When a Tea Party is not a Tea Party

Paulie Brading

One of my good buddies decided to attend a Tea Party yesterday and here is his report.

"Went to Medford's Alba Park at 4:00 pm to hear what the Tea Party people with their bus had to say,. Only four people and a small dog showed up and no bus. The four finally left at 4:30 pm when no one else arrived. One couple came from Klamath Falls. Thats a four hour round trip drive."

The so-called grassroots conservative movements like the Tea Party movement are the product of big money. Big money uses ther public to push its own interests The money pouring in from out of state to fund the stopthejobkillingtaxes to defeat Measure 66/67 comes to mind. The movement to kill M66/67 had millions on the day it launched.

Meanwhile the true grassroots movement to vote YES on M66/47 is gaining momentum. In Jackson County where a broad coalition of organizations is forming  to launch a coordinated campaign. Our first meeting is next week. A prominent businessman has donated his conference room for our meetings.

The Medford Chamber of Commerce along with many other Chambers across the state are actively working to defeat M66/67. They have signed on with the out-of-state stopthejobkillingtaxes movement.

The scariest part of the YES on M66/67 is the people who are directly effected tend not to vote. Think college students, young people, and that darned group of people who throw their ballots in the garbage. Today several Medford classrooms  have class sizes above 35. I talked with a 6th grade teacher who was celebrating because his class size fell from 39 to 37. If the NO on M66/67 prevail the aftermath that will trickle down in police, fire, public health, and schools K-16 will devastate Oregon.

When the call comes for you to step up and help the M66/67 YES campaign make sure there are more than four people who show up. Go to Defend Oregon and sign the YES pledge. This is going to be one of the toughest campaigns we've seen in Oregon in decades.

  • Kurt Chapman (unverified)
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    Paulie, get the state to assure us that the $733 MM in revenue will not be sucked into the PERS deficit and there may be some room for discussion. I do not blame any of the fine public employees or their unions for the current mess. But state, county, city and school district costs for PERS are scheduled to rise by as much as 50% beginning in 2010.

    I'm all for increased funding to lower class sizes, hire more public safety and public health personnel and fix our roadways. Unfortunately I am afraid that this tax increase will accomplish none of that due to the ongoing mismanagement of PERS at the state administrative level.

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    Kurt.

    You've made an excellent point. When 2011 rolls around the effects of the PERS increase will slam school districts and the like.

    Always enjoy your thoughtful comments.

  • Craig Kline (unverified)
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    You don't make any sense. You say four people and a small dog showed up. If the tea parties are all "Big Money" events, wouldn’t there have been buses filled with protesters for hire, each with a professionally made sign?

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    You don't make any sense. You say four people and a small dog showed up. If the tea parties are all "Big Money" events, wouldn’t there have been buses filled with protesters for hire, each with a professionally made sign?

    I think the point is (and Paulie please correct me if I'm wrong) is that when the big money sponsors of the tea party folks throw their weight around, the turnout is higher. When it's a real attempt at grassroots effort, they can't get anyone to show up.

  • John Fairplay (unverified)
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    Worse then making no sense, Brading's buddy must also be incredibly stupid. Since the event is today, it's pretty likely that no one showed up for it yesterday. I suspect the small dog may have more common sense then this Blue Oregon correspondent.

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    Sorry, Kurt, but your argument doesn't hold water.

    The state's PERS obligations are required expenditures. They are old contracts that cannot be abrogated. Like 'em or not, they're part of the basic reality of the universe now. (Unless you have a time machine, and can travel back to convince Governors Atiyeh and Goldschmidt to pay wages instead of retirement benefits.) Those obligations have very little to do with "ongoing mismanagement", and much more to do with old contracts. All the new state employees are under a new system, and have been for a while.

    Whether 66 and 67 pass, the money that goes to old PERS obligations is going there. Voting no on the measures won't reduce, by a single dime, how much is going to PERS. And voting yes won't increase, by a single dime, how much is going to PERS.

    In short, you're getting exactly what you want. The new money will pay for health care, education, and public safety. We're stuck paying for PERS with the old money.

  • Jason (unverified)
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    Paulie,

    I don't disagree with the notion that the tea bag movement is primarily backed by big money; however, drawing the conclusion that no grassroots effort exists based on one failed rally, is disingenuous. I'm sure the wet weather and Portland's mostly left-leaning population had something to do with it (even H1N1?)

    I believe there are more low-key, grassroots-type work going on behind the scenes. The initial rallies and media coverage made for a big splash - and maybe that was by design. If the tea-baggers can get others to focus on the loud, obnoxious rallies, it distracts people from noticing the other stuff.

