This is How to Treat Teabag Congressmen

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1. anon says:

   August 29, 2011 at 11:34 pm

   People should be posting poorly edited, shaky cameraphone videos?

   Sorry, couldn’t resist.

   The business owner was scared shitless – did you see his hand shaking? – but still stood up. Good for him.

   Now if only our own congress members would hold town-hall forums.

   Who here volunteers to stand up and ask similar questions of Tom Carper the next forum he holds?

2. puck says:

   August 29, 2011 at 11:52 pm

   This is also how we should be treating our Democrats in Congress. The Republican is simply stating the same “tax reform” position as Obama, Carper, Coons, and Carney. Listen closely – there is no difference.

   These citizens are onto this “tax reform” bullshit though. When the Repub says “tax reform,” listen to the outcry of “No! Higher rates!! (for the wealthy)”

   And then the one guy who says “OK, tax reform, and then ALSO higher rates for the wealthy.”

   This is exactly what we need to be saying to Carper Coons Carney Obama.

   I am starting to suspect that Democrats have also secretly signed the Grover Norquist pledge.

   I wonder how these people got organized to go to this meeting. I can’t imagine more than three Delaware liberals attending an event like this on a good day.

3. puck says:

   August 30, 2011 at 12:08 am

   After a little searching I was able to identify the chart behind Gibson. It is a partisan document produced by Republican staff of the House Budget Committee (see p. 6).

   Once you get a closer look at it (and the rest of the presentation), you see the chart has a lot of problems with it. Data sources are not cited, “taxes” is not defined, dollar basis is not specified (real vs nominal), etc.

4. jason330 says:

   August 30, 2011 at 7:49 am

   “I am starting to suspect that Democrats have also secretly… ”

   Why don’t you ask Coons and Carney if they oppose all tax increases including closing loop holes that can be construed as raising rates? Part of the cool thing about Delaware is the size and our proximity to our elected officials.

5. Nancy Willing says:

   August 30, 2011 at 8:28 am

   Fresh teabagger news from Iowa:
   Christine O’Donnell will speak before Sarah Palin at Iowa tea party rally Saturday by Jennifer Jacobs

   http://caucuses.desmoinesregister.com/2011/08/29/christine-odonnell-will-speak-before-sarah-palin-at-iowa-tea-party-rally-saturday/

   and two more from the twitter feed:

   thinkprogress NEW POLL: 46% of Americans view tea party unfavorably, 28% favorable thkpr.gs/nF1SPN

   thinkprogress Federal appeals court suggests GOP ban on video cameras at town halls was unconstitutional thkpr.gs/qy0AFs

6. puck says:

   August 30, 2011 at 8:54 am

   “Why don’t you ask Coons and Carney if they oppose all tax increases including closing loop holes that can be construed as raising rates? ”

   I guess it can’t hurt to ask, but I think we already know the answer. Of course they will say No, but their votes and speech tell a different story. If they were willing to raise rates, they had opportunities to do so but passed them up and voted the other way. So draw your own conclusions.

   Coons and Carper voted with the Norquist pledgers and their strange Democrat bedfellows on the tax cut extensions. Carney wasn’t there yet but during the campaign he said he supported the extension.

   During the debt limit debate I didn’t hear any of them calling out Democrats for supporting the no-revenue debt limit increase. It didn’t seem to cause them any indigestion at all. So I think we have our answer already.

   I think a lot of the Delaware left is failing to grasp the shift in the Democratic establishment agenda. Up until late last year the line was “Expire the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy.” But in December Obama introduced the ominous new term “tax reform.” He didn’t explain it then.

   But now the details are emerging. “Tax reform” is smoke and mirrors that means “We’re not going to expire the tax cuts on the rich, and we’re not going to raise rates on anybody. The unicorns will do the rest.”

   But those citizens at Gibson’s town hall were onto this tax reform bullshit. The moment the Repub said “Tax reform” they called him on it and said “NO! We want rate increases!!”

   I don’t think Delaware progressives have caught up to those NY folks yet. The moment Carney Coons Carper Obama say “Tax reform” we need to feel that instant revulsion and rejection of the concept.

