Althouse: "There's nothing between these ears."

April 16, 2010

"There's nothing between these ears."

Another detail from yesterday's Tea Party photographs:

29 comments:

former law student said...: Don't these people have jobs?

I'm thinking the political bent of this blog harmonizes well with the Tea Party Movement.

Change the name of the blog from Althouse to Tea House. Maybe Teahouse of the Althouse Meade, remembering the Glenn Ford-Brando movie.; 4/16/10, 10:29 AM
Pastafarian said...: "Don't these people have jobs?"

No, they're all on the public dime. Lazy moochers and welfare queens, with their calls for limited government and fiscal responsibility. Sickening, really.

But seriously: If so many of the people who sympathize with the tea party weren't busy earning the money that liberal bureaucrats can then confiscate and redistribute to their supporters, they'd probably draw 10 times as many people at these rallies.

But somebody's got to pick the cotton, right, fls?; 4/16/10, 11:13 AM
Zachary Sire said...: All the pictures on the front page of this blog look the same.

Same old group of fat white people holding signs co-opting the words "America" and "USA," as if they are the ones who define this country. Ha.; 4/16/10, 11:19 AM
David said...: Caution: The Brain Between These Ears May be Larger Than It Appears.; 4/16/10, 11:21 AM
David said...: former law student said...
"Don't these people have jobs?"

FLS is posting on a blog at 10:30 AM on a work day. I'm retired, FLS. What's your excuse?; 4/16/10, 11:23 AM
David said...: Zaacary, you will be hearing from the N.A.O.F.W.P. any time now.; 4/16/10, 11:26 AM
Pastafarian said...: David and fls, I'd just like to point out that I'm in the Eastern time zone, and it's my lunch hour.

You'll find an inordinate number of my comments here between 11am and 1pm edt.

I'd better get back to work and earn that money that fls's beloved bloated bureaucracy can take away from me at gunpoint and hand directly out to the 48% of "taxpayers" who receive more money from the federal government than they pay in.; 4/16/10, 11:28 AM
Pastafarian said...: ZPS said: "...Same old group of fat white people..."

Yucko, white people. And fat -- that's even worse. Jesus, I hate white people. I'm so sick of them. Why can't President Obama come up with some sort of final solution to the fat white people problem?

ZPS, would you have a problem with someone who commented on a series of photos of pro-immigration protests by calling them "the same old group of fat Mexicans"?

Or if someone described a photo of a Democrat rally in Detroit as "the same old group of fat black people"?; 4/16/10, 11:32 AM
Unknown said...: Ann Althouse said...

"There's nothing between these ears."

Nor the ears of the people who shill for him, either.

PS Good one, Pasta.; 4/16/10, 11:33 AM
Hoosier Daddy said...: Same old group of fat white people holding signs co-opting the words "America" and "USA," as if they are the ones who define this country. Ha.

Ha is right. I didn't see a whole lot of diversity in your Gay Marriage crowd out there ZPS. Just a bunch of white, hygiene challenged skinny young people whining.; 4/16/10, 12:42 PM
Fred4Pres said...: Andrew "The Last of the Conservatives" Sullivan explains why the tea party is not to be trusted:

And this is why, despite my own deep suspicion of big government, I remain unmoved by the tea-partiers. Their partisanship and cultural hostility to Obama are far more intense, it seems to me, than their genuine proposals to reduce spending and taxation. And this is largely because they have no genuine proposals to reduce spending and taxation. They seem very protective of Medicare and Social Security – and their older age bracket underlines this. They also seem primed for maximal neo-imperial reach, backing the nation-building efforts in Afghanistan and Iraq, favoring war against Iran, etc. Only Ron Paul, peace be upon him, extends his big government critique to the military-industrial-ideological complex.

So they are truly not serious in policy terms, and it behooves the small government right to grapple with this honestly. They both support lower taxation and yet bemoan the fact that so many Americans do not pay any income tax. They want to cut spending on trivial matters while enabling the entitlement and defense behemoths to go on gobbling up Americans’ wealth. And that lack of seriousness is complemented by a near-fanatical cultural alienation from the modern world.

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 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.

