quote:

ORIGINAL: variation30

quote:

ORIGINAL: slvemike4u
Actually....No.We could do with less racists...wouldn't you agree?

racism is innocuous.

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ORIGINAL: Sanity


Or to my taters?  [;)]

No he's trying to pervert the democratic process, hes a traitor to the will of the governed and its my opinion that he deserves anything he gets.

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ORIGINAL: slvemike4u
Sanity...won't you feel like a shit if say one or both of his associates winds up......er,fed to gators or something [:D]

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ORIGINAL: Kirata


Hi Firm,

From the link you excerpted (included in your post)...

Smears and deception have been part of politics from the beginning, but the proud, brazen nature of those who embrace this sort of activity is a direct affront to the sort of civic involvement we need to have in a healthy republic. These are vile tactics by any moral standard, championed by individuals and groups that care not for debate and dissent, but instead thrive on creating a climate of mistrust and fear....

That's pretty much my feeling about it too.

K.

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ORIGINAL: domiguy

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ORIGINAL: FirmhandKY


One has to question the character of individuals involved in such an effort, and their trustworthiness in any endeavor. They create stereotypes and perpetuate them for media consumption in order to demonize and alienate their fellow Americans from one another. And to what end?

Firm

I highly doubt that few if any acted on this. It does allow a group of people with some fairly questionable views, motives and actions to account for their bad behavior by pushing off the accountability of their actions on some fictitious group.

That is what I think has taken place here. I am rarely wrong.

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ORIGINAL: FirmhandKY


Well, you could well be correct domi.

However, I have a few "thinking" points ...

1. It doesn't look like a "fictitious group".  Looks quite real to me.

2. It doesn't take more than a few people to besmirch an entire group, or cause problems, does it?

3. One time I saw some black people being antisocial, beating up white people and Koreans, and breaking into stores to steal ... does that mean that all blacks are antisocial, cause fights and steal?  If I said it did, how would you classify me?

Firm

PS, To be clear, what you quoted with my name above wasn't something that I wrote, but something I posted from a linked article.

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ORIGINAL: domiguy

quote:

ORIGINAL: FirmhandKY


Well, you could well be correct domi.

However, I have a few "thinking" points ...

1. It doesn't look like a "fictitious group".  Looks quite real to me.

2. It doesn't take more than a few people to besmirch an entire group, or cause problems, does it?

3. One time I saw some black people being antisocial, beating up white people and Koreans, and breaking into stores to steal ... does that mean that all blacks are antisocial, cause fights and steal?  If I said it did, how would you classify me?

Firm

PS, To be clear, what you quoted with my name above wasn't something that I wrote, but something I posted from a linked article.

Here is the prob. If the tea part wants to embrace middle America then they should stay on the path of being fiscally conservative.

It is not "crash the tea partiers" that are putting rather hateful words into their "leaders" mouths.

It is akin to watching Louis Farakan speak....much of what he says is dead on about blacks trying to improve, take more responsibility and better their spiritual and economic welfare. It is the ten percent of the white devil and blame the Jew shit, that he spews out that makes him lose all credibility.

You cannot be a fiscally responsible group who want to be taken seriously and then align yourself with the folks that have chosen to represent them.

Make sense?

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ORIGINAL: FirmhandKY


There appears to be some individuals and groups out there who have taken it upon themselves to "dismantle and demolish" the "TEA party" (though methods that are unethical and dishonest) in order to discredit all of the people who hold the same general concerns about the excessive power of government, and excessive government spending.

Do you align yourself with using unethical and dishonest tactics and techniques to achieve your political goals?  If so, then how does that make you any different than the people you condemn?

And, if you believe that such tactics and techniques are legitimate, why would you expect your opposition not to take that into account, and end up doing the same back at you, and the organizations you support and the things in which you believe?

Firm

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ORIGINAL: Sanity


Or to my taters?  [;)]

No he's trying to pervert the democratic process, hes a traitor to the will of the governed and its my opinion that he deserves anything he gets.

quote:

ORIGINAL: slvemike4u
Sanity...won't you feel like a shit if say one or both of his associates winds up......er,fed to gators or something [:D]

quote:

There appears to be some individuals and groups out there who have taken it upon themselves to "dismantle and demolish" the "TEA party" (though methods that are unethical and dishonest) in order to discredit all of the people who hold the same general concerns about the excessive power of government, and excessive government spending.

