Milbank - a self-avowed leftist - is pondering a phenomenon that goes against his orthodoxy. Namely, the left's current anger at Obama. In particular, the intensity of that anger has him scratching his head in wonderment.
It made sense for them to be angry when George W. Bush was in the White House. But now, even under Obama, the anger on the left is, if anything, more personal and vitriolic than on the right.
He queried his readers as to the source of this anger.
...many focused on a frustration on the left caused by Obama's centrism -- his opposition to prosecuting those involved with torture, for example. "I am angry because the whole Republican party has not been rounded up and thrown into a black site," one wrote. A reader in Evanston, Ill., took a similar view, that true believers on the left don't want "b.s. rhetoric about looking forward."
These answers obviously haven't relived him of the moral dilemma he faces: leftists' anger at a leftist.
Having observed the left now for the past 30 years - both as an witness of their leadership and policy and as a conversant with my liberal friends (hey, I get along with everybody!) - I have come to a conclusion.
If you tell a fish it's swimming in water, it will ask you, "What's water?" It cannot perceive of the medium in which it moves because it knows no other environment.
The same is true of the left. The medium through which it moves is anger. Individual leftists cannot see this quality in themselves because they know no other environment.
Those outside this "rarefied" liberal air are all too aware of it. We've seen it for decades: in violent protests, hectoring town hall rampages, physical attacks against any person or institution that stands in the way of liberal hegemony. And to those of us observers the left's anger has always been "personal and vitriolic"; it knows no other manifestation.
The Bush years were actually good for America if for no other reason than it forced the left out into the open. All their bile and hatred were now on public display. It sickened us; we couldn't comprehend how people who thought of themselves as open-minded and compassionate could display so much venomous rage.
But it didn't surprise us, because we had seen this anger before; just not on this scale.
Before Bush liberals were very successful at portraying the right as America's Haters. Their tactic was not unlike that of a grade school bully. They would continually poke the right with a sharp stick. We would quietly say, "Please stop." They would poke us again. "Please stop."
Poke. "Please stop." Poke.
Poke.
Poke...
...until we just couldn't take it anymore and would stand up and clock them in the face, at which point they would jump up, point to us, and yell as loudly as they could, "HE HIT ME! TEACHER, HE'S MEAN! DO SOMETHING!"
Milbank's quandary should be self-revelatory. Not likely. Just as the fish cannot survive without water, so the left cannot survive without anger.
OK, so we know the left is not going to stop calling the Tea Parties "teabagging", nor are they going to stop calling anyone who attends or supports these events and what they stand for "teabaggers". Their contempt does little to hide their fear, but - like the man who repeats the same experiment expecting different results - they know no other course.
"A fanatic is one who can't change his mind and won't change the subject." - Winston Churchill
As the left aims its sleepless insult machine at the average American, one need only look at the scope of Wednesday's gatherings to understand their hysteria:
Will this movement continue? Conservatives are not as dedicated in their public dissent as liberals; they don't have the staying power. We're busy people. Our belief system results in behavior that is more respectful, more family-oriented, more willing to believe that our word has meaning, so we only need to say it once.
And this is why liberals are ramping up their derision. They hope the sneers will forestall further Tea Parties, that Americans will see in their contempt a mirror image of the contempt all Americans feel for their behavior.
We must remember that the contempt of the left is borne out of fear and does not reflect the consensus of Americans. Also, know that the "mirror image" they are showing you is a mirage - it is an invention intended to deceive you.
Brush aside the insults of the left. Better yet, use them as a springboard for further action, use them as a recruiting tool.
Say to your friends, neighbors, "See what your government thinks of you? How does this make you feel? Join us."
"This [tea party] initiative is funded by the high end — we call call it astroturf, it’s not really a grassroots movement." -House Speaker Pelosi (D-CA)
In one sentence Pelosi has explained the Tea Party Movement; why it was started, why it will grow. She has given the clearest example yet of why Americans - both Republicans and Democrats - are fed up with the power-mad career politicians in Washington, their incompetence, and their contempt for middle America.
"...is funded by the high end..." - Unlike the hard left, which gets its money from provocateurs like George Soros, The Tea Party Movement isn't funded by any person or PAC. Those who promote it use their own blogs; their own cell phones and email accounts. They pay for the gas to get to the events themselves. They made their own signs by hand - they're not mass-printed like ACORN signs.
Pelosi, quite simply, is parroting left-wing talking points. They are lies and are nothing more than an attempt at making this movement look like something it's not: robots taking marching orders from grafters.
