Quote of the Day: The Tea Party Movement

 

“Brooks is, of course, horrified at Trump and his supporters, whom he finds childish, thuggish and contemptuous of the things that David Brooks likes about today’s America. It’s clear that he’d like a social/political revolution that was more refined, better-mannered, more focused on the Constitution and, well, more bourgeois as opposed to in-your-face and working class.

“The thing is, we had that movement. It was the Tea Party movement.… When politeness and orderliness are met with contempt and betrayal, do not be surprised if the response is something less polite, and less orderly.” — Glenn “Instapundit” Reynolds

I still hear the Tea Party invoked by liberal friends as an example of extremism, despite how calm and collected they were. So few of them even knew that it started in Chicago, on the trading floor, with people upset that they were forced to subsidize failure. It was hopeful and enthusiastic, open to anyone – and the Left treated it like the KKK merged with radical anarchists. The Republicans took their support and generally did nothing.

So, people tried something different. Romney was the ultimate nice-guy candidate. Unimpeachable ethics, a proven record of success, and moderate credentials. The Left chewed him up and spat him out. If Abe Lincoln or George Washington rose from the grave and ran for president, they would get the same treatment.

Thus, after you send in friendly folks with SUV and pickups, then a philanthropist in a limo, might as well send in a tank. Trump refuses to just take it like a proper Republican; he’s not a model of civility and noble citizenship, he’s a brawler. This is why Tea Party conservatives are flocking to his banner.

As an aside – the above statement was made three years ago. As for what Glenn thinks today, well (COC warning).

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  1. Vectorman Inactive
    Vectorman
    @Vectorman

    OmegaPaladin: The Republicans took their support, and generally did nothing.

    If we use the old 80/20 rule, 80% of the national Republicans are in the Swamp and do not want to upset what their Lobbyists tell them. The other 20% include people like Newt Gingrich and others that want to get something done.


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    • #1
  2. Patrick McClure Coolidge
    Patrick McClure
    @Patrickb63

    Great insight.

    • #2
  3. JoelB Member
    JoelB
    @JoelB

    He fights.

    • #3
  4. philo Member
    philo
    @philo

    Vectorman: As for what Glenn thinks today…

    His final statement at that link has a much broader application across each and every news cycle these days.  We live in the most unserious of times…

    • #4
  5. Susan Quinn Contributor
    Susan Quinn
    @SusanQuinn

    It’s unfortunate that we seem to have lost the Tea Party. But when many Conservatives tried to wipe them out, it was (at least temporarily) doomed to failure. I hadn’t thought about how they have come back to support Trump. I’m not sure how dedicated he is to the Constitution, and he’s not for a limited federal government, but in these times, he’ll do!

    • #5
  6. David Foster Member
    David Foster
    @DavidFoster

    “Brooks is, of course, horrified at Trump and his supporters, whom he finds childish, thuggish and contemptuous of the things that David Brooks likes about today’s America.”

    In the French TV series ‘A French Village’, set in the time of the German occupation, a mid-level bureaucrat who has collaborated fears that, after the Liberation, he will be unemployable in government.  “This is the only job I know how to do”, he says plaintively.  (He will soon find that he has a lot worse things to worry about than unemployment)

    I think maybe this feeling–“This is the only job I know how to do”–is behind the behavior of a lot of ‘public intellectuals’, journalists, and politicized academics, who fear that their particular skills, such as they are, will be devalued under a Trump ascendency.

    • #6
  7. lowtech redneck Coolidge
    lowtech redneck
    @lowtech redneck

    Woke Glenn Reynolds is awesome Glenn Reynolds.

    • #7
  8. Bishop Wash Member
    Bishop Wash
    @BishopWash

    Vectorman: The thing is, we had that movement. It was the Tea Party movement.

    When politeness and orderliness are met with contempt and betrayal, do not be surprised if the response is something less polite, and less orderly.”

    In the same vein, I’ve seen people express it with the Tea Party was people asking nicely and they were called wacko-birds–Trump is those people asking not as nicely.

    • #8
  9. Django Member
    Django
    @Django

    Bishop Wash (View Comment):

    Vectorman: The thing is, we had that movement. It was the Tea Party movement.

    When politeness and orderliness are met with contempt and betrayal, do not be surprised if the response is something less polite, and less orderly.”

    In the same vein, I’ve seen people express it with the Tea Party was people asking nicely and they were called wacko-birds–Trump is those people asking not as nicely.

    The next phase could well be demanding. 

    • #9
  10. Barfly Member
    Barfly
    @Barfly

    David Foster (View Comment):
    I think maybe this feeling–“This is the only job I know how to do”–is behind the behavior of a lot of ‘public intellectuals’, journalists, and politicized academics, who fear that their particular skills, such as they are, will be devalued under a Trump ascendency.

    I’ve noticed this thought, or at least its logical precursors, beginning to surface in a lot of commentary recently. The awakening continues.

    There are three strategies an individual may employ to make his way in society. He may produce something of value and barter it. He may persuade others to support him. Or he may step outside the rules of the system and become an operator or a criminal.