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ORIGINAL: vincentML

And so what? This is a first in American politics? Oh, the horror, the inhumanity, the shock to learn that politics involves unethical and dishonest attempts to discredit an opponent!! Oh wait, remember Tricky Dicky Nixon's "dirty tricks?"

Here is an article from Fox News (fair and balanced) criticizing the fringe radicals and conspiracy theorists in the Tea Party. Seems the TP has its own share of wackoes inside the tent without need of infiltrators. Hard to imagine, I know.

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ORIGINAL: Sanity


I've never seen the logic of justifying something thats detestable by pointing to other things that are unsavory.

And there is no tent, vincent. The tea party consists of very loose affiliations of individuals and groups with the common goals of moving towards balanced budgets and smaller, less intrusive government 

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ORIGINAL: vincentML

And so what? This is a first in American politics? Oh, the horror, the inhumanity, the shock to learn that politics involves unethical and dishonest attempts to discredit an opponent!! Oh wait, remember Tricky Dicky Nixon's "dirty tricks?"

Here is an article from Fox News (fair and balanced) criticizing the fringe radicals and conspiracy theorists in the Tea Party. Seems the TP has its own share of wackoes inside the tent without need of infiltrators. Hard to imagine, I know.

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ORIGINAL: thornhappy

And Firm, Alinsky's methods were adopted by the Young Republicans for years now.

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ORIGINAL: vincentML

quote:

There appears to be some individuals and groups out there who have taken it upon themselves to "dismantle and demolish" the "TEA party" (though methods that are unethical and dishonest) in order to discredit all of the people who hold the same general concerns about the excessive power of government, and excessive government spending.

And so what? This is a first in American politics? Oh, the horror, the inhumanity, the shock to learn that politics involves unethical and dishonest attempts to discredit an opponent!! Oh wait, remember Tricky Dicky Nixon's "dirty tricks?"

Here is an article from Fox News (fair and balanced) criticizing the fringe radicals and conspiracy theorists in the Tea Party. Seems the TP has its own share of wackoes inside the tent without need of infiltrators. Hard to imagine, I know.

But Tea Party organizers -- both nationally and locally -- say the misinformed beliefs of some do not represent the views of all.

"Any movement is going to have fringe elements," said Joan Fabiano, an organizer with Grassroots in Michigan, a Tea Party group based in Lansing, Mich.

"If there's any sort of hateful and racist signs, that is something the Tea Party in general would disavow," she said. 

New Hampshire Democrats are engaged in a statewide search for liberal activists willing to attend so-called tea parties on Thursday and carry signs expressing racist or fringe sentiments, a Democratic source with knowledge of the effort tells NowHampshire.com.

According to the source, who sought anonymity for fear of reprisals, the Dems’ last minute scramble reflects a growing obsession among party leaders that they need to discredit the tea party movement soon or it will overwhelm them come the November election.

Former Democratic State Party Chairman Kathy Sullivan is heading up the search, the source said. Sullivan has been calling and e-mailing liberal activists trying to get them to attend tea parties in different parts of the state and hold signs denying the authenticity of President Barack Obama’s birth certificate and make racially disparaging comments to reporters.

“This is Kathy’s [Sullivan] project,” the source told NowHampshire.com. “She is absolutely obsessed with painting the tea party people as racists.”


...

If she pulls it off, this won’t be the first time Sullivan has endeavored to manufacture a racist controversy regarding the tea party movement. Last month Sullivan and other Democratic leaders attempted to portray a “white pride” rally in Concord held by a Massachusetts-based white supremacist organization as a tea party. Sullivan was forced to retract her bogus accusation.

Nor would this maneuver be a radical departure from other stunts the party has engaged in recently. Around Easter the Democrats sent someone dressed in a bunny costume to the Republican State Committee headquarters. The stunt was widely panned, though thinly covered, and some internet wags speculated Sullivan herself was inside the suit (see below and judge for yourself.)

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ORIGINAL: FirmhandKY

But Tea Party organizers -- both nationally and locally -- say the misinformed beliefs of some do not represent the views of all.

"Any movement is going to have fringe elements," said Joan Fabiano, an organizer with Grassroots in Michigan, a Tea Party group based in Lansing, Mich.

"If there's any sort of hateful and racist signs, that is something the Tea Party in general would disavow," she said. 

Firm