August 12, 2010 3:26 PM

Liberals Start "F*ck Tea" Party Campaign

By
Stephanie Condon
Topics
Democrats ,
Tea Party

Opponents of the Tea Party movement tried responding to the conservative grassroots movement nicely -- by creating the inclusive, deliberative Coffee Party.

But now they're ready to get mean.

A new progressive group called the Agenda Project has launched the "F*ck Tea" campaign. "Progress is the real American party," reads the campaign website's tag line.

"Set aside your good manners, your tolerance, your measured understanding of policy differences, and your earnest do-gooder ideas for a just a moment to join me in telling the Tea Party what you really think of them," Agenda Project founder Erica Payne said in a press release.

The Agenda Project describes itself as "a public policy organization dedicated to building a powerful, intelligent and well-connected political movement capable of identifying and advancing rational, effective, non-ideological ideas in the public debate."

F*ck Tea is one of several projects the group is advancing to push back against what Payne calls "the rhetoric over results paradigm that is holding our country hostage."

The campaign is selling products like mugs and t-shirts with "F*ck Tea" emblazoned across them and plans to sell other products like a "Glenn Beck Bowl Buddy."

While the Tea Party and the subsequent Coffee Party are grassroots, decentralized movements, Payne's Agenda Project is structured as a 501(c)(4) nonprofit. Payne is a former Democratic National Committee official who has founded other organizations like the Democracy Alliance, a group of liberal donors whose partners have invested over $100 million in progressive organizations.


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by noloyalisti August 19, 2010 12:11 PM EDT
Desert, you are right on, it is all about the American people being screwed by big money and big corporations.

I am very happy to welcome the Tea Partiers into The Other 98%. As long as they quit defending the corporations "rights" to screw us out of all our money.
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by savory26 August 19, 2010 12:11 PM EDT
Classy...very classy. For the past 25 years, I was a card-carrying Democrat, but after seeing how cuckoo-cuckoo the party has become, I don't recognize what it means to be a Democrat anymore. It will be interesting to see what kind of folks this tagline draws. Good luck, Democrats.
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by noloyalisti August 19, 2010 12:11 PM EDT
If the Tea Bag stopped voting against their own interests by voting for corporations to rape and pillage the middle class, we could unite The Other 98% against the top 2%.

We are in a class war in America folks, and defending failed predatory capitalism (actually socialism for the rich) will just make it far, far worse.
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by smartasss1 August 19, 2010 12:10 PM EDT
Smells very fishy. I wouldn't be surprised if a republican is behind this movement.
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by Recce1 November 7, 2010 4:58 AM EST
Smartasss1, do you mean fishy like Dead-Fish Emanuel? What about George Soros and his Open Society Foundation?
by larrryshrine August 16, 2010 6:54 PM EDT
by ChicagoJohn August 16, 2010 4:19 PM EDT
Larry,
Good for you in not sinking to that level.
Now since I'm a tea party member, (and frequently called a bagger by the 'tolerant' left) could you please tell me what deplorable tactics we've engaged in?

--------------

Thank you for your comment. Regarding the tactics of the Tea Party, I read over and over on these forums how Democrats - me included - are 'scum," communists," Marxists," and other names I won't mention. They support Rand Paul, who wanted to repeal the Civil Rights Act. Sharron Angle has some very strange suggestions, including - correct me if I'm wrong - doing away with Social Security. They have become up in arms over an Arizona law that clearly is unconstitutional (and would still be unconstitutional whether the feds step up or not), and they have raised a lot of heck against the building of the NYC mosque near Ground Zero that clearly is Constitutional. I am sure you disagree with me, and I respect that. I hope I have answered your questions. I suppose we'll have agree to disagree.
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by WAC1956 August 17, 2010 12:56 PM EDT
Thanks again, Larry, for a rational reply in a stormy sea of resentment!