    The ten percent or so of us that employ the first strategy carry the whole of society on our backs. All the rest of you loafers and thieves are dead weight.

    The 90 percent know who they are, at least at some level in the old lizard brain, and they’re afraid. It’s only natural.

    • #10
  11. garyinabq Member
    garyinabq
    @garyinabq

    When I grow up, I want to be Glenn Reynolds.  He just seems to have a great attitude about life.

    • #11
  12. Instugator Thatcher
    Instugator
    @Instugator

    philo (View Comment):

    Vectorman: As for what Glenn thinks today…

    We live in the most unserious of times…

    Quite understandable.

    All we really face is 1st world problems. Unfortunately the solutions to them (proposed by the left) involve stripping civil rights from law abiding citizens and no one really thinks that will happen.

    Unfortunately.

    Funny thing is, you can see proof of this merely by looking at the news media, in particular the pretty faces that purport to tell the rest of us what to think. Not a serious intellect among them. 

    • #12
  13. Old Bathos Member
    Old Bathos
    @OldBathos

    I have joined or just watched many marches in DC over the last 50 years.  The Tea party demonstration was unique.  The friendliness, positive spirit and gregariousness of the crowd and especially the paucity of freaks who are so often drawn to public participatory events.  And when I got to the end, some nice woman handed me a big trash bag to help pick up litter.  The place was significantly cleaner than before we arrived.

    The desperate need to recharacterize, demonize and denigrate the tea party movement was a very clear indication of the sickness of our politics and the degeneracy of our “elite” with their utter refusal to debate issues on merit and not on the basis of caricature and bumper sticker fictions.  It was less that we peasants were wrong and more about the sheer impertinence of thinking we had a say in policy matters that animated their response.

    • #13
  14. Jon1979 Inactive
    Jon1979
    @Jon1979

    Tea Party was a grass roots, leaderless movement that Democrats and the media were at a loss at first to demonize, because there was no high-profile individual to turn into Emanuel Goldstein (the reason why they couldn’t was because almost all of the GOP political leaders in early 2009 had been totally cowed by the  Dems and the media threatening to tar them as racists if they forcefully opposed Barack Obama’s plans).

    They couldn’t figure out how to demonize faceless masses a decade ago, which led to the 2010 mid-term debacle, but they were able to demonize some of the less-focused people who won nominations in the 2010 election cycle, like Christine O’Donnell or Sharron Angle, and were able to keep the Senate under Democratic control until the 2014 midterms.

    By then, the grifters had come in and started proclaiming themselves as the leaders of the Tea Party, in order to scam people out of political donations. They also provided a less focused face for the Democrats and media to put on the Tea Party, because that movement originally was a purely economic one — the grifters took whatever ideas they thought would get them $$$$ and claimed that was what the Tea Party movement was all about.

    That allowed the Democrats to demonize the name Tea Party, but their other strategy since 2010, and especially in the past four years, is not to ever  get caught unprepared again by some faceless conservative political movement. That has led to many in the party and the media throwing away past caution, and directly attacking wrong-thinking voters  as hopeless racists/sexists/homophobic/transgenderphobic/just-plain-non-woke, as part of an effort to write at least 65 million people out of the political conversation.

    The ones doing this really do believe they have the majority of voters on their side, and either don’t need swing voters or can intimidate them into supporting their candidates. “Vote for Democrat X or we’ll ruin your life” doesn’t seem like a great campaign strategy, though.

    • #14
  15. Django Member
    Django
    @Django

    Barfly (View Comment):

    David Foster (View Comment):
    I think maybe this feeling–“This is the only job I know how to do”–is behind the behavior of a lot of ‘public intellectuals’, journalists, and politicized academics, who fear that their particular skills, such as they are, will be devalued under a Trump ascendency.

    I’ve noticed this thought, or at least its logical precursors, beginning to surface in a lot of commentary recently. The awakening continues.

    There are three strategies an individual may employ to make his way in society. He may produce something of value and barter it. He may persuade others to support him. Or he may step outside the rules of the system and become an operator or a criminal.

    The ten percent or so of us that employ the first strategy carry the whole of society on our backs. All the rest of you loafers and thieves are dead weight.

    The 90 percent know who they are, at least at some level in the old lizard brain, and they’re afraid. It’s only natural.

    Maybe I was just lucky, but I’d say it’s closer to 20% than 10%. Aside from that minor quibble, spot on. 

    • #15
  16. Douglas Pratt Coolidge
    Douglas Pratt
    @DouglasPratt

    Old Bathos (View Comment):

    I have joined or just watched many marches in DC over the last 50 years. The Tea party demonstration was unique. The friendliness, positive spirit and gregariousness of the crowd and especially the paucity of freaks who are so often drawn to public participatory events. And when I got to the end, some nice woman handed me a big trash bag to help pick up litter. The place was significantly cleaner than before we arrived.

    The desperate need to recharacterize, demonize and denigrate the tea party movement was a very clear indication of the sickness of our politics and the degeneracy of our “elite” with their utter refusal to debate issues on merit and not on the basis of caricature and bumper sticker fictions. It was less that we peasants were wrong and more about the sheer impertinence of thinking we had a say in policy matters that animated their response.

