Tag: teaparty

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Politics

Sen. John McCain – The Teaparty Republicans Did It

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) blamed tea party Republicans for the government shutdown during a CNN interview on Wednesday, saying Congress never had a shot at defunding Obamacare.

“We started this on a fool’s errand, convincing so many millions of Americans and our supporters that we could defund Obamacare,” McCain said.

While McCain didn’t name names, he faulted members of Congress — “tea partiers specifically” — for wrongly telling “millions of Americans” that Obamacare can be defunded.

That “obviously wouldn’t happen until we had 67 Republican senators to override a presidential veto,” McCain said.

McCain denounced the fight to defund Obamacare at the cost of a fiscal impasse even before the govenrment shut down last week. McCain called out Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) for his anti-Obamacare speech, and said “the people spoke” when they reelected President Barack Obama in 2012

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Mitch McConnell Politics

Tail Wagging The Dog? The Tea Party Now Challenging The Republican Party

When the Tea Party was first formed and began holding marches with their lies, misrepresentation of the facts and misspelled words, many in the established Republican party kept their mouth shut and in some cases, took the sides of the Teaparty. They felt the Tea Partiers were only fighting the Democrats and in that case, all was well. Well that then. Today, these same members of the established Republican party are facing primary challenges from the Tea Party.

In Kentucky, Mitch McConnell, the party’s Senate leader, is fending off a charismatic and wealthy conservative challenger. In South Carolina, Lindsey Graham, one of the Senate’s most reliably conservative voices on foreign policy, is being painted by primary opponents as a veritable clone of President Obama.

In Tennessee, Tea Party activists have vowed to take out Lamar Alexander, the veteran senator, former cabinet officer and two-time presidential candidate. “Senator Alexander has never been a true conservative,” said Ben Cunningham, president of the Nashville Tea Party. “His support for the amnesty bill has caused great problems for us,” he said, referring to the Senate immigration bill. “He is at best a moderate.”

Tea Party candidates have also emerged in races against Democratic incumbents in Alaska — Joe Miller, who beat Senator Lisa Murkowski in her last primary, has resurfaced — Colorado, Louisiana and North Dakota, and for open seats in Georgia, Iowa and South Dakota. Democrats hope they can benefit from a divided Republican electorate.

The Republican incumbents and party officials say they have learned from the hard lessons of the past when Tea Party candidates from the right were ignored or dismissed, only to prevail in primaries and lose in general elections. They have plans to avoid becoming the next Richard G. Lugar or Robert Bennett, two senior senators who were stunned by losses before the general election.

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Politics

Where’s The Manufactured Outrage Now? IRS Targeted “Progressive” Groups Too

Calling all those “concerned” Tea Partiers and Republicans who cried foul that the IRS targeted Conservative groups. Can you hear me? Are you out there? Here’s another bit of news for you to cry about. Documents released today revealed that the IRS “targeted” Progressives groups too.

Crickets… silence…

The Internal Revenue Service targeted progressive groups applying for tax-exempt status in addition to conservative ones, according to IRS documents released by congressional Democrats on Monday.

The documents and an internal IRS report being sent to congressional committees reveal that the tax agency used terms that included “progressive” and “occupy” to flag progressive organizations for extra scrutiny before the 2012 elections.

The revelations greatly complicate the political scandal that has engulfed the IRS over the past few weeks. An inspector general report in mid-May revealed the tax agency had screened conservative groups with words like “tea party” in their name when considering applications for tax-exempt status. Lawmakers from both parties quickly denounced the creation of such “Be On The Lookout,” or BOLO, lists. Republicans in particular argued the finding proved the IRS was trying to tip the scales of the election during the heat of the campaign.

Apparently, when the talking point was “IRS is targeting the Teaparty,” everyone was up in arms. With the new revelation that Progressive groups were looked at in the same way, no one cares.

Shocked? Me neither.

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News

Question That Broke IRS News Was Planted

The Washington Post is reporting that the question that led Lois Lerner to disclose the IRS’s wrongdoing was planted by none other than Lerner herself.

Celia Roady, the lawyer whose question led Lerner to disclose the committee’s wrongful targeting of conservative groups, said Friday that Lerner asked her to ask the question.

“On May 9, I received a call from Lois Lerner, who told me that she wanted to address an issue after her prepared remarks at the ABA Tax Section’s Exempt Organizations Committee Meeting, and asked if I would pose a question to her after her remarks,” Roady said. “I agreed to do so, and she then gave me the question that I asked at the meeting the next day. We had no discussion thereafter on the topic of the question, nor had we spoken about any of this before I received her call. She did not tell me, and I did not know, how she would answer the question.”

