posted
Now that the Tea Bag party had their first convention and Ex-Governor Sarah Palin has become their central celebrity I think the organization has grown big enough that a counter-Tea Bag party can be launched on the fringe.
The Counter Tea Bag Party, in order to succeed, must attack the Tea Bag Party on basic American Political Party Grounds.
1) Be more Patriotic.
2) Be more Christian.
3) Be more like John Wayne.
Here are my ideas for slogans for this new party.
"Thou Shall Not Bear False Witness Again Thy Neighbors." This would be followed by a Fact Check list of all the false hoods various Tea Party members have used to make their points. By False Witness I would include spin, bad logic, insinuations, and guesses that are merely outrageous claims made up to sound like suggestions.
"Americans are too brave to be ruled by fear." Repeat this loudly every time one of their fear based assaults are made--"Oooh, giving accused terrorists a trial will invite terror attacks at the trial." Yeah, like that is the only reason terrorists are plotting against us.
"True Patriots Don't Abuse Our Founding Fathers just to get out of paying their fair share of taxes." This one is too long. I need to work on it.
"Logic vs Screaming--Logic Wins."
"Freedom of Speech means you are free to yell and scream. I am free to ignore you."
"Democracy = 1 person, 1 vote. Audicracy = He who yells the loudest gets to vote. Which do you want to live in?"
What I really need is a good name for this anti-Tea Bag Movement (or is that anti-Tea Bag Movement movement?).
Posts: 1941 | Registered: Feb 2003
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posted
I want to use John Adams or the trail of the Boston Massacre some how. His defense of the British soldiers and their release in that trial is a grand display of the anti-Tea Party Movement's ideals in a far more telling way than the Boston Tea Party is a display of the Tea Party's ideals. However, I can't come up with a good name out of that.
Is there a soundbitized version of "The Defense of the Boston Massacre Soldiers" that would work well for a political movement?
Posts: 3295 | Registered: Jun 2004
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posted
I'm more of a loose tea kind of girl anyway. There should be a Loose Tea Party. Because teabags kind of don't give the same flavour you get from a nice cup of loose tea.
Posts: 9942 | Registered: Mar 2003
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posted
I'm not sure that name would go over well. To the younger generation, "Loose" is an alternate spelling of "Lose", and I don't think a party would want that word in their title.
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I have a drawer here at my desk that is filled with small glass jars filled with green leaves. I have a system for precise measurement and consumption rates. They modify my brain chemistry in ways that I find both enjoyable and helpful.
I can't think of any other name for loose tea than loose tea...Maybe the Oolong Party or the Earl Grey Party. But folks might not get that. It's just that teabags are mostly only good for making iced tea. Plus I wish I had a kettle. Maybe they could be the Kettle Party. I'd join that party. I don't like the Tea bag party movement anyway as they annoy me.
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posted
Come to think of it, I would have thought the "Tea Bag" party was a name that a party would want to avoid.
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posted
I want to join the Coffee Grounds Party. I'm American, I don't drink that pansy tea stuff, doggonit!
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posted
I've been in the anti-tea-bagging party in Halo and WoW for years. That behavior is unwarranted!
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quote:Originally posted by MightyCow: I've been in the anti-tea-bagging party in Halo and WoW for years. That behavior is unwarranted!
Unfortunately that puts me squarely in the It's-hilarious-to-tea-bag-party. That behavior is great.
I think either calling it the Sons of Liberty would be good. That is pretty patriotic if I do say so myself.
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quote:Originally posted by The White Whale: Syn, it's green tea.
Oh. OK. Green tea is always too bitter for me. But I drink black tea with just milk and no sugar...
Are you ready to have your life changed forever?
Green Tea: The Secret:
1. Boil the water until little bubbles just start to form (~180 F).
2. Seep for ONLY 1-2 minutes.
3. Bliss and happiness.
Coda: Re-seep 2 - 3 more times at slightly higher temperatures, and for slightly longer times, each time (follows the law of diminishing bliss and happiness returns).
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posted
excuse me if I offended anyone. I don't see how.
I was not against any religion, in fact I am trying to save what I see as a truer Christian ideal from the politician and fanatics who are abusing it to make some cheap press.
I always used the Tea Bag name, and none of the offensive derivatives that the trolls use.
And I am not recycling the media's ad hominem attacks. I have heard Tea Party activists spread lies--claiming President Obama is a Nazi since Nazi has socialism in their name and they claim his politics is socialist. How is that honest? I have heard oft repeated calls for fear and for reacting in fear that I find offensive in anyone claiming the legacy of our history. We don't run from fear. We stand up to it.