    (Not saying this is the case, just offering a thought.)

  • Jason (unverified)
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    Oops, had Portland on the brain. Obviously, the comment about the location doesn't work, especially since Medford is a more conservative area. But I still don't believe one failed rally says a whole lot. If it becomes more wide-spread, then something is there.

    Trust me, after attending Merkley's visit to Crook County in September, I was ashamed at the arrogance and ignorance of many of the tea-baggers in attendance.

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    CORRECTION:

    Apparently my buddy and four people and a dog attended the tea party on the wrong day. The Tea Party is scheduled for 4 pm today. Too bad I'll miss it but I'm meeting with statewide leadership from Stand for Children during that time.

    Most readers are very aware that Dick Armey and Freedom Works is behind the so called tea party movement.

    Most readers are also aware that Freedom Works is funneling money from out of state to defeat M66/67. They provide the organization, the script, talking points, and locations and a boat load of money. The phony grassroots conservative movements are really the product of conservative establishment money using their public to further its own interests.

    Vote YES on M66/67 to save our police, fire, health care and schools.

  • zull (unverified)
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    A whole lot of the so-called "tea bag movement" is totally fake. They seem to play it like Rahm Emanuel used to play presidential elections...if it's a state that they have no chance of getting a big turnout in, they ignore it...then possibly offhandedly cite that there was "even a turnout at a protest in liberal Oregon" and leave it right there. Even if it was just 4 people and a dog. They can do it on the cheap if they only take pictures of the one event where they bused in their paid protesters. The real expense is in manipulating the media, building up the facade, and paying the ex-politicians turned lobbyists to make TV appearances as talking heads.

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    I think the claims of "fake grassroots movements" on both sides are pretty interesting. I saw some of that at the Wu Townhall where conservatives were complaining that "liberals were bussed in from Portland and paid to be there".

    The truth, of course, was that the Washington County Democrats whose members primarily live in CD1, prevailed on the Bus Project to rent (borrow?) the Bus to bring some of their people down for the event.

    In my experience, groups on both sides hire organizers to turn people out for events, GOTV, etc.

    There are different mechanisms, of course. The right has Fox News, radio, some conservative church congregations, business associations, and groups like Freedomworks or Americans for Prosperity. The left has the unions, and groups like Moveon.org, OLCV, BRO, the Bus, etc.

    All of them use some form of paid organizers to turn out volunteers, and both sides rely heavily on out-of-state contributions. I don't see how any of this is really any different, other than we agree with what some folks and their funders, and disagree with others.

    I don't see any of this as a bad thing. Personally, I'd much rather see both sides put their money into grassroots organizing than into 30-second attacks and other forms of sound byte politics.

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    Note re. FreedomWorks and its role in Oregon ballot measures: Janice Thomspon and Common Cause Oregon have just released an extensive report, A Political History of Russ Walker and FreedomWorks. Chapter and verse, so to speak.

  • Paul Cox (unverified)
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    Wednesday is an important day of worship for a lot of Godly Americans, such as those in the TEA movement. There's big money involved sure enough, but it is from the collection plate mainly. Some big corporations are involved but SURPRISE people. That is because the Lord rewards those that follow Him. Many believers end up running major corporations, and the natrually support our efforts. That is why there is a glass ceiling in many corporations when it comes to practicing atheists. We hang together. We are not like the situationist liberals that change with the wind. Wu is a good example. Liberals claim him, but when you one of our issues came along he voted with us. $3 Bill Barney (Frank) was going to try to get Washington to limit the DEA's mission in Oregon and states that have passed bogus legal suicide and marijuana laws. Wu casted a critical vote to kill it.

    Tath is reality. Another reality is that when a politician says grassroots, regardless of affiliation, the politician is lying.

    If education crashes, then that money should go to pay stay at home moms for thier time home schooling. Liberals hate that, beasue the have nothing to teach. So many conservatives home school because they know their material.

    Finally, there is prayer. Liberals leave their votes to chance. Will a dope smoking Gen X liberal get out of bed in time to vote? We pray and all kinds of little things happen. It rains on a day that favors our side. A Dem precint chairman comes down with cancer. You're really not armed for the battle. That's the last reason. You have no stomach for a fight. A lot of us come armed to TEA gatherings. You don't even know how to defend yourselves and won't bother to spend the money to buy a firearm. Some states used to have a law requiring them. Why do you think the red counties have gun racks in their pick-up trucks?

