Chris Adamo
Marginalizing the movement that can save America
By Chris Adamo
Ever since the 2009 advent of the Tea Party, Democrats on Capitol Hill and the liberal media have been obsessed with its destruction. Of course such a response is entirely understandable, since a cohesive and effective alliance of grassroots conservatives working to uphold the Constitution and maintain traditional values is, by definition, literal poison to the left. Worst of all (at least according to the liberal worldview) is that the overwhelming majority of Tea Party supporters are not nearly as vulnerable to the corrupting allure of politics as are the career politicians who comprise the Beltway ruling class.
It was therefore no surprise that a fully coordinated propaganda blitz against the Tea Party was immediately undertaken, led primarily by the Democrat party, but fully aided and abetted by the despicably biased "reporting" on the nightly news. Insinuations of violence and sedition, though totally unsubstantiated, were a regular element of any news accounts of the Tea Party. On the day the Democrat controlled Congress passed Obamacare, then Speaker Nancy Pelosi and a few cronies deliberately strode right through a gathering of Tea Partiers who had assembled to protest the measure. Immediately following, Pelosi fraudulently claimed to have received threats of violence from the crowd, though her accusations were revealed to be complete lies by the many videos taken by participants.
Despite the total lack of any evidence to discredit the movement, efforts to destroy its reputation continue. Talking heads in the "mainstream" media have even resorted to derisive and juvenile name-calling, such as their usage of the contemptible term "tea baggers," (a reference to a perverse sexual act) in hopes of undermining the movement.
Meanwhile, the massive Tea Party gatherings in Washington D.C. and major cities across the U.S. were largely ignored by the media. The liberal press knew full well that the Tea Party message could connect with the people, and that the manner in which such gatherings were conducted truly reflected credit on the principles and motivation of those involved. The behavior of participants was exemplary, and demonstration sites were left completely clean and undamaged. This was a complete contrast to the filth and squalor of typical leftist gatherings such as those of the "Occupy" movement, which were rife with violent crime and vandalism, and sexual assaults, with major cleanup efforts always required in their aftermath.
Behind the scenes, efforts to thwart Tea Party strength and effectiveness were even more insidious, representing a much greater threat to America's rapidly fading constitutional ideals. In what has since been revealed as a pattern of selective suppression of free speech, the Internal Revenue Service flagrantly violated the spirit and letter of the First Amendment by singling out Tea Party affiliated organizations for excessive scrutiny and time consuming red-tape entanglements. In an orchestrated scheme to deny them tax-exempt status, the IRS managed to severely limit the financial resources of Tea Party organizations, thus undermining their effectiveness during the 2012 election cycle.
The Democrats' continued stonewalling and staged melodrama of the past few weeks reveal just how significant the IRS/Tea Party scandal is, and how determined the Obama Administration is to prevent full disclosure, since that prospect must include criminal charges for high level Obama officials. In an episode atrociously reminiscent of Hillary Clinton's "I don't recall" prevarications during the 1990s, Lois Lerner, IRS chief at the time of the illegal abuses of Tea Party organizations, appeared before the House Oversight Committee on March 5, and proceeded to plead the Fifth twenty three times, ultimately refusing to answer a single question posed to her. Yet Attorney General Eric Holder steadfastly opposes any proper investigation of Lerner's misconduct. In short, the government has no intention of coming clean on the crimes and corruption within its midst, thus underscoring the criminal complicity of the Obama cabal.
Of course such behavior from the Democrats comes as no surprise, since it aligns perfectly with their pattern of trampling the constitutional rights of all Americans while advancing their agenda. However, it is perhaps time to ask a very necessary but unsettling question. Why is the GOP "Establishment" engaged in a virtually identical pattern of disparaging, marginalizing, and generally sabotaging the Tea Party? Consider the disturbingly similar game plan of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R.-KY).
While McConnell admittedly remained on the right side of the law, his ultimate goal of trying to financially starve Tea party affiliated organizations such as the Senate Conservatives Fund is indistinguishable in scope and purpose from efforts of Lerner and the Obama IRS. In the process, McConnell has done his utmost to cast himself as the real conservative while relegating the Tea Party to the "fringe." In the same manner, former Bush adviser Karl Rove, architect of so many GOP moves to the left, has been no less vehement in his stated intention to completely disband the grassroots movement.
