If this "tea party" were trying to be sold as a legit third political party option, they would not be courting appearances by Sarah Palin or talking to Michael Steele. They would be courting Jesse Ventura, Ralph Nader, Michael Bloomberg, and even Ross Perot. Those men are the superstars of independent politics, and all three have voiced their belief that the United States needs a viable third party. But the tea party is not a real political movement. Its just angry people who want a sense of strength from numbers.

"They know that TV news people are happiest when given the chance to broadcast spectacles, and so they gave them one, and got what they came for." If this is true, why is there such lethargy and downright hostile resistance to a March on Washington from the pro-Health care reform majority? Could someone please explain?

And don't forget: Money drives the political process. Tea Party adherents will be competing with Dems and Repubs for the big bucks and without those dollars, is likely to be marginalized by advertisements from both sides. A lot of former wing-nut conservatives are going to find out what the left knew a long time ago: winning elections is all about presentation and without the money, you will not be able to get your message out there. Maybe there ultimate defeat will convince them that the main thing wrong with our system is that the people count for nothing.

Pitts is dead on! The Republicans sowed the seeds of this movement, and now they will reap the rewards. They've got a good portion of the population convinced that we're sitting ducks for another 9/11 type attack, and that the country, under Obama's administration, is headed for Socialism. But, they want to keep their Medicare and Social Security, etc. They are so fundamentally ill-informed, they are dangerous. And we can thank Bush and Co. for terrifying the wits out of them for all of this.

Isn't the Tea Party an offshoot of GGOOB (Get Government Off Our Back)? And doesn't the DCI Group, a corporate PR firm, manage GGOOB? I doubt that the Tea Party will have problems raising money (especially given the recent Supreme Court decision).

I subscribe to this rag, just to see what the ignorant/idiots are up to. Look who is running scared. Count your blessings, that the tea party is passive. Knowledge will prevail.

All this stems from political illiteracy.

As someone with an actual functioning brain I question exactly who the "ignorant/idiots" are.

Certainly this must apply to the contradiction-at-every-turn, sort-of-white-supremicist teabagger clowns who worship Sarah Palin. But I figure from the incoherent trine of that comment that he means Democrats or Obama or "liberals" or some such silliness.

VEry sad, this country is going into the toilet. We need a functioning government, not no government.

The Republicans have always wanted to kill Medicare and kill Social Security. The latter is the most stable thing the govrenment produces, solid for 35 years at least. This is why they always "borrow" from the Social Security funds, because it is self-funding and solvent.

But the media is complacent, the public have no sense of civics anymore, no knowledge of what "body politic" is let alone that it is a necessity not an evil.

Bah. The enemy is you.

Amerika , WAKE UP !
The U.S.A. has been run by these 2 parties for much too long . We have no real freedom of choice , it is either Tweedle Dee or Tweedle Dum , take it or leave it . Both parties refuse to allow any outsiders to join the debate , they DO NOT want any competition . When we get disgusted with the Republicans , we throw them out and put the Democrats back into power , hoping for change. After X X years , we get sick of the Democrats , we dump them and put the Republicans back into power, again hoping for change . Do we get change ? Both parties make a lot of promises , it is the same old / same old psycho babel , sounds good , but they rarely follow thru. They are quite happy with the status quo , playing musical chairs and taking turns at power. Bush when he first ran for office said that he " was a compassionate Conservative " What did he do ? He lied and distorted facts in order to try to justify his invasion of Iraq . Thousands of innocent young kids in the U.S. military died in vain and tens of thousands were physically or psychologically destroyed for life . They will NEVER be normal . And that is not counting the hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqis and Afghani's who died or were horribly maimed because of our WEAPONS of MASS DESTRUCTION .[ predator drones , etc. ] Cui-bono ....Who benefits ? The Halliburtans of the world of course [ Cheny's company ] Peace is NOT profitable .
Obama also made many promises and did not follow thru such as bringing our troops home , instead he expanded the war with an additional 30,000 troops . How do you tell when a politician is lying ? When his lips are moving . Before it is too late , we should throw all incumbents out of office , and have at least 3 other political parties running against these two Con Artists . Where are the Patriots in the U.S.A. ? All we have at this point are bought and paid for Who_es . We are protecting Iraq's , Afghanistan's and Pakistan's borders but our own borders are wide open allowing drug dealers , hoodlums , thieves , rapists and violent gang members from south of the border to set up their violent gang [ drug ] territories in the southwest U.S.A. The U.S.A. has changed radically since the mid 1960's , drugs , Wall Street greed and political corruption is now the norm . I am amazed that the compliant lumpen masses just shrug their shoulders , bend over and touch their toes and take it with a smile . A Military Coup d' e'-tat is long overdue , if they had the guts , they would take over and clean house in Washington . Traitors are deeply embedded in the highest positions of power including the Defense Department . They are the true " Power Behind the Throne " Welcome to the New World Order .
What fools ye mortals be !

