Nice summation of what makes sense and what doesn’t about the Tea Party from Andrew Sullivan at The Daily Dish. His conclusion:
In my view, this confluence of feelings can work in shifting the public mood, as seems to have happened. When there is no internal pushback against crafted FNC [Fox News] propaganda, and when the Democrats seem unable to craft any coherent political message below the presidential level, you do indeed create a self-perpetuating fantasy that can indeed rally and roil people. But the abstract slogans against government, the childish reduction of necessary trade-offs as an apocalyptic battle between freedom and slavery, and the silly ranting at all things Washington: these are not a political movement. They are cultural vents, wrapped up with some ugly Dixie-like strands.
When they propose cuts in Medicare, means-testing Social Security, a raising of the retirement age and a cut in defense spending, I’ll take them seriously and wish them well.
Until then, I’ll treat them with the condescending contempt they have thus far deserved.
Related posts:
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Our only language is English
Reaction to health care: A step backwards
The Supreme Court and health care repeal politics
Olbermann on the damage done by “death panels”
Keith Olbermann & the Fight against Death
Health care: Reminding people of death triggers irrational emotions
Were “death panels” a teachable moment for palliative care?
Sources:
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Andrew Sullivan, Why I’m Passing on Tea, The Daily Dish, April 16, 2010
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