Eh. Ostbensibly this