Imagine if a Republican Congressman lambasted rallies for a left-of-center cause, calling them “despicable” and “shameful.” “Reporters” for the various organs of the MSM would report the story, editorialists would deand he apologize if not resign. Democratic Congressmen and Senators would rush to the wells of their respective houses to decry his remarks.
Well, that’s how Illinois Democrat Jan Schakowsky referred to the 250,000-500,000 Americans from all walks of life who rallied yesterday to protest excessive government spending and the higher tax rates that eventually must follow:
The ‘tea parties’ being held today by groups of right-wing activists, and fueled by FOX News Channel, are an effort to mislead the public about the Obama economic plan that cuts taxes for 95 percent of Americans and creates 3.5 million jobs. . . . It’s despicable that right-wing Republicans would attempt to cheapen a significant, honorable moment of American history with a shameful political stunt.
Um, Ms. Schakowsky, we don’t believe that plan will create that many jobs. Are you calling it “despicable” for us to express our opposition to this plan when we disagree with the President’s economic philosophy?
Let’s change the language a bit. How would you, Ms. Schakowsky, react to a statement like this from 2004:
The anti-Iraq war protests being held today by groups of left-wing activists, and fueled by MSNBC and the DailyKos, are an effort to mislead the public about the Bush Administration’s plan to secure our nation, a plan which has already liberated 28 million people from tyranny. It’s despicable that left-wing Democrats would attempt to cheapen a significant, honorable moment of American history with a shameful political stunt.
Guess it’s only a political stunt when people with a diversity of political views* protest Democratic policies. When they protest Republican policies, well then that dissent becomes patriotic.
Ms. Shakowsky, you need to apologize. If not, those on the right who believe that Democrats in our nation’s capital hold Americans outside urban and coastal areas in great contempt will have further evidence to justify their prejudiced view of your party.
————
*There were more than just right-wing Republicns there, there were hardcore libertarians and left-wing independents at the rally in Santa Monica. But, I guess to Ms. Shakowsky, they can only be right-wing Republicans because only such extremists would protest Democratic policies.
Here’s the part I noticed:
Emphasis mine. Is that what we would call a qualifier?
Besides, the tea parties are a display of democracy which, of course, scares the bejeezus out of liberals. As usual, their defense is to show their arrogant contempt for the people.
The attack by the MSM with the juvenile “teabagging” jokes was simply astounding. I knew that as bad as the Alphabets would get, MSNBC had to up the ante and Olbermann & Jeanna Garafalo did not disappoint.
Tonight, she stated ALL particpants were racist rednecks with a “limbic system” malfunction that “presses on the frontal lobe” (she’s a neurologist!). Olby nodded, laughed and agreed. Sad…………….
GPW, here’s the problem. First, let’s review your turning-the-tables on Schakowsky and leftists:
The problem is… every bit of your above construction is/was true.
1) Left-wing activists *did* hold anti-Iraq war protests, fueled by MSNBC (Olbermann) and Daily Kos. And the remnants of international communism, by the way (the front group A.N.S.W.E.R.).
2) Those protests really *were* an effort to mislead the public about Bush’s efforts to secure our nation, efforts which liberated some 50 million Muslims from tyranny.
3) Therefore, it *was* despicable that the Democrats / leftists tried to cheapen significant, honorable moments.
The key point, I think, is point (2). That is, we need to ask: What is the objective truth?
Again: our brave military, under Bush’s faithful stewardship, really did liberate all those people… that’s the truth. The Left’s efforts were shameful because, and to the extent that, they went *against the truth*.
Now let’s look at Schakowsky again:
The problem is… her central claims aren’t true. If they were true, she might be saying a good thing. But Obama’s economic plan *doesn’t* cut taxes for 95% of Americans; remember, something like 50% of Americans already pay no income tax, so their federal taxes literally cannot be cut. Plus, Obama’s $1.6 trillion deficits are to be financed by the endless printing of money, which is the cruelest tax of all, a tax on all Americans.
So you see, it’s not a question of Schakowski’s approach or argument structure being faulty. It’s the plain lack of truth in her claims. Schakowski’s approach could be used to express truth, very effectively – at which point it would be a good thing. Schakowski’is approach only bad when and because it is used to defend or promote falsehoods. It’s the truth/falsehood of her claims, that must be examined and debated.
Oh and before I forget, Schakowski’s husband is a duly convicted tax cheat, as your Instapundit link points out.
I’m just confused as all get out by this part:
What moment would that be?
Tax Day?
Passage of the budget?
Wednesday?
Certainly she’s not talking about the Obama Administration, is she? Cause that’s a 4 year long administrative term, not a moment. Unless I really have a crappy dictionary.
Can anyone help me to understand this woman?
I think she meant the original Boston Tea Parties, when the colonists protested various abuses by the British government.
They’re never going to get it, because no matter how they slather their comments with references to the issue, the real point they have to make is that their rabid hatred of Bush will excuse anything Obama does.
That’s it, in a nutshell. Liberals can’t hold a conversation about Obama without referring to Bush. And most bizarre, their favorite rationale seems to be, “Well, Bush did it, so don’t complain if Obama does it.”