Unfortunately, this Alinsky styled attack from McConnell, Rove, and other "mainstream" Republicans is having its desired effect on several conservative commentators, who accept the premise the Tea Party is indeed extreme in its views, and destined to lose elections. Invariably the 2010 losses of such individuals as Christine O'Donnell of Delaware, and Sharron Angle of Nevada are invoked as proof of the "unelectable" nature of Tea Party candidates. And of course Texas incumbent John Cornyn's recent primary win is being hailed as further proof that the movement is over.
However, Cornyn's victory in Texas hardly reflects Tea Party dissipation, as jubilantly claimed by some "conservative" punditry. Instead, it is merely a continuation of the same pattern in 2010, when the Tea Party enjoyed a huge success in the House, but did not fare so well against the big money and big names who dominate in the Senate. Furthermore, such jaded analyses are devoid of any mention of the consecutive waves of Establishment Republican Senate losses, which cast that body firmly into the hands of the Democrats in 2006, where it remains to the current day.
The goal of the political establishment across the political spectrum is to preserve the D.C. status quo, despite its potential for doing irreparable harm to the nation. Conservatives are right to stridently condemn liberal Democrats for bringing things to this point, yet they are oddly reluctant to hold accountable those RINOs whose collaboration with the Democrats enabled the leftist advance.
Democrats are in this fight to win. If the GOP will not go "toe to toe" against them, or worse yet, if it secretly aids and abets the Democrats, some other political force must arise in order for Americans to avert the disaster into one party rule. If this element of the political equation is ignored, and the RINOs are once again given a pass on some empty premise such as "party unity," it is absurd to hope or expect that the problems they created for the nation will ever be addressed. And if Americans are spooked into allowing this propaganda blitz to work, they will prove that they are not yet ready to properly engage in battle, and thus only deserve more of the morally, ethically, and increasingly financially bankrupt country the entrenched "ruling class" has given them.
© Chris Adamo
March 27, 2014
Ever since the 2009 advent of the Tea Party, Democrats on Capitol Hill and the liberal media have been obsessed with its destruction. Of course such a response is entirely understandable, since a cohesive and effective alliance of grassroots conservatives working to uphold the Constitution and maintain traditional values is, by definition, literal poison to the left. Worst of all (at least according to the liberal worldview) is that the overwhelming majority of Tea Party supporters are not nearly as vulnerable to the corrupting allure of politics as are the career politicians who comprise the Beltway ruling class.
It was therefore no surprise that a fully coordinated propaganda blitz against the Tea Party was immediately undertaken, led primarily by the Democrat party, but fully aided and abetted by the despicably biased "reporting" on the nightly news. Insinuations of violence and sedition, though totally unsubstantiated, were a regular element of any news accounts of the Tea Party. On the day the Democrat controlled Congress passed Obamacare, then Speaker Nancy Pelosi and a few cronies deliberately strode right through a gathering of Tea Partiers who had assembled to protest the measure. Immediately following, Pelosi fraudulently claimed to have received threats of violence from the crowd, though her accusations were revealed to be complete lies by the many videos taken by participants.
Despite the total lack of any evidence to discredit the movement, efforts to destroy its reputation continue. Talking heads in the "mainstream" media have even resorted to derisive and juvenile name-calling, such as their usage of the contemptible term "tea baggers," (a reference to a perverse sexual act) in hopes of undermining the movement.
Meanwhile, the massive Tea Party gatherings in Washington D.C. and major cities across the U.S. were largely ignored by the media. The liberal press knew full well that the Tea Party message could connect with the people, and that the manner in which such gatherings were conducted truly reflected credit on the principles and motivation of those involved. The behavior of participants was exemplary, and demonstration sites were left completely clean and undamaged. This was a complete contrast to the filth and squalor of typical leftist gatherings such as those of the "Occupy" movement, which were rife with violent crime and vandalism, and sexual assaults, with major cleanup efforts always required in their aftermath.
