WITH JUST A WEEK TO GO…. Apparently, a bunch of far-right “Tea Parties” are still planned for next week, and leading conservative voices are engaged in a combination of expectations setting and victimhood. Take this Malkin item from Monday, for example, which warns of “anti-Tea Party sabotage.”
For the next 9 days, the left-wing blogosphere and left-wing clueless pundits will hammer away with their unreality-based Tea Party smears.
And on the ground, the tax-subsidized and Soros-subsidized troops are going to try and wreak havoc every way they can. Many readers and fellow bloggers have seen signs that ACORN may send in ringers and saboteurs to usurp the anti-tax, anti-reckless spending, anti-bailout message.
Steve M. noted, “It’s obvious that the tea parties are going to come and go and (except in the right-wing media) be a one-day story at best. But it’s unacceptable for the movement to admit it’s not succeeding — somebody must be at fault.”
Right, and in this case, it’s George Soros and ACORN. Now, I consider myself relatively clued in on what’s going on in progressive circles. Not only have I not heard any talk about “sabotaging” these conservative rallies — I don’t know anyone who cares — I also can’t begin to imagine why Soros and/or ACORN would bother.
But why let reality interfere with unhinged paranoia? The right probably sees some value in preemptively setting the stage for a win-win dynamic. If turnout at the April 15 events is strong, they’ll claim success over the nefarious forces of evil lined up against them. If the events are a bust, they’ll blame shadowy groups and figures — who fear the power of the conservative movement — for disrupting their would-be watershed rallies. Either way, the Tea Baggers are mighty. Or something.
Meanwhile, I suspect one of the problems with the Tea Parties is that it’s not altogether clear what they’re rallying for. They’re conservatives who don’t like the Democratic domestic policy agenda; this much is clear. But usually there’s some kind of point to organized political events, and the Tea Parties are still a little vague.
I take it they don’t like the economic stimulus package, but that’s already passed. They don’t like budget deficits, unless they’re run by Republican presidents. They don’t want their taxes to go up, but Obama has already passed a significant middle-class tax cut, which by most measures, is the largest tax cut ever signed by a U.S. president.
So, angry, right-wing activists are going to get together to demand … what exactly? A 36% top rate instead of a 39.6% top rate? A $3.1 trillion federal budget instead of a $3.5 trillion budget? It’s hardly the stuff of a credible and coherent political movement.
Maybe this is just an elaborate endeavor to give Fox News something to do on an otherwise slow Wednesday?
