The Awl http://www.theawl.com/ Be Less Stupid Thu, 06 May 2010 11:20:00 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.2 Teabaggers Have Been Self-Identifying As Teabaggers Since They Started Teabagging http://www.theawl.com/2010/05/teabaggers-have-been-self-identifying-as-teabaggers-since-they-started-teabagging http://www.theawl.com/2010/05/teabaggers-have-been-self-identifying-as-teabaggers-since-they-started-teabagging#comments Thu, 06 May 2010 11:20:00 +0000 Alex Balk http://www.theawl.com/2010/05/teabaggers-have-been-self-identifying-as-teabaggers-since-they-started-teabagging Who used the word "teabagger"-according to Grover Norquist, a slur on par with one of the most offensive words in our language-first? As it turns out, it was the teabaggers themselves. Now you know!

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]]> Who used the word "teabagger"-according to Grover Norquist, a slur on par with one of the most offensive words in our language-first? As it turns out, it was the teabaggers themselves. Now you know!

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]]> http://www.theawl.com/2010/05/teabaggers-have-been-self-identifying-as-teabaggers-since-they-started-teabagging/feed 16 Terrible Person Says Terrible Thing To Score Terrible Political Point http://www.theawl.com/2010/05/terrible-person-says-terrible-thing-to-score-terrible-political-point http://www.theawl.com/2010/05/terrible-person-says-terrible-thing-to-score-terrible-political-point#comments Wed, 05 May 2010 10:00:06 +0000 Alex Balk http://www.theawl.com/2010/05/terrible-person-says-terrible-thing-to-score-terrible-political-point It would be even worse if he actually believed it"This remark is the equivalent of using the 'n' word. It shows contempt for middle America, expressed knowingly, contemptuously, on purpose, and with a smirk. It is indefensible to use this word. The president knows what it means, and his people know what it means. The public thought we reached a new low of incivility during the Clinton administration. Well, the Obama administration has just outdone them."
-Americans for Tax Reform president Grover Norquist, discussing President Obama's use of the word "teabagger," casually dismisses three centuries of dehumanization, violence, and intimidation in the world's most pathetic attempt to manufacture outrage. Although not unsuccessfully; I'm pretty outraged.

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]]> It would be even worse if he actually believed it"This remark is the equivalent of using the 'n' word. It shows contempt for middle America, expressed knowingly, contemptuously, on purpose, and with a smirk. It is indefensible to use this word. The president knows what it means, and his people know what it means. The public thought we reached a new low of incivility during the Clinton administration. Well, the Obama administration has just outdone them."
-Americans for Tax Reform president Grover Norquist, discussing President Obama's use of the word "teabagger," casually dismisses three centuries of dehumanization, violence, and intimidation in the world's most pathetic attempt to manufacture outrage. Although not unsuccessfully; I'm pretty outraged.

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]]> http://www.theawl.com/2010/05/terrible-person-says-terrible-thing-to-score-terrible-political-point/feed 43 A Primer for the Coastal Elite: What Do The Tea Party Folks Want? http://www.theawl.com/2009/08/a-primer-for-the-coastal-elite-what-do-the-tea-party-folks-want http://www.theawl.com/2009/08/a-primer-for-the-coastal-elite-what-do-the-tea-party-folks-want#comments Thu, 13 Aug 2009 14:07:27 +0000 Abe Sauer http://www.theawl.com/2009/08/a-primer-for-the-coastal-elite-what-do-the-tea-party-folks-want Crush the LeftThose who watched and mocked the national Tea Parties back in April would find a different bunch of tea partiers today. The truly lunatic fringe of opportunists is now largely gone. But owing to the froth kicked up months ago, the movement's name, "Tea Party," still has currency and momentum, so why not use it? It's a branding conundrum the United Negro College Fund surely appreciates. A day after one of North Dakota's largest-ever tea parties, at the courthouse in Grand Forks, the only thing I can say with certainty about the movement is that it's mostly about making funny signs and producing lots of unintentional irony. And anger. Plentiful, seething, soul-rooted and only vaguely-focused anger. And maybe racism. But not really that much racism!

Far, far less racism than in April. (And far less than found at many of the tea party website message boards.) During the entire two hour evening event, featuring dozens of everyman speakers and dozens more signs, only one guy mentioned Barack Obama's illegitimate birth and that he's Muslim. And that was only in passing on his way to a point about something, I forget. Probably "socialism."

An Obamacrat Dog

So, you people of the coasts: what do they want? They want Washington to "listen." They want to not be "treated like sheep." They want better education (maybe). They want Ronald Reagan bon mots. They want jokes about moving D.C. to North Dakota because the cold would "force politicians to keep their hands in their own pockets." They want to sing God Bless America. They want, in one speaker's words, "to take it back for the United States Constitution for liberty." They want, more than anything, lower taxes.

This last item is where the irony begins, because North Dakota is one of the greatest of all federal welfare states. It receives over two dollars back for every one paid in taxes. If anyone has reason to complain, it's the Minnesotans, who get back only around seventy cents for every one of their tax dollars. Minnesota, by the way, is only about a quarter mile away from this particular tea party.

