those in my consulting room are of a more personal nature. The causes and dynamics, however, are the same.

I wonder just how many tea parties Michael Bader has attended. Is he basing his hatred of these folks on anything other than a New York Times report? He thinks tea partiers are "paranoid," engaging in "racial stereotypes" and "innuendo"? Has he seen an episode of Countdown with Keith Olbermann, or Dylan Ratigan's show for that matter? Instead of analyzing the MSNBC paranoid haters on parade, or the "left-wing conspiracy theorists" he later mentions, he focuses on a NYT description of tea party participants and psychoanalyzes them. Then he offers his analysis of the role the "right-wing media" plays in feeding this paranoia.

It is also obvious that left-wing conspiracy theorists share much of the same pathology as those on the right wing of the spectrum. For new Tea Party members, however, the drift toward paranoia is facilitated by the right-wing media machine that offers several ready-made narratives perfectly designed to help its consumers clear up their confusion, understand their helplessness, absolve them of any blame and offer a way out. The conspiratorial alliance of business and government, a growing tyranny intended to disenfranchise, disarm and exploit ordinary citizens, secret pacts to overthrow the Constitution, etc. all currently led by an un-American, godless, colored, elitist, contemptuous foreigner: Barack Hussein Obama.

Goodness, that is an awfully long sentence fragment. Where the heck is Bader getting the reference to the "colored" president? What is the obsession liberal critics of the tea parties have with race? I have been to two tea parties -- one in North Carolina and one in DC. I have read and looked at pictures fro dozens more over the past year. I know a few wackos have shown up at some tea parties (just as some wackos show up at liberal protests), but they are a tiny minority of those associating themselves with the tea party movement. You have to make an effort to specifically look for them and then you have to ignore 99.9 percent of the hard working, rational, respectful participants in order to define the tea party groups as racist and paranoid. On the other hand, all it takes to find paranoid, race-obsessed wackos associating themselves with those on the left is to turn on a television and set the channel to MSNBC's prime time lineup.

Crossposted at Wizbang.

Shawn at Wizbang shared video of MSNBC's Dylan Ratigan going berserk in a segment on "Anger in America" saying Tea Party members allowed those who wanted to "kill black people and kill Jews" to be associated with them. Today Hot Air links to Michael Bader's piece at AlterNet about those nutty Tea Party people.

These Tea Party folks seem to most liberals -- well, to most of us who live in the "reality community," or, as I like to call it, "reality" --- like crazy f*ckers.

As a recent New York Times article reports, this hodgepodge of people and groups spout frankly paranoid beliefs as received wisdom, e.g. the Federal Reserve is our enemy and should be abolished; citizens should stock up on ammo, gold; and survival food in anticipation of an impending Civil War; states should "nullify" federal laws and even secede; medical records are being shipped to federal bureaucrats; the army is seeking "Internment/Resettlement" specialists; and Obama is trying to create crises in order to destroy the economy, convert Interpol into his personal police force and create a New World Order.

Conspiracy theories involving shadowy elites like the Trilateral Commission and the Council on Foreign Relations have resurfaced. Self-defense and armed resistance are frequently called for. Racist stereotypes, innuendo and hostility run rampant. The Constitution is its sacred text and Glenn Beck its most beloved prophet. They don't usually wear aluminum hats but perhaps they should.

I hate these folks but I also understand them. And, well, uh, I also empathize with them. They share the same psychology as the paranoid patients I treat every day. The only difference is that the paranoid beliefs of the Tea Party movement are political while those in my consulting room are of a more personal nature. The causes and dynamics, however, are the same.

I wonder just how many tea parties Michael Bader has attended. Is he basing his hatred of these folks on anything other than a New York Times report? He thinks tea partiers are "paranoid," engaging in "racial stereotypes" and "innuendo"? Has he seen an episode of Countdown with Keith Olbermann, or Dylan Ratigan's show for that matter? Instead of analyzing the MSNBC paranoid haters on parade, or the "left-wing conspiracy theorists" he later mentions, he focuses on a NYT description of tea party participants and psychoanalyzes them. Then he offers his analysis of the role the "right-wing media" plays in feeding this paranoia.

It is also obvious that left-wing conspiracy theorists share much of the same pathology as those on the right wing of the spectrum. For new Tea Party members, however, the drift toward paranoia is facilitated by the right-wing media machine that offers several ready-made narratives perfectly designed to help its consumers clear up their confusion, understand their helplessness, absolve them of any blame and offer a way out. The conspiratorial alliance of business and government, a growing tyranny intended to disenfranchise, disarm and exploit ordinary citizens, secret pacts to overthrow the Constitution, etc. all currently led by an un-American, godless, colored, elitist, contemptuous foreigner: Barack Hussein Obama.

