Progressives Ponder the Teabaggers & Teabagging Rhetoric [Yes, They Can -- Fool Some of the People All of the Time]

by Damozel | Via Think Progress:  What do you really need to get a truly mad Mad Teaparty going?  "You're going to need a Dick Armey." Schuster said. And that's a sentence that I'm sure has never before in the whole history of the American media been uttered by anyone of liberal or progressive tendencies.. 

An Astroturf movement indeed.... Even so: "Dick Armey," heheheheheheheh. As Video Cafe notes, Schuster's discussion is full of win and also of teabag-based innuendo. "I think he decided to give Rachel Maddow and Ana Marie Cox a run for their money with this one." Cf. 

At TP's Wonk Room, Pat Garofolo says:

Schuster not only pointed out that the supposed “grassroots” tea parties are a lobbyist organized sham, but he also correctly noted that, in all likelihood, most of the protesters rallying against higher taxes and government spending just received a tax cut, courtesy of President Barack Obama’s economic stimulus package.

Do those attending tea parties truly oppose Obama returning the top marginal tax rate to where it was under President Clinton? Are they really concerned that multi-national corporations may have to pay taxes on profits they earn overseas? Or are they simply following Fox News’ cheerleading, straight into the waiting arms of Dick Armey?

I think the real answer is "neither" and that Sullivan -- yes, Andrew Sullivan -- had it right:  the teabag is just part and parcel of the right's extended tantrum over losing the election and being exposed as having no ideas on how to fix the consequences of the Bush administration's depredations. 

Oh, wait. John Amato says it better:

I understand that this movement is all about trying to reorganize the conservative movement because they have become a rudderless tanker lost at sea, but even their attempts at "grass roots" is a Gingrich/Rove/Armey/FOX News driven event.

At Salon, Alex Koppelman has a complete history of teabagging.  At Seeing the Forest, Dave Johnson has more background.

UPDATE:  A Teabag Day exchange for the ages, via HuffPost:

Gergen: "They still haven't found their voice, Anderson. This happens to a minority party after it's lost a couple of bad elections, but they're searching for their voice."

Cooper: "It's hard to talk when you're teabagging."

More at Memeo.

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