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News Politics taxes

Acting IRS Chief Resigns, Obama Condemns ‘Inexcusible’ Targeting of Tea Party Groups

President Obama announced on Wednesday that the Internal Revenue Service acting commissioner Steven Miller has submitted his resignation for his agency’s “inexcusable” targeting of conservative groups who had applied for tax-exempt status.

“I reviewed the Treasury Department watchdog’s report and the misconduct that it uncovered is inexcusable,” Obama said in the East Room of the White House. “Americans have a right to be angry about it, and I’m angry about it.”

“I will not tolerate this kind of behavior in any agency but especially at the IRS given the power that it has and the reach it has inside of our lives,” he added.

His comments come after the Treasury Inspector General released a report on Tuesday implicating “poor management” for allowing the practice to singling out groups with names like “tea party” or “patriot” in their names for additional scrutiny.

Obama said that he intends to hold the “responsible parties accountable” and pledged to work with Congress and the Treasury department to investigate the problems at the IRS and ensure that it never happens again.

h/t/ – ABCNEWS

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marco rubio Politics Republican State of the Union address

Indecisive Republicans: First Marco Rubio, Then Rand Paul To Respond To State Of Union Address

They’re claiming that Rand Paul will give the Teaparty response to the President’s State of the Union address. His two cents will be added after Florida’s Marco Rubio gives the Republican’s answer to the President.

But who do they think they’re fooling? We all know that the Teaparty is just another tentacle of the octopus that is the Republican party. Let’s hope that this time around, Rand Paul keeps his eye on the right camera and not do what Michele Bachmann did last time around.

“We are giving a voice to the tea party movement when the mainstream media and the Republican establishment wants to write us off as dead,” said Amy Kremer, chairman of the Tea Party Express. This is the third year in a row that Kremer’s organization has sponsored the tea party response.

The dueling GOP speeches come at a time when a very public rift is developing between the Republican establishment and conservative activists over the direction of the party. Some grassroots activists are specifically angry at Karl Rove and other Republicans for stating that they will choose sides in upcoming Republican primaries and only financially help candidates who have a chance of winning in the general election.

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Barack Obama Democratic Mitt Romney Newt Gingrich Politics Rick Santorum White House

So, You Say You Wanna Be President

Word is out that VP Joe Biden is looking to throw his hat into the ring for president in 2016. Not for nothing, but if I were to go with the present mood of the country, I’d have to say that Hillary Rodham Clinton (Stop! We all know she’s running lol!) stands a better chance of becoming the Democratic nominee than the beloved Joe. And it won’t be because Mrs. Clinton is the better politician, or the more experienced legislator or even better liked than Biden. It’s what she isn’t that’s more likely than not going to give her a clearer shot as successor of the Obama Administration.

I don’t think the country has experienced this much diversity since John Fitzgerald Kennedy became the first Irish Catholic American to hold court in the Oval Office. That major feat seems like small potatoes compared to the election of a Barack Hussein Obama to the White house.

Thirteen years into the 21st century and America is slowly showing signs of embracing its diversity, the main reason why its so attractive to others born outside its perceived borders. Whichever way you may wish to see it, for better or for worse, President Obama and his Administration have successfully ushered in The New Vanguard in American politics.

THE ERA OF THE ‘NEW VANGUARD’ IN AMERICAN POLITICS

In the 2009 appointment of his Cabinet members, Obama’s choice of seven women (including Hillary as his Secretary of State), nine racial and ethnic minorities and only eight white men among its 21 members–whose overall age averaged 54 years–made his the most diverse Cabinet in history according to political analysts. It’s predicted that his new Cabinet selections, once completed, will also reflect more accurately what America looks like today.

As it should.

It doesn’t help the resistance to this change, that Americans–particularly the young voters who came of voting age within the last ten years or so–have witnessed the slow, embarrassing decay and deterioration of an antiquated Republican Party. It offers such a clear juxtaposition of how we no longer want our politics to look and act as opposed to what we do want.

Virtually unknown, seemingly untainted and un-corrupted by Big Money lobbyists, grass-rooted, youthful, innovative, broad-minded, humanist, energized and unafraid…these are the adjectives being applied to NewPolitician_5.0!