Goodness, that is an awfully long sentence fragment. Where the heck is Bader getting the reference to the "colored" president? What is the obsession liberal critics of the tea parties have with race? I have been to two tea parties -- one in North Carolina and one in DC. I have read and looked at pictures fro dozens more over the past year. I know a few wackos have shown up at some tea parties (just as some wackos show up at liberal protests), but they are a tiny minority of those associating themselves with the tea party movement. You have to make an effort to specifically look for them and then you have to ignore 99.9 percent of the hard working, rational, respectful participants in order to define the tea party groups as racist and paranoid. On the other hand, all it takes to find paranoid, race-obsessed wackos associating themselves with those on the left is to turn on a television and set the channel to MSNBC's prime time lineup.

Crossposted at Wizbang.

Want to know how successful the 9/12 protests were? Just check a liberal blog.

The post below is what I found on the front of Daily Kos today.  If you want to see just how confused, upset and downright afraid liberals are of the tea party movement, look no farther. 

Sunday Talk - The Land of Make-Believe

by Silly Rabbit

Sun Sep 13, 2009 at 02:14:36 AM PDT

Thousands of millions of teabaggers descended on Washington, DC yesterday.

Some of them, no doubt, were hoping [in vain] to catch a glimpse of their newest hero/mancrush — Joe "NOES" Wilson.

Others were looking to relive the glory of 9/12s past.

But many (read: most) went just because they're so madly in love with America.

Real America... not Africa-America

Predictable as heck and by the book.

Using the name "teabaggers" in an attempt to diminish the tea party movement?  Check.  Trying to downplay the number of protesters by mocking them as "thousands of millions"?  Check.  Saying tea party protesters are racist?  Check.

They have to mock and exaggerate and call names because if they look at the crowds honestly they'll have to cry.

Here is what I don't think you'll be seeing on the front page of the liberal blogs:

 

Or this:

Or this one:

Update:  Here is a handy, dandy chart to help those struggling to understand what the pictures above mean.

Update II:  More from Melissa Clouthier on liberal reaction to the 9/12 protests.  Rick Moran on how the dispute over numbers is meant to mask the history being made.

Update III:  No number of pictures, even those appearing in the Obama loving media, even those showing crowds that appear every bit as large as those at O's inauguration, will convince some people.  I really hope they continue to live in denial.  It will make the November 2010 election results even more of a shock.

Update IV:  Check out the entry currently posted at Wikipedia for the 9/12 march on DC:

Taxpayer March on Washington

Main article: Taxpayer March on Washington

On September 12, 2009, over 75,000 Tea Party protesters gathered in Washington, D.C. to march from Freedom Plaza to the United States Capitol.^[62][63]. While hundreds of thousands of people indicated that they planned to attend^[64], and as many as 30,000 registered in advance ^[65], actual turnout was estimated by many as far less^[66][67][68]. DC Park Police reportedly called an estimate of 30,000 "generous".^[69]

My AIP Column: Nothing Manufactured About These Grass Roots

Note to the White House and Congress:  real, live, ordinary Americans are frustrated and angry and there is nothing “manufactured” about it.  The activity you are seeing at town hall meetings across the country is as “grass roots” as it gets and it does not appear to be ending any time soon.

Earlier this year when hundreds of thousands of Americans showed up at hundreds of “tea party” protests being held in over 800 cities and all 50 states, ABC News reported, “The White House says the president is unaware of the tea parties and will hold his own event today.” 

Now, when American citizens are showing up at town hall events held by their local congressional representatives to discuss the issue of health care, they are getting plenty of media attention.   The same media that largely ignored the hundreds of thousands of peaceful protesters at tea parties across the country over the past few months have now discovered the “angry mobs” showing up at town hall meetings.

Patrick Hynes recently cited a new CNN poll which “finds a huge majority of Americans would likely attend such a meeting on the issue of health reform if one was held in their community.”

“According to the poll conducted between July 31 and August 3, seventy-one percent of respondents would attend ‘a town hall meeting or some other public forum where voters get a chance to speak’ to ‘tell [their] member of Congress what [they] think about health care.’ Forty-one percent say they are ‘very likely’ to do so.”

Unlike with the Tax Day Tea Parties, the White House seems to at least be aware of these protesters.  Spokesman Robert Gibbs responded to questions about the protesters saying, “I hope people will take a jaundiced eye to what is clearly the Astro Turf nature of so-called grassroots lobbying… which is largely the term for, you know, this is manufactured anger.”

