Tuesday, August 11, 2009

'Community organizing' liberals don't like

TPM's Eric Kleefeld headlines an item about a North Carolina protest, "Tea Party Rage -- Rage Against The Dying Of The Right."

This is a very interesting twist. Kleefeld would have his readers believe that the movement which is putting boots on the ground -- organizing dissent, bringing out people for protest rallies, training voters as grassroots activists -- is thereby giving evidence that it is "dying."

Obama's declining approval ratings, voters opposing single-payer health care by a 25-point margin -- all of this, Eric Kleefeld wants you to believe, is about "The Dying Of The Right."

How encouraging it is to see that liberal elitists are now resorting to such counter-factual rationalizations, telling themselves that these phenomena -- clear indications of Obama's miscalculations and policy overreach by Democrats in Congress -- are actually proof of desperation by the defeated "Right."

Certainly, it is heartening to me personally, as these grassroots protests are evidence of the power of "Libertarian Populism," which I described last year as "an enduring populist conception of the government in Washington as a corrupt insider racket controlled by special interests, in which both Democrats and Republicans are out of touch with the concerns of ordinary Americans."

Libertarian populism was "The Spirit of '94," the mad-as-hell mood that fueled the 1994 Republican takeover of Congress. If the government in Washington is always by its nature an "insider racket controlled by special interests," both unresponsive and irresponsible, then effective opposition to the federal Leviathan is not about counting R's and D's in Congress, but rather about limiting the power of Leviathan.

And the failure of Republican leaders to live up to their limited-government rhetoric -- their seduction by David Brooks and "national greatness," which led to the discredited idiocy of "compassionate conservatism" -- is what has brought our nation under the thumb of Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid and Barack Obama.

The Tea Party movement appeals to a long and heroic tradition of "anti-government" activism in America. When John Cornyn gets booed in Texas, when union goons feel the need to beat up black man selling flags, in when Ben Cardin finds his town-hall meeting packed to fire-code limits in deep-blue Maryland, we are living in a moment that would bring a smile to the faces of those patriotic "angry mobs" who tarred-and-feathered royal tax collectors back in the day.

The Gadsden Flag has never been more in vogue. In April, I actually met a couple of college kids with Gadsden Flag tattoos, including a young Latina libertarian with a "Don't Tread On Me" tattoo on her lower back. ("Don't call it a 'tramp stamp'!" Ileana said. "I hate when people call it that!")


What is "dying" here, Mr. Kleefeld? Your "progressive" dream of omnipotent centralized authority, that's what. Like the lady said: Don't Tread On Me!

26 comments:

  1. Yeah I call bullsh#t on it too. You can see the big scary "angry mobs" of 65-year-olds shouting to hold their ground and their representatives accountable on video all over the news and the net while the more politically acceptable thugs, er union organizers make the demands of the Democratic, er Socialists in charge known. People are mad. Working people are mad. People who have served this country in good faith are MAD. Rightly so. I hope we continue to voice our opposition to this ridiculous administration and keep it from being an 'easy four years' for these clowns, particularly the clown-in-chief or as I like to call him, The Big Lying Coconut.

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  2. Kleefeld reminds me of the classic joke where the kid goes to the drugstore to buy some condoms. A big talker but when reality slaps him in the face..

    A young man goes into a pharmacy and says to the pharmacist, "Hello,
    Could you give me condom. I'm going to my girlfriends for dinner and I
    think I may be in with a chance!"

    The pharmacist gives him the condom and as the young man is going out;
    He returns and says, "Give me another condom because my girlfriend's
    sister is very cute too.

    She always crosses her legs in a provocative manner when she sees me
    and I think I might strike it lucky there too."

    The pharmacist gives him a second condom and as the boy is leaving he
    Turns back and says, "Go on, give me one more condom because my
    girlfriend's mum is still pretty cute and when she sees me she always
    makes eyes, and since she invited me for dinner, I think she is
    expecting me to make a move!

    During dinner, the young man is sitting with his girlfriend on his left,
    The sister on his right and the mum facing him.

    When the dad gets there, the boy lowers his head and starts praying,

    "Dear Lord, bless this dinner and thank you for all you give us."
    A minute later the boy is still praying; "Thank you Lord for your
    kindness."

    Ten minutes go by and the boy is still praying, keeping his head down.

    The others look at each other surprised and his girlfriend is even more
    surprised than the others.

    She gets close to the boy and says in his ear, "I didn't know you were
    So religious."

    The boy replies, "I didn't know your dad was a pharmacist!"

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  3. Exactly correct. I didn't leave the GOP, they left me in '98 with their big gov, no-term-limiting, toe-tapping, wife cheating assclown behavior.

    Contract with America, my left nut. That especially goes for No-Newts.

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  4. The thing is this generation that is hitting the health care "forums" hard is the same one that forced the issue with Civil Rights and the Vietnam War in the 60's. We slapped the Democrats down then and we're quite capable of doing it now! Let 'em try their community "organizing" tricks with us. Our generation INVENTED community organizing. We've already got the songs and chants memorized.

    WE SHALL OVERCOME, BABY!

    Tom

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  5. Wait...

    "Big Lying Coconut"?

    What?

    I just need to know what it means. It actually has a ring to it.

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  6. This is when we find out if you have any integrity.