North Dakota is home to protectionist policies ranging from agriculture co-ops to state-run insurance to a law demanding that all pharmacies be locally owned (banning the only advantage of a Wal-Mart: cheap drugs). There is the state-run Bank of North Dakota, which in a year that saw private banks taking federal bailouts, returned $30 million to the state's general fund. More importantly, these state organizations operate in competition with private business, a fact that keeps everyone honest and is a system that, while quite successful and popular here, is clearly going to destroy America if partly implemented on any national scale, such as with health care.

So this "Anti Tax Tea Party" is a bit like a grunged-up trust fund kid begging for change on the street-at the Mexican border crossing.

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]]> Crush the LeftThose who watched and mocked the national Tea Parties back in April would find a different bunch of tea partiers today. The truly lunatic fringe of opportunists is now largely gone. But owing to the froth kicked up months ago, the movement's name, "Tea Party," still has currency and momentum, so why not use it? It's a branding conundrum the United Negro College Fund surely appreciates. A day after one of North Dakota's largest-ever tea parties, at the courthouse in Grand Forks, the only thing I can say with certainty about the movement is that it's mostly about making funny signs and producing lots of unintentional irony. And anger. Plentiful, seething, soul-rooted and only vaguely-focused anger. And maybe racism. But not really that much racism!

Far, far less racism than in April. (And far less than found at many of the tea party website message boards.) During the entire two hour evening event, featuring dozens of everyman speakers and dozens more signs, only one guy mentioned Barack Obama's illegitimate birth and that he's Muslim. And that was only in passing on his way to a point about something, I forget. Probably "socialism."

An Obamacrat Dog

So, you people of the coasts: what do they want? They want Washington to "listen." They want to not be "treated like sheep." They want better education (maybe). They want Ronald Reagan bon mots. They want jokes about moving D.C. to North Dakota because the cold would "force politicians to keep their hands in their own pockets." They want to sing God Bless America. They want, in one speaker's words, "to take it back for the United States Constitution for liberty." They want, more than anything, lower taxes.

This last item is where the irony begins, because North Dakota is one of the greatest of all federal welfare states. It receives over two dollars back for every one paid in taxes. If anyone has reason to complain, it's the Minnesotans, who get back only around seventy cents for every one of their tax dollars. Minnesota, by the way, is only about a quarter mile away from this particular tea party.

North Dakota is home to protectionist policies ranging from agriculture co-ops to state-run insurance to a law demanding that all pharmacies be locally owned (banning the only advantage of a Wal-Mart: cheap drugs). There is the state-run Bank of North Dakota, which in a year that saw private banks taking federal bailouts, returned $30 million to the state's general fund. More importantly, these state organizations operate in competition with private business, a fact that keeps everyone honest and is a system that, while quite successful and popular here, is clearly going to destroy America if partly implemented on any national scale, such as with health care.

So this "Anti Tax Tea Party" is a bit like a grunged-up trust fund kid begging for change on the street-at the Mexican border crossing.

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]]> http://www.theawl.com/2009/08/a-primer-for-the-coastal-elite-what-do-the-tea-party-folks-want/feed 63 Bernie Kerik: All Cops Nationwide Agree With Teabagging! http://www.theawl.com/2009/04/bernie-kerik-all-cops-nationwide-agree-with-teabagging http://www.theawl.com/2009/04/bernie-kerik-all-cops-nationwide-agree-with-teabagging#comments Fri, 17 Apr 2009 11:11:45 +0000 Choire Sicha http://www.theawl.com/2009/04/bernie-kerik-all-cops-nationwide-agree-with-teabagging Sing it, Bernie!This video is hysterical. Illegal immigrant nanny-hirer, indicted liar-to-the-IRS and former New York City top cop Bernie Kerik went on Fox News' Red Eye last night and talked about how awesome the teabagger anti-tax protests were. I can't even tell if host Greg Gutfeld is pranking him or being serious or what, but you can tell he is dying inside. The best part is when Kerik says, "I would say there aren't many cops in the New York City police department, or police officers anywhere in this country, that don't agree with the people that were out there."

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]]> Sing it, Bernie!This video is hysterical. Illegal immigrant nanny-hirer, indicted liar-to-the-IRS and former New York City top cop Bernie Kerik went on Fox News' Red Eye last night and talked about how awesome the teabagger anti-tax protests were. I can't even tell if host Greg Gutfeld is pranking him or being serious or what, but you can tell he is dying inside. The best part is when Kerik says, "I would say there aren't many cops in the New York City police department, or police officers anywhere in this country, that don't agree with the people that were out there."

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]]> http://www.theawl.com/2009/04/bernie-kerik-all-cops-nationwide-agree-with-teabagging/feed 0 The Curse Of Glenn Reynolds? http://www.theawl.com/2009/04/the-curse-of-glenn-reynolds http://www.theawl.com/2009/04/the-curse-of-glenn-reynolds#comments Wed, 15 Apr 2009 14:12:08 +0000 Choire Sicha http://www.theawl.com/2009/04/the-curse-of-glenn-reynolds Oh, meow? LIBERALS are saying that because famous Instapundit blogger Glenn Reynolds says the "Teabagger" anti-tax people are going to impact the 2010 and 2012 elections, it means they will never affect anything ever, because he is wrong about everything. They have a handy list!

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]]> Oh, meow? LIBERALS are saying that because famous Instapundit blogger Glenn Reynolds says the "Teabagger" anti-tax people are going to impact the 2010 and 2012 elections, it means they will never affect anything ever, because he is wrong about everything. They have a handy list!

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