That’s right. The Community Organizer-in-Chief (through Gibbs)  is sending a message that says to me  if a conservative group lets their members know when and where a town hall meeting is being held, the voices of those citizens don’t matter so much.  If those citizens travel to the meetings on busses, they don’t count as authentic.  If citizens of various communities across the country are “organized” in any way, the spokesman for the Organizer-in-Chief is discrediting their concerns as “manufactured.”

When Cindy Sheehan and a couple dozen people protested the Iraq War in front of George Bush’s ranch in 2005, they received tons of media attention.  When asked about Sheehan and the protesters Bush said, “I sympathize with her. She feels strongly about her position… she has every right in the world to say what she believes. This is America. She has a right to her position. And I've thought long and hard about her position. I've heard her position from others, which is, 'Get out of Iraq now.'  And it would be -- it would be a mistake for the security of this country and the ability to lay the foundations for peace in the long run, if we were to do so. I grieve for every death," Bush said.

He acknowledged her right to speak out, he listened to her position and he explained why he disagreed with her position – all the while showing tremendous respect. 

George Bush’s respectful tone did not do much for him in public opinion polls. In contrast, those in the White House today are going after their political opponents by questioning their authenticity and motivation.  I doubt that tactic is going to be any more successful when it comes to moving polls.

Many of those protesting Bush accused him of being a murderer and war criminal, while the “angry mobs” attending the current town hall meetings are shouting things like “read the bill” and “just say no.” Many of those protesting have never attended a political function in their lives, but they are being attacked as partisan hacks. 

The White House is also encouraging people to report things they see on the internet saying, “If you get an email or see something on the web about health insurance reform that seems fishy, send it to flag@whitehouse.gov. I can’t help but wonder what all those voters who thought the Patriot Act smacked of “Big Brother” are thinking now.

The bloated “stimulus” bill, deficit-busting budgets, bailouts, the prospect of higher taxes and the idea of government control of the country’s health care system have fueled the frustration of everyday Americans and driven many of them into the streets and to town hall meetings. These are issues that affect people on a personal level, but have led them to react in very public ways. Unless politicians start listening to the voices of these average Americans and change course, expect to see plenty more protests and plummeting public opinion polls.

Originally posted at American Issue Project.

The Response to the Tea Party Protests (or Liberals' Great Fox Mind Control Theory)

The liberal responses to the Tea Party protests can be described as lame, clueless, angry and scared.

First there was the lame attempt to organize a counter protest, but that flopped pretty spectacularly.

When people turned out all over the country in the thousands to attend tea parties, the explanation from critics was that the protests were from "fake" grassroots, not "real" grassroots. Those people didn't get in their cars, take time from work, find parking in downtown cities, show up in the rain, etc. on their own. NOOOOO! Fox News did it all. Fox somehow has control over those people and forced them, against their will, to go to the trouble to make signs, interrupt their normal activities, pack up the kids and their diaper bags and strollers, travel to their nearest tea party site, find a parking space, walk to the protest area and raise their signs and their voices. No wonder they fear Fox so much. Fox's control over their viewers is un-freaking-believable. And Fox is the number one cable channel.

Here's another way Fox opponents are reacting. Lame.

The Teabaggers are convinced that Obama is going to raise their taxes, the result of unsubstantiated Republican claims - repeated over and over again by FOX News anchors - that Obama is going to raise taxes on all Americans.

Obama's Making Work Pay tax cut reduces income taxes for the vast majority of families by $800 this year. The RNC is distorting the truth with the help of ally FOX News, and some misguided Americans are buying it.

Our goal is to let FOX News know that Americans are fed up with their bias and misinformation.

With your help, we will build a coalition which proves that the Teabaggers are not the silent majority but far-right radicals.

Not just lame, but ignorant and uninformed. That is not what the tea parties are about. They are about opposition to our tax money being spent in a reckless, foolish fashion and at an unprecedented rate, tripling the deficit with thousands of earmarks and tons of pork. They are about a bunch of politicians who signed onto a spendulus bill they didn't bother to read and that they rushed through before anyone else had time to read either. They are also about the government taking over private enterprise -- determining the salaries of privately employed individuals, demanding resignations from US executives and even getting into the business of guaranteeing our automobile warranties.

It's not rocket science. Read a few of the signs and you really should "get it." Stop the spending. Get out of our business. Let us keep more of the money we make. Stop the bailouts. Just common sense. Are they really this blind and ignorant or do they just refuse to let their followers know what is really at issue?

Even more lame: Silly, nasty little jokes about "teabagging." If you don't understand the reference you can look it up here where you will also see this definition of a "teabagger:"

2. n. A conservative activist who is so ignorant that they protest against tax cuts (that benefit them) by throwing tea into a river.

