After a year or more of the left trying to first dismiss the tea parties as AstroTurf, then as irreverent, then not as big as they claim, then finally as violent racist and all of them failing miserably, Sharpton came up with a brilliant idea.
By holding a competing rally who’s primary mission was to declare the other rally evil and divisive, Sharpton was able to give the left something else to cover. To create an equivalence.
You can not find coverage of the Restoring Honor Rally without seeing coverage of Sharpton, (this post for example). The blogs on the left, some of who might not normally want to give him the time of day are forced to do so, because the alternative is to deal with Beck and the numbers he produced.
Sharpton saw this opportunity and jumped at it and the liberals with no alternatives must elevate him for his aggrandizement and profit.
Ironic isn’t it, Sharpton’s actions are the ultimate expression of capitalism, abetted by those who reject it.
Here is the point, and I think this generalizes beyond NY-23 to the rest of the country: the GOP won’t take the Tea Party seriously until the Tea Party is the GOP.
One questions why the GOP establishment would be so willing to throw away a group of involved voters who match their beliefs. The answer may in fact be that their belief in fiscal conservatism and restraint is phony, that their belief is in their own power and a promise not to blow as much as the other side.
Actual spending cuts and spending restraint and tax reform decreases the power of the federal government. The goal of the establishment is apparently not to restrict such power, but to enjoy it.
The GOP doesn’t seem to understand that they are playing with fire. The tea party is going to give them two years to prove their bonafides. If they don’t you will see an actual tea party 3rd party.
I think Rush understands this which is why he constantly implores the GOP to take the conservative path.
What can we do about it? Smitty has the solution:
Get off the beanbag and support your local version of Doug Hoffman, or your sins of omission will result in a pocket-picking, and you’ll be at fault.emphasis mine
I think Bill Gunn put it very well in this interview last week jump to 3:34:
Money Quote: “If a republican is a big government republican I’m not going to campaign for him.”
That is the tea party all over. The question is will republicans figure it out and act accordingly or will they destroy themselves and throw away the chance to create a lasting majority?
We will see.
BTW apparently great minds think alike, Sissy Willis put up a post making the very same argument.
Unfortunately for the Johnny Roccos of the GOP, the old way of doing business isn’t working anymore. It happened in the Massachusetts special election that sent Mr. Brown to Washington, and it’s happening again. The national GOP is being disintermediated via the Internet. No wonder they’re upset. The people’s choice, Joe Miller — endorsed by Sarah Palin and with major funding from the Tea Party Express — is battle ready
The question becomes, is the GOP establishment willing to destroy the party to keep it? So far the answer hasn’t been encoraging
Well Arizona voters decided that John McCain deserves another terms in the senate and took Quayle the younger over the superior Vernon Parker.
Like Barbara Espinosa (Have you caught her blog talk radio show BTW) I preferred both Hayworth and Parker but the voters have spoken and it’s up to us to keep both of those seats in the R column.
In once sense it is not a surprise as if the Senate could flip the state might have wanted to keep the seniority that McCain brings, but if you see an amnesty bill next year, be assured that John McCain will be on board bigtime.
Meanwhile in Alaska Stacy McCain reports the MSM is still in full denial mode concerning Joe Miller:
Traditional media, however, continued to hold out hope for Murkowski, a pro-choice Republican who voted for the unpopular TARP bailout and had been labeled one of the ”Top 10 Senate RINOs” (Republican In Name Only) by Human Events.
In its headline, Roll Call described Murkowski as merely “imperiled,” and an Anchorage Daily News reporter named “Sean” said the incumbent was “battling for her political life.” The New York Times said she was “in a surprisingly tight race.” But Republican sources in Anchorage were more blunt, declaring Murkowski “toast” and employing obscene terms to describe just how completely she had been defeated.
If 2008 was about “hope,” then 2010 might be about “fear” — with Republicans running on fear of Obama/Dems, while Dems will be running on fear of returning to Bush/GOP policies.
*** Why McCain won and Murkowski is in trouble: In fact, this explains why someone like John McCain cruised to victory last night in Arizona and Murkowski didn’t. McCain
Robert Stacy also credits WooHooYoo and people like her for getting him involved and the hard work that made things happen.
Miss Sharon — her Twitter name is WooHooYoo – isn’t famous or influential. She’s just someone who has stopped asking, “What can I do?” and started doing what she can. (Good advice.)
I am looking forward to being able to say the same in November when talking about Bill Gunn here in MA-01.
Jonah Goldberg writes a column in the LA times the once and for all proves that there are lies, damn lies and statistics:
According to the FBI, hate crimes against Muslims increased by a staggering 1,600% in 2001. That sounds serious! But wait, the increase is a math mirage. There were 28 anti-Islamic incidents in 2000. That number climbed to 481 the year a bunch of Muslim terrorists murdered 3,000 Americans in the name of Islam on Sept. 11.
Now, that was a hate crime.
Roll that number around your head. There are 300+ Million people in the US and 50 states in the country and in 2001 “hate crimes” a population out for revenge doesn’t even hit one a month per state?
Regardless, 2001 was the zenith or, looked at through the prism of our national shame, the nadir of the much-discussed anti-Muslim backlash in the United States. The following year, the number of anti-Islamic hate-crime incidents (overwhelmingly, nonviolent vandalism and nasty words) dropped to 155. In 2003, there were 149 such incidents. And the number has hovered around the mid-100s or lower ever since.
Sure, even one hate crime is too many. But does that sound like a anti-Muslim backlash to you?
So we are talking vandalism and nasty words? Lets look at the post 2002 numbers for a sec, The fabulously intolerant Americans that Andrea Mitchell is lecturing concerning sensitivity managed less than one “incident” per season per state since 9/11? And these “incidents” are apparently vandalism and nasty words? This again in a population of 300+ million?
Read the whole thing including that the number of anti Jewish incidents are 6 times higher and anti-islamic ones in the US over the same period.
Maybe if the MSM wants to find bigotry it should look in the mirror and ask themselves why they think the American people are a bunch of hate mongers. Then perhaps their ratings wouldn’t be in the toilet
And finally lets drop this whole “hate” crimes nonsense anyway. It criminalizes thought. Prosecute a rock through a window because it’s a rock through somebody’s window. Justice and law should be color blind.
Update: I would have given a parody example of the MSM’s way of thinking but I couldn’t do better than Alex Pareene’s actual column for salon today. It is almost impossible to parody the left wing media.
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