Wednesday, January 02, 2013

HOW THE NUTTY HAVE FALLEN.

One of the original Tea Party spielers, Patrick Michael Leahy, was telling Americans in the week before the 2012 Presidential election that
in key swing states, the vaunted Obama ground game is being out-worked and out-organized by a loosely knit coalition of volunteer grassroots activists (both local and out-of-state), traditional conservative organizations like Americans for Prosperity and FreedomWorks, and the local and national Republican establishment...
With so many grassroots activists going door-to-door in swing states around the country, it's not surprising that optimism among conservatives for a Romney victory on November 6 are high.
Proving that professional bullshit artists are always in demand, here's Leahy today, claiming that the Tea Party's as powerful as ever and anyone who says different is double Alinsky Sociamalist:
Consider, for instance, the spontaneous outpouring of public support for Chick-Fil-et in August, and September's National Empty Chair Day phenomenon. Those strong sentiments have not suddenly disappeared. They remain fixed in the hearts and minds of millions of tea party activists around the country as we enter 2013.
Tell me, is there a degree below Pyrrhic victory? If not maybe we should name it after Leahy.

Even better is the follow-up. "There's polling evidence to consider as well," says Leahy. And that polling evidence shows the Tea Party rushing to join the Know-Nothings and the Anti-Masonic Party on history's D-list. But Leahy tastes the lemonade: "The 21% of the 128 million Americans who voted in 2012 and support the tea party," he offers, "still comprise a very large segment of the population --more than 26 million activists." 30% disapprove, true, but they're not activists -- merely moochers, too busy spending their government assistance checks to go hollering in tricorners, which is the key to victory.

Since this equity is clearly pissed out, we should start placing bets on the new niche brand they'll bring out in the next few elections. Five bucks says it'll involve a new kind of patriotism.

67 comments:

  1. zencomix1:01 PM

    Leahy goes to Chick-Fil-et Chick-Fil-A like David Brooks goes to Applebee's.

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  2. Jay B.1:02 PM

    They remain fixed in the hearts and minds of millions of tea party activists around the country as we enter 2013.



    Ah yes, the Battle of the Hard Arteries against the Rainbow Coalition and The Charge of the Eastwood Brigades -- two epic, poem-worthy sacrifices of men's souls.

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  3. aimai1:24 PM

    They are really fixated on this idea of visible enthusiasm as proof of something. Romney and his people said the same thing "look at all the crowds at our airport stops!" They really don't begin to grasp just how big the country is, or how many people it takes to push an election over the top. Obama won by 4 million people. A couple of hundred, or even a couple of thousand, at a Romney campaign or a Chik-Fil-A event is simply in the noise.


    aimai

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  4. parsec1:25 PM

    "Since this equity is clearly pissed out ...." Helped by a raid on their treasury by the Dread Pirate Dick.

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  5. Roy T.1:29 PM

    I still say the key is growing the base by breeding or cloning more angry straight white men. In a Korean lab. All it takes is money and an utter lack of humanity, which they have a lock on.

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  6. Halloween_Jack1:32 PM

    The problem is when the tubes get contaminated with the PSY allele and the resultant clones get to a certain point in their lives and spontaneously start doing that wacky dance.

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  7. PulletSurprise1:38 PM

    Of course, in the wingnut hive mind, the visible enthusiasm for the Occupy Wall Street movement was indicative of nothing. An Aaron Burr cosplay witnessed by dozens? REVOLUTIONARY!

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  8. Halloween_Jack1:39 PM

    Interesting that he's pegging a bunch of homophobes lining up for a greasy chicken sandwich as an event of some sort of significance to the Tea Party. And the attempt to spin Eastwood's jaw-dropping fiasco of a speech into something not as fiascic (sp?) convinced absolutely no one anywhere near being on the fence that it wasn't significant of anything more than that there's probably a point in your life when you really shouldn't take up improv. But regardless of actual electoral success, or the lack of same, Leahy has that can-do hucksterism that all but guarantees that he'll get paid regardless. Maybe he'll convince the teabaggers that the proposed Hobby Lobby boycott means they should buy more yarn...