I witnessed Tea Party meetings where they tried to press with volume what other, more dignified people were debating with logic and common sense. I have seen people dressed as our founding fathers all trying to get out of paying their tax bill. I find that a slap in the face of our founding fathers, as much as a President's Day White Sale.
I think the "Loose Leaf Tea" party could work. Loose Leaf Tea drinkers represent people who understand tea. A true grass roots organization. Tea Bags are mass produced corporate copies of true tea. Perhaps we could use that as a slogan--"Real TEA doesn't come in a bag."
Posts: 1941 | Registered: Feb 2003
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A loose tea party is anti-bag, but not anti-tea. Does that satisfy the requirement? I'd say the coffee grounds party was a better idea, except I hate coffee, and I like tea. I bet SArah Palin doesn't even drink tea. She looks like a coffee drinker to me.
Jim-Me: there's nothing about Hatrack that says you can't be opposed to a particular position. You have every right to be offended, I guess, but DM hasn't done anything that violates the TOS.
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posted
"Tea Bag" *is* the offensive derivative that the trolls (and the media) use. The members refer to themselves as the "Tea Party".
ETA: by all means go off on the tea party. But if you want to inherently lower your level of discourse by making the thread title a sexual slur against your opponents...
Well... let's just say I find it ironic given the wailing that has recently gone on about how bad the forum has gotten.
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quote:Originally posted by Darth_Mauve: excuse me if I offended anyone. I don't see how.
I was not against any religion, in fact I am trying to save what I see as a truer Christian ideal from the politician and fanatics who are abusing it to make some cheap press.
I always used the Tea Bag name, and none of the offensive derivatives that the trolls use.
And I am not recycling the media's ad hominem attacks. I have heard Tea Party activists spread lies--claiming President Obama is a Nazi since Nazi has socialism in their name and they claim his politics is socialist. How is that honest? I have heard oft repeated calls for fear and for reacting in fear that I find offensive in anyone claiming the legacy of our history. We don't run from fear. We stand up to it.
I witnessed Tea Party meetings where they tried to press with volume what other, more dignified people were debating with logic and common sense. I have seen people dressed as our founding fathers all trying to get out of paying their tax bill. I find that a slap in the face of our founding fathers, as much as a President's Day White Sale.
I think the "Loose Leaf Tea" party could work. Loose Leaf Tea drinkers represent people who understand tea. A true grass roots organization. Tea Bags are mass produced corporate copies of true tea. Perhaps we could use that as a slogan--"Real TEA doesn't come in a bag."
Dude, you're just calling a spade a shovel. It's ridiculous to compare Obama to Hitler. It's totally illogical on every single level. And some of these folks seem so... rude. There's nothing wrong with disagreeing with them and stating it. THIS IS AMERICA! You're supposed to be able to do that. Count me in.
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I knew turning Tea Bag into a verb was wrong, but all the media that I've seen, liberal and conservative, have called it the Tea Bag party, not the Tea Party.
I will change my description from now on.
I would edit the title, but I don't think that would be fair to all the bag comments already made.
I guess part of the problem was the Tea Bags used to symbolize the Boston Tea Party that the Tea Party threw on various occasions.
My other criticisms of that party stand.
Posts: 1941 | Registered: Feb 2003
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posted
And that explains a lot, DM. As I said, I've enjoyed your posts, serious and humorous both, for years.
And I certainly believe you about everyone calling it the tea bag party. From the very first Tea Party protest, no major media outlet has been able to resist the tea bag jokes. I am not a member (for the record, other than being kinda pretty, Sarah Palin does nothing for me), but my father and brother were both at the Dallas iteration of the very first event. The 5 o'clock news that day was already using the joke. I think that speaks a great deal towards journalism today and just how much attention it warrants.
While I don't necessarily agree with your other criticisms, I certainly find them legitimate and proper discussion.
ETA: not all tea party members like the idea of Sarah Palin, either. I've seen them refer to Palin's recent speech as "the death of the tea party movement."
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posted
FYI, I also had no idea that wasn't the group's real name, and wondered what you were upset about.
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posted
I think that a lot of people use the name "tea baggers" not realizing the real meaning of that phrase or how it came into existence as a way to make fun of the tea party movement.
