The Tea Party and the Law of Unintended Consequences.

[annabanana]

I was just reading about the defeat (in the Repub House) of the unwanted (except by Boehner) second engine for the fighter jet that Rachel has been talking about. It seems that the Administration and the House Democrats made common cause with the deficit hawkish freshman Repubs. And it didn't even seem to be a big lift.

And it got me thinking. So much of the oomph of last summer's tea party was provided by people who said "I never paid much attention to politics until now". They were out there because they were angry and confused, and being fed horse shit by the Koch brothers and the rest of the radical right.

Well maybe once people start paying attention, some of them, the really curious ones, don't STOP. And if people are genuinely curious about how we got to this pretty pass, it's not hard to figure out who's really to blame.

Energizing people will ALWAYS work in our benefit in the long run.

[RC]

1. Reality bites.

[Lisa D]

2. I love your last sentence.

I know more than one Republican who became a Democrat once they started paying attention.

[du_da]

3. This is why

we have to be very careful about how we approach these people and our opposition. In some ways it is almost like the you never get a second chance to make a first impression dilemma. We have a tendency in our zeal to hold the opposition accountable leave a wake of disdain in our path. Leaving that wake among the opposition wouldn't be a major issue, but what we have to be careful about is not turning them into the victim thus pushing the fence sitters in their direction as a result of sympathy and making ourselves seem off-putting.

That isn't to say that we can't take the opposition to task for their agenda but we have to be careful about how we do it.

[annabanana]

4. Once they realize how badly they've been played, they WILL become

our staunchest allies.

(and Welcome to DU :hi: )

[du_da]

8. A realization they will never reach

if we push them away and make ourselves undesirable allies. I am just saying that we have to be careful about the language and methods we use because we can't do it alone and if we make the opposition look like the victims then we are only hurting our own cause.

[HereSince1628]

5. The trouble with owning a pack of attack dogs is

that you must keep feeding them. The tea-party has pretty clearly been maneuvered by the Club for Growth and other nefarious pacs operated on behalf of the activist rich.

Having whipped their dogs into fighting spirit one wonders exactly how the rich activists intend to keep their pack of dogs from biting the hand that fed it?

[annabanana]

6. I know. Delicious isn't it. . . n/t

[Bandit]

7. The trouble is placing blame doesn't solve the problems

It is Republicans fault, but Democrats are going to have to fix it and they will do so on the backs of middle and lower class Americans. They are such chicken shits they won't even think about putting a tiny bit of the burden on the very wealthy..