Could the tea party movement become a third party?

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"how can they do a better job?"

by seanferd · 11 years ago In reply to Could the tea party movem ...

They can leave the Republican Party, along with the neocons, and maybe we'll see a sane Republican party again.

Not that I think anything about the party system isn't dysfunctional at the core.

The teabaggers are just looneycons.

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I can agree with that

by AV . · 11 years ago In reply to "how can they do a better ...

I don't like the fact that the Republicans are accepting these extreme radicals into the party. Maybe they have no choice, but I wouldn't vote for any of them.

The tea party people have some clout and money, though, but all they seem to stand for is throwing out all incumbents. Not a bad idea in some cases, but the replacements are even more scary.

The tea party had an opportunity to be a real grassroots, sane alternative to our other parties, but, you're right, they are looneycons along with their Queen, Sarah Palin.

AV

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The biggest problem is that they are fear-based.

by seanferd · 11 years ago In reply to I can agree with that

And there doesn't seem to be much else to them.

Sure, I'm all for smaller gov, but these people, touting their brand of freedom, would actually rule with an iron fist once they set up their fundamentalist regime. They are not rational. Which is sad, because if they made any sense, it might be a decent movement, if not party.

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AV

by santeewelding · 11 years ago In reply to Could the tea party movem ...

Their strategists, I recall reading, will have nothing to do with the sort, i.e., a "party". Nor, as far as I read, is there a president, speaker-in-chief, or CEO.

More, like, cells.

Harder to get a handle and defeat them that way.

You, Seanferd, need to get a handle other than the one you reveal.

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For me, perhaps.

by seanferd · 11 years ago In reply to AV

It will have to be a long enough handle, with something interesting at the distal end.

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Distal

by santeewelding · 11 years ago In reply to For me, perhaps.

Stay away from that word.

Intimates that you know to both treat and at the same time report MOI and NOI of your patient in the field to other, competent medical authority, lifesaving meanwhile the best you can.

Quirk of English.

Cf., "hack" and "hacker", and all that brouhaha.

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Terminal.

by seanferd · 11 years ago In reply to Distal

So as not to infringe anatomical terms claimed as IP by military medicine. I assume this covers usage relative to a midline of the <s>organism's</s> patient's bauplan, as well as usage in a self-referential manner, especially in terms of appendages. And let us completely avoid here the other interesting situations of bipedal tetrapods, certainly, or I may have to license some words.

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Better

by AnsuGisalas · 11 years ago In reply to Terminal.

Replace distal with business.
The cell structure is revealing... it's what al qaeda uses too. The goonmasters finally learned how to avoid things like that former majority whip from texas... you know, whatshisface. One that got nailed on campaign funding issues or tax fraud or something similarly accountable.

They now keep their puppets and their puppeteers seperate. Remote automation, by way of the LCD knee-jerk.

At least that's how it seems to me, being paranoid. I wouldn't handle them without something with a business end. Preferably something with long range and fire-and-forget capability.

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Unofficially, their head is Sarah Palin

by AV . · 11 years ago In reply to AV

In my opinion, anyway. When she was running for VP with John McCain, I initially thought she had some substance, but it soon became apparent that she was not a good choice.

The tea party people are separate cells at this point, but I'm not sure it will benefit them in the long run. It seems like they're good at going after some incumbents, but the candidates they back aren't very good.

I feel very sorry for Delaware if Christine O'Donnell becomes their next senator. I still can't believe anyone would vote for her.

AV

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Not as they're currently (dis)organized.

by CharlieSpencer · 11 years ago In reply to Could the tea party movem ...

There's no leadership or national agenda. Most of the quotations I've heard disavow any desire for centralized organization. The lack of such is why I don't see the movement lasting beyond the current election cycle.

While I agree with some of their positions, there are issues that work against my involvement. First, I've heard no official platform or proposed solutions. Here in SC it appears to be a movement strictly about blowing off steam, complaining but not offering any solid, actionable (legislatable) ideas. Without a national platform, they'll remain effective only at the state level. Without state leadership, they won't remain effective long.

Second, the lack of a central core of defined principles and the encouragement of anyone dissatisfied with 'the system' is bringing in participants I cannot work along side (white supremacists, secessionists, religious radicals).

Third, I cannot take seriously any movement that so highly regards Sarah Palin. I regard her as a lightweight the Republican party pulled from obscurity only for her appeal to women voters and Second Amendment supporters. She brought no political assets I could see beyond a steady aim and a uterus. Her appeal to the very rightmost section of the party, the apparent core of the Tea Party movement, is now working against the party that brought her to attention in the first place.

I read an editorial this weekend that resurrected one of William F. Buckley's principles: primaries should be use to select the most ELECTABLE conservative candidate. So far, the Tea Party supporters appear to be electing primary winners without regard to their general election chances. We'll see in November, and again in 2012. I'm betting they'll be gone or greatly reduced, like Ross Perot's followers.

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