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  9. aimai1:45 PM

    Leave us not forget George Bush on the massive Anti-war protests before the Iraq War--"just a public opinion poll."


    aimai

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  10. montag21:57 PM

    True enough, but the object, of course, is to once again deceive. Leahy implies that a simulacrum of a majority is almost the same thing as a majority, and that appearances are everything.



    It may be self-deceit at work, but, given the last couple of years, I'd guess it's more an attempt to keep media buzz going about the Tea Party. The Tea Partiers were pretty much lifted up by the news media way beyond their normal stature, and I'm sure that the not-undead in the organization understand that.

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  11. sharculese2:06 PM

    I eagerly await Glenn Reynolds telling us where zerg rushing shows up in the Constitution.

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  12. sharculese2:08 PM

    I tried to think of a bigger 'victory' these folks had than getting people to line up for fried reheated chicken part amalgam, but no... that was it.


    And of course, for all their efforts, gay marriage still ran the table in November.

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  13. montag22:24 PM

    I wouldn't be one to take that bet, if only because the money men behind these organizations are fuckin' froot loops, and the money they've put into them is miniscule compared to their overall resources--there's more where that came from. I mean, hell, squinty-eyed Clint Murchison and bug-brained H.L. Hunt were sane compared to this latest crop of corporate vandals.


    It's their vision of a libertarian paradise that matters, not that of the rank-and-file Party Poopers. They saw that the strategy worked, if briefly, to gain footsoldiers in their march to Somalia-on-the-Potomac, and the next iteration, whatever it is, will likely be a doozy. Organizations are a reflection of their leadership, and the leadership in this case is composed of a bunch of loonies.

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  14. PulletSurprise2:35 PM

    Why Korea? I think this may be why Rush Limbaugh went to the Dominican Republic with a pallet of Viagra in tow.

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  15. smut clyde2:36 PM

    the spontaneous outpouring of public support for Chick-Fil-et in
    August, and September's National Empty Chair Day phenomenon. Those
    strong sentiments have not suddenly disappeared. They remain fixed in
    the hearts and minds of millions



    The North Korean News Agency is missing a writer.

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  16. "The 21% of the 128 million Americans who voted in 2012 and support the tea party..."

    Because supporting the Tea Party, like supporting the troops, is an empty gesture that costs the voters nothing. They don't have to make a sacrifice or even volunteer to do anything to "support the Tea Party" but be angry and ill-informed. And thanks to the GOP and FoxNews, that's easier now than ever before.

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  17. This is the party of faith over acts, after all.

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  18. "we cannot sum up a political campaign with a bunch of numbers on a computer screen, alright? we need to look into our hearts, and go, 'do i think this movement is gonna die in a few years, or not?' is old freedomworks here gonna fight off a man with the last name 'reaper,' first name, 'grim'?
    or will this base jumping...crocodile wrestling...shark-diving...volcano-luging...BEAR FIGHTING, SNAKE WRANGLING, MOTORCROSS RACING BASTARD DIE?
    the answer, is no, friends...which is why myself, patrick michael leahy, zombie andrew breitbart, ben shapiro and friends are willing to lay our asses on the line and proudly recommend that big hollywood, hotair.com, and twitchy receive $50 million for a duration of no less than Twenty. Years.
    whaddya think guys?!"
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJckGOSkTG0

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  19. this is part of the problem. one of the things we were arguing in a money-in-politics campaign i worked as an organizer on was that the amount of money sheldon adelson et al could drop on candidates, ballot initiatives, and campaigns was fairly fungible - that in effect, it's just another cost of doing business that they calculate along with lawyers, accountants, and personal security.

    if there is any upshot to citizens united -and yes, i know it's the culmination of 40 years of bad law and weak lege - but if there's any upshot to it, it's that it showcased just who it is that bankrolls campaigns and candidates in american politics today. how this ends up getting interpreted or communicated is another matter...

