Althouse: If only there were a lefty version of the Tea Party...

February 8, 2011

If only there were a lefty version of the Tea Party...

... The Nation would love it so.

47 comments:

Sprezzatura said...: Lots of words at that link.

It must be complicated to set up a left TP group. At least the blue print (assuming that's what that was--it's too much for me to want to read) sure is long.

See cons, the length of the HCR wasn't sinister, libs are just long winded.; 2/8/11, 6:50 PM
Martin L. Shoemaker said...: How many times have liberals tried to launch a lefty version of the Tea Party in the past year or so? I've lost track. Must be close to half a dozen by now.; 2/8/11, 6:51 PM
Henry said...: I love the distinction between "fake" populism and "real" populism.

Dear people, you're fake. We hate you. Love, the Nation.; 2/8/11, 6:54 PM
Anonymous said...: The line that cracked me up was:

"Instead of the fake populism of the Tea Party, there is a movement based on real populism."

We're real people! They're fake people! Because we say so!; 2/8/11, 7:01 PM
coketown said...: "This may sound like a fantasy—but it has all happened. The name of this parallel universe is Britain."

Get your shit together, America. Form a real populist movement--not a fake populist movement like the Tea Party--and America could be like Britain. Otherwise known as the Pearl of Europe; the Emerald Isle; Land of Gold Streets and Diamond Streetlamps.

Snark aside, I do love how the left's prototypical populist movement is one of rioting, violence, intimidating 'the others,' closing down their businesses, and harassing their families. Kind of makes the flag-waving grandparents at Tea Party rallies seem quaint.; 2/8/11, 7:05 PM
Anonymous said...: What happened to the Coffee Table party?; 2/8/11, 7:05 PM
chickelit said...: In a sense, the Tea Party is the same party as the youth party of the 60's and 70's, awakened from a long slumber and now finding itself on the other side of 40 in the equation.

Party on Garth!; 2/8/11, 7:05 PM
Tyrone Slothrop said...: Does anyone on the left ever tune in to the real world?

The top 1% of earners make 20% of AGI and pay 38% of income taxes. The top 5% of earners make 35% of income and pay 59% of income taxes. The bottom 50% of earners make 12.75% of income and pay 2.7% of income taxes

Now who exactly is it that isn't paying his fair share of taxes?; 2/8/11, 7:06 PM
Shanna said...: How many times have liberals tried to launch a lefty version of the Tea Party in the past year or so? I've lost track. Must be close to half a dozen by now.

They're just jealous. Heh.

They so WANT the tea party to be fake, they think they can just wish it into being true.; 2/8/11, 7:06 PM
Mary Beth said...: They are Brits who are upset that tuitions are going up and housing subsidies are being cut. I do not see any similarity to the Tea Party.; 2/8/11, 7:07 PM
chickelit said...: I dealt with the maturity issue of the proto-Tea partiers here; 2/8/11, 7:08 PM
mesquito said...: "Hari was born in Glasgow and has lived in London since he was a baby."

-wikipedia

M'kay. Tell us more about what Real Merkins want, shithead.; 2/8/11, 7:08 PM
I'm Full of Soup said...: Who is that hateful Kommie trust fund kook who owns the Nation? I can see her perpetually pinched & anguished face but can't remember her name at the moment.; 2/8/11, 7:09 PM
pst314 said...: The Nation would like to dissolve the people and elect a new one.; 2/8/11, 7:10 PM
YoungHegelian said...: @Jayc

"Instead of the fake populism of the Tea Party, there is a movement based on real populism."

We're real people! They're fake people! Because we say so!"

Never, ever, underestimate the role that the idea of "false consciousness" plays in the worldview of both the marxist and post-marxist left.

It is a great soother for the cognitive dissonance of their daily lives in the belly of the great beast of capitalism, the grand ole US of A.; 2/8/11, 7:11 PM
Anonymous said...: Seems like flatscreen TV's are the new symbol of bourgeois complacency. I saw Larry LIES! O'Donnell snark on them last night, and this linked article includes them in some backhanded observation. I'm guessing that all things would be much better now if we still had to squint to everything within the frame, according to some. How so, I can only guess.; 2/8/11, 7:16 PM
Bruce Hayden said...: They are Brits who are upset that tuitions are going up and housing subsidies are being cut. I do not see any similarity to the Tea Party.

Maybe that is why this isn't going anywhere on this side of the pond. With raging deficits and borrowing, there is going to be very little sympathy for anyone in the dependent portion of the population protesting that they are not getting enough free goodies.