"...we call it astroturf...." - Pelosi is merely echoing the contempt felt by all on the left for anyone who doesn't believe in their Utopian dreamworld. Just as MSNBC and CNN reporters called Tea Party protesters "Teabaggers" - a reference to a homosexual sex act (think about it and you'll figure it out), and a word the protesters never used for themselves - Pelosi can't help but belittle middle America.
Remember, when the anointed are backed into a corner their only response is to lash out. Trust me, the left doesn't want to see this movement grow - they truly fear it. They can smell the brewing voter backlash in 2010. However, those who make such insulting statements are too stupid to realize that their words only anger Americans more, and thus swell the number of Tea Party participants.
"...it’s not really a grassroots movement." - As much a bald-faced lie as wishful thinking. The left doesn't really understand grassroots movements, because most of their cause-oriented groups are derivatives of the left's power structure. People with big bucks at the top pulling the strings of sincere but misinformed people at the bottom.
Since this is how they work, they automatically assume that the Tea Party movement has the same structure. It doesn't. It's a true groundswell of anger by Americans who are fed up with the Washington Status Quo.
And this is what career politicians in Washington fear most: that they will lose their lifetime tenure, their spendthrift power base, and their grip on the mainstream media. The above sign offers the only real solution: term limits for Congress, both the Senate and the House.
However, reality tells us that will never happen, because term limits can only be imposed by a Constitutional Amendment, and Amendments are written by the Senate then passed onto the states for ratification. This government will never cut themselves off from their power.
Americans are finally seeing the light... are finally getting fed up.
The individual in America is no longer important. Our owns dreams and aspirations are subject to the approval of PC masses and the State.
"Dedicate all of my worldly good to give without self-pity."
Now it's not "what can I give," but "what can I get." Somehow we have bred the notion that we are all owed something... that we owe no one.
"Love and devotion."
The booty call has run this one into the ground. The sexualization of society has usurped even the concept of love for love's sake.
"Old Glory. A symbol of freedom. Wherever she waves there's respect. Because your loyalty has given her a dignity that shouts, 'Freedom is everybody's job'."
William Ayers proudly trampling out flag. Obama's "blame America first" agenda. Flag burnings by college students. Spit. Tearing. Our flag is no longer respected around the world because we no longer respect it here at home. Our loyalty has faded; her dignity is gone. She is no longer a symbol of freedom, but of "imperialism." Besides, freedom is overrated; socialism is much cooler.
"United. That mans we have all come together."
Martin Luther King Jr. wanted us all to hold hands. Now we point fingers at each other, race-bait, foment class warfare, drive wedges between genders, between ages, between customs, religions and values.
"...united for a common purpose, and that's love for country."
States have become entities of self-gratification, thumbing their noses at unity and common law.
"And government is the people, and it's from the people to the leaders, not from the leaders to the people."
Try telling that to a Pelosi, Reid, or Obama. Our leaders want to tell us which doctor we can see, how much money we can make in our job, where we can work, how long we can live, where we can go, what we can bring with us, what we can say, who we can associate with, whether or not we can own a firearm, a pet, property... shall I go on?
"Incapable of being divided."
Too late to lay the wreath at the grave of Indivisibility.
"The right and power to live one's own life without threats, fear, or some sort of retaliation."
How many locks do you have on your door? How many gunshots do you hear at night? Do you know anyone who has not been the victim of a crime? Anyone?
"The principles or quality of dealing fairly with others."
Justice is a hollow shell. Trial lawyers extort money from good people; victims fight for simple rights; who has your social security number?
"It's as much your country as it is mine."
Unless you're George Soros and can buy elections.....
"Under God. Wouldn't it be a pity if someone said that were a prayer and that would be eliminated from schools, too?"
Rest in peace, Red. You lived in better times. You didn't have to see the day your America became a mockery of all you hold dear.
A brilliant must-see piece of interviewing by Fox Business Journalist Neil Cavuto. He basically takes apart bonehead Florida Democrat Congressman Alan Grayson, who is proposing legislation that allows the Obama Administration (through The Secretary of The Treasury) to mandate ALL pay levels of ALL employees who take government bailout money, not just the executives.
Is this just the beginning? Grayson's snobby attitude throughout the interview seems to suggest there's more in the works.
Grayson's naivete and ignorance of the Constitution is frightening enough in and of itself. When do we get to take our country back from these fools?