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  20. jazzbumpa3:50 PM

    The chicken sandwich is actually quite good.

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  21. Big_Bad_Bald_Bastard3:55 PM

    It's too bad that Mr Leahy can't get a job as Iraqi Information Minister.

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  22. Fats Durston3:55 PM

    Charge of the Eastwood Brigades

    Theirs not to reason at all,
    Theirs but to doo-doo and bawl...

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  23. Big_Bad_Bald_Bastard3:57 PM

    Getting millions of angry white Southerners to buy sub-par fried chicken sandwiches is hardly an accomplishment to be proud of.

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  24. I want to lose an early-morning duel to this comment.

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  25. Big_Bad_Bald_Bastard3:59 PM

    "The 21% of the 128 million Americans who voted in 2012 and support the tea party," he offers, "still comprise a very large segment of the population --more than 26 million activists."
    More like 26 million sheep to be fleeced by the grifters.

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  26. Deggjr4:02 PM

    Perhaps Leahy was confused by the Canadian subsidiary, Chick-fil-eh.

    Sorry.

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  27. Big_Bad_Bald_Bastard4:02 PM

    he's pegging a bunch of homophobes
    Heh, indeed.

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  28. Big_Bad_Bald_Bastard4:07 PM

    Is Eastwood still in their good graces, or do they see him as some sort of deep-cover Hollyweird Alinskyite?

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  29. Re: the next thing - I'm sure they're working on it, they're just having difficulty finding a factory in China that will let them actually shit *on* the workers making the brown shirts...

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  30. Leeds man4:52 PM

    Fiascal cliff

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  31. tigrismus6:03 PM

    September's National Empty Chair Day phenomenon

    Was this a thing? Is there a threshold for "phenomenon" status?

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  32. TomParmenter6:05 PM

    Most accounts of September's National Empty Chair Day phenomenon inexplicably omit the spontaneous gesture of giving the chairs to the poor at the end of the gala.

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  33. chuckling6:13 PM

    Get realistic. Everybody knows ACORN stole the election for Obama.

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  34. TGuerrant6:34 PM

    Vince Vaughn? C'mon, Leahy - get serious and get Patricia Heaton. She's done commercials for Acme. You know, ACME. WIley Coyote's fav supplier.

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  35. TGuerrant6:37 PM

    Oh. Totally on the wrong thread. Patricia and I are leaving now...

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  36. Well, that's wingnut math. For every turbaned cabbie they encounter there are a thousand sneaky jihadists lurking in the shadows. Ergo, for every hateful, tea-bagging, aristocrat fanboy, there must be a gazillion fools to vote against their self-interest. Gawdluvem.

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  37. Jimcima6:56 PM

    the spontaneous outpouring of public support for Chick-Fil-et in August

    Wow, has it really been almost six months since myself and my friends and family haven't purchased a single thing from Chic-Fil-A?

    Time flies.

    I wonder if Leahy has considered how much easier it is to not patronize a business out of protest than to regularly "eat mor chikin to punish the homos".

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  38. Big_Bad_Bald_Bastard8:00 PM

    Wow, has it really been almost six months since myself and my friends and family haven't purchased a single thing from Chic-Fil-A?
    I bet the old arteries are feeling cleaner and more supple.

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  39. "Tell me, is there a degree below Pyrrhic victory?"
    I think the real question is, is there a degree below "empty gesture that would be more trouble than it was worth, even if it was worth something."


    They had to eat at a Chick-Fil-A for their demonstration. We had to not. Suckers!

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  40. aimai8:49 PM

    Also, as of today, the official vote tallies are in: Obama 51 percent, Romney 47 percent. Excuse me while I....aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah. Ok, I'm back. That's a fuckload of people-not-at-airport-hangers who turned out to vote.

    aimai

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  41. aimai8:50 PM

    I just have to say, BBBB, you really are bald.

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  42. Excuse me while I....aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah.


    [Scoots stool closer]


    Go on ...

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  43. AGoodQuestion9:59 PM

    The counter-boycott cheerled by Mike Huckabee and the Daily Caller was spontaneous?