    Are you going to have a post about Levi's comments about Palin's marital problems?

    http://www.radaronline.com/exclusives/2009/08/exclusive-interview-sarah-palin-resigned-due-marital-troubles-says-levi-johnston

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  7. "Don't call it a 'tramp stamp'!" Ileana said. "I hate when people call it that!"

    Then don't get a tramp stamp.

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  8. You wingnuts don't know what you are getting into.

    In the next few days, a story will emerge that will DOOM Sarah Palin.

    Currently she is under house arrest, along with Rush Limbaugh, for TRAFFICKING IN HUMAN ORGANS, the proceeds of which were to buy SEX TOYS for their ILLICIT LOVE AFFAIR.

    You right wingers are so stupid you probably think it's possible for fire to melt steel!!!

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  9. Also, Levi didn't leave Bristol because he was an inadequate father.

    HE LEFT BECAUSE SARAH PALIN TRIED TO EAT HIM ALIVE!!!!

    YOU WINGNUTS ARE DOOMED!!!!!

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  10. If you view this Obama Era as Bizarro World, everything makes sense. Only if.

    I've never gotten a tattoo in my life (I'm a Boomer). I'd get a Don't Tread on Me tat!!

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  11. "Are you going to have a post about Levi's comments about Palin's marital problems?"

    You might want to go down a few pages, buddy, and find that has been dealt with. And if you are pinning your hopes on the steadiness of Levi - that's just funny.

    yrs.,
    Mikey NTH

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  12. Is the ship ready to take people to the offworld colonies yet? I need a life that doesn't include US goddam bloggy snarky politics (no reflection on you, RSMcM - I'm just sick of it all)

    How did we ever get to this state, where 50% vs 50% of us have such existential differences? And how the hell are we ever going to get out?

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  13. Dark Gravity,

    Take a look at a picture of The One's big old noggin and then tell me you don't see a resemblance to the shape of a coconut.

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  14. That tatoo does not say "Don't tramp on me."

    Obviously, it's a Tread Stamp. And that's okay!

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  15. Anon, I agree. I loathe tattoos, but suddenly a Gadsden flag on my shoulder seems like a good idea. I'd even wear a damn "wife beater" tank top to show it off.

    Next, Kleefeld is just a pussy. He's scared of angry seniors at town hall meetings. My 10-year-old daughter could kick his ass into next week without breaking a sweat. Not that she would, but she could. And Kleefeld would only sit on the ground and cry about losing his man card.

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  16. I can't decide if your site is overrun with trolls or snarky sarcasrightists. So few of them seem to be on topic (i.e., PDS).

    Whatever. I like your take on the idea that the current American dissent to governmental fuzzy Eurosocialism, as espoused by Obama and his cohorts in Congress, is somehow "unpatriotic", or "insane", or "fascist". To that end, I say, let the lunatic cultists pay out enough rope. The vast, heretofore unheard American public is now awake, mad, and unwilling to accept any more piss the politicians call rain.

    RebeccaH

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  17. "Tea Party Rage -- Rage Against The Dying Of The Right."

    Correction: "Tea Party Rage -- Rage Against The Dying Of Our Rights."

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  18. Kleefeld's just doing the blogospheric equivalent of "Hey batta, no batta, no batta, no batta... SWING!!" BTW, this post seems incomplete without a pic of the dashing young lad:

    http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/images/Eric_Kleefeld.jpg

    I actually know that girl with the tattoo. When I saw it I said, "Nice asp!" I have no idea why she got so mad.

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  19. Holy cow..

    The punk's balls haven't even dropped yet.

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  20. Mr. Kleefeld has a point but it's not the one he imagines. If you have an R next to your name and you're into big government, then we think you suck, too.

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  21. Here are some others with the don't tread on me attitude:

    Oath Keepers

    Oath Keepers is a non-partisan association of currently serving military, veterans, peace officers, and firefighters who will fulfill the oath we swore to support and defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic, so help us God.

    Our motto is "Not on our watch!"

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  22. Seriously. Take a look at Kleefeld. Here's the link: http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/talk/blogs/kleefeld/

    I've bought donuts and gasoline from better pundits.

    Is he on a high-school internship???

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  23. As McCains go, this guy is my favorite.

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  24. People are opposed to single-payer, huh?

    Good thing that's not on the table.

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  25. Exactly, Jason. But the tea partiers aren't interested in, ya know, reality.

    I want some fuggin' affordable health insurance. Some jerkoff senior citizens with Medicare getting cranky with congressman-- and I have yet to hear one of these people express anything approaching an intelligible argument-- should not stand in the way of that.

    When I marched in NYC alongside a MILLION people in 2003, we were all a bunch of dirty freakin' hippies. Now perhaps 300 people disrupt town halls and the wheels of government are supposed to stop.

    I wish there actually WERE union thugs to beat the tar out of these sour, selfish red-faced old guys. Unfortunately the 'thugs' are just another figment of the fevered imagination of the victimized right.

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  26. How did we ever get to this state, where 50% vs 50% of us have such existential differences?

    And Not a Shot is Fired - How Parliament Can Play a Revolutionary Part in the Transition to Socialism and the Role of the Popular Masses

    "Read it and heed it, gentlemen of the Free World, while you are free."
    --Petr Zenkl

    And how the hell are we ever going to get out?

    By legalizing the Constitution, and reaffirming and enforcing Amendment X. Failing that, divorce due to irreconcilable differences.

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