Quote of the Day

"Billion dollar corporations paying to organize people so they'll complain about taxes also isn't a revolution. It's what billion dollar corporations do. They only pray they'll find customers gullible enough to not realize they're being used as pawns. But then, that's why God created marketing departments, to come up with a cute, endearing 'Tea Party' brand name ('New! Improved! From the Makers of the John Birch Society!') and bamboozle otherwise mature people into dressing up. And flim-flam them into seriously believing that they're not only part of something, they're part of a 'Revolution!' -- Robert J. Elisberg, writing in the Huffington Post, contrasting events in Egypt with the lame "Tea Party" charade.

A Teatardist's Awakening?

More on the tea party front! The Kaplan Daily ran a long piece the other day about a tea party activist named Gena Bell that reveals the extent to which Ms. Bell and other naive teatards are being used by the likes of "Americans for Prosperity." ("Americans for Prosperity," you may recall, is an astro-turf far-right organization funded by the billionaire Koch brothers for the express purpose of derailing the Obama agenda.) Ms. Bell and fellow teatard sheeple were invited by "Americans for Prosperity" to be a rent-a-crowd for a demonstration AFP was organizing at the climate change conference held recently in Cancun, Mexico. Expenses paid.

It appears from the article, though, that the astro-turfers need to do a better job of keeping the wool pulled over their sheeples' eyes. At some point, it dawned on Ms. Bell that the Koch Brothers' agenda and hers might be different (she's said to have "felt like a prop for Americans for Prosperity"). Can I get a "Duh!" Wait until the new session of Congress gets underway, Ms. Bell; you'll get a chance to see what it's like to feel like a prop for House Rethugs, too!

(Image: "We is not 'morans,' we is competnt!")

Weak Tea

E.J. Dionne has a great op-ed article today in the WaPo / Kaplan Daily on the "fast one" being pulled by the Tea Farty on the public and mainstream media. He cites the total number of wingnuts who have voted in the Rethug primaries in Alaska and Delaware for teatards (86,441), as well as polls showing that around 6% of voters had attended a teabagger rally or meeting. Contrast those numbers with the out-of-proportion coverage in the media and influence on Rethug politics. Even more ominous is the all but unmentioned backing the "grass roots populist" teabaggers are receiving from billionaires like the Koch brothers, who are happy to have these wingers do their lobbying for them, from the lobbying firm FreedomWorks (Dick "Major Dick" Armey's group), and from the Fux Network.

As Dionne concludes, it's about time for progressives and the media to call them out on their "scam."

(photo: "Crazy" like a Fux)

Have Some Champagne With Your Tea

From the beginning of its existence, the tea bagger "movement" has been organized, funded and supported by such right-wing corporate lobbying groups as FreedomWorks (Dick "Major Dick" Armey) and Americans For Prosperity (not yours, theirs). It's been an effort to appear "grass roots" rather than the corporate "astro-turf" movement they happen to be. Rupert Murdoch's Fux Channel has been the megaphone and message communications vehicle, along with the usual suspects in hate radio.

One of the groups, Americans for Prosperity, was launched by billionaire right wing activist David Koch, of Koch Industries to push an agenda that would favor the super-rich (e.g., blocking the reinstatement of the estate tax, which affects less than 1% of the public). His spokespeople are claiming credit for propping up the tea bag movement. So -- surprise, surprise! -- the clueless tea baggers are nothing more than a means to an end: to keep people like David Koch rolling in his billions, even if it takes food out of their own mouths.