Tea Time In America

The Tea Party's New Clothes 

Soon-to-be-Post Tea Party America

October 26, 2013 

I hate to keep bringing this up, but since they still seem to have a pulse I would be negligent in my journalistic duties if I didn’t take every opportunity to kick the Tea Party while they’re down. They act as if they still haven’t hit bottom, though it’s not for lack of trying. And they have no plan to stop reaching for the stairs.  

My only regret is that it seems others are doing all my work for me. For example why should I even bother mocking the Tea Party’s follies when Dick Cheney says, “It’s an uprising, in part, and the good thing is it’s taken place within the Republican party. I don’t see it as a negative,” adding, "the most radical operator in Washington today is the president. I think he’s trying to take the country in a direction that’s fundamentally different than anything we’ve seen before." I guess Quickdraw Dick doesn’t have a mirror though to be fair, even if he did it’s unlikely he would generate a reflection. 

How can I do any better than right wing loon/genius Ann Coulter who weighed in with, “This is why I think the shutdown was so magnificent, run beautifully. I’m so proud of these Republicans. And that is because they have branded the party as the anti-Obamacare party.” Yes who would have guessed that the anti-Social Security, anti-Medicare party would hate Obamacare even though it is essentially an old conservative plan. Let’s face it, if the Tea Party has Dick Cheney and Ann Coulter singing its praises, it could be that my work here is done.  

But Wait, There's More 

 We shouldn’t be surprised that the Tea Party won’t give up on killing Obamacare. The Republican’ts still haven’t given up trying to kill Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Headstart, food stamps, welfare, minimum wage, taxes on the rich...They screamed and carried on about Social Security before it was implemented in the 1930s and haven’t stopped their tantrum yet. In a 1961 LP entitled Ronald Reagan Speaks Out Against Socialized Medicine, Reagan criticized Social Security for replacing private savings and warned that subsidized medicine would put an end to Americans' freedom. The Great Cartoon Character Communicator warned that "pretty soon your son won't decide when he's in school, where he will go or what he will do for a living. He will wait for the government to tell him." Regan assured America it would turn into a socialist nightmare state if Medicare was passed adding, "Under this scenario we are going to spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children, what it once was like in America when men were free." That of course was before he became president and most of his administration went on trial for trading arms for hostages during the Iran-Contra scandal. Curing his spare time as president, between all his tax increases and bloating of the federal government, Regan increased Medicare benefits, and spent his sunset years testifying that he couldn't remember anything that occurred during his presidency.  

I don’t recall the Republican’ts being upset that St. Ronnie sold weapons to Iran after Congress told him no, which is unconstitutional, something they claim to hate. Then they stood by while President Moron sprung Medicare Part D on us and said, “any time Washington passes a new law, sometimes the transition period can be interesting…We had some early challenges.” The roll-out of this horrible program was anything but smooth - not to mention the plan itself. You may remember that Bush signed Part D into law without paying for it, which he pretty much did with everything during his time as “president.” Where was the Tea Party then? I guess it's okay when white presidents subvert the Constitution and balloon the deficit, even if they weren't actually elected. 

The Republican’t blocktivists will proudly stand in the way of anything that benefits the majority of Americans, particularly the poor, who, if the Republican’ts get their way will soon make up the majority of Americans. Now that the Tea Party has had a chance to strut its stuff their approval rating is quickly whirling down the toilet. Just recently Tea Party Joker/King Texas "Ted" Cruz was unendorsed by the Houston Chronicle with great vigor, more vigor in fact than their initial endorsement, which was given with great reservation.  

In Other (more or less unrelated) News 

You may not know this but almost every week at least one child, between the ages of 2 and 8, shoots someone, usually himself or herself, fatally. Again I ask: Who will protect us from the Second Amendment? 

I. Mangrey reporting.

Thanks for listening. Don't shoot; I'm unarmed.