By the way . . when did “teabagging” become something you refer to on a prime news show? Does that mean it will be okay for Conservative anchors to refer to what Obama is doing to our government by the latest slang for a nonconsensual violation of the anal canal?
You stay classy, Liberals . . .
I went to a tea party rally the other day. The first hour was great. I left in the second hour, because the speaches started drifting to other topics.
Even Mr. Obama doesn’t claim that his porkulus and budget plans create 3.5 million jobs, he claims that they save or create that number, but it’s an impossible proposition to prove.
As for Jan, it seems her husband, a consultant, is up to his eyeballs in a criminal prosecution that may see him put away for four years in the big house. Once again dems show that taxes are for the little people and that those married to dems feel they have carte blanche to ignore such laws.
Sorry, the last sentence should read. ‘that those married to dems in powerful positions and those dems in powerful positions feel they have carte blanche to ignore such laws.’
These hack politicians don’t get it. They think we’re supposed to take our eight bucks a week and tax cuts and scrape and bow and say, “Aw, thank you, massah. Thank you, massah. Massah is so generous! I’se proud to vote for you, Massah, yes, indeedy.”
And if we stand up for ourselves, it can’t be because we love our country and are horrified at their spending and deficits. It has to be a centrally organized political conspiracy.
Jan Schlowsky is a dim-witted hack.
These hack p-o-l-i-t-i-c-i-a-n-s don’t get it. They think we’re supposed to take our eight bucks a week and tax cuts and scrape and bow and say, “Aw, thank you, massah. You so generous! I’se proud to vote for you, Massah, yes, indeedy.”
And if we stand up for ourselves, it can’t be because we love our country and are horrified at their spending and deficits. It has to be a centrally organized political conspiracy.
Jan Schlowsky is a dim-witted hack.
V the K
People are riduling these ‘tea parties’ because they are patently ridiculous. Why were there no tea parties when Bush gave all those tax breaks to the wealthy. Where were the tea parties when Bush destroyed the surplus and created the largest deficit in history? Where were the tea parties when Bush’s TARP program gave away all those billions with no transparency or control over how the funds were used? I doubt that most of the attendees make over 250K/year so were they protesting getting a tax break? The recently passed tax break is the LARGEST in US history and it’s for working people who really need it.
and NJ pulls out the liberal talking points ™.
if your (revised) history is so offensive to you:
Where were you when Reid/Biden/Obama/Clinton signed off on TARP w/o any accountability?
Where were you when Reid/Biden/Obama/Clinton’s budget that went through congress destroyed the surpluses? (see here) that blip in 2001? Hint, President Bush didn’t cause it.
What tax break are you referring to? There is no tax break. Period. People who can read see that adjusting withholding is not a tax break. Point me to a tax break.
At the very least, get some new talking points.
People are upset because the current administration took the problems that upset them in the previous administration, and turned them up to 11.
Livewire,
I have never read such a steaming pile of crap like you just wrote.
The reaction to these tea parties by the MSM and the Democrats is exactly why these protests are so useful.
Regarding the MSM, their hostile reaction only serves to highlight their bias and further erode their credibility and the size of their audience. When the average person sees the MSM covering a global warming or a gay marriage rally, they don’t necessarily think the coverage is sympathetic. But seeing how they chose to cover the tea parties, the next time the MSM sympathetically covers a left leaning rally, a certain amount of people will now say “hey, that’s not how they treated the tea party protests”.
Regarding Democrat politicians, the more they diss the tea parties, the more people will say “hey, I don’t remember any prominent Republicans dissing anti-war protestors”.
The same thing applied to Sarah Palin’s candidacy. The MSM never had to deal with an attractive, telegenic, female Republican, who came from a humble middle class background, and had a husband who is supportive of her ambitions. So what did they do? They went after her with both guns blazing and alienated a lot of people.
The contempt that liberals have for conservatives is something that conservatives can use to their advantage. And the best way to use it to our advantage is to keep coming up with new ways for liberals to show thier bias………Sarah Palin, tea parties, that’s two new ways over the last 8 months. This is what we need to keep doing.
And a stunning comback from NJ Liberal.
Who apparently reacts with facts like Levi, scurrying for the shadows.
I want to post a 2005 article to anyone interested in discovering a wee bit more info into the honorable Rep. Jan Schakowsky and her husband, Robert Creamer.
CHICAGO (AP) — The husband of an Illinois congresswoman pleaded guilty Wednesday to tax violations and bank fraud for writing rubber checks and failing to collect withholding tax from an employee.
Robert Creamer, a political consultant married to four-term U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky, could face four years in prison on the two felony counts when he is sentenced Dec. 21.
This article was posted 8/31/2005 by USAToday. Here is the link for all who are interested in it’s entirety.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2005-08-31-congresswoman-husband_x.htm
Let’s examine NJ Lackwit’s posts in reverse order.