    My daughter Valerie and I went to the Tea Party rally the day before Obamacare passed. It was more like a Fourth of July picnic than a protest. Kids in strollers everywhere, a few folks grilling and passing out hot dogs. A couple of LaRouche wack jobs with signs across the street. A beautiful day on the Capitol grounds. We spent a few hours chatting with people, then went and looked at the orchids in the greenhouse. 

    We happened to be there when those three black Congresspeople walked through the crowd…you remember, the ones who claimed they were yelled at and spat upon? We followed them for a bit, listening to the conversations they were having. Everyone was polite and respectful, except for the TV cameramen who kept pushing people out of the way. If it hadn’t been for those “professional journalists” it would have almost been boring. There were plenty of people using cameras, so if anything bad had happened, someone would certainly have claimed Andrew Breitbart’s $10K reward for proof.

    • #16
  17. MichaelKennedy Inactive
    MichaelKennedy
    @MichaelKennedy

    Old Bathos (View Comment):
    The Tea party demonstration was unique. The friendliness, positive spirit and gregariousness of the crowd and especially the paucity of freaks who are so often drawn to public participatory events. And when I got to the end

    Me too.

    http://abriefhistory.org/?p=1932

    http://abriefhistory.org/?p=1950

    The Swamp could not let that continue.

    • #17
  18. TBA Coolidge
    TBA
    @RobtGilsdorf

    Jon1979 (View Comment):

    Tea Party was a grass roots, leaderless movement that Democrats and the media were at a loss at first to demonize, because there was no high-profile individual to turn into Emanuel Goldstein (the reason why they couldn’t was because almost all of the GOP political leaders in early 2009 had been totally cowed by the Dems and the media threatening to tar them as racists if they forcefully opposed Barack Obama’s plans).

    They couldn’t figure out how to demonize faceless masses a decade ago, which led to the 2010 mid-term debacle, but they were able to demonize some of the less-focused people who won nominations in the 2010 election cycle, like Christine O’Donnell or Sharron Angle, and were able to keep the Senate under Democratic control until the 2014 midterms.

    By then, the grifters had come in and started proclaiming themselves as the leaders of the Tea Party, in order to scam people out of political donations. They also provided a less focused face for the Democrats and media to put on the Tea Party, because that movement originally was a purely economic one — the grifters took whatever ideas they thought would get them $$$$ and claimed that was what the Tea Party movement was all about.

    That allowed the Democrats to demonize the name Tea Party, but their other strategy since 2010, and especially in the past four years, is not to ever get caught unprepared again by some faceless conservative political movement. That has led to many in the party and the media throwing away past caution, and directly attacking wrong-thinking voters as hopeless racists/sexists/homophobic/transgenderphobic/just-plain-non-woke, as part of an effort to write at least 65 million people out of the political conversation.

    The ones doing this really do believe they have the majority of voters on their side, and either don’t need swing voters or can intimidate them into supporting their candidates. “Vote for Democrat X or we’ll ruin your life” doesn’t seem like a great campaign strategy, though.

    As I recall, the Dems claimed it was taken over by religious zealots – an odd thing to associate with demons, but that is what the left does best. 

    • #18
  19. OmegaPaladin Moderator
    OmegaPaladin
    @OmegaPaladin

    Woohoo!  Nothing like an Instalanche!

    Welcome, fellow Instapundit readers!  This is Ricochet, a site where members generate almost all the content.   Good content gets up-voted on to the Main Feed, which is read by notable like Pr. Reynolds.  

    Join us, and help us keep the golden era of blogging alive.  Our membership costs about as much as a sub sandwich per month, so why not sign up today!

    • #19
  20. Steve C. Member
    Steve C.
    @user_531302

    Vectorman (View Comment):
    The other 20% include people like Newt Gingrich and others that want to get something done.

    Newt “half a million dollar line of credit with a jeweler” Gingrich?

    I think it’s inevitable, because we are flawed beings, spending lots of time in the Emerald City corrupts the soul. Book deals, speaking fees, fellowships and all the other trappings of “Hollywood for ugly people” morph into entitlements. Fame is the currency of that realm and the coin soon follows.

    We have the worst political class money can buy.

    • #20
  21. Steve C. Member
    Steve C.
    @user_531302

    David Foster (View Comment):

    “Brooks is, of course, horrified at Trump and his supporters, whom he finds childish, thuggish and contemptuous of the things that David Brooks likes about today’s America.”

    In the French TV series ‘A French Village’, set in the time of the German occupation, a mid-level bureaucrat who has collaborated fears that, after the Liberation, he will be unemployable in government. “This is the only job I know how to do”, he says plaintively. (He will soon find that he has a lot worse things to worry about than unemployment)

    I think maybe this feeling–“This is the only job I know how to do”–is behind the behavior of a lot of ‘public intellectuals’, journalists, and politicized academics, who fear that their particular skills, such as they are, will be devalued under a Trump ascendency.

    Perhaps they should learn to code.

    • #21
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