Billy Ray cheered while he watched the teabaggers protest on FOX news.

Did any conservatives throw tea into any rivers today? Does any tax that adds thousands of dollars of debt to your grandchildren and gets spent on pork really "benefit" anyone who works for a living?

I did an unusual thing tonight that not many people do. I watched Keith Olbermann. He is one of the most clueless of all. He kept trying to make the point that those attending the tea bag protests were stupid because they did not realize that they are really getting so much more for their taxes than they realize. He pointed out that Texans got back a certain amount of cents on every dollar they sent to Washington. This is NOT what the protests are about. Many would gladly turn down those funds coming from Washington (and some governors are doing just that) because they don't want the federal control, or would prefer not to spend their grandchildren's money to bail out Wall Street bankers or people who bought houses they couldn't afford or to make up for the taxes that Obama nominees neglected to pay the IRS. People do like to get government freebies. Heck, they figure they are paying out the rear so they might as well get something to show for it, but I think that mentality is on its way out. Americans are waking up to see the ultimate cost, not just to them, but to their children and grandchildren and to their freedom, is not worth it.

Olbermann is perpetually angry and snide, that's his shtick, but one CNN employee took the cake as the rudest bully I have ever seen masquerading as a reporter. Behold.

Did you catch the recurring theme? The "reporter" tried to tell the protester how much money the Obama administration was giving him. Sigh. They just honestly don't have a clue. It almost makes you feel sorry for them, doesn't it?

Update: Just another thought... when liberal unions bus people to protests and when liberal groups pay people to protest, the media does not deem it worth reporting. But if a cable news channel decides to cover (and announces that they will cover) a protest taking place in all 50 states there is a sinister plot. The media does not know what to think of the tea parties and they are freaking out. In the process they are, once again, providing irrefutable evidence of their extreme bias.

Update II: Doug Ross compares the coverage CNN and other MSM gave the tea parties to the coverage given to Cindy Sheehan and Code Pink protests against the war in Iraq.

According to Todd, tea parties have not "caught on"

People too blind or stupid or delusional to acknowledge what is in front of their eyes, hundreds of protests involving thousands of people in all 50 states across the country today, are going to be in for a big shock.

Via Newsbusters:

NBC also addressed the tea parties in passing on April 15 "Today." Chuck Todd dismissed the protests as "so-called" tea parties and said "the idea hasn't really caught on."

Tea Party pics

Kim Priestap emailed this picture from a Traverse City tea party:

"Tirades"

Just turned the TV on and decided to see how (or if) the MSM was covering the tea parties.  CNN is predictable as heck.  I predicted the tea partiers would be portrayed as voters were in the 1994 elections.  After Democrats were trounced in 1994, in reaction to the first two years of the Clinton administration, those in the media declared voters were "angry white males."  I turned CNN on and the first thing I saw was the part of their iReport segment captioned "Tax Day Tirades."  

A brief interview was shown of a tea party attendee who said the tea parties are about people from all political parties gathering to get back to the principles and values the country was founded on, less government, helping the market grow through business, helping small businesses.  She said that government was a little out of control and people weren't having a voice anymore and they were interested in educating people about the things the country was founded on.  That is  a pretty good representation of a tea partier, even if she was introduced with a "tirade" graphic. 

What immediately followed that interview were the real tirades:

Reporter Tyson (I missed his last name): Now Tony we've been hearing some really strong opinions from our reporters today, particularly those who are actually opposed to these tea parties.   I want to play a couple for you. There's one that says basically, "It's time to stop whining after eight years of tax breaks."  Another who says "These tea parties are nothing more than a conservative stunt." Let's go ahead and take a listen to these:

Webcam iReport video from Egberto Willies "It is unAmerican for those who have so benefitted from the tax code to want a tax cut at this time.  Most Americans that complain about too many taxes likes to pay very little taxes themselves.  Our roads, bridges and other infrastructure are crumblin'.  Our healthcare system is a disaster.  Do you think this can be fixed by less money into the government coffers?"

Webcam video from David Seeman: "You know the conservatives haven't been very graceful losers in my opinion.  If I wanted to stand around all day long, sipping tea and listening to conservative Republicans whining and lying about how Bush's eight years in office were this time of unprecedented economic prosperity,  this absolute fantasy time that never actually existed in reality, I would probably just turn on Fox News or listen to some good old fashioned crazy right wing radio." 

Tyson:  All right Tony, yeah, pretty powerful. 