  • wharf rat (unverified)
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    Hi Folks,

    Even though we left Ashland three years ago, we still like to follow the news from home, anticipating moving back in a couple more years.

    I had to laugh, though, at the class size numbers. Here in Las Vegas, Clark County School District, we teach in one of the upper 50% high schools. My wife teaches AP Lit and Comp.....43 kids in, yes, an AP class. I teach Auto Technology, sold a prep period to get class size down and now have a small class of 44 and the big one at 49. I'm lucky, each class has 3-5 third and fourth year kids who've been drafted to help me manage.

    37 kids sounds wonderful :)

    best regards

    wharf

  • Bob Tiernan (unverified)
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    Paulie:

    The money pouring in from out of state to fund the stopthejobkillingtaxes to defeat Measure 66/67 comes to mind. The movement to kill M66/67 had millions on the day it launched.

    Bob T:

    The same can always be said about out of state Soros money coming in when there were marijuana initiatives (all of which I voted for). Is the problem that it's out of state money, or that it's big money, or is it just the goal of the particular measure or referendum?

    Seems big money is only mentioned when it's behind your opponents, or coming from someone you want to see win an election (like multi-millionaire Corzine who bought his US senate seat and then the NJ state house, or Ms. Cantwell of Washington State). No one seemed to be bothered with that, but they would have had it been a wealthy and inexperienced Republican. In other words, the big money is selectively used as an issue, so perhaps it's better to discusss the merits of pro- and con- arguments of the measures, or the platforms of the candidates whether they are wealthy or not.

    Bob Tiernan Portland

  • Kurt Chapman (unverified)
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    I'm sorry Kari, but your counter makes absolutely no sense at all. Ask any school board member, city council or county commissioner where the PERS payback money comes from. It comes from their general operating budgets. With the newly announced hole in PERS due to state administrative mismanagement (that they got bonus checks for BTW), the agency allotments for 2010 and 2011 are projected to be increased by almost 50%.

    There is no such thing as "new" or "old" money when PERS is underfunded. The hole has to be made up by the funding agencies.

  • Bert Lowry (unverified)
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    I think Paul Cox is not really conservative. I think he's trying to make conservatives look crazy by posting crazy-sounding conservative stuff.

    While that may be funny, it doesn't do much to promote the dialog.

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    Kurt, if we roll back those tax increases, one effect will be fast and clear: lots of people will be laid off and a lot more will see their wages cut further. State workers are already getting hit hard by this. You don't have to try to abstract some future harm to see the consequences.

    I'd like to hear the argument about why it makes good sense to damage tens of thousands of workers--and further deflate the state's economy--when the wealthy and businesses are being asked to make such a modest contribution. Aside from blind ideology, I can't see it.

  • Steverino (unverified)
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    Kari wrote: "They are old contracts that cannot be abrogated. Like 'em or not, they're part of the basic reality of the universe now."

    Our president is running around abrogating contracts all over the place. How about the GM bondholders who were crammed down to benefit the UAL?

    Why are the PERS contracts carved in stone? Contracts can be rescinded for being contrary to public interest.

    Can't imagine anything less in the public interest than the ridiculously lavish and unsustainable PERS pensions.

  • sosueme001 (unverified)
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    Good Glory-Oskie, what a freakin' maroon! This is journalism?

    "Better to keep your mouth closed and be thought a fool than to open it and remove all doubt"

  • Kurt Chapman (unverified)
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    Jeff, the Legislature got it wrong when they decided to balance the budget on the backs of the wealthy and corporations. But they were just following the mantra of the national liberals in charge of the democratic party. I will hold my nose and vote in favor of the income tax hike on the wealthy. I am not yet sure how I will vote regarding the increased corporate taxes and the new Gross Receipts Tax.

    I voted in favor of the temporary across the board increase the last time Oregon needed to balance the budget; and would do so again. It is too bad that the legislature decided to play class warfare.

    The PERS problem is real and pervasive. Beginning in 2010, the mandate to take more money from the very agencies the measures would fund will still result in lower employment and lay-offs in the state.

    Blind ideology seeks to punish the wealthy and corporations when progressives want to maintain a large government sector. Blind ideology shuns common sacrifice for the good of the commonwealth. We have a difference in perspective. I do not believe that the state seriously considered cuts in programs, equipment, infrastructure or employment when producing the current budget.

  • fbear (unverified)
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    Jeff, the Legislature got it wrong when they decided to balance the budget on the backs of the wealthy and corporations.

    Well, it makes way more sense than balancing the budget on the backs of the poor.

