Tea Party Lacks sublty

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Gob
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Tea Party Lacks sublty

Post by Gob »


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A billboard advert in the US state of Iowa that linked President Obama to Adolf Hitler and Vladimir Lenin was removed on Wednesday morning.

The sign, which was funded by a group of local Tea Party activists, has been replaced with a community service announcement.

Text on the sign had read: "Radical leaders prey on the fearful & naive."

The billboard had angered many in the local community, including other Tea Party activists.

A representative of the Iowa group called the billboard's owner and requested the sign be removed on Tuesday evening.

A national Tea Party representative had called the controversial poster a waste of money, time and resources.

"It's not going to help our cause. It's going to make people think that the Tea Party is full of a bunch of right-wing fringe people, and that's not true," Shelby Blakely, of the national Tea Party Patriots group, told the Associated Press agency.

"When you compare Obama to Hitler, that to me does a disservice to the Jews who both survived and died in the Holocaust and to the Germans who lived under Nazi regime rule," Mr Blakely said.

A spokesperson for the 200-person group that organised the billboard said it was intended to critique socialism, but admits that their message was overshadowed by the fascist images.


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us+canada-10636746
Though I have to say, they have probably hit the right note with the group they are appealing too.

Having just reread "Deer Hunting With Jesus", I am reminded why this sort of thing works.

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“If you trust in yourself, and believe in your dreams, and follow your star. . . you'll still get beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things and weren't so lazy.”

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Long Run
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Re: Tea Party Lacks sublty

Post by Long Run »

Yes, at these parties, not too many drinking tea with their pinkies pointed out.

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Lord Jim
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Re: Tea Party Lacks sublty

Post by Lord Jim »

A representative of the Iowa group called the billboard's owner and requested the sign be removed on Tuesday evening.

A national Tea Party representative had called the controversial poster a waste of money, time and resources.

"It's not going to help our cause. It's going to make people think that the Tea Party is full of a bunch of right-wing fringe people, and that's not true," Shelby Blakely, of the national Tea Party Patriots group, told the Associated Press agency.

"When you compare Obama to Hitler, that to me does a disservice to the Jews who both survived and died in the Holocaust and to the Germans who lived under Nazi regime rule," Mr Blakely said.
Looks to me like the Tea Party trying to police it's ranks, something it's constantly accused by Demo politicians and their supporters in the media of not doing. It also illustrates something else the left steadfastly tries to refuse to acknowledge; that there is a very broad range of folks calling themselves "Tea Partiers"....

BTW:

WELCOME LONG RUN!

Good to see you....

It's really nice to see another voice of reason around here....

It get's lonely having to shoulder the whole responsibility for that alone.... 8-)
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liberty
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Re: Tea Party Lacks sublty

Post by liberty »

I don’t believe this was the first time that a president had been compared to Hitler. What where the names that GW was called. What goes around comes around. Wasn’t this referred to as racism, if so why. For a president to criticized or vilified is part of the job description. I believe it was Rob Reddin that said to call Obama a socialist is racist.
Soon, I’ll post my farewell message. The end is starting to get close. There are many misconceptions about me, and before I go, to live with my ancestors on the steppes, I want to set the record straight.

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Lord Jim
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Re: Tea Party Lacks sublty

Post by Lord Jim »

I don’t believe this was the first time that a president had been compared to Hitler.
Far from it...

At the CSB I once did a search and posted pictures that I found of every President, Republican and Democrat, going back to Mr. Reagan being portrayed as Hitler....

The amount of viciousness and vitriol aimed at Obama is certainly no greater than that which was aimed at GWB...

Obama has the right wing "birther" loonies who refuse to believe he's a natural born citizen of the United States...

Bush had the left wing "truther" loonies who were convinced that he was behind 9/11...

Both sides have coarse loonies...

They tend to be more active when the other side is in power.

I think most Conservatives would admit this; but for some reason there seem to be a lot of Liberals who believe that loonyism is exclusive to the other side of the aisle.
Last edited by Lord Jim on Thu Jul 15, 2010 1:25 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Scooter
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Re: Tea Party Lacks sublty

Post by Scooter »

Lord Jim wrote:Looks to me like the Tea Party trying to police it's ranks
Not quite. The billboard was paid for by the local group, meaning that they endorsed its message. When the community (including some Tea Partiers) expressed its outrage, they reversed course and had it taken down. The national group expressed its opinion of the billboard, but didn't compel them to take it down.
there is a very broad range of folks calling themselves "Tea Partiers"....
No doubt. And yet signs with this kind of messaging are in evidence at pretty much every Tea Party event. The sentiments expressed in them are clearly widespread, even if not held by all.
"Hang on while I log in to the James Webb telescope to search the known universe for who the fuck asked you." -- James Fell

Big RR
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Re: Tea Party Lacks sublty

Post by Big RR »

The national group expressed its opinion of the billboard, but didn't compel them to take it down.
Isn't that part and parcel of the Tea Party philosophy, that their members band together and decide things for themselves (s0metimes based on silly and disningenuous rhetoric, but that's another rant); that not all "members" agree lock step on every issue? somehow I would doubt there is any national "group" or leadership that could "compel" them to take the billboard down (or do anything else for that matter).