What is their argument going to be, that we some how owe them a free ride? I think that the response will be, go out and get a job. We, the taxpayers in this country, are not your keepers, and are not responsible for your well being. You are.; 2/8/11, 7:18 PM
Amartel said...: Dear Leftiezzz,
U R Dooin it RonG.
Blah,
X
[Horrible mean baggerthuglicans]

P.S. Stop trying to make "fetch" happen!; 2/8/11, 7:20 PM
Hoosier Daddy said...: I thought the lefties have MoveOn, ANSWER, Code Pink, the American Communist Party.

I guess you can't please a group that is so wrapped up in their own victimhood and self-flagellation.; 2/8/11, 7:23 PM
coketown said...: When I think of great all-American, middle-class institutions it's usually, you know, Superbowl Sunday, NASCAR, and The Nation. That magazine has a subscription base of 32 million--99.97% of which are lower- and middle-class. They have their finger on the pulse of popular opinion in this country. When they say, "Popular revolt!" this country collectively implores: "How intense?!"

No, no, none of that is true. The Nation is a pulpit of progressive elitists preaching to a congregation of progressive elitists. They can't even operate in the black without the help of rich donors. Literally, by every definition of the word, there is nothing 'popular' about The Nation.; 2/8/11, 7:29 PM
Bruce Hayden said...: Another problem with a left wing TP here - they are using resentment of large corporations not paying taxes as justification. Doesn't work that way in this country. Rather, a lot of those companies not paying much in taxes are in bed with the Democrats and their Crony Capitalism. It is GE, so tightly connected to the Administration, that is paying taxes at about 1/10th the rate that the evil Wal-Mart is. It didn't hurt GE that their NBC/PMSNBC unit was flogging the President, the Democrats in Congress, ObamaCare, etc., until sold off recently to Comcast. Or, that their CEO is now chairing a competitiveness committee for Obama.

Indeed, those companies closest to Obama and the Democrats seem to be the ones that have done the best under his Administration.

Compounding this, much of the blame for the major recession that we are living through can be directly attributed to Democratic politicians (notably Frank and Dodd), Democrats running Fannie and Freddie, and the investment bankers who set up the system that failed, and then moved to the Administration to run the clean up.

None of this is going to be much good at stimulating a left-wing Tea Party movement.; 2/8/11, 7:30 PM
Skyler said...: "Instead of the fake populism of the Tea Party, there is a movement based on real populism."

Only The Nation would have such a problem understanding reality.; 2/8/11, 7:33 PM
The Crack Emcee said...: I'm glad everyone's focusing on the "fake populism of the Tea Party" line, because that's exactly where I stopped reading.; 2/8/11, 7:34 PM
Anonymous said...: They argued that tax avoidance is legal and therefore fine. The protesters responded that they were obviously arguing for a change in the law.

Of course if someone asks me “Sir, do you pay your taxes? So do I. Did you know that Vodafone doesn’t?” I realize at once that the taxes he's accusing Vodaphone of not paying are not the ones it actually owes under law, but the ones it would owe under law if only he had his way. Obviously.; 2/8/11, 7:38 PM
mesquito said...: Real populists, you see, would waste four decades insisting on the innocense of Alger Hiss.; 2/8/11, 7:38 PM
Bob_R said...: There have been lefty versions of the tea party. They were called the anti Vietnam war movement and the civil rights movement of the 50's and 60's. Fortunately there have not been that many things that prompted massive popular uprisings in recent history.; 2/8/11, 7:45 PM
traditionalguy said...: Does anyone know the enrollment in the University of Paris. Three hundred thousand and rising. I bet they have Progressive populism gone wild there.; 2/8/11, 7:54 PM
jeff said...: "If only there was a lefty version of the Tea Party....."

So a group that wants bigger government and higher taxes? Isn't that group called 'democrats'?; 2/8/11, 8:03 PM
The Dude said...: That doesn't even make sense - the original tea party was about being over-taxed. Liberals do not think it is possible to pay too much in taxes, well, impossible for others, that is. They will always dodge or evade taxes, as they are superior.

A leftist equivalent would be a group that demanded taxes be increased, along with social programs and government control over every aspect of citizen's lives.

We already have that - it is called the MSM and Hollywood.; 2/8/11, 8:09 PM
Martin L. Shoemaker said...: The Crack Emcee said...

I'm glad everyone's focusing on the "fake populism of the Tea Party" line, because that's exactly where I stopped reading.

I stopped reading when I saw it was a link to The Nation. There are a few sites where the partisanship and dishonesty are so deep, I've decided it's not worth trying to dig through for any worthwhile content. The Nation isn't the top of that list on the Left (Daily Kos and Huffington Post easily top it), but it's a respectable third. The New York Times would join the list if John Tierney weren't one of the best lay science authors in the business today.

On the right, that list includes World Net Daily and Newsmax.; 2/8/11, 8:31 PM
Mary Beth said...: I wonder if Vodaphone even knew why they were protesting. Was this going on at the same time we were supposed to be hating them for sending out text messages to get pro-Mubarak demonstrators in Egypt? (Because, you know, not doing what a dictator wants would not have any negative consequences for your employees.)

I also don't see how they are doing anything new by protesting. Weren't there some fairly violent protests about the rise in tuition a few weeks ago?; 2/8/11, 8:44 PM
Fen said...: Thank you to everyone who read this swill from the Nation so I didn't have to.; 2/8/11, 8:48 PM
Unknown said...: The Lefties assume they are on the side of the people and the people are on their side, but the one thing standing in the way is that the Lefties can't stand the people when actually exposed to them.; 2/8/11, 8:48 PM
Blue@9 said...: I think the theorists of the Left really screwed up this past decade by pushing the notion that they were losing elections because they were bad at framing issues and events. It's just given the Left a bad excuse to seek out alternative frames rather than acknowledge what's right in front of them.

The story of the Left's treatment of the Tea Psrty has been a nonstop comedy laugh riot. Look at everything they've been through: they're racists, they're poor white trash, no wait they're rich white retirees, they're paid off by the Koch brothers, or Rick Santelli, or Rupert Murdoch, it's all astroturf.

As long as they keep writing off the Tea Party in such unserious ways, it's going to continue steamrolling them.; 2/8/11, 9:10 PM
Blue@9 said...: Also, Tea Parties and Civil Rights movements work because the participants want what is rightfully theirs; Americans don't riot like the Brits because most of us are not presumptuous enough to think that we are rightfully owed other people's money.; 2/8/11, 9:16 PM
Harry said...: This may sound like a fantasy—but it has all happened. The name of this parallel universe is Britain.

Hmm, contemporary Britain is also the birthplace of movements that would be considered fascist by the Nation's standards, such as the British National Party and the English Defense League--in reaction to the crushing multiculturalism of the ruling elites.; 2/8/11, 9:18 PM
Automatic_Wing said...: Ritmo is a Left-Wing Tea Party of One.; 2/8/11, 9:30 PM
bagoh20 said...: I think the blue print they are talking about was in 1917 and a little to the east.

The fact that such an argument is even offered seriously is proof of just how lost the liberal brand is. It's just stupid historically, logically and factually.; 2/8/11, 9:48 PM
KCFleming said...: Perpetual condemNation, of all things to the right of Stalin.; 2/8/11, 10:01 PM
Chip Ahoy said...: I lasted five whole sentences do I win?; 2/8/11, 10:08 PM
I'm Full of Soup said...: You beat me Chip. I never click on Althouse links to the NYT or The Nation. But I never let that stop me from adding my two cents.; 2/8/11, 11:02 PM
Toad Trend said...: Yeah, it didn't take long to shake my head, mutter and close the window.

Wasn't the weak 'coffee party' the left's attempt to manufacture more faux outrage at the Tea Party?

Honestly, the left really is the same as an insatiable baby...goes from sleeping to crying for the bottle in no time and fills their pants 10 times a day.

And, the disconnect the left has with any government responsibility for the failures in the financial and housing markets, along the destruction of the family due to social largesse' (read: excessive) is bewildering.

Hint to the left: the government is staffed with HUMANS, just like the ones in the private sector, only the ones in government are seldom accountable for anything.; 2/9/11, 4:37 AM
Scott M said...: Honestly, the left really is the same as an insatiable baby...goes from sleeping to crying for the bottle in no time and fills their pants 10 times a day.

As a father of four, that's quite possibly the best description of progressives I've ever read. Well-crafted, sir.; 2/9/11, 7:26 AM
AllenS said...: Why not try and appeal to everyone. Come up with a catchy phrase like The No Labels Party. How could you go wrong?; 2/9/11, 7:51 AM
Lincolntf said...: There is already a Lefty version of the Tea Party. We see it at the Common Cause/Greenpeace hate rally, in the mobs of screaming idiots smashing windows during the Bush years and in the howling loons like Grayson, Olbermann, Maddow and Pelosi who populate the Dem Party/MSM.
The problem isn't getting people to join a Lefty Tea Patrty, the problem is getting sane and intelligent people to join. And that's never gonna happen.

Anyway, I love the irony of a newborn grassroots movement beating the electoral crap out of Mr. Community Organizer himself. What a chump.; 2/9/11, 8:04 AM
EnigmatiCore said...: The bloody fools actually believe it was built.; 2/9/11, 8:06 AM
test said...: I can't get past the idiot author referring to the Tea Party as "fake" populism. What makes it fake? That the author wishes they had different opinions? This guy is too stupid even to write for the Nation.

Anyway, we already have Acorn's stepchildren and unions performing his fantasy. Given this, his true complaint seems to be that not enough people share his fantasy.; 2/9/11, 10:07 AM