Obviously the "absolute fantasy" is that anyone at any of the 800 or so tea parties ever claimed Bush's eight years were times of "unprecedented prosperity."  It is also a mischaracterization to say the tea parties are about people who "likes to pay very little taxes themselves" asking for additional tax breaks.  It is quite apparent who is doing the "whining and lying."  Are these people just absolutely ignorant of what is going on at tea parties or are they intentionally lying and mischaracterizing them?  Are they just repeating what some liberal bloggers have told them the tea parties are all about?

Tracking the Tea Party Crashers

Michelle has a couple of examples of those planning to crash tea parties.   This one from Daily Kos is pretty brazen:

Tomorrow, my husband and I will be venturing into the wilds disguised as a news crew to do some in person interviewers with teabaggers here in Rhode Island (if we can find any). We’ve got some questions lined up to ask, but I’d love to get suggestions!

The great thing about owning professional video equipment is that armed with it, you can pass yourself off as being a professional news crew pretty easily.

So tomorrow, “WSFR” is going to send a cameraman and on air news personality out into the field to cover this “teabagging” phenomenon.

We’re going to ask open ended questions that seem to have a slight conservative bent to (hopefully) get them to open up and just start ranting. Then, we take any examples of racism, hatred, ignorance, and stupidity that we catch on camera and make a little movie out of it. Probably a YouTube special.

Here’s the list we have so far

* What are you celebrating (The Boston Tea Party), and can you explain its historical relevance? [We're hoping to get some hilarious flubs from this one]

* Is this your first time teabagging? [OK, so, a juvenile one, but worth it]

* Do you approve of Michael Steele’s plan to expand the GOP through a “hip-hop urban-suburban marketing strategy”? [hoping to get some juicy racist stuff from this question]

* (as an intentional misunderstanding/follow up, presuming that someone complains about wasteful government spending) “So you disapprove of your tax dollars going to the Iraq War?” [should elicit some confusion]

Anyways, it’s a start… but I’d love to have some suggestions for questions that sound fine, but should prompt an outpouring of crazy.

Thanks in advance, and I’ll be sure to post a link to the finished video when it’s available!

Dan tells tea partiers to show respect for tea party opponents.

Attacking the Tea Party Movement

In my column at Townhall today I look at the attacks many on the left are making on the Tea Party Movement.

The latest attack from the left is not aimed at the Republican party or Michael Steele or Rush Limbaugh, but at Democrat, Republican and Independent Americans across the country who have dared to organize "tea parties" to oppose rising taxes, more government control over private enterprise and less individual liberty.

The Tea Party Movement has caught fire and spread from one end of the country to the other. It has captured the imagination of the conservative grassroots and has taken hold. So far the reaction from the national media has been to downplay or ignore the tea party rallies. Reaction from many on the left most recently is to ridicule and openly attack tea party participants.

According to Michelle Malkin, "Bob Beckel appeared on Fox News this morning to sneer at the nationwide event. He derided tax revolters in Montana, joking that 'It was a good thing it wasn't a vodka party, because I guarantee you they all had guns.'Bigoted Beltway jerk. Beckel also claimed the Tea Parties were 'nothing new' and recycled the debunked Playboy website report (deleted from the site) spreading false and illogical rumors that the grass-roots movement is directed from the GOP, national tax groups, and CNBC."

Melissa Clothier has a related blog post regarding "projection."

Update: At first I thought this was a joke, but it appears to be for real.

PA ACORN is hiring an organizer to recruit & mobilize low and moderate income people to win on a variety of issue based legislative campaigns, including passing health care reform, stopping foreclosures, and increasing resources for local schools. The organizer will also be responsible for working with grassroot leaders to identify local issues for local campaigns.

The organizer would work out of the Pennsylvania ACORN office in Philadelphia with daily travel to specific communities in targeted legislative districts, including Norristown, Upper Darby, & Chester City.

Applicants must be able to demonstrate a commitment to social justice issues, strong work ethic, a commitment to indigenous grassroot leadership, and the ability to work both independently & as part of a team. Previous organizing experience, Spanish, and knowledge of voter databases is also helpful but not required. Starting salary is commensurate with experience and organizer must have valid drivers license and reliable vehicle.

The joke is that this is how liberals staff their protests. I got an email saying Neil Cavuto had a report today about ACORN and others planning to infiltrate the tea parties by carrying racist signs to make the tea party protestors appear racist. And it looks like your tax dollars might be paying for it. Here is the obvious question: If the tea parties are nothing for liberals to worry about, and they are lame, etc., as our lefty commenters here seem to think, then why do those on the left need to crash them and try to make them look like something they aren't? Why is it that so many activists on the left have to be paid to do it? The same question goes for the "community work" done by Americorps "volunteers."