Wealth-Care

Well, town halls are now the official venue for performance art. Watch as these "ultra-rich" protesters rally for wealth-care:


(YouTube video)

Of course, it's all satire, and it's a good effort and all, but is it a wasted effort? In light of the the recent study that found that conservatives believe that Stephen Colbert dislikes liberalism, I'm skeptical. Listen to that woman at about 3:55 into the above video. She's a little confused at first, but finally agrees she's an ally of the "Eat cake please!! (Support the diabetic supplies industry)" crowd.

These town hall teabaggers or whatever they call themselves don't get it. Not only are they nodding in agreement to these outrageous signs, but they don't realize this naked truth: the true billionaires don't have to protest. They don't have to carry their own signs. They can buy a congressman, legislation and an "advocacy group" which persuades gullible people (like teabaggers) to carry protest signs on behalf of corporations.

But the funny video will get a few thousand hits on YouTube, and maybe somewhere there still exists a fence-sitter who will see the irony and satire and be won over. But Stephen Colbert still does it better.

Teabagg'n

It's Teabagg'n eve, and has there ever been anything so LOL funny about the wingnuts? Let me list the ways this brouhaha is tickling my bone-china funny bone.

Fox News denies that they are promoting the event despite headlines like "Time To Party Like It's 1773."

We all know the 1773 Boston Tea Party was about "taxation without representation" and an unpopular Tea Act which gave the English East India Company a monopoly. In a vaguely similar way, the 2009 revolt is about taxation (with representation) and TARP, but some teabaggers are hilariously off message.

They're also out of sync. Americans have the most favorable views of income taxes since 1956. And why not? 95% of American families get a tax cut under Obama's plan, and higher taxes for those at the top are no barrier to sustained economic growth.

Only a sucker would believe these tea parties spring from a grassroots coalition of "regular Americans." In reality, the movement was launched with a bang and a web site proclaiming, "the tea party protests, in their current form, began in early 2009 when Rick Santelli, the On Air Editor for CNBC, set out on a rant to expose the bankrupt liberal agenda of the White House Administration and Congress. Specifically, the flawed 'Stimulus Bill' and pork filled budget."

You know what you call the opposite of a grassroots movement? Astroturf! Like fake grass, the instant public support was manufactured. And the manufacturers are slick, conservative, well-funded, lobbyist-run think tanks called Americans for Prosperity and Freedom Works.

With all those wealthy Republicans putting their money where their mouth is (ahem), you'd think they could come up with a better name than "teabagging!" That name is possibly the biggest LOL factor of the whole crazy brew (watch video below or on DailyKosTV):