"Nervous Tea Partiers See Possible Democratic Win on Health Care."

[Clio the Leo]

Nervous Tea Partiers See Possible Democratic Win on Health Care

By DAVID WEIGEL 3/17/10 6:00 AM

“Might as well not even be here,” grumbled Georgia Holliday. “I can’t believe that Dick Armey screwed up like this!”

Holliday was not alone. Having traveled into the city from the suburbs for the 10 a.m. “Code Red” rally on the Capitol grounds, she got more and more annoyed that she couldn’t hear any of the speakers. (She was also annoyed at the wrong Tea Party activist — the Code Red rally was sponsored by a coalition of Tea Party groups, while a different, 9 a.m. rally had been organized by Armey’s FreedomWorks.) As Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) waved a copy the massive Senate version health care bill — “I brought an abortion to show you!” — Holliday winced and chanted her disapproval.

“Kill the bill!” she said. “Kill the bill! And get us a PA system!”
The Code Red rally was small, drawing around 300 people into a noisy circle. So was the FreedomWorks “People’s Surge,” which sent Tea Party activists onto Capitol Hall to seek out one-on-one meetings with members of Congress whose votes could decide the fate of health care reform. Both events were mocked for their size, by Democrats and liberal groups that had grown used to explosive media coverage of the conservative movement. “I’ve been to birthday parties that drew more people,” sneered DNC spokesman Hari Sevugan in an email to Politico’s Ben Smith.

If the relative fizzle fazed Tea Party organizers — FreedomWorks had hoped for closer to 2,500 activists — they didn’t show it. Rob Jordan of FreedomWorks told smug Democrats to wait for election day: “You can count on people showing up.” Libertarian and conservative blogs reported on larger Tea Party protests happening in Michigan and San Diego.

But the smallish numbers of the March 16 Tea Party push amplified the new attitude coming from politicians and activists: pessimism. Slightly over a year since the start of the movement, Tea Party activists were, for the first time, contemplating a major legislative victory for President Barack Obama and the Democrats — the final passage of health care reform. While many held out hope that plans to pass the Senate’s version of reform in the House would stall out, others pondered their next steps. Some, like Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa), took a dark view of what might come.

“Right now, they’re civil, because they think they have a chance of stopping this bill,” said King to reporters, waving his arm at a pack of “People’s Surge” activists forming a line to enter the Cannon House Office Building. “The reason we don’t have violence in this country like they do in dictatorships is because we have votes, and our leaders listen to their constituents. Now we’re in a situation where the leaders are defying the people!” Later, King would expand on those remarks and speculate on a possible anti-Washington revolt in which Tea Parties would “fill the streets” of the capital.

http://washingtonindependent.com/79439/nervous-tea-partiers-see-possible-democratic-win-on-health-care

What's the punishment for treason again? Anyone know?

[Joanne98]

1. Oooh! I'm scared!

[Jennicut]

2. I think they will think of something new to be crazy about. Give them time.

[Cirque du So-What]

3. Charges of treason may be overreaching a bit

The track record of prosecution for treason is abysmal. Prosecutors may have better luck with sedition, however.

[Clio the Leo]

5. I'm talking about the teabaggers here....

.... you HAVE to overreach when you talk about them. When in Rome and all......

[Cirque du So-What]

10. I thought you meant Krazy King

I've never heard such language from an elected official...in this country anyway. It's the stuff of tinpot dictatorships and fascist regimes. Calls for civil disobedience need to come from outside government - not from within it. I hope his words have lasting repercussions for conservatives.

[Gman2]

4. I' sure glad NOW, that Bush started all those FEMA camps.

[Clio the Leo]

6. Yep! Round 'em up! Send them to the trailors!!!

Make them live off of nothing but Fritos and Moutain Dew, doing nothing all day but watching Judge Judy.

(that actually sounds like fun)

[monmouth]

11. OR, send them to Texas. You know, our beautiful minds and all..LOL...n/t

[Ikonoklast]

13. For most of them, nothing would change.

This is what they do everyday.


Well, some of them prefer Cheetos.

[derby378]

7. The teabaggers are nervous - but the insurance companies that manipulated them...

...their CEOs are smiling and rubbing their palms together, anticipating the moment when they're put in charge of healthcare in America.

[Pirate Smile]

8. I can't wait for the kvetching after it passes.

:evilgrin:

[Alcibiades]

9. Majority rule

Doesn't that pretty much mean that the minority does not get to make policy? How is that "defying the people?"

Go home, teabaggers, and keep cashing in on Social Security, Medicare VA benefits and all those other programs you claim to hate.

[Bitwit1234]

12. I don't understand tea bags

most of them seem sort of intelligent. But they let rush and fox news dictate to them what to think. If they had any sense they would sit down and try to read the REAL HEALTH CARE PROVISIONS and see that...

people going to the emergency room because they have no health insurance, because they were laid off, because they work but can't afford the premiums, or their work doesn't offer it cost the taxpayer money, lots of money.

BUT if they had this health insurance, which was affordable and they could purchase even tho their work doesn't offer it and if they can't afford all of it, get a government subsidy it would cost the taxpayer a heck of a lot more.

AND Sarah Palin trying to get them to forgo supporting this bill tells them that they have death panels. When she promoted the same type of thing that was in the bill herself by proclaiming a day so people could set up the same programs. And none of them seemed to mind that she was lying they fell down at her feet and believed her.

BUT since rush and Fox news tells them they are paying for it, the dumb a** believes it and whines and moans and twist their shorts. What is wrong with these people why can't they think one thought for themselves.

[tanyev]

14. “I can’t believe that Dick Armey screwed up like this!”

WHAT?? I thought the Tea Bag movement was all grass-roots and not organized by Republican power brokers. Is that really what you meant to say, Ms. Holliday?

[Andy823]

15. Well...

From what I have seen of the teabagger groups, the are a bunch of crazy people, so King should feel right at home! The teabagers consist of crazy people, the Glen Beck crowd, the scared old people, the Limbaugh crowd, and a bunch of racists! They don't have a clue to what is really going on, they simply listen to their favorite "talking head" and they accept all the lies they are told. There is fighting between the various groups because one group wants one thing the other wants something different. They can't come together to form on group, and they never will! Seems like the numbers at their rallies are dropping, and I think that if the bill passes, yes they will be upset, but they aren't going to go violent, at least not the vast majority of them. They are going to lose their "zeal" and they are going to fade away, for the most part. I am sure that Armey and his band of instigators will keep on trying to work people up, but most of the people are going to just stop wasting their time going to these rallies. When they find out the whole issue is not as bad as the morons on the right have been telling them, they will simply become a movement of the past!

Now I am sure King and all the other morons on the right that "want" violence, will be hoping for some, and they may get a few of the really crazies to do something stupid, but it won't be the huge revolution they want!