Saturday, October 08, 2011

Yeah, Yeah, So's Yer Old Man

I have to disagree with the guys who say the "Occupy [Insert Location Name Here]" protesters are nothing at all like the TEA Party movement. Based on the photo here, I'd have to say they're at least 20% similar: please read the signs carefully; they include "2 Parties, No Voice," "End the Fed," "NO BAILOUT" and "Repeal the PATRIOT Act."

Y'know, for a bunch of Wobblies, half-baked Reds and union types who could miss a few days work with no effect, that's not too bad. I could almost forgive the Send Us A Tyrant sign ("Stop The Debate!") and the false dichotomy next to it. Almost.

(What is this thing so many people do now, whenever a bunch of people with whom they disagree show up, "Singing songs and carrying signs/Mostly say, 'Hooray for our side,'" their very first comments are that it's all fake, staged, Soros- or Koch-funded Astroturf? No, it ain't; love 'em, hate 'em or just want to get to the office, when the streets are clogged with People With A Message, they're really there. They may some of them be idiots or dupes, or just out to make trouble -- but they are there. They showed up. Joe Biden may be an idiot but when he avers that both the TEA Parties and the Occupiers are against bailouts, frustrated with politics-as-usual and generally smell a rat, he's being pretty accurate.)

Speaking of "Stop The Debate," frikkin' Harry Reid may be a friend to gunnies, but geesh-o-Pete, he's no fan of tradition; man actually pulled the pin and lobbed The So Called Nuclear Option into the Senate, quashing a GOP effort to put Mr. Obama's jobs bill to a vote before he had all the votes whipped into line. Mr. Reid reminds us that the Stupid Party and the Evil Party do, sometimes, swap places. He appears to be the first to put this into play -- and it's a game-changer. Ahh, for the good old days, when the Senate at least pretended to debate while diddling pages and secretaries.

You can blame paint chips in his breakfast cereal or fluoridated water;* me, I'm layin' this mess square at the doorstep of the ill-considered 17th Amendment, which needs to be amended right back. Ah, well, kiss it goodbye; it probably won't be until well after we're gone that some latter-day Imperial President appoints Speedy, his favorite racing tortoise, to the Senate and in the meantime, Mr. Reid will do right nicely as a substitute.
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* Not that I would in any way mean to imply the august body of men and/or women comprising the United States Senate was a mob of impure saps. Oh no. Not ever. Never. Well, hardly ever.

6 comments:

Angus McThag said...

Can't think of Incitatus without hearing Malcom McDowel's delivery of the line, "All hail Incitatus!" from Caligula.

Misspent youth and all...

Divemedic said...

The TEA party and the "Occupy" groups have simply been hijacked into the "Republican v. Democrat" false debate, and are useless.

I think people are finally waking up and seeing both parties for what they are: the only difference between the parties is in how they wish to divide the spoils.

Drang said...

As I noted, the only ones getting paid to attend Tea Party Rallies were media and the SEIU Purple People Beaters. SEIU and UAW, among others, trucked in union members to beef up the slackers of Occupy Wall Street.
The Larouchies also seem to fit in better with Occupy Wall Street than they did at tea Party Rallies, where they always wound up hanging out on the sidewalk, literally on the fringe.

Anonymous said...

I'm not certain that it would be helpful to think of it this way, but does it help you favor one side over the other if you imagine having any five Tea party types moving in next door to you, as compared to any five of the Occupy Wall Street sort?

Mike James

Roberta X said...

Oh, I got that, and most of 'em have a verrrra' different outcome in mind, too; but they are nevertheless motivated by many of the same big issues.

The elephant and the donkey are on life support; unlikely though it is, we might end up with hand tools vs. the Gadsden flag, with the Statue of Liberty and a Green theta as significant minor players. I don't have a problem with that. Parties ought to reflect their membership, not tell 'em what to think. (Ooooo, SEIU won't like that! 'Scroom.) Right now, they both have nasty mixed grab-bags of ideals and you're supposed to take the whole of it or nothing. Sux.

Cincinnatus said...

Reid isn't waiting to whip votes into line, he hasn't got the votes for Obama's legislation. The Democrats are terrified of the bill because they got burned on the first faux stimulus and this just looks like more of the same. Last time I looked Obama's bill had no cosponsors in House or Senate.

Reid is trying to glue some class warfare "Tax the Rich" nonsense onto it to try to buttress up the idea that when it dies, its all the Republicans fault. Which was the whole purpose of the bill the whole time.