    You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.

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  44. AGoodQuestion10:04 PM

    Excuse me while I....aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah. Is that what kissing the sky sounds like?

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  45. Spaghetti Lee10:22 PM

    Just for comparison's sake, I googled '21% of Americans believe in'. 'Witches' and 'the ability to communicate with the dead' were two results, so, um, congratulations, Tea Party? Clearly, this is a message to run Christine O'Donnell and Andrew Breitbart in 2016.

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  46. FMguru10:23 PM

    Sure, we lost the election, and seats in the house and senate, but remember that one day where we all stood in line for a bad chicken sandwich? The liberals will never take that away from us.

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  47. Yeah, I would have thought the best time for mass action was Election Day, but millions of teabaggers obviously thought differently ... and how. Maybe come the summer of 2014, liberals can secretly provoke a "Line up at Hobby Lobby to Demonstrate We're Bigoted Assholes" day, and they'll be done for the year again.

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  48. montag210:38 PM

    Well, yes, there is an empty gesture that would be a lot more trouble than it is worth.


    But, it requires invading Russia with winter coming.

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  49. Mr. Wonderful11:52 PM

    Hobby Lobby, and then Michael of the eponymous craft chain was big into Swiftboat Liars for Lying Lies. What IS it about artsy-craftsy types that turns them into wingnut assholes? I'm probably not seriously asking.

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  50. Of course the net is great at creating echo chambers where, when you are looking for pink elephants, everything comes up pink elephants.


    It's called "confirmation bias." Most partisan true believers I know live it every moment.

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  51. PorlockJunior12:09 AM

    "something not as fiascic (sp?)


    Perhaps you were thinking of "fiascistic"?

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  52. Tehanu1:12 AM

    I was skimming down the page reading quickly and thought you wrote "Kenyan lab." Heck, why not?

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  53. Tehanu1:14 AM

    Fiascomatic. Fiascorious. Fisascoriffic. But I admit I can't think of anything more appropriate than "fiascistic."

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  54. I have to admit you're right on that one, but I have to say that I heard a very good point on why the Ds and Rs came together in spite of the apparent discord, it comes down to the pork, and the only real reason the Rs held out was because of it, not because they cared about fighting the Ds on anything substantial.

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  55. Snarll3:42 AM

    a lot of newspapers and media actually like the stupid amounts of money
    being thrown around in campaigns, claiming that it contributes to
    economic growth

    It certainly contributes to their economic growth.

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  56. MikeJ3:58 AM

    Glue gun fumes.

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  57. Halloween_Jack7:55 AM

    Exactly. And ditto for every other media outlet, which pumps up the election cycle news in just about every way they can--say, by overemphasizing the viability of one candidate simply because they show a few signs of life during the first debate, just to make the race seem closer. It's not gross or possibly not even deliberate deception, it's just how they do business.

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  58. Halloween_Jack7:56 AM

    Not intended, but I'll claim it!

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  59. Yeah, they do seem to come together well when it's an issue NONE of the constituents support.

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  60. digitusmedius8:55 AM

    "Chick-Fil-et," eh? Oooh la la la la.

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  61. redoubt9:04 AM

    The potpourri smell.
    (No, wait, that's just why I hate going into those stores.)

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  62. tigrismus10:35 AM

    If you were to seriously ask, it's a group filled with old white ladies, who can be nice individually but as a group often tend to be knee-jerk reactionaries.

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  63. Lancelot Link6:27 PM

    21%? That's way below the "voting for Alan Keyes" level of crazification and heading toward "the moon landings were fake" levels.

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  64. I totally missed National Empty Chair Day. Maybe I'm confusing it with that Romney rally in Michigan where they reserved a stadium and got, like, a couple of hundred attendees.

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  65. Big_Bad_Bald_Bastard7:11 PM

    I'm usually even balder in real life- I didn't shave the morning my profile picture was taken.

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  66. We could have done withoat that.

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  67. Chick-fil-et sounds kinda French to me.

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