And just to be fair, Clinton and her people should not consider her a shoe-in for the candidacy in four years (remember how that worked out in ’08? Not so good.) There are quite a few politically aspirant stars out there who have cut their teeth on this new political vibe and are looking to go supernova in the American political galaxy. Gays and Lesbians, Latinos, Asians, young white and black men and women, the secular, the handicapped, Little People and even Mormons!…anyone can step up to the plate at any inning and upset her whole game, hoping for the opportunity to represent America, as seen through their eyes. Whether they’ll be the political trailblazers that these difficult times call for, well–only time will tell.

As it should.

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Racists Teaparty

Teaparty “Jokes” About President Obama Being Beaten

I came across this today on ThinkProgress. It is an email being circulated to members of a Teaparty group in Pennsylvania called Northeast Pennsylvania Spirit of 1776. They call it a “joke” as usual, and this email follows the pattern of other so-called “jokes” by other Republicans and Teaparty members.

The writers of the email called “Our Forefathers Express Their Outrage” wonders what it would be like when President Obama dies and meet the Forefathers in the afterlife.

It is obvious that these people have no respect for the President, but what happened to respect for the office of the President? Apparently all that went out the window when this particular man became president.

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Featured ObamaCare

Teaparty Republican Wishes Colon Cancer on Five Supreme Court Judges

Former Town Councilor Mike Malzone, the founder of the Merrimack Tea Party, said Thursday in a Facebook post reacting to the Supreme Court ruling on health care, “I hope the (5 supremes) get colon cancer.”

A day after posting the message, Malzone said he stands by what he said. He clarified that he doesn’t want anyone to die, and the cancer reference was more to make a point that he wants them to feel the pain being inflicted on Americans being overburdened by taxes.

“I didn’t wish for anyone to die, but I said I do wish for them to feel our pain,” he said. “No one cares about me, they all make their promises and then go do what they goddamn feel.”

Malzone, who briefly considered running against Congressman Frank Guinta, posted the message on the Merrimack Tea Facebook page.

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Racism Teaparty

More Teaparty/Republican Racism – African Americans and Welfare

They call themselves members of the Teaparty. The group believes that they are paying too much taxes and that government spending is out of control.  The group stayed quiet when George Bush took a surplus and turned it into a deficit. Their silence showed that the Teaparty is not really a trustworthy bunch, but more of a political group – easily identifying themselves with the Republican ideology.

The group magically emerged in the Obama presidency – a presidency that has reduced taxes and spending to lower levels than recent Republican administrations. Bankrolled by right-winged businessmen and political figures, the Teaparty saw many of their members voted into Congress in the 2010 elections.

During the 2012 elections when the Teaparty took center stage in American politics, we all remember their many signs calling President Obama a Socialist, Communist American president who was also born in Kenya. And with these outlandish claims and a media led by the Fair and Balanced Fox News spending the entire election year covering various Teaparty Townhall uprising, the Teaparty’s message found favor with many voting Americans.

But the Teaparty is also plagued with blatant racists, some of which we have detailed here, here and here.  And now this:

The Baxter Bulletin in north-central Arkansas reported that Inge Marler made the comments at the annual rally of the Ozark Tea Party. The remarks, which suggested that African-Americans are on welfare, were condemned by Tea Party leaders in the state. The Bulletin reported that the condemnation came after they contacted the Tea Party for comment.

The Bulletin reports that Marler, who told the newspaper she would stop using the joke, said the following as an ice-breaker in her speech:

“A black kid asks his mom, ‘Mama, what’s a democracy?’“‘Well, son, that be when white folks work every day so us po’ folks can get all our benefits.’

“‘But mama, don’t the white folk get mad about that?’

“‘They sho do, son. They sho do. And that’s called racism.’”

Video:

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Politics Rape Republican war on women

High-Ranking Member of the Teaparty Accused of Kidnapping and Rape

So this must be what they mean when they engage in the war on women. Here is one of the high-ranking members of the Teaparty, behaving rather badly. His actions cannot be considered as having tea with his victim… no… it’s more like kidnap and rape.

His name is Michael John Kobulnicky, the public relations director for the San Diego Tea Party, and this is his contribution to the War on Women;

According to East County Magazine, Michael John Kobulnicky is accused of offering a woman a ride on February 25, but instead of taking her home, he drove to secluded island, pulled the victim out of the vehicle, sexually assaulted her, and left her in the sand. San Diego Police Lt. Andra Brown said, “He dragged her out of the car and sexually assaulted her pretty brutally.”

