Tea Party Piracy

Please read this before proceeding, if you haven't already seen it. It's a good and instructive article-bottom line, has-beens and wannabes are trying to hijack the Tea Party movement. In the former category I would place Newt Gingrich and Dick Armey, a pair who have devolved into Beltway guys-they've gone native. Conventional wisdom, you know-they're just full of that, among other things. Kind of like the NY Slimes' token white 'conservative' guy David Brooks, and speaking of Davids...does anyone know what's become of Mr. New Majority, David Frum? Not that I care...just kinda curious.

If you actually read the piece, you will see that there is no centralization involved here, which is a good thing, it seems to me-leaderless indeed. The Tea Party movement wouldn't be what it is if there was a single person/leader to fire an arrow at, but the media pukes are trying to find one. Even they are bright enough to know that that person isn't Sarah Palin, or Glenn Beck. It does annoy me that "(s)ome accused Skoda and convention organizer Judson Phillips of trying to use the convention to elevate themselves as leaders of the movement." I don't know Mr. Skoda, but I have chatted with Judson over the past several months and never got a sense that he wants that target painted on him, beyond what he's already done; I've gotten no sense that he's anything but a true believer in the cause. Let's overlook the fact that he's a lawyer. But seriously...

Unless you're a Beltway establishmentarian like Newt or Armey (who would, either of them, undoubtedly modify the entire purpose of the movement to suit themselves), you wouldn't want those arrows being shot at you...would you?

We don't need centralization, and we sure as hell don't need a third party. We don't need distractions such as this 'birther' crap-we need focus. If we can maintain that-and much can and no doubt will happen between now and November-it might be possible to stall and even begin to undo what the Little Creep has wrought. Because he's not done yet.

Update: I was definitely remiss in neglecting to mention the Ron Paul movement in this context. This is precisely the sort of thing we need to beware of:

We can't continue to let the neo-Cons try to elbow their way in. It's ironic how all the old neo-Cons that were big government spenders (Romney, Gingrich, etc.) have suddenly found religion with the Tea Party movement. Even Glenn Beck was telling us we needed the bank bailouts!

This RuPaul supporter has a point about Gingrich, to be sure, but I must point out that in his time as House Speaker Newt actually was a good conservative. Remember those surpluses? And the slur 'neo-con' is code for 'Jew' and/or 'pro-Israel', and interestingly enough, it's something these tin-foil hat 'real conservatives' have in common with the Marxist left. I could've done an entire post on Ron Paul to correct my oversight, but why waste the time and space on some guy who's gonna be 77 come the 2012 general election? Does anyone seriously believe that at that age he would have a prayer of winning even if nominated? Not I. And yet they're crowing about this meaningless CPAC straw-poll that they undoubtedly spammed. Too bad there weren't a few black helicopters flying around there while that was going on; they'd have probably scattered to the hills. These people are so tiresome.

Newt Has Jumped The Shark

Just a sampling of what can be found here:

THE PLATFORM OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE

AMERICAN VALUES AND AMERICAN SOLUTIONS

Government should offer intensive English language instruction to all who need it, including stipends to help immigrants attend the programs. (83 to 15) [Paid for by whom, pray tell?]

When applying for a temporary worker visa each worker should take an oath to obey American law and be deported if they commit a crime while in the United States. (93 to 8) [Like much of the rest of the content of this 'platform', this is mostly a 'duh!' plank, but that oath bit? Please!]

The American people want to increase the number of visas for highly-educated immigrants or those with special skills, the so-called H1B and H2B visas. (63 to 29) [Not me, pal-I'd rather see American kids get highly-educated so that they can do those jobs.]

Illegal immigrants who commit felonies should be deported. (88 to 10) [Substitute 'aliens' for the part in bold, and you got it.]

There should be heavy monetary fines against employers and businesses who knowingly hire illegal immigrants. (78 to 20) [They're not immigrants, you Newt-wit; they're intruders. As for fines, sure-on top of a mandatory five-year prison sentence.]

We want to encourage businesses to voluntarily cut pollution and give them financial incentives to do this but, if necessary, we will require them to do so. (66 to 25) [Unfunded mandate. So much for the Republican revolution of '94-it's dead.]

Climate change and global warming are probably happening. (82 to 13) [Says your opinion poll. Some respectable climatologists aren't so sure of that-much less that it's anthropogenic or that humankind could do a bloody thing to stop it if so.]

We should hold city governments to the same standards for cleaning waste water as are applied to private industry. (91 to 5) [To paraphrase Fred: so much for states' rights; so much for federalism.]

We are prepared to use public funds to preserve green space and parks to protect natural areas from development but especially with public and private partnerships. (81 to 15) [Public funds=taxpayer dollars; why not just say it? Let the government take the measures necessary to preserve land it already owns, using a common-sense approach. That goes for land management as well, including woodland.]

Taxpayers should be given the option of a single income tax rate of 17%. Taxpayers would still have the option of filing their taxes in the current system if they choose to do so. (61 to 32) [A 'Fonzi scheme', if you'll pardon the pun...seems cool, but too Italian-and not very bright.]

All emphases mine, as are [these].

Oh, and those numbers in parentheses? Poll numbers. Newt's gone native in the Beltway, and it's a sad thing for me; at one time he was second only to Ronald Reagan as the ideal conservative, despite his personal faults. Sad.

Update (7:05 EST): I just noticed the polling result on that second item (93-8). Wonder if that extra one percent was comprised of dead people, illegal aliens, or both. They sure as hell weren't conservatives.