For the Tea Party, truth is stranger than The Onion

[Ziggurat]

Indeedy.

That's one of the most disgusting things I've ever seen. It it's not a violation of the membership agreement, we should rewrite the agreement to specifically exclude that image from ever being posted again.

 

[Upchurch]

Remind me why I should care what Edna Mattos says?

Why should we care about any tea party member, for that matter?

That being said, it's not just one wacko:

Last week, Mattos, who says she has 800 members signed up on her group's website, and other tea party members picketed outside a public hearing on the new rules. Because they weren't allowed to bring their signs inside, she said, "my anger took over" and she sent a sharply worded e-mail to thousands of tea party members across Florida, urging them to write to Congress to block the Fish and Wildlife Service.

Then, on Tuesday, Barbara Bartlett, who identified herself as a tea party member, told the Hernando County Commission that the federal wildlife agency had no business sticking its nose into Citrus County.

It's one wacko with 800 followers (in the twitter sense) and access to influence thousands, if you believe her, and at least one other Tea Partier who feels the same way.

So, is the Tea Party a legitimate grass roots movement that should be taken serious, Zig? Or should they, rather, be ignored as looney loners when they become politically inconvenient? What's your take?

 

[DC]

It's one wacko with 800 followers (in the twitter sense)

whish is about 8 real followers

 

[Ziggurat]

Why should we care about any tea party member, for that matter?

I don't care about any one individual tea party member. I'm still at a loss for why you do.

That being said, it's not just one wacko:

I see no evidence to indicate that the other protesters were there because of any biblical beliefs.

It's one wacko with 800 followers (in the twitter sense)

Wow. 800 followers on Twitter.

Really, Upchurch? That's what you consider a problem? An idiot with a twitter feed? Next thing you know she'll have a facebook account, and then where will we be?

Uh oh, too late.

and access to influence thousands, if you believe her

I've got access to influence thousands. Anyone with an internet connection does.

and at least one other Tea Partier who feels the same way.

One other person is quoted as opposing the proposed regulation. There is no indication that this other person's opposition is based on any biblical beliefs.

So, is the Tea Party a legitimate grass roots movement that should be taken serious, Zig?

The movement as a whole, sure. We've seen that they've got the votes to make a political difference. But Edna Mattos? Not so much. And you're still providing me with no reason to think otherwise.

I mean, seriously. A Twitter feed?

 

[daredelvis]

I've been thoroughly discredited.

We all make mistakes. I usually blame mine on the booze.

Daredelvis

 

[Ziggurat]

We all make mistakes. I usually blame mine on the booze.

Well, I did use a whole bottle of Jack for my manatee marinade.

 

[bikerdruid]

more zany antics from right-wingnuts.
nothing new here.

 

[Upchurch]

Ugh. Reading comprehension fail.

Wow. 800 followers on Twitter.

{snip}

I mean, seriously. A Twitter feed?

No, Zig not seriously a twitter feed. If you'd bother to read the passage I quoted, you'd know I wasn't referring to a twitter feed at all.

She claims to have 800 members signed up on her group's website. When I said she had "800 followers (in the twitter sense)", I was referring to the light form of follower in the way that twitter uses the word "follower" (a many-to-many relationship), as opposed to a religion might use the word (a one-to-many relationship).

 

[WildCat]

Why do you think Canada and Australia keep their populations so low compared to the space we have?
For the sane Americans mass exodus that will eventually happen if this country keeps lurching to the right.

Then why don't Canadians move a few hundred miles from the border to make room? Besides, they make us nervous massing at the border like that.

 

[BenBurch]

Wow!

With a stance like that it reminds of how it took a few weeks before they got around to changing their original name of the 'Tea Baggers' to the new name of the 'Tea Party'.

They should have consulted Marcus Bachmann. He could have told them what it meant.

 

[bikerdruid]

Then why don't Canadians move a few hundred miles from the border to make room? Besides, they make us nervous massing at the border like that.

i live about 600 miles north of the border.
it is plenty crowded enough for me already.
you folks created the madness south of the 49th.
stay and deal with it.

 

[BenBurch]

"designed to make humans into livestock"

Moo!

 

[BenBurch]

We all make mistakes. I usually blame mine on the booze.

Daredelvis

I blame MINE on insufficient booze.

 

[Ziggurat]

When I said she had "800 followers (in the twitter sense)", I was referring to the light form of follower in the way that twitter uses the word "follower" (a many-to-many relationship), as opposed to a religion might use the word (a one-to-many relationship).

I got your meaning wrong, but I don't see how that changes the significance any. It's still just 800 people in a social network, a number which is neither impressive nor even meaningful. So... still no reason to care about Edna Mattos.

 

[johnny karate]

I got your meaning wrong, but I don't see how that changes the significance any. It's still just 800 people in a social network, a number which is neither impressive nor even meaningful. So... still no reason to care about Edna Mattos.

I think the significance might lie in the fact that these are Tea Party members, and this incident is just another link in a long chain of idiocy from that group.

Personally, I don't think the interesting part is so much that some Tea Partiers did something profoundly moronic, but rather how quickly we can see the "No true Scotsman" fallacy put into action.

 

[PGH]

i live about 600 miles north of the border.
it is plenty crowded enough for me already.
you folks created the madness south of the 49th.
stay and deal with it.

OR we could just move up there and remain obsessed with U.S. politics and society. Like you.

 

[Ziggurat]

I think the significance might lie in the fact that these are Tea Party members, and this incident is just another link in a long chain of idiocy from that group.

The only idiocy demonstrated here is from one person. You don't think you can find lots of idiots in any large group?

Personally, I don't think the interesting part is so much that some Tea Partiers did something profoundly moronic, but rather how quickly we can see the "No true Scotsman" fallacy put into action.

The fallacy here is cherry picking, not no true scotsman. I never denied she was tea party. But you are arguing that this one woman represents the whole group. So... logic fail.

 

[FreshHat]

I'm glad I live in Canada right now...

My home and native land!

Also, the nation that gave Stephen Harper and his Conservative Reform Alliance Party a solid majority government nine weeks ago.

 

[bikerdruid]

OR we could just move up there and remain obsessed with U.S. politics and society. Like you.

if u.s. politics and society did not affect the rest of the world, it would not be a problem.

 

[Ziggurat]

america is a threat to the world's freedom.

You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.