It's distasteful. I'm not even sure I think tea partiers should try to outnumber the protesters, as the unions are having "their day" now and obviously have the big bucks to bus the professionally aggrieved in to plant their stinky rear ends near the veterans' memorials in these revered buildings.
What purpose does it serve to retaliate? In truth, most tea partiers work for a living and can't afford to take off days to trot to Columbus to face them down. It's not like these people are really going to win the battles, considering how badly they've been behaving. It can't sit well with the electorate.
It's understandable to try to get out in front of the cameras so both sides are shown, but tea partiers have never had to really do that and still win, considering there's no money or Koch behind the movement.
But you have to ask.
What is it with the hoity toity of this country?
As generous a nation as we are, citizens get whacked in the head, nagged about moving more, eating less, doing with less. Talk radio is INUNDATED with sappy admonitions to volunteer, adopt, feel guilty for using lead paint 50 years ago, volunteer, engage your community, be energy efficient, play basketball with your kid, volunteer, prevent hunger, prevent foreclosure, volunteer, *think before you speak,* volunteer, volunteer, volunteer...
We're called upon to sacrifice, yet who up at the top of the food chain is sacrificing? Who is even following their own advice?
Today Drudge had an article about the 2200 calorie meal the White House served to the nation's governors. The White House has partied repeatedly in the face of turmoil around the world, including the slaughter in Libya, the death of leaders, the Gulf oil crisis and more. Twenty parties just during the holidays alone.
Then, while the peons are admonished to ride bikes, we learn that the Obamas fly a personal trainer in from Chicago to DC two to four times a week.
Apparently there are no good trainers in DC.
And a pizza guy. The Daily Mail.
When you're the president of the United States, only the best pizza will do - even if that means flying a chef 860 miles.
Chris Sommers, 33, jetted into Washington from St Louis, Missouri, on Thursday with a suitcase of dough, cheese and pans to to prepare food for the Obamas and their staff.
He had apparently been handpicked after the President had tasted his pizzas on the campaignCuz there are no good pizzas in DC.
There's more, we know. Flying separately jets to Hawaii. Separate jets to New England. Flying to Spain with an entourage at great government expense.
But we have long memories.
Victor David Hanson has another excellent piece, comparing his experiences as farmer and professor. A great divide, he describes. NRO:
My purpose in relating the divide is not to suggest that the brutality of farming bears much resemblance to the private-sector office or that a university professorship is at all comparable to the much more arduous duties of an inner-city middle- or high-school teacher. But all that said, I think that we forget how fortunate teachers are in the 21st century, in terms of compensation, hours spent at work, and the general absence of physical danger, at least in comparison to the lineman, the garbage collector, or the interstate trucker. I have met hundreds of teachers who have had only one steady job: teaching. I have seldom met a land-leveler, company field man, or tractor mechanic who had not worked at a half-dozen jobs over his career — and rarely by choice.One would hope that both sides- the state government and the unions- could come together to decide what is best for teachers and children.
Indeed, one has to ask why any bill has to run 700 pages to get to the point, as SB 5 does. OTOH, many of the ideas could be adopted that would prevent the states from going broke, while still honoring some of the ideals upon which the original contracts were written.
At this rate, nobody's going to win.
Ah, well.
In the absence of sanity, perhaps we can sit back and watch the Charlie Sheen debacle unfold.
It's not so much the confrontations Tea Parties have with unions or the general run of hecklers that make me ill; it's the reaction some on our side have to the shouting and scuffles. I'm from the "no blood no foul" school of thinking. Gateway Pundit and Foxnews are forever featuring instances of simple profanity, shoulder bumping, shoving and other bad manners. Other than the cruel beating the poor guy took in St. Louis I have seen very little real criminal behavior. We are getting to be a bunch of amature tort lawyers and PC police.
ReplyDeleteI agree, although I liked Mike Tobin's response to a request to press charges against the guy who hit him in the arm. Naw, he said, what kind of a wimp would I be if I did that, or something like that.
ReplyDeleteGateway Pundit has always been somewhat hysterical, something I've sort of liked in the past but now it's getting on my nerves.
I know WHY they're doing it. With Gateway Pundit and around the web, people are trying to prove that the intolerance is really on the left. We see this every day but we don't need to act like a bunch of crybabies over it. Lately it's been ratcheting up, though, and everything is so shocking! shocking!
I also don't think we need to get in their faces, as the commander in chief has requested of his folks.
I mean, for these people, a lot is at stake. (At least for the REAL teachers, not the phony thugs.) That doesn't excuse bad behavior. I just think there's another way to do this.
At this point, I'm still willing to give Fox a pass. The very personalized aggression toward Fox is different, in that they're a news organization that has been singled out. They have a right and responsibility to be on the scene yet these hoodlums are constantly trying to stop them from doing their jobs. Plus somebody has to report what that side is doing, considering the MSM won't.
As Midnight Truckin guys say, when they start screaming desperate horrible things, you know they're losing.
Still, I keep remembering how one of the early tea partiers actually confronted the CNN reporter. It was rich.
I wish if these nuts had something specific against Fox, they'd say it at the time, rather than chanting ridiculous stuff as they try to record.
I just wish there weren't "sides," when people can't talk civilly.
You remember that. Civility.
I can't find it anymore but my brother had a video on his blog of a bunch of liberarians heckling Frank Luntz. Then they hounded Shawn Hannity as he walked through a parking garage. It was kind of funny really.
ReplyDeleteMy brother worked with some libertarians in New Hampshire during the presidential primary and said some of them were the brightest people he ever met. They had a lot of varied opinions but one thing that seemed to be an article of faith was the need for open source code.
Go figure
I remember the Hannity incident. My problem with libertarians is the obsession with drug legalization. I think that's changing though as libertarians seem to be alarmed by the excessive regulation this administration is promoting.
ReplyDeleteI'm somewhat familiar with the desire for open source code among designers, but not the libertarian fixation with it is different...
Man, things are heatin' up in Ohio. I'd be interested in your opinion.
I haven't seen much news coming out of Ohio. I know SB 5 has passed the Senate and now goes to the lower house where the Republicans have a 59-40 majority. The cable news crowd mentions it but the focus is still Wisconsin which I guess is understandable. Hell, the unions losing in Madison is tantamont to Right To Life losing in Salt Lake City.
ReplyDeleteIndiana has it's Democrats still shacked up in Urbana and the local papers spin it as a historical and traditional political tactic, reflecting back to 1925 when the Klan dominated Democratic Senate fled to Dayton.