    Kurt, PERS was well funded in lieu of pay increases. Do you realize that?

  • LT (unverified)
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    "Jeff, the Legislature got it wrong when they decided to balance the budget on the backs of the wealthy and corporations."

    Kurt, how should the budget have been balanced? And were votes there for more than the $2 billion dollars in cuts? The furlough days and all the other cuts really aren't cuts? Or not deep enough? Should whole programs be cut? Management salaries? Should infrastructure not be repaired? Businesses don't rely on roads, bridges, government services?

    What "common sacrifice " do you have in mind? Everyone pays an extra 3% in taxes, be they a CEO, a pro-sports player, or a min. wage part time worker? Benefits for the needy are too generous? (good luck convincing Sen. Winters of that!)

    I am getting so tired of generaltiies.

    Are you one of those "all funds budget" folks? Should the Common School Fund be raided to fund state police? Then what happens if a reserve is needed---tough luck because it would be better for the whole state to fall apart than to raise another dime in taxes?

    You say " I do not believe that the state seriously considered cuts in programs, equipment, infrastructure or employment when producing the current budget. "

    OK, what cuts exactly do you have in mind---along with proof that if all your cuts had 31 votes in the House and 16 votes in the Senate, there would be no budget shortfall?

    I have a Republican friend who served on a Ways and Means subcommittee. We had a conversation in June about how hard all the W & M subcommittee members worked.

    Exactly which of those hard working subcommittee members did you communicate your views to? My friend said that more people talked publicly about generalities than talked to members about specific cuts.

  • Kurt Chapman (unverified)
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    fbear, PERS was Promised in the 80's during the last huge statewide recession in lieu of salaries, I agree with you there. The PERS system had unfunded liabilities approaching $17 Billion in the late 90's early 21st century that had to be made up - individual employees did not take paycuts to make up this unfunded liability as it was (as Kari accurately reports) a state issue, not subject to bargaining.

    LT - First, we are so damned tired of hearing how hard the legislators worked. Actually they didn't and they got it wrong. They took the easy way out. Here are my thoughts for the upteenth time. And I could give a rat's patoot if there were enough votes in the legislature to make them happen:

    1. First as you suggest a 3% across the board temporary rise in the income tax, I'll go with it. Sure - good idea. I don't know what the temporary rate was in 2003-2004 but I voted for it.
    2. Cut state managers salaries to the pre-40% raise levels given out by the governor in 2007-2008. FREEZE all state hiring except for replacements or usual seasonal hiring. Have all unrepresented employees pay an average of $100/month towards their (& dependents) health benefits.
    3. Approximately $1.8 Billion in new programs were added in 2007. Subject each program to a needs analysis and cut whole programs - yes.
    4. Furlough days - 10 days cut over 2 years amounts to a less than 2% wage cut (~ 20 work days/month * 12 months= 240 work days/year). So yes, the furloughs did not amount to deep cuts. The step increases and COLA's that may have been bargained away were not cuts to employees, they were raises not received.
    5. Infrastructure repairs to roadways and bridges come out of a dedicated fund paid for by fuel taxes and truck company IFTA taxes - no need to cut.
    6. No, I am not a "All funds budget" person. I do however believe strongly that each department ending balance at the end of the 2008/2009 fiscal year should have been explored for outstanding balances over dollars owed and applied to the 2009/2010 budget amount.
    7. I spoke with my representatives about the budget process. That would be Esquival and Bates. I didn't speak to any other "hard working W&M committee members because I didn't have the time, the inclination or the energy. The elected representatives are sent to Salem to do their job. They failed.
    8. I am not an anti-taxer. I support the fuel tax increase (just ask for a corresponding drop in the ridiculous requirement of someone else pumping my fuel). I also have stated at least 3 times that I supported a temporary raise in the income tax. As I would a reasonable permanent raise in corporate minimum tqxes that were not based on a Gross Receipts Tax.
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    Ask any school board member, city council or county commissioner where the PERS payback money comes from. It comes from their general operating budgets.

    Yes, of course it does. But those PERS contracts are legal contracts.

    Steverino asks, Why are the PERS contracts carved in stone? Contracts can be rescinded for being contrary to public interest.

    Tried that. The legislature passed a bill, the governor signed it. The Supreme Court chucked it out.

    The contracts are contracts. Like it or not, they have to be paid.

    When I talked about "old" money and "new" money, I meant the revenues under the pre-66/67 tax system, and the revenues if and after they pass. We're paying the PERS obligations with existing money.