[somehow I suspect his antipathy is really based on the fact they seem to like Sarah Palin]; 4/16/10, 12:42 PM
TheThinMan said...: "Same old group of fat white people" - Zachary Paul Sire, Obedient Lefty.

"White man's greed in a world of greed" - Obama, quoting Rev. Wright, recalling his epiphany to go into politics.

Another example of our Racist-In-Cheif inspiring and enabling bigoted hatred.; 4/16/10, 1:24 PM
TheThinMan said...: Sorry, I meant to type "White man's greed in a world of NEED." You see, nonwhites are all victims and only whites are the victimizers, according to Dear Leader.; 4/16/10, 1:35 PM
MamaM said...: Showing up matters...size, color, shape or clothing choice may also matter, but they matter less than the dedication and interest required to show up, create signs, share frustrations and communicate together.

Slowly but surely, President's Obama's skills as a community organizer are being realized.; 4/16/10, 1:48 PM
Ann Althouse said...: "Ann Althouse said..."

I didn't say it. I quoted it.; 4/16/10, 2:09 PM
former law student said...: former law student said...
"Don't these people have jobs?"

FLS is posting on a blog at 10:30 AM on a work day.

Note that I did not type, "Don't you people have jobs?" I am sitting in front of the computer; not wearing shorts and a bucket hat, carrying a protest sign. Unlike me, these folks have absented themselves from the workplace for the duration.

But insofar as Tea Parties give unemployed people focus and something to do, I applaud them.; 4/16/10, 2:33 PM
David said...: "Unlike me, these folks have absented themselves from the workplace for the duration."

Unlike you, who is a sneak.

"Not wearing shorts . . . "

FLS, you are an Althouse guy after all.; 4/16/10, 2:43 PM
Jeremy said...: Where are all of the people of color?; 4/16/10, 2:44 PM
Jeremy said...: Thin Brain - Where are all of the tea bagger people of color??; 4/16/10, 2:45 PM
former law student said...: Unlike you, who is a sneak.

No coffee breaks in your past life? Nose to the grindstone from sunup to sundown?

"Not wearing shorts . . . "

FLS, you are an Althouse guy after all.

I can conceive of no occasion where wearing shorts is appropriate for an adult male in a public place in a built-up area in April.; 4/16/10, 2:49 PM
Alan said...: Jeremy, dude, it's Wisconsin. One can easily ask "where are the people of color?" for the entire state.; 4/16/10, 2:50 PM
former law student said...: Madison is only 82% white according to the census factsheet cited on wikip. So one out of five or so protestors should be non-white. Unless they had to work that day, of course.; 4/16/10, 3:02 PM
Trooper York said...: What? Pink isn't a color?; 4/16/10, 3:08 PM
Harsh Pencil said...: If the tea partiers weren't racist, they would have refused to have a rally without making sure that at least 11% of those attending were African-American.; 4/16/10, 3:58 PM
TheThinMan said...: Those who thought they were rebutting my point about leftist race-baiting and race obsession are actually proving it. Thanks for coming in on cue, Jeremy and Hard Pencil, I couldn't have done it without you guys.

BTW, look back at video of any anti-war/Bush/Republican/WTO rally (or riot) and you can count the nonwhites with one hand and have a few fingers left over. Or just turn on MSNBC or CNN. See? What a dumb game to play instead of arguing the issues.; 4/16/10, 5:13 PM
Jeremy said...: TheThinMan said..."BTW, look back at video of any anti-war/Bush/Republican/WTO rally (or riot) and you can count the nonwhites with one hand and have a few fingers left over."

That's because all of the blacks were in Iraq.; 4/16/10, 5:37 PM
Unknown said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 4/16/10, 9:09 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: Apparently I made a mistake of making long big tea party videos and none of the made it to PJTV via the meager 10 mb web mail.

If any body knows of a way I can send the video via the web other than email please let me know.

I would really appreciate it.; 4/16/10, 9:17 PM
Opus One Media said...: I'm sure glad that the tea party types are apolitical...showing no favoritism whatsoever...just your ordinary run of the mill upper class white republican elites from the suburbs deluded into thinking that they stand for the "common man".; 4/17/10, 7:03 AM