I'd like to respond to some of the criticism. I'm conservative. I'm interested in the Tea Party, but it's still developing so I'm waiting to see how it goes. I am not a big fan of the Republican Party. It's been in charge about as often as the Democrats over the last 50 years and not much has changed. As for the alleged misconduct of the Tea Party (forgive the long response):

1) "read over and over on forums".
A: Please check the forum. People of all sorts write in to them. The Tea Party should be judged by statements made by it's spokesmen, not the rantings of some lunatic with a laptop in a shack. I can find plenty of obnoxious rhetoric from left-wing wackos, but I shouldn't lay it all on Barack Obama's doorstep.

2) "Democrats are scum, communists, Marxists, and other names I won't mention.
A: I agree that 'scum' is utterly uncalled for. A mindless insult hurled for no purpose except to cause offense. As for Communist and Marxist, it's too broad a brush to apply to all Liberals. I've known people I call sentimental socialists. I disagree with the policies, but I respect the feelings and the people. However, there's no denying that there are Communists among the American Left, and that their influence is significant. When someone proposes state control of means of production, forcible redistribution of wealth for it's own sake, when they condemn capitalism and openly admit to seeing no necessary limit to the regulatory power of the Federal government (as one Democrat representative recently did on tv) then it is not inaccurate to describe them as Communists in the sense of "Hard-Left". They may not be "scholarly Marxists" in the sense of subscribing to Marx's peculiar theories of historical and economic development, but we on the Right are disinclined to make fine distinctions between "Commies". I resent Conservatives being called 'Nazi's', yet I have repeatedly heard liberals call us that. Now I would never deny that there are American Nazi's, but I would deplore any attempt on their part to join the Republicans or the Tea Party. The difference is, I suspect hard-core Leftists are of much greater influence among Liberals than American Nazis are (or ever could be) among Conservatives. I've attended Tea Party (and other conservative) gatherings. There is NEVER anything that smacks of Nazism. I believe, however, that it can be persuasively argued that Communism is much more prevalent among Liberals than fascism is among Conservatives. This is not an accusation so much as acknowledgement of an historical fact. Fascism pertains to Hitler & Mussilini, and they were defeated at the end of WW II. By contrast, Stalin and Mao came out of the war on top. Our own gov't made Stalin into an ally and was very instrumental in putting Mao in power. It stands to reason that it is much easier to be a Communist and still function (at least in a Liberal venue) in America than it could ever be for an American Fascist.

3) Sharron Angle has suggest(ed) doing away with Social Security.
A: I know of NO conservatives (Tea Baggers or others) who advocate simply ending SocSec benefits. All conservatives I've read advocate RESTRUCTURING it. I've never understood why the gov't can't require us to pay our SSec tax into a sanctioned fund where it will bear interest, and to which employers and govt. will contribute. For workers at the low end of the pay scale, gov't can subsidize their account to provide an additional benefit. This would work, have the same ultimate financial impact for lower-wage workers, and it would NEVER go bankrupt. Instead, we're offered what has to be the greatest Ponzi scheme in the history of bamboozlement. The Soc.Sec. funds are dumped into the federal coffers for anything the politicians want. You don't have to be heartless to resent this horrendous squandering of our money. This, in fact, gets to the heart of what I think the Tea Party is (or will eventually be) about. We don't want to eliminate helping the less fortunate. We want to put an end to the squandering and chicanery in Washington. It isn't the 1/3 of the money that actually gets into the hands of the people who need it, it's the 2/3 of it that is spent pampering the politicians and their lackeys and stooges. We need accountability out of these people. They are supposed to be working for US. That (I think time will show) is the Tea Party's battle cry.

