Tea And Crackers

[Otsego County Caregiver]

By Matt Taibbi

Sep 28, 2010 7:01 AM EDT

 

This is an article from the October 15, 2010 issue of Rolling Stone.

 

It's taken three trips to Kentucky, but I'm finally getting my Tea Party epiphany exactly where you'd expect: at a Sarah Palin rally. The red-hot mama of American exceptionalism has flown in to speak at something called the National Quartet Convention in Louisville, a gospel-music hoedown in a giant convention center filled with thousands of elderly white Southerners. Palin — who earlier this morning held a closed-door fundraiser for Rand Paul, the Tea Party champion running for the U.S. Senate — is railing against a GOP establishment that has just seen Tea Partiers oust entrenched Republican hacks in Delaware and New York. The dingbat revolution, it seems, is nigh.

 

"We're shaking up the good ol' boys," Palin chortles, to the best applause her aging crowd can muster. She then issues an oft-repeated warning (her speeches are usually a tired succession of half-coherent one-liners dumped on ravenous audiences like chum to sharks) to Republican insiders who underestimated the power of the Tea Party Death Star. "Buck up," she says, "or stay in the truck."

 

Stay in what truck? I wonder. What the hell does that even mean?

 

Scanning the thousands of hopped-up faces in the crowd, I am immediately struck by two things. One is that there isn't a single black person here. The other is the truly awesome quantity of medical hardware: Seemingly every third person in the place is sucking oxygen from a tank or propping their giant atrophied glutes on motorized wheelchair-scooters. As Palin launches into her Ronald Reagan impression — "Government's not the solution! Government's the problem!" — the person sitting next to me leans over and explains.

 

"The scooters are because of Medicare," he whispers helpfully. "They have these commercials down here: 'You won't even have to pay for your scooter! Medicare will pay!' Practically everyone in Kentucky has one."

 

A hall full of elderly white people in Medicare-paid scooters, railing against government spending and imagining themselves revolutionaries as they cheer on the vice-presidential puppet hand-picked by the GOP establishment. If there exists a better snapshot of everything the Tea Party represents, I can't imagine it.

 

After Palin wraps up, I race to the parking lot in search of departing Medicare-motor-scooter conservatives. I come upon an elderly couple, Janice and David Wheelock, who are fairly itching to share their views.

 

"I'm anti-spending and anti-government," crows David, as scooter-bound Janice looks on. "The welfare state is out of control."

 

"OK," I say. "And what do you do for a living?"

 

"Me?" he says proudly. "Oh, I'm a property appraiser. Have been my whole life."

 

I frown. "Are either of you on Medicare?"

 

Silence: Then Janice, a nice enough woman, it seems, slowly raises her hand, offering a faint smile, as if to say, You got me!

 

"Let me get this straight," I say to David. "You've been picking up a check from the government for decades, as a tax assessor, and your wife is on Medicare. How can you complain about the welfare state?"

 

"Well," he says, "there's a lot of people on welfare who don't deserve it. Too many people are living off the government."

 

"But," I protest, "you live off the government. And have been your whole life!"

 

"Yeah," he says, "but I don't make very much." Vast forests have already been sacrificed to the public debate about the Tea Party: what it is, what it means, where it's going. But after lengthy study of the phenomenon, I've concluded that the whole miserable narrative boils down to one stark fact: They're full of bunny muffin. All of them. At the voter level, the Tea Party is a movement that purports to be furious about government spending — only the reality is that the vast majority of its members are former Bush supporters who yawned through two terms of record deficits and spent the past two electoral cycles frothing not about spending but about John Kerry's medals and Barack Obama's Sixties associations. The average Tea Partier is sincerely against government spending — with the exception of the money spent on them. In fact, their lack of embarrassment when it comes to collecting government largesse is key to understanding what this movement is all about — and nowhere do we see that dynamic as clearly as here in Kentucky, where Rand Paul is barreling toward the Senate with the aid of conservative icons like Palin.

 

 

Make sure you read the rest here: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/17390/210904

[MORE COWBELL]

Quote"a giant convention center filled with thousands of elderly white Southerners. Palin — who earlier this morning held a closed-door fundraiser for Rand Paul, the Tea Party champion running for the U.S. Senate"End Quote

 

why would these wealthy white elderly people vote for a party that is going to dismantle social security and medicaid/medicare are the so hypnotized by the 'Cult of Personality' of Palin and other photogenic smooth talking spin doctors?????????????????????