Now I'm just brainstorming a possible scenario here... Could this resurgent neoTbag movement, IF it goes all the way and splits the right in two, open the way for the dems to also split in two, (i.e. a slightly left-centrist party and a progressive party) without committing guaranteed electoral suicide? i.e. a four party system, maybe forming two coalitions on occasion? This 'teabag' movement, if it cements itself into national politics, might provide such an opportunity for progressives further down the road. Just a thought.

64% of USA’s people favor having a third party “that would run candidates for President, Congress and state offices against the Republican and Democratic candidates”. (CNN February Opinion Research Poll). If the election were held today (February 12-15) 78% of both “all respondents” and “registered voters” (interviewed) will vote democratic or republic and only 16% will vote Tea Party. The “Tea Party activists” are made up of 80% whites, 44% college graduated, 91% from suburban-rural, 52% Independents and 44% republicans and 66% earn more than 50,000. Curiously 97% have not given money to the Tea Party, 95% has not attended their meetings and 92% has done nothing to support the Teas. The only possible explanation for this is that many people share the basic concerns of the TP, but do not approve their methods or that their rhetoric alienate some sympathizers. It may also mean that there is ground for a third party if it can capitalize the discontent of the people without going too emotionally radical and overboard. For example, eliminate taxes, it was mentioned above, is totally impossible. Only 4% democrats identify themselves as “Tea Party Activists”. This may be due to the perception that Tea Party and the Republicans are the same. And people may want something different and challenging to the two parties.

Brainstorming wrote: "IF it goes all the way and splits the right in two, open the way for the dems to also split in two, (i.e. a slightly left-centrist party and a progressive party).

There ALREADY IS a "progressive" party out there. It's called the Green Party. Check out their "Green Ten Key Values" and see if you agree. The very first one is called, "Grassroots Democracy" and sounds exactly like what the teabaggers want, too. www.greenparty.org

If these baggers are the equivalent to the 'know nothings' of the 1840s 23:30's thought is very interesting - it may take a few election rounds but a major party realignment does seem in order. Last one of course led to a civil war but you got to take the good with the bad. Glad I'm watching all this from overseas.

This Tea Party Movement sounds more like the simple minded Corporatist, nationalist state 80 years ago that we now know as fascism.

Simplistic, dishonest slogans that appealed to irrational fears and self interest. Want to know who will pay the taxes? It won't be the wealthy or the privileged. The erosion of the middle class building progressive income tax and corporate taxes will accelerate and be replaced with payroll and sales taxes which will not feed the military buildup so you'll become every more burdened by debt - unless fools like China and the oil rich states stop lending the USA government money.
And there will be no limits on corporate donations to political parties and those not supported by the corporatist will suffer even more roadblocks and harassment which is the reason the USA is the only western country without a multi-party system. Soon it will have one one party - just like China and fascist Germany.

Those "tea party" morons are just extreme right wing Repbulican voting scum bags!!

STOP GIVING THOSE SHIT HEADS PUBLICITY!!!!

"amerika wake up!"
you hit that one over the park arminius........
well said.

My impression of the T-baggers is that they basically son't care about the rest of us as long as they're all right. They seem to be older ( a lot of retirees), well-dressed and well-heeled enough to take time off from work to protest and pay the $5oo fee to go to the convention. They like things just the way they are. Typical Republicans.

Build bridges, we share a lot of concerns. Thanks for their web address, http://contractfromamerica.com. None of the ideas you criticized have made it in the final selection being offered. Most of what's left sounds good to me, such as:
COMMIT TO REAL GOVERNMENT TRANSPARENCY,
PROTECT THE CONSTITUTION,
PROTECT INTERNET FREEDOM,
RESTORE FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY & CONSTITUTIONALLY LIMITED GOVT:
Create a Blue Ribbon taskforce that engages in a complete audit of federal agencies and programs, assessing their Constitutionality, and identifying duplication, waste, ineffectiveness, and agencies and programs better left for the states.
REJECT CAP & TRADE:
Stop costly new regulations that would increase unemployment, raise consumer prices, and weaken the nation's global competitiveness with virtually no impact on global temperatures.
STOP THE PORK,
AUDIT THE FED,
NO MORE BAILOUTS.
If you like any of these, go to the website and vote for them. We are all Americans. The government has been corrupted, and many Americans want real change. The ploy of playing us against eachother has worked well to keep us from focusing on the real enemy of Democracy: Corruption by corporate money.

I find it funny, that the items you listed

"Birth-Right Citizenship."

"An Official Language of the United States."

yet you highlight it, and most posters use it as their "slam", on the Tea Party never made it into the next cut. Those were fringe ideas and apparently a large enough percentage of those Tea Partiers, that the writer and a majority of the posters so claim are ignorant, felt the need to exclude them. Imagine that, the Tea Party as a whole is rational...

Every Party has it's fringe elements. The birther movement(started by a staunch Hillary supporter)/911 Truth movements are examples of that. I do not believe all D's are birthers/911 Truthers. Why is it assumed that all Tea Partiers must be ignorant?

IF the fringe represent the whole, then you may want to look in your own closet...

Unless you agree with the views of Garofalo, Penn, Moore, McKinney...Etc.