First, we have a juvenile, snarky reply containing not one iota of actual counter-argument. Either the poor boy has no reply, or he has decided (in his own mind) that his rebuttal is so devastatingly self-evident that any further detail is redundant. In other words, a deluded fool.
For the previous post, I respond:
-No tea parties because Bush didn’t offer “tax breaks to the rich.” He just cut the margin. The same group still generates (after the infamous “Bush tax cuts for the rich”) SIXTY FRIGGIN’ PERCENT of all revenue from income taxes today. I’m guessing NJ won’t be happy until it’s 90 or 95%.
-Bush didn’t destroy the surplus, as much of it was created by a)a “peace dividend” which gutted the logistical and training elements of our armed forces during the 90s thru reduced funding, and b)dishonest government account (of which both parties are guilty) including diverting Social Security revenue to general funds to inflate total Federal revenue.
The TARP program was a bad idea from the word “go,” although the original 3-page plan seems quite attractive now. NJ lackwit seems to be quite unaware that Nancy Pelosi torpedoed the original plan by refusing to twist a single arm to vote for passage. In other words, the right honorable representative deliberately set up a far worse situation which left her in control of the relief purse strings. A classic case of the Golden Rule: “those who have the gold, make the rules.”
Whining about people who make less than $250K a year is a pathetic red herring. The Tea Party protesters aren’t just worried about high taxes, or deficits, but how the jackasses in DC (both parties) have become so insulated from typical citizens that they think hundreds of billions of dollars for “relief” is a good idea.
The Tea Party protesters aren’t just conservative, or just Republicans; nor is this a GOP/FoxNews astroturf (Instapundit has been following developments from day one); these people just sick and tired of an overbearing Federal Bureaucracy which is mostly unelected these days.
On the other hand, since NJ clueless would seem (between the lines) to be a fan of an overweening, overcontrolling, and centrally-controlled Federal authority, I am not surprised he has strapped on the kneepads and loyally fellated his masters in DC.
Whoops, almost forgot; the top 5% pay 60% of the taxes, the bottom 30% pay none, so how is this “LARGEST in US history” tax break (ahhh, note, not tax “cut”) going to help “working people who really need it?” Are we talking the 65% who only pay 40% of taxes already, or the 30% who pay nothing?
Or is he dumb enough to call recent stories of reduced tax withholding a “tax break?”
Whoops, forgot something. More than a few of us were quite unhappy with Bush’s budget-busters (for example, the massive MEDICARE increase), but the Democrats in Congress are even worse. They voted for all of Dubya’s “compassionate conservative,” big-budget ideas, then later bitched about the deficit.
We the dissatisfied preferred actual (God forbid!) SPENDING CUTS, but we had no alternatives, since (as established by the past couple years) Democrats in charge are far worse than Dubya on a coke-fueled drunken binge.
Wow, you have a short memory. I remember the protesters in NYC during the GOP convention in 2004. Some were held in makeshift holding cells for several days. Don’t act all victimized because the other networks didn’t shill your propaganda like Fox.
You called it teabagging. You should have expected to be laughed at.
#12: “The recently passed tax break is the LARGEST in US history and it’s for working people who really need it.”
I think it would be fascinating if we could actually see into liberals’ minds when they use expressions like, “working people who really need it.” I’m sure NJ Liberal has a specific picture in his mind as he visualizes this group of helpless, desperate, and appreciative people who would surely perish without his and Obama’s help. Liberals create these illusions in their minds because it assures them that they are the most caring and altruistic people on Earth while simultaneously saving them the trouble of having to actually come into contact with the shiftless recipients of their “generosity.” Liberals have no interest in actual “people” or what they “need.” Liberals prefer the airbrushed, fictional groups of people they create in their minds who are constantly in need of their help. For example, liberals tirelessly fight global warming for “future generations,” for increases in S-Chip funding for “the children,” and for “tax cuts” (welfare) for “America’s working families.” Liberals care about fueling their own narcissism. They don’t give a fu*k about real people.
You called it teabagging.
Actually, no; that was sex-obsessed liberal commenters like Rachel Maddow and Anderson Cooper.
It’s almost as if they were trying to minimize and demean the tea parties. Why would journalists, who are supposed to be fair and unbiased, do that? Can’t they set aside their sexual needs and their party affiliation to do their jobs? Is Rachel Maddow’s expectation that she does not have to follow journalistic ethics because of her sexual orientation?
I remember the protesters in NYC during the GOP convention in 2004. Some were held in makeshift holding cells for several days.
Of course, since it’s illegal in NYC to a) protest without a permit or b) wear a mask.
Unless you’re arguing that people who protest Republicans shouldn’t have to follow the law and should be immune from punishment.
Liberals prefer the airbrushed, fictional groups of people they create in their minds who are constantly in need of their help.
Agreed. The hilarity was the example of S-CHIP, where leftist liberals screamed about the necessity of buying free healthcare for white Obama Party voters who can afford to purchase it themselves — by raising taxes that, according to these same leftist liberals, disproportionately harm the poor, less-educated, and minorities.
That also demonstrates that Obama is a liar when he said he would not raise taxes on anyone who makes less than $250k. But we knew that already.
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