Friday, May 21, 2010
Rand Paul the Tea Party-Pooper
For anyone who doubts that the Tea Party is nothing more than a radical right-wing fringe of the GOP and will self-implode, take a gander at Rand Paul. Just 48 hours into his self-described "huge" Tea Party victory Tuesday, the Kentucky Senate primary winner and loose-lipped Libertarian has already demonstrated the sort of reckless, election-sabotaging behavior that mainstream Republicans like Sen. Mitch McConnell (KY) and Sen. Jon Kyl (AZ) have feared.
The latest Tea Party brewhaha involving Paul is his convoluted views of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 in which he believes private businesses should have the right to bar from their premises whoever they choose. On MSNBC's Rachel Maddow Show Wednesday night, Maddow asked if those establishments had the right to refuse service to blacks. "Yes," Paul astonishingly replied. Since then, he's taken a lot of heat from party officials shaking in their boots over his self-destructive views. Radical positions that include raising the Social Security retirement age to 70 and questioning the legality of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Rand's bizarre civil rights stand this week illustrates just how loony this movement is and how politically dangerous its candidates will be. McConnell, Kyl and others have good reason to be afraid. They've allowed the smallest faction of their party--led by rabble-rousing blabbermouths like Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin--to become the loudest, most influential voice in the room. This renegade band of populist impostors have hijacked the party and redefined it, purging its roster of anyone not of the extreme right wing fringe. You know the GOP's in some serious trouble when the likes of McConnell, Kyl and John McCain appear like the party's moderates.
As I wrote earlier this week, all Paul's victory showed is that the squeaky Tea Bag wheel got the Republican oil. He was victorious only in a Republican-on-Republican feeding frenzy. And in just two days he's demonstrated what an absolute joke his candidacy can and will be come November when facing a Democrat. A Democrat, mind you, who sees nothing at all wrong with blacks eating at a luncheonette counter with whites. Hard to believe we're still actually debating this racist shit in 2010. For that we can thank Mr. "Huge Victory" Paul and his narrow-minded Tea Bag bigots...
One thing's clear: the hypocrisy that permeates the Republican Party also can be found in the "grass roots" Tea Party movement. Case in point, Paul's decision to hold his victory celebration at an exclusive, tony country club in Bowling Green. White men--even the populist Tea Bagger kind--sure do love their golf, don't they.
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5 comments:
It does seem the candidates endorsed by the tea party and Sarah Palin are tanking in other primaries. Look at Nevada and California as examples.
The extremists who have taken over the Republican party are making the takeover of Congress seem less likely. Tacking right for a primary victory appears to be a losing proposition this cycle.
The Tea Baggers may well implode as an organization, but the door remains open for an opportunist (such as Newtie-Pootie or Dick Armey) to pick up their reins and organize the American Freicorps.
Several pundits I've recently read warn against thoughtlessly dismissing the Tea Baggers. Chris Hayes, for instance, warns against taking the Tea Baggers lightly the threat as they pose the potential for a populist fascist movement. Naomi Wolf speaks warmly of what the Tea Baggers have begun being the template the Left should follow. Even Noam Chomsky warns against dismissing what the Tea Baggers represent.
Despite the outcome of the elections this week, November is still the Democrats' to lose. The poor job figures released yesterday point out just one of Obama's shortcomings for which the Democrats will pay the cost demanded by the voters. The fact that GOP candidates are also up against a tough and angry electorate doesn't diminish the potential for a smarter Rand Paul to rise from the ashes of the Reaganite GOP and maneuver to take control in a future election. It doesn't have to be this November, just one coming soon.
I for one take this prospect VERY seriously. I know about how the Weimar Republic led to Hitler. I can see how closely modern America parallels that sorry chapter in history.
No danger from the Tea Party since, as did Hitler, the government would have to get total control, not the "people" as represemted bu the Tea Party. More government control -- not less is what empowers dictators.
I think the crude use of "tea baggers" is at the least an embarrassment that the level of refinement has sunk so low.
If you see a company that supports Rand Paul, ask them if they are doing it because they feel they have a right to discriminate?
9:44 AM
The tea baggers themselves chose the name tea baggers.
If it is crude, they are the ones you should take it up with.
They will always be tea baggers to me.
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