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I'm not a liberal, but if I was, I can't imagine what I would have against the Tea Party movement - so hopefully a liberal/democrat could help me out with this.

I understand the movement is made up mostly of conservatives, so wouldn't that either be a good, or at worst, neutral thing for you when elections come around?

Sure, the Tea Party isn't an official party with representatives, but when a big (or the big) election comes around, they'll most likely endorse someone (If they don't, that would fall under neutral). If the person/people they back are Republican, you saw it coming, and you'll pretty much have the same outcome there would have been if the TP never existed (again, neutral result). If the person/people they back aren't Republican, it wouldn't be taking many, if any, votes away from your side - nowhere near the number it would be taking away from Republicans (this would fall under good for you).

Or am I missing something?

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I'm not a liberal, but if I was, I can't imagine what I would have against the Tea Party movement - so hopefully a liberal/democrat could help me out with this.

Some of these reasons are my own, some are not. But I think these are the ones why liberals don't like 'em:

* The TPers portray Obama et. al. as Marxists, Socialists, Nazis, Dictators, Terrorists, etc.
* The TPers believe and promote myths like "Obama will take your guns away", "We are becoming a socialist state", etc.
* The TPers don't fact check.
* The TPers rely heavily on Fox News, and they don't fact check.
* The TPers blame "progressives" for everything.
* The TPers are believed to be racists.
* The TPers threaten sedition and flaunt firearms.
* The TPers claim to be patriots, while bitching and moaning about the American government. Yet, two years ago when the liberals were bitching and moaning about the American government.
* The TPers adore Sarah Palin, whom they regard as a twit.
* The TPers don't help America's image overseas.
* The TPers insist that this is a Christian nation.

Did I miss any?

And in your opinion, these didn't apply to any other group before the TP came around?

Doesn't matter. Those reasons are sufficient for not supporting the TP itself, which is what you asked...

so it's not really the tp'ers, its that the movement is made up mostly of conservatives.

as i first said.

How did you arrive at that???

The group spouting the points not agreed with are the TPers, which is **why** Liberals dont support them.

I'm not sure exactly how you somehow skipped over the part of "BECAUSE they SAY those things" and change it to "because they're conservative..."

c'mon now. you can freely switch back and forth from tp'er to conservative without losing a step. you've lumped them all in together.

Not when we're discussing reason WHY we dont support the TP.

come on now, let's not keep putting words into my mouth here... especially when I've **told** you the reasons why I dont support the TP and you keep trying to insert your own.

nobody's asked you to "support" them. what's most curious is the levels of vitriol that surrounds ae movement tyhat basically consists of middle-aged, educated, small-business people who are for the most part advocating lower taxes..

Read the OP again.

The the vitriol is coming FROM those men, not at them primarily.

yes of course. vitriol never comes from the left. qed.

...and would like to limit my access to a safe, legal abortion. And don't believe health care is a fundamental human right. Those are two big sticking points in my craw.

And those aren't Tea Party issues.

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lovefromgirl.livejournal.com - 2010-04-27 23:58 (UTC) - Expand

Exactly. If I meet a new jerk, it doesn't matter how many other jerks I've known in the past. I still don't like the new jerk.

This goes back to my original point.

You don't differentiate much between TPers and Republicans. Neither does readherring. Neither do I. Hell, the TPers have pretty much given up on trying to.

They aren't going to gain numbers on you with this movement, they'll stay the same or fall behind more.

So because I disagree with both groups does not mean they are the same;
Nor does it mean I should cheer one and fight the other.

If I disagree with both of them, then I disagree with BOTH.

Now, the Republicans have done a ***piss poor*** job of moving away from the hateful or racist elements of the TP who claim they are Republican and/or Conservative.

But that doesn't mean I'm going to play "numbers game" and advocate the TP in hopes of weakening the GOP. I dont agree with either, and frankly BOTH are not what I would encourage.

So there's your answer. Not particularly difficult.

I can't really call them Republicans, because I don't know what "Republican" means these days.

I think of TPers that started out as conservatives angry (and rightfully so) over the bailouts and the fiscal irresponsibility of both parties, and (less rightfully so) over the outcome of the emotionally charged presidential election. This rage was channeled by Republicans and Fox News to also hate and reject indiscriminately whatever healthcare plan congress could come up with. Many of their actual platform points aren't that bad, but some of them are untenable and just a bit spiteful.

The Republicans are now working like hell to take them into their fold, and Fox News keeps filling 'em with tripe. I'm probably more frustrated with them than hateful. They started as being people angry with some legitimate problems, and now they are becoming part of those problems.

Edit:

* The TPers claim to be patriots, while bitching and moaning about the American government. Yet, two years ago when the liberals were bitching and moaning about the American government, the TPers were calling them 'un-American'.

the tea party didn't exist two years ago. you're thinking of the bush years. when dissent was still patriotic.

True. You caught me on a bad edit. Sorry, I was talking on the phone while typing. What I meant was:

* The TPers claim to be patriots, while bitching and moaning about the American government. Yet, two years ago when the liberals were bitching and moaning about the American government, the conservatives were calling them 'un-American'.

But given that the TPers are mainly conservatives, the lines do blur. The feeling is that when we dissent, you call us traitors, when you dissent, you call yourselves patriots.

i see this happening on both sides. people just have very short memories.

Really? Who on the left has called the Tea Party movement traitors?

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=10303032

False equivalency. The anti-war left was branded with the label of traitor to their country. Your argument discusses accusations of treason to one's race, which is lamentable, but irrelevant to this discussion on political views.

I also seem to have left a few important words out of my previous question, so I'll rephrase. What prominent figures on the left have accused the Tea Party movements of treason? That article doesn't seem to name any specific person, whereas the accusations of treason on the anti-war left came from many prominent figures on the right.

wasn't my argument. readherring brought it up. my comment referred to the short memories people have about political demagoguery.

No. A list sadly fits many of them. But there are well meaning people in there who are tired of losing themselves out of the middle class. The backbone of any nation's well being. Depressing that they don't see where they are being dragged to slaughter.

I'm an immigrant. I wasn't born here. I came to the US when I was 5. So I became a cititzen when my parents did. I'm assimilated. I speak English, not Italian. I consider the US my home and the rights promised my rights. I can understand people's fears about that too. Granted I am European and my parents were educated. So I'm the kind of immigrant the US would not mind coming over. So I can see the racists in the Tea Party also.

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