4) They're up in arms over an Arizona law that is unconstitutional.
A: Here I think we will have to disagree. The federal law is intended for protecting the people of this country. It is NOT being enforced, and the motives for not doing so are transparently political. If DC can't or won't do it's duty, the states have both the right and an obligation to do so. Every nation on earth controls it's borders and who can or cannot cross them. The conservative stance on illegal immigration is NOT unreasonable.
by Recce1 November 7, 2010 4:51 AM EST
WAC1956,

Thanks for a rational presentation of the Tea Party, Libertarian, and conservative approaches to certain issues. Unfortunately one of the favorite tactics of the Left, and that includes the White House and Democrats in Congress, is to find some far Right extremist and present his or her views as that of the entire monolithic Soros, oops, Koch brothers funded astroturf movement.

As for many progressives, they hide behind that name because of the negative connotations associated with socialists. Mr. Obama is a socialist and we shouldn't be afraid to describe him as such. With regard to your comparison of the supposed influence of Nazism or Communism, one need not look further than the sponsors of the One Nation Rally. Quite a few were communist including the CPUSA. It also was sponsored by such organizations as the SEIU, NAACP, Socialists of America, La Raza, and other radical organizations. A listing of some of the rally supporters can be found at http://sadhillnews.com/2010/10/03/one-nation-working-together-rally-list-of-sponsors

As for AZ SB 1070, most liberal haven't a clue what it, federal laws, or the Constitution say. As they say, ignorance is bliss and a great defense against facts. First off, under the understanding that our Founders had, the grounds for impeachment under the phase "high crimes and misdemeanors" includes not enforcing the laws, such as protecting our borders.

Secondly, most liberals don't know, most likely intentionally, that while the AZ law prohibits stopping of possible illegals without probable cause federal law specifically give federal agents the right to go into that proverbial ice cream parlor and ask for papers without probable cause.

Thirdly, there's the question of constitutionality, and restoring our country to a democratic Republic under the rule of constitutional law is a central theme of the TPM. So the question of States' Rights and the AZ law are critical. In Article 1 Section 8 Paragraph 4 of the Constitution it reads, "The Congress shall have Power To...establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization..." As far as I know, naturalization and immigration don't mean the same thing. In as much as the federal government is limited to its enumerated powers and the 10th Amendment makes it clear about the powers of the States, the only way to argue that AZ is in the wrong is to say that since we haven't followed Constitutional procedures for so long the people and the States no longer have the right to now insist the federal government start doing so.
by Honeysail August 16, 2010 5:11 PM EDT
This is just typical liberal propaganda used to divert the American voter attention away from that fact that omaba's experiment in marxist socialism is failing in America.
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by WAC1956 August 18, 2010 12:02 PM EDT
>> that's a quick list of what happens when liberals played nice, so I say lets take the gloves off and use the republician & tea parties play book!<<

Dear "freechoice".

If you want it that way, then "bring it on". We on the Right will win. To quote Ms. Coulter, "We have most of the guns... and all of the men."
by lastranger-2009 August 16, 2010 5:00 PM EDT
Oh my!
The left wing haters are now going public with blatant unadulterated hate speech.
Which I guess would not be as effective if they did not demonstrate their intellectualism with profanity.
Lots of luck in November.
Analyst, Ph.D.
Reply to this comment
by ChicagoJohn August 16, 2010 4:16 PM EDT
Uh huh.
I think that the "progressives" need to shorten their point here.
She should have said:
"Set aside your good manners, your tolerance, your measured understanding, and tell what you really think"

To someone on the left, tolerance is a talking point used to get their way.
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by JRC_903 August 16, 2010 4:09 PM EDT
Some might find interesting reading..

"http://www." + "urbandictionary.com/products.php?defid=3902158"
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by RepubsSuck August 16, 2010 4:03 PM EDT
...F*ck the GOP and the Teabaggers!
Reply to this comment
by ChicagoJohn August 16, 2010 4:18 PM EDT
To your credit, at least you are no longer trying to argue illogical points. Or protect the status quo that's in office while trying to argue that you are against the status quo.

What you should have written was "I don't care what others think. I'm important. Its my opinion that matters!"

And then stomp your feet.
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