Bill O’Reilly sends his minions out to stalk the “opposition” yet nothing is done about it. There are laws about stalking yet none have been utilized. So telll us about their “credibility”, please.

They have done everything BUT earn credibility.

I think that the message of these parties is muddled and it does a disservice to fiscal responsibility.

Agnostick
agnostick@excite.com

I’ve refrained from commenting on the ‘teabag’ movement up to this point, but now that the day of reckoning has come, I’ve decided to say my piece.
What you will witness today is a pathetic display from a conservative ideology l…

Ironically not all the opinion columnists on their Web site are all that enthused about the Tea Parties. John Tantillo even goes so far as to declare them “the fad that flopped”. And I’d say he has it pretty much spot-on.

The Founders dearly hoped their constitutional system would eliminate, or at least mitigate, the influence of “factions”. By the time Washington stepped down that dream was already dust.

Remember the Civil War? Pretty partisan. The New Deal? Despite current hagiography, tremendously partisan. The McCarthy era? Yikes! And don’t let current revisionists tell you any different. Reagan was enormously divisive, and no, everyone did not agree the Soviets merited united opposition.

How about Bush II? His first campaign message was all about getting past traditional partisan divides, and with the prescription drug plan and immigration reform, he actually tried to walk the walk. Not that anyone really noticed.

Fox news wasn’t around for most of the history of the country. To blame them is silly. Besides, compared to the muckrakers and yellow journalists, they’re pussycats. They may be rooting for the tea party folks. Put another way, though, they were way ahead of reporting the real news about these protests before most media. I’ve seen the response of local media to these protests. It’s poor, and biased. And a case study in why people left and right don’t trust them.

I am actually a middle of the road cat. I have no tolerance, though, for people who use self-professed moderation as an excuse to label those who disagree as beyond the pale. That’s just more of the same old, same old.

Notably Burr-Hamilton dueling to the death clearly still ranks first. However, in that gentleman’s game of ‘honor’, only a few people witnessed the hatred; today, it would be on youtube. Perhaps youtube might serve to mitigate actions since 2 men shooting at fifty paces might look beyond ridiculous.

However, the likelihood of post-partisanship – the heroic term for moderation and independents — seems to be fading fast. Tolerance, respect, ‘walk a mile in my shoes,’ compromise are increasingly overshadowed by ideologies.

Instead, I still look for clearer arguments, in-depth knowledge, contextual understanding, and fairer analysis. Thanks for your moderate even-handedness, Donklephant.

Aside from the think tank– which is just doing it as a part of their regular operations, no special grants or anything– all of these folks have nothing to do with big money.

What you do see, though, with Fox and with the local Republican apparatus, is pre-existing interests trying to ALIGN themselves with activists they were unable to motivate on their own previously.

Many pundits just don’t get this. Those legacy power-brokers are behind the curve. They aren’t driving the bus. To not get this is to really miss an important point.