[Vision2020] This Tea Party Bag is Getting Toxic

[Ted Moffett]

I assume this article is written by the same Kathleen Parker (if not,
please enlighten) who co-hosted a CNN political discussion show with
Eliot Spitzer, that has been canceled, unfortunately.  It was one of
the most thoughful and intelligent political discussion shows in the
desert of mainstream media.  First CNN dropped Parker, then gave up on
Spitzer, due to "subpar ratings," as the story at the website below
relates... If the public votes with their remotes for dumbed down
media, that's what they'll get...

http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/2011/07/eliot_spitzer_cancelled_in_the_arena_cnn.php

Eliot Spitzer CNN Show, In the Arena, Cancelled, Freeing Him Up to Run NYC
By Joe Coscarelli Wed., Jul. 6 2011 at 1:34 PM

After a prolonged period of subpar ratings, even canning cohost
Kathleen Parker (and changing the show's name) couldn't save CNN's In
the Arena, where our former, prostitute-loving governor Eliot Spitzer
did his redemption time, however brief. The network announced today
that the program is being scrapped, with Anderson Cooper's show moving
to the 8 p.m. slot, thereby giving Spitzer plenty of free time to
eventually become the mayor of New York City (or so the thinkpieces
will wonder!), while the man previously slotted for that job
post-Bloomberg, Anthony Weiner, he too a tad too horny for public
office, can cycle onto the cable networks, bluster a bit and if he
does it all right, service his ego once again with a place in
politics. If you can make it here... you can screw up, fail and then
come back later.
------------------------------------------
Vision2020 Post: Ted Moffett

On 7/31/11, Tom Hansen <thansen at moscow.com> wrote:

> Courtesy of today's (July 31, 2011) Spokesman-Review.
>
> ------------------------------
>
> This tea party bag is getting toxic
> By Kathleen Parker, Spokesman-Review
>
> Fragging: “To intentionally kill or wound (one’s superior officer, etc.),
> esp. with a hand grenade.”
>
> WASHINGTON – Take names. Remember them. The behavior of certain Republicans
> who call themselves tea party conservatives are the most destructive posse
> of misguided “patriots” we’ve seen in recent memory.
>
> If the nation defaults on its financial obligations, the blame belongs to
> the tea party Republicans who fragged their own leader, John Boehner. They
> had victory in their hands and couldn’t bring themselves to support his
> debt-ceiling plan, which, if not perfect, was more than anyone could have
> imagined just a few months ago. No new taxes, significant spending cuts, a
> temporary debt-ceiling solution with the possibility of more spending cuts
> down the line as well as their beloved constitutional balanced-budget
> amendment.
>
> These people wouldn’t recognize a hot fudge sundae if the cherry started
> talking to them.
>
> The tick-tock of the debt ceiling debate is too long for this space, but the
> bottom line is that the tea party got too full of itself with help from
> certain characters whose names you’ll want to remember when things go south.
> They include, among others, media personalities who need no further
> recognition; a handful of media-created “leaders,” including Tea Party
> Nation founder Judson Phillips and Tea Party Patriots co-founders Jenny Beth
> Martin and Mark Meckler (both Phillips and Martin declared bankruptcy, yet
> they’re advising tea party Republicans on debt?); a handful of outside
> groups who love to hurl ad hominems such as “elite” and “inside the Beltway”
> when talking about people like Boehner when they are, in fact, the elite
> (FreedomWorks, Heritage Action, Club for Growth, National Taxpayers Union,
> Americans for Prosperity); and elected leaders such as Minnesota Rep.
> Michele Bachmann, Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan, head of the Republican Study
> Committee, and South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint, who grandstand and make
> political assertions and promises that are sheer fantasy.
>
> Meanwhile, freshman congressmen have been targeted and pressured by some of
> the aforementioned groups to vote against Boehner’s plan. South Carolina’s
> contingent was so troubled, they repaired to the chapel Thursday to pray and
> emerged promising to vote no. Why? Not because Jesus told them to, but
> because they’re scared to death that DeMint will “primary” them – find
> someone in their own party to challenge them.
>
> Where did they get an idea like that? Look no further than Sarah Palin’s
> Facebook page, where she warned freshmen about contested primaries and urged
> them to “remember us ‘little people’ who believed in them, donated to their
> campaigns, spent hours tirelessly volunteering for them, and trusted them
> with our votes.” Her close: “P.S. Everyone I talk to still believes in
> contested primaries.” While they’re at it, they also should remember that
> Palin came to the tea party long after the invitations went out. The woman
> knows where to hitch a wagon.
>
> Unfortunately for the country, which is poised to lose its place as the
> world’s most-trusted treasury and suffer economic repercussions we can ill
> afford, the stakes in this political game are too high to be in the hands of
> tea partyers who mistakenly think they have a mandate. Their sweep in the
> 2010 election was the exclusive result of anti-Obama sentiment and the sense
> that the president, in creating a health care plan instead of focusing on
> jobs, had overplayed his hand. Invariably, as political pendulums swing, the
> victors become the very thing they sought to defeat.
>
> Who’s overplaying their hand now?
>
> It must be said that the tea party has not been monolithic – and the true
> grass-roots shouldn’t be conflated with leaders who disastrously signed on
> to the so-called “Cut, Cap and Balance” pledge. What is it with Republicans
> and their silly pledges? Didn’t get enough Scouting? This pledge now has
> them hog-tied to a promise they can’t keep – the constitutional
> balanced-budget amendment. As many as a third desperately want a pardon from
> that commitment, according to sources close to the action.
>
> Hubris is no one’s friend and irony is a nag. The tea partyers who wanted to
> oust Barack Obama have greatly enhanced his chances for re-election by
> undermining their own leader and damaging the country in the process. The
> debt ceiling may have been raised and the crisis averted by the time this
> column appears, but that event should not erase the memory of what
> transpired. The tea party was a movement that changed the conversation in
> Washington, but it has steeped too long and has become toxic.
>
> It’s time to toss it out.
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Seeya round town, Moscow.
>
> Tom Hansen
> Moscow, Idaho
>
> "The Pessimist complains about the wind, the Optimist expects it to change
> and the Realist adjusts his sails."
>
> - Unknown
>
>