East County Magazine reports:

“He dragged her out of the car and sexually assaulted her pretty brutally,” San Diego Police Lt. Andra Brown told ECM news partner 10 News in late February, shortly after the February 25 assault occurred…

After Kobulnicky’s arrest, the San Diego Tea Party issued a statement indicating that Kobulnicky took leave the group in January for personal reasons and had not been in touch since then, the San Diego Union-Tribune reports. He has been removed from his position while the legal process runs its course, the statement said, adding that “”Our hearts and our thoughts go out to the victim.”

…According to his website, Kobulnicky supports Christian values, is a father of five sons, and is co-founder and president of the National Council of Americans, Inc, a nonprofit that helps youths.

…He is charged with rape, kidnapping, and forcible sex with a foreign object. Evidence includes surveillance video shot at a local convenience store shortly before the kidnapping occurred. Kobulnicky is being held without bail pending arraignment on Monday.

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Christian Politics right winged

The Conservative Wave Is Cresting: Next Comes the Crash

If you listen carefully, you can hear it gathering momentum, foam, vitriol, recrimination and self-serving hypocrisy. It’s the conservative wave roaring towards the beach, cresting and ready to crash. The 2012 election will be the beginning of the end for the far-right conservatives and, like the liberals who didn’t see their wave tumble in 1984, will likely lead to an even uglier aftermath. Republicans are angry now: Imagine what will happen if they lose another presidential election this year (and they will), especially if they’re able to hold on to the House and take back the Senate. So close, yet so far.

The conservative Republican era that began in 1980 and tilted the country to the right had a good run if you supported the cause, but it was never able to achieve its stated goals of severely scaling back government, ending the New Deal and Great Society programs, overturning Roe v. Wade, and ending the progressive tax structure (though they’ve come pretty close with this one). They built up the military and got a Democratic president to end welfare, passed a too-expensive Medicare prescription plan and raised taxes enough to begin to pay off the deficit, though that cost George H. W. Bush his reelection.

The era lasted because Ronald Reagan and both Bushes were able to tame the party’s conflicting passions. Reagan galvanized the economic old guard GOP while paying lip service to the religious conservatives led by Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson. Reagan was never a religious person but he talked the talk well enough to keep the support of Christian conservatives, and really, where else were they going to go? That he was able to raise taxes, reform Social Security and work with liberal Democrats speaks to his political skills. The Bushes had a mixed record with the party’s disparate groups. George H.W. inherited Reagan’s mantle, but he was considered suspect on abortion. W. was more conservative, but still did not fight all that hard for the religious agenda.

Of course, the damage that all three presidents did with their hostility to government, marginalization of gays and women, and their Supreme Court choices will endure for many years.

The more recent history of the movement shows most conclusively that it is indeed on its wheezing last breath. The public still sees the Republican Party as the architect of the economic disaster of 2008, and as the economy improves President Obama will get the lion’s share of the rewards. More people support marriage equality than oppose it and the recent flap over contraception shows that the GOP is out of touch with the way most Americans, especially women, view both the birth control and religious issues.

That brings us to why this is the beginning of the end.

The far right wing of the Republican Party is driving the party’s agenda and there’s not one candidate who’s shown they can corral the competing factions. Conservative reaction to Mitt Romney ranges from suspect to hostile and none of the other candidates can claim the right’s support. Yet. That might change as Rick Santorum showed in winning three non-binding primaries last week.

If anything, the nomination battle has proven that the movement has splintered along economic, social and religious lines. Many of the proposals we’ve heard are meant to appeal to the far fringe Tea Party wing of the party (Ron Paul) or to the religious conservatives (Santorum and Gingrich). Romney’s attempts to appeal to the center while throwing the right some scraps on abortion and taxes have so far fallen short of gaining wide acceptance.

None of the candidates would take the deal that offered $10 in budget cuts for $1 in tax increases. Some in the party still question President Obama’s citizenship and religion, and the candidates accuse him of the most outlandish things: anti-religion, creating a communist state, forsaking Israel, and wanting Iran to get a nuclear weapon.

It’s an extreme agenda to say the least, and it will lead to the GOP’s crash. History shows that when you lose the middle of your constituency, you lose your mandate to govern. The Republican Party is on that path.

My sense is that this will all be exposed during the general election campaign and, combined with an improving economy, will result in Obama’s reelection. The 2010 Congressional elections resulted in redistricting that solidified the Republican’s majorities in the House, though Tea Party seats are certainly up for grabs in many districts, and the Democrats have to defend too many Senate seats to count on continued control of that chamber. Conservatives will still hold sway on many issues, but the wave is over. The United States won’t become more liberal, but it will become less conservative and less extreme. Most Republicans probably don’t see this trend coming, and it’s already too late to stop it.

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