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posted
My understanding was the tea bag party was used a few times by those in the movement, not knowing what it meant. And then everyone else though it funny and went with it. The initial people then learned about its other meaning and then tried to backpedal and claim they never used it.
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posted
I don't know if I'm really glad or really sad to find out that you guys didn't know that that's not the real name of the party. I was flabbergasted at how low this conversation started, and how nobody (except JM) seemed to have any problem with it. I'm glad to know that's not the case.
I find it really sad, however, that people who are obviously interested in the subject only know it by the derogatory term.
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posted
I was under the general impression that they got the moniker because they sent actual tea bags to government figures as a protest. e.g.
quote:As part of a nationwide tax rebellion, protesters, in a nod to the Boston Tea Party, have been sending tea bags to their representatives. The trouble is, the tea keeps getting mistaken for a hazardous substance.
In Boulder, Colo., the district office of U.S. Rep. Jared Polis recently called for help after a lumpy white envelope with no return address arrived in the mail. The Boulder County Hazardous Materials Response Team found a tea bag and a note reading “We the People, 1773.”
quote:Originally posted by Mucus: I was under the general impression that they got the moniker because they sent actual tea bags to government figures as a protest.
This. The "bag" part was pounced on by the media and it stuck (despite efforts to change it), but it didn't start with the media.
posted
The name is a reference to the Boston Tea Party, hence "1773" in the Tribune article above. Always has been. A few scattered protesters put "tea bag Washington before they tea bag you" and similar sentiments on their signs, possibly wittingly, possibly in reference to the original protest idea of re-enacting the Boston Tea Party by sending a tea bag to congress.
From Salon, 4/14/09:
quote:Truth be told, though, for the most part conservatives haven't actually been using the words in such a way as to lend themselves to double entendre. With one or two exceptions, almost all of it has actually been coming from the left, which seems to have adopted the joke en masse during an earlier round of these protests back in February.
posted
You know what's funny about the Tea Partiers? They're all about no taxation. The Boston Tea party was about no taxation with out representation. The Tea Partiers have representation. As far as the Founding Fathers are concerned, they've got nothing to complain about.
Posts: 3295 | Registered: Jun 2004
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posted
I dunno, this doesn't seem like a parody site to me.
Urban dictionary (and other google hits) was enlightening. Thing is, for all the apparent brouhaha, the teabag reference isn't something you can explain on network TV, so the jokes aren't well understood.
I particularly liked this definition of teabagger from urban dictionary though:
quote:2. n. A conservative activist who is so ignorant that they protest against tax cuts (that benefit them) by throwing tea into a river.
quote:Originally posted by Mucus: kmbboots: Probably a quote tag issue?
Yes. Trying to post from my phone in the wee hours. I didn't think it went through at all. I will fix. Thanks.
Posts: 11187 | Registered: Sep 2005
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posted
The salon article I quoted traces the beginnings to the blogs "instaputz" and "wonkette" (neither of which is familiar to me) making fun of a particular sign, which basically said what I referenced above.
I know I saw the newscasters on the local and national evening news calling them teabaggers the day of the first event.
Glenn, I agree that site looks legit, but it's the first time I've seen anyone refer to themselves as being part of a tea bag party and I hang around a lot of these people.
Anyhow, I'm not particularly interested in defending them, I just wanted to ask for a modicum of respect. Now that we've established that no disrespect was intended, feel free to carry on... though at this point I kinda feel like Forrest Gump: "sorry I broke up your Black Panther Party"
<exeunt pursued by a bear>
Posts: 3846 | Registered: Apr 2004
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posted
I like the Reality Party. Though it is awfully close to Realty Party... Hmm... I still think we can do better. And I want to leverage Adam's somehow. They like to leverage the Founding Fathers so much, I feel like we need to fight back on that level.
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posted
Why is it necessary to call it the Tea Bag Party? To get that extra sexual slur in? To make sure your listeners know that you have nothing to say and must resort to schoolyard insults?
The entire enterprise would be respectful if you didn't start out wearing a sign that says "No Intelligence or Ideas Here: Only Sex Jokes"
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posted
Okay, I posted that without reading the thread. Having read the thread, I am pleased that the name has been recognized as inappropriate and better one is being sought.
Posts: 26077 | Registered: Mar 2000
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posted
It's also not unreasonable to call at least portions of the Tea Party the Tea Bag Party - because that's what they are calling themselves! Follow the link previously posted in the thread.
Posts: 3295 | Registered: Jun 2004
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