 

this is INSANITY! these people are like lemmings over the cliff-they do not see what they are actuallly voting for! its actually a Jungian psychology subversive mind control program-Jung talked about the 'Mother bear and her cubs' it appeals to those who feel vulnerable, afraid and need protection.

Glenn Beck riles everyone up into fear then Palin comes along and offers protection

 

ITS PURE BLOODY GENIUS

 

it reeks of third Reich mind control programs

 

buyer beware the Tea party does not have our interests at heart they just want votes! the end is nigh

[mizerman]

Quote"a giant convention center filled with thousands of elderly white Southerners. Palin — who earlier this morning held a closed-door fundraiser for Rand Paul, the Tea Party champion running for the U.S. Senate"End Quote

 

why would these wealthy white elderly people vote for a party that is going to dismantle social security and medicaid/medicare are the so hypnotized by the 'Cult of Personality' of Palin and other photogenic smooth talking spin doctors?????????????????????

 

this is INSANITY! these people are like lemmings over the cliff-they do not see what they are actuallly voting for! its actually a Jungian psychology subversive mind control program-Jung talked about the 'Mother bear and her cubs' it appeals to those who feel vulnerable, afraid and need protection.

Glenn Beck riles everyone up into fear then Palin comes along and offers protection

 

ITS PURE BLOODY GENIUS

 

it reeks of third Reich mind control programs

 

buyer beware the Tea party does not have our interests at heart they just want votes! the end is nigh

Well said

[2d]

Big Money Link

 

[greenbuddha]

Quote"a giant convention center filled with thousands of elderly white Southerners. Palin — who earlier this morning held a closed-door fundraiser for Rand Paul, the Tea Party champion running for the U.S. Senate"End Quote

 

why would these wealthy white elderly people vote for a party that is going to dismantle social security and medicaid/medicare are the so hypnotized by the 'Cult of Personality' of Palin and other photogenic smooth talking spin doctors?????????????????????

 

this is INSANITY! these people are like lemmings over the cliff-they do not see what they are actuallly voting for! its actually a Jungian psychology subversive mind control program-Jung talked about the 'Mother bear and her cubs' it appeals to those who feel vulnerable, afraid and need protection.

Glenn Beck riles everyone up into fear then Palin comes along and offers protection

 

ITS PURE BLOODY GENIUS

 

it reeks of third Reich mind control programs

 

buyer beware the Tea party does not have our interests at heart they just want votes! the end is nigh

 

 

Luckily us Americans due to our VERY short attention spans can only concentrate and hold unto our 'delusions' for about a week.

 

The problem is that if some 'whacked out' mouth piece gets our attention just before an election... well... you'd better fasten your seat belt and hold on.

 

Every super sized hamburger, milk shake, Twinky dazed whack job will be out in front, red faced and ready to stomp your mother into the ground if you get in their way.

 

Mass hysteria? Yes. At times. But it's just the modern American way.

 

Follow the money... ever onward!

 

And, yes. I'm STILL going to vote!

[MLM]

Quote"a giant convention center filled with thousands of elderly white Southerners. Palin — who earlier this morning held a closed-door fundraiser for Rand Paul, the Tea Party champion running for the U.S. Senate"End Quote

 

why would these wealthy white elderly people vote for a party that is going to dismantle social security and medicaid/medicare are the so hypnotized by the 'Cult of Personality' of Palin and other photogenic smooth talking spin doctors?????????????????????

 

this is INSANITY! these people are like lemmings over the cliff-they do not see what they are actuallly voting for! its actually a Jungian psychology subversive mind control program-Jung talked about the 'Mother bear and her cubs' it appeals to those who feel vulnerable, afraid and need protection.

Glenn Beck riles everyone up into fear then Palin comes along and offers protection

 

ITS PURE BLOODY GENIUS

 

it reeks of third Reich mind control programs

 

buyer beware the Tea party does not have our interests at heart they just want votes! the end is nigh

 

If ya'll like this, then here's some more.

 

 

Edit: I removed video link and I apologize for stoking the fire.