snipped here to add comment: I dispute CNN's citation of these numbers, or at least, question whether this is accurate. I have read polling data that says ~20% (and not 4%) of Tea Party participants are Democrats. Article continues: Complete article at link....
The Democratic party wouldn't listen to what their constituents were telling them. The Republican party wouldn't listen to what their constituents were telling them. Now it seems, members of both parties are leaving them in the hope that someone finally will.
There are two outcomes here: 1.) The Tea Party becomes a real party and Ross Perot's the predicted GOP sweep. 2.) The Tea Party merges into the Republican Party and is quickly forgotten once the election is over. I don't see the first option happening, if only because every time I turn on FOX News, I hear about the glorious Republican heroes supporting the movement and not a damn peep about the Libertarian Party.
I guess democrats joining the Tea Party could help chip away at the idea that there is a difference between the GOP and the DNC. I doubt it, but maybe. Aside from that this is just another plot development in the soap opera that is US politics.
It sure won't help if 96% of those people who call themselves Republicans or Independents vote fucking Republican next time around.
Just because someone calls themselves Democrat of Republican doesn't mean they should be mindless parrots of their party's toe line. When you've got long time Dem voters getting disgruntled, there's a problem.
It's a tad silly for a voter to go around referring to him/her self as a "member" of a political party.
Absolutely Anna. Let's face it....these folks drank the KoolAid, and now they want a cup o'tea. You're a fukkin' idiot.
I'll do my part by voting for Prince Harry again. I want to say "don't blame me" either way. You people are doing this to yourselves. :easterbounce:
Here's more data on the Tea Parties released by The Hill today. Wonder how the TV media will report it, if at all. Complete article at link..... Now what was it that Big Media was saying about the Tea Parties all being racist, right-wing Republicans? 40% of the Tea Partiers aren't even Republican!!
And this right here is the problem with obnoxious partisans, on either side of the aisle. If a self-proclaimed Democrat was to find him or her self in the news for supporting abortion or the separation of religion's involvement in politics, Rick wouldn't think to comment on his or her membership in the party, and would likely be slobberingly pleased that the press was paying attention. Let that same self-proclaimed Democrat express his or her displeasure with the actions of the rhetorical gatekeepers, and suddenly he or she is "a tad silly". They're not up to Rick's expectations of what a Democrat should be. That presumption is common in obnoxious partisans, both in the rank-and-file like Rick(who, for a potato-pickin' Mick is disturbingly preoccupied with our politics and seemingly unconcerned with his native shithole), and in high-profile, would-be opinion shapers like Keith Olbermann, Katie Couric and Chris Matthews. The propensity of the latter three to characterize the new opposition as the very epitome of conservative evil pretty much says it all. The same goes for Fox News. They've inappropriately embraced the opposition as a referendum on conservatism, and failed to hold the feet of high-profile Republicans to the fire. Both sides have missed the point. As Anna pointed out above, and the reality which is separate from the electronic spin machine proves out, there are very few obnoxious partisans, with most people taking an "ala carte" approach to defining their own personal political platforms. While the average Joe or Jane will cling to the label/party which best represents them when backed into a corner, the lion's share of them don't sign-off unilaterally on the rhetorical chapter and verse. That "backed into a corner" fear is what politicians use to keep the electorate divided in order to distract the voters while they continue on with the bipartisan business of strangling our liberties. The media follows along because they couldn't make-up this kind of ostentatious drama, and in the interest of selling tires, fast food and feminine hygiene products, help the scumbag seat-polishers in DC to fan the fires of division.
Read more at the Washington Examiner Particularly telling me was the statistic about independents, since they are decision makers in elections. Considering the LA Times article from a few days ago that showed that many Dems are now moving into the Independent column, this may not bode well for Mr. Obama who has become very polarizing. On another note, it would be nice to see a PUMA group within the Tea Party - if the party is a centrist movement.
Jamey still thinks I'm a supporter of the Democrats. And he still hasn't got his head around foreigners being interested in and commenting on US affairs.