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Lord Jim
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Re: Tea Party Lacks sublty

Post by Lord Jim »

Personally, I don't have any idea how the Tea Party is structured; I don't know if national organization even has the authority to impose policy decisions on local groups.
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dales
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Re: Tea Party Lacks sublty

Post by dales »

8-) LOOSERS!

Your collective inability to acknowledge this obvious truth makes you all look like fools.


yrs,
rubato

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Sue U
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Re: Tea Party Lacks sublty

Post by Sue U »

Lord Jim wrote:Personally, I don't have any idea how the Tea Party is structured; I don't know if national organization even has the authority to impose policy decisions on local groups.
They claim to be independent grass-roots groups, but if you look at where the money is coming from and the lawsuits to control the Tea Party name etc., you'll find plenty of astro-turf.
GAH!

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Rick
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Re: Tea Party Lacks sublty

Post by Rick »

you'll find plenty of astro-turf
?

You already know I'm thick...
Sometimes it seems as though one has to cross the line just to figger out where it is

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Sue U
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Re: Tea Party Lacks subtlety

Post by Sue U »

astroturf
(AS.troh.turf) n. A fake grass-roots movement.
—astroturfing pp.

Example Citation:
"Of the calls we are getting in the D.C. office, about half are Astroturf and half are real," said Mr. Milburn, in Mr. Hobson's office, using Washington parlance for calls that seem to be from individuals but are in fact orchestrated by lobbying groups.

—Katharine Q. Seelye, "Public Is Flooding Capitol With Impeachment Views," The New York Times, December 15, 1998

Earliest Citation:
Issue-oriented newspaper advertisements featuring clip-out coupons are often designed to show that the sponsor's goal has grass-roots support. But the "grass roots is AstroTurf in many cases, artificial turf," says Sen. Lloyd Bentsen, D-Texas. A case in point, in his view, is the recent ad campaign by the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States against increases in excise taxes on liquor. Bentsen reports that a third of the 190 coupons his office received were altered to express support for tax increases that the coupon says could raise the price of a bottle of liquor $2 and "put a lot of people in the beverage alcohol business out of work."

—"Playing on astroturf," The National Journal, April 19, 1986

Notes:
This word is a nice play on AstroTurf, a brand of artificial grass.

Related Words:
grasstops
netroots

Categories:
Activism
Politics

Posted on December 17, 1998
http://www.wordspy.com/words/astroturf.asp
GAH!

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kristina
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Re: Tea Party Lacks sublty

Post by kristina »

Thanks, Sue! I didn't get it either...

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Guinevere
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Re: Tea Party Lacks sublty

Post by Guinevere »

I'd also bet the term is in the urban dictionary -- which is far more fun (and much less safe for work)!
“I ask no favor for my sex. All I ask of our brethren is that they take their feet off our necks.” ~ Ruth Bader Ginsburg, paraphrasing Sarah Moore Grimké

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Sue U
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Re: Tea Party Lacks sublty

Post by Sue U »

I'm just not that hip.
GAH!

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Gob
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Re: Tea Party Lacks sublty

Post by Gob »

astroturf


v. The technique of using boiler plate text to advance a political agenda. "Astroturfing" is typically done by sending the same letter to every newspaper one can find. A certain number of newspapers will be duped into thinking that the letter is original and heartfelt when it is neither.
Many newspapers were astroturfed with the pro-Bush letters posted at the pResident's web site. Many newspapers were convinced that a number of soldiers worship Bush as the Messiah incarnate.
by fugitive Oct 9, 2004

2. astroturf


Creating the impression of public support by paying people in the public to pretend to be supportive.

The false support can take the form of letters to the editor, postings on message boards in response to criticism, and writing to politicians in support of the cause.

Astroturfing is the opposite of "grassroots", genuine public support of an issue.
Mike, admit you just got caught astroturfing. You're just pimping your own blog.

Microsoft didn't have grassroots support, so they created astroturf support.
by holloway Aug 17, 2004

3. Astroturf


Fake marijuana (not real grass)
Puff - puff - COUGH! - splutter
“That’s not ganga, that’s Astroturf!”
“If you trust in yourself, and believe in your dreams, and follow your star. . . you'll still get beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things and weren't so lazy.”

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Rick
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Re: Tea Party Lacks sublty

Post by Rick »

Makes total sense now.

Grassroots-Astroturf

:oops:

Duh...
Sometimes it seems as though one has to cross the line just to figger out where it is

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dales
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Re: Tea Party Lacks sublty

Post by dales »

BJ Clinton used the same material in the back of his Chev El Camino, did he not? :o

Your collective inability to acknowledge this obvious truth makes you all look like fools.


yrs,
rubato

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Lord Jim
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Re: Tea Party Lacks sublty

Post by Lord Jim »

"Astroturfing" is also not a technique that only one side employs...

See "moveon.org." Soros, George....
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Sue U
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Re: Tea Party Lacks sublty

Post by Sue U »

I'm not suggesting that astroturfing is the exclusive domain of anyone (although large corporate interests and their lobbyists have far and away been leaders in the field for decades). What I *am* saying is that those who actually are "rank-and-file" Teabaggers are being played for chumps in a cynical power play for control of the GOP party apparatus. Talk about your "useful idiots."
GAH!

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