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    FWIW, it looks like the Teabaggers have arrived here in PDX (in time for Halloween?). I just saw maybe a dozen or so of them and a couple of buses in a lot near the intersection of NE Burnside & Sandy. They were holding signs like "Throw the Bums Out" and "Dead Acorn."

  • OregonScot (unverified)
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    Looks like they got "a 100 or so" at the event. http://www.mailtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20091030/NEWS/910300328

  • LT (unverified)
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    " Have all unrepresented employees pay an average of $100/month towards their (& dependents) health benefits."

    Kurt, I have long wondered about the health insurance for legislators (who are after all public employees).

    I would have no problem with other public employees paying the same for their health care as legislators. What I am tired of is legislators campaigning against "public employees" (Kim Thatcher saying public employees don't pay taxes, for instance) and then being sworn in as legislators, hiring staff, and being startled when someone refers to the member and staff as public employees and asks "was tax withholding taken out of your paycheck"?

    I applaud your list of ideas. But I would remind you that nothing passes the legislature unless it gets enough votes.

    I think what this legislature did was a lot better than not offering an alternative to Measure 30 but saying, as Kropf did, "glad to stay around for another month to protect the taxpayer".

    Who exactly did they think pays for the operation of the legislature going into July and August?

  • Brian (unverified)
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    There were around 750 people at the Medford, Oregon Tea Party on Thursday. I was there. I counted them.

  • Higbon (unverified)
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    Yea, 750 people looks about right.

    Why the lies about the attendance?

    It just makes your message week.

  • Scott (unverified)
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    Furthermore, if there were approzimately 750 protestors there in Medford, why is this thread still up? Or - why haven't you at least issued a correction?

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    One further note on the Portland rally (ht to Causa Oregon): according to KATU's coverage of the protest, at least one of the Teabaggers was dressed up in a Confederate uniform.

  • Emmit Goldman (unverified)
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    Re: "The so-called grassroots conservative movements like the Tea Party movement are the product of big money. Big money uses ther public to push its own interests."

    “In 93 percent of House of Representatives races and 94 percent of Senate races that had been decided by mid-day Nov. 5, the candidate who spent the most money ended up winning…” (Representative Democracy IS NOT Democracy, http://www.youtube.com/user/TheLeftLibertarian)

    “They’re all in this for war,” he said. “That’s what we call bipartisanship.” Those surprised or disappointed are those who “exaggerated expectations, romanticized him, idealized him. Obama is a Democratic Party politician. I know that sounds demeaning. It is.” (Howard Zinn, http://www.bu.edu/today/2009/10/27/return-howard-zinn-and-company)

  • OregonScot (unverified)
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    Brian;"There were around 750 people at the Medford, Oregon Tea Party on Thursday. I was there. I counted them." Thats not what the slide show in the Medford paper shows. YOu have to look for the link. Fuzzy math tea-baggers? Or is that newspaper a Liberal propaganda piece too. You guys are a laugh.

  • Paul Cox (unverified)
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    Posted by: Dan Petegorsky | Oct 31, 2009 1:24:46 PM

    One further note on the Portland rally (ht to Causa Oregon): according to KATU's coverage of the protest, at least one of the Teabaggers was dressed up in a Confederate uniform.

    Save your confederate money boys, the South will rise again!

    Congrats, Kurt! Seem to have made it past the "troll" label. Maybe it's more a comment on PERS. It's a "respondable" point.

    Posted by: Scott | Oct 31, 2009 10:16:50 AM

    Furthermore, if there were approzimately 750 protestors there in Medford, why is this thread still up? Or - why haven't you at least issued a correction?

    Carla's an intern. Got a quota to make. This is the latest in her series, "Them Waskaly Wepublicans". You get points for towing the Party line in the face of facts. They get regular practice telling us why President Hussein hasn't had enough time and how 180 degree flip-flops are smart political decisions. Advanced material comes in explaing how they "don't have the votes" on an issue, with a supermajority in the Congress.

  • rw (unverified)
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    Paul: "Towing the party line", eh? As in "drop and drag"? Wasn't that just recently deemed predatory and outlawed? SO if Carla and company are now Turrible Turrible Lawbreakers, where, pray tell, are they TOWING the party line to? Will be invited to that party? Has it started yet? BYOB? Bring bail?

    Inquiring minds and all that rot...

  • Peri Brown (unverified)
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    and from the "no difference between 'em" camp...

    Catch Jon Stewart's outing Hannity for doing the exact same thing in reverse? Used Beck's protest footage to make a TEA rally seem bigger than it was.

    Yeah, there's a clear difference between the middle left and far right!

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