Behind the scenes, efforts to thwart Tea Party strength and effectiveness were even more insidious, representing a much greater threat to America's rapidly fading constitutional ideals. In what has since been revealed as a pattern of selective suppression of free speech, the Internal Revenue Service flagrantly violated the spirit and letter of the First Amendment by singling out Tea Party affiliated organizations for excessive scrutiny and time consuming red-tape entanglements. In an orchestrated scheme to deny them tax-exempt status, the IRS managed to severely limit the financial resources of Tea Party organizations, thus undermining their effectiveness during the 2012 election cycle.
The Democrats' continued stonewalling and staged melodrama of the past few weeks reveal just how significant the IRS/Tea Party scandal is, and how determined the Obama Administration is to prevent full disclosure, since that prospect must include criminal charges for high level Obama officials. In an episode atrociously reminiscent of Hillary Clinton's "I don't recall" prevarications during the 1990s, Lois Lerner, IRS chief at the time of the illegal abuses of Tea Party organizations, appeared before the House Oversight Committee on March 5, and proceeded to plead the Fifth twenty three times, ultimately refusing to answer a single question posed to her. Yet Attorney General Eric Holder steadfastly opposes any proper investigation of Lerner's misconduct. In short, the government has no intention of coming clean on the crimes and corruption within its midst, thus underscoring the criminal complicity of the Obama cabal.
Of course such behavior from the Democrats comes as no surprise, since it aligns perfectly with their pattern of trampling the constitutional rights of all Americans while advancing their agenda. However, it is perhaps time to ask a very necessary but unsettling question. Why is the GOP "Establishment" engaged in a virtually identical pattern of disparaging, marginalizing, and generally sabotaging the Tea Party? Consider the disturbingly similar game plan of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R.-KY).
While McConnell admittedly remained on the right side of the law, his ultimate goal of trying to financially starve Tea party affiliated organizations such as the Senate Conservatives Fund is indistinguishable in scope and purpose from efforts of Lerner and the Obama IRS. In the process, McConnell has done his utmost to cast himself as the real conservative while relegating the Tea Party to the "fringe." In the same manner, former Bush adviser Karl Rove, architect of so many GOP moves to the left, has been no less vehement in his stated intention to completely disband the grassroots movement.
Unfortunately, this Alinsky styled attack from McConnell, Rove, and other "mainstream" Republicans is having its desired effect on several conservative commentators, who accept the premise the Tea Party is indeed extreme in its views, and destined to lose elections. Invariably the 2010 losses of such individuals as Christine O'Donnell of Delaware, and Sharron Angle of Nevada are invoked as proof of the "unelectable" nature of Tea Party candidates. And of course Texas incumbent John Cornyn's recent primary win is being hailed as further proof that the movement is over.
However, Cornyn's victory in Texas hardly reflects Tea Party dissipation, as jubilantly claimed by some "conservative" punditry. Instead, it is merely a continuation of the same pattern in 2010, when the Tea Party enjoyed a huge success in the House, but did not fare so well against the big money and big names who dominate in the Senate. Furthermore, such jaded analyses are devoid of any mention of the consecutive waves of Establishment Republican Senate losses, which cast that body firmly into the hands of the Democrats in 2006, where it remains to the current day.
The goal of the political establishment across the political spectrum is to preserve the D.C. status quo, despite its potential for doing irreparable harm to the nation. Conservatives are right to stridently condemn liberal Democrats for bringing things to this point, yet they are oddly reluctant to hold accountable those RINOs whose collaboration with the Democrats enabled the leftist advance.
Democrats are in this fight to win. If the GOP will not go "toe to toe" against them, or worse yet, if it secretly aids and abets the Democrats, some other political force must arise in order for Americans to avert the disaster into one party rule. If this element of the political equation is ignored, and the RINOs are once again given a pass on some empty premise such as "party unity," it is absurd to hope or expect that the problems they created for the nation will ever be addressed. And if Americans are spooked into allowing this propaganda blitz to work, they will prove that they are not yet ready to properly engage in battle, and thus only deserve more of the morally, ethically, and increasingly financially bankrupt country the entrenched "ruling class" has given them.
© Chris Adamo
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