   I wager there are some even in PDD who haven’t caught on that “tax reform” is Democratic Kool-Aid, and think it is a good pragmatic bipartisan thing.

   I will grant though that if we can pass a tax reform that closes loopholes and STILL expire the Bush tax cuts in 2012, that will be a win. But everything I hear from Democrats indicates they want “tax reform” INSTEAD of expiring the tax cuts, not in addition to.

   So sure, I’ll ask at a Coons Carney Carper meeting if I can find one. Who else understands that “tax reform” is bullshit and will ask them the same questions? As you can see from the video it looks much more convincing if there is more than one guy on the same page.

   Who else is willing to come to the meeting and call out “No!” everytime Coons says “Revenue from tax reform?”

7. Nancy Willing says:

   August 30, 2011 at 8:57 am

   I was on Community Crossfire with local “Patriots” Evan and Lee a few weeks ago. They insisted that the national tea party big-corporate presence associated with Freedom Works and the Koch brothers were not big influences here in Delaware. They are trying to distance Delaware wingnut activism from the top down view that the tea party is mostly white, male bigots.

   Yet O’Donnell’s 2010 primary win is credited to the Delaware Tea Party and her 7-8 million dollar campaign chest is a function of her alliance with Freedom Works organization. Remember, we were one of the scheduled stops for Palin and the Freedom Works bus tour. Palin herself didn’t quite materialize in person in the end but I will never forget a quote from a star-struck Sussex Countian recounting how Sarah Palin “called her last night and asked her to vote for O’Donnell”.

   On the show, I talked about areas where the tea party and progressive agreed like auditing the federal reserve and questioning TBTF bailouts. My main points were that, at this point, the tea party was hand-in-glove owned by the GOP in following the corporatist agenda and that DC was owned by the corps too and incumbents in both parties weren’t likely to fix the big three problems: banking, taxation and trade.

   Lee, it turned out, is the high-pitched wingnut voice I always hear on the Al Mascitti show. Evidently, after the WDEL/Coons town hall, Al met Lee and Evan and made “friends”. Lee and Evan are hard core, talking point mimics for the GOP. IMO, their crazy theories are based on an ideology that is poisonous for our country. They are the far right that insists on elimination of the EPA, the Dept. of Ed., Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid etc. tax cuts for job creators ad nauseum.

8. MJ says:

   August 30, 2011 at 9:01 am

   I’ve heard that Evan Q has become quite delusional these days and is thinking of running against John Viola. Wonder if he’s paid off all of his debts to his former landlord yet.

9. Nancy Willing says:

   August 30, 2011 at 9:02 am

   “I will grant though that if we can pass a tax reform that closes loopholes and STILL expire the Bush tax cuts in 2012, that will be a win. But everything I hear from Democrats indicates they want “tax reform” INSTEAD of expiring the tax cuts, not in addition to ”

   AGREED. DC is a bought and paid for town pwned by the big money interests. Coons and Carney only differed when they publicly stated that we have to get out of Afghanistan but I don’t see them actually doing anything to that end.

10. Dana says:

    August 30, 2011 at 11:20 am

    Puck wrote:

    I will grant though that if we can pass a tax reform that closes loopholes and STILL expire the Bush tax cuts in 2012, that will be a win. But everything I hear from Democrats indicates they want “tax reform” INSTEAD of expiring the tax cuts, not in addition to.

    Yeah, I’m sure that the Democrats want to go into the 2012 elections saying, “Yup, we want to raise your taxes.” Walter Mondale tried that one in 1984, and carried one state.

    But, hey, go for it! I really do want to see you try it. 🙂

11. puck says:

    August 30, 2011 at 11:22 am

    And if Republicans want to go to 2012 promising to double down on the job-killing tax cuts that have destroyed the economy for over ten years now, and demand that we accept health care cuts and social security cuts and a lower standard of living to pay for it all – well, they will probably win with that.

12. Another Mike says:

    August 30, 2011 at 12:38 pm

    “Who here volunteers to stand up and ask similar questions of Tom Carper the next forum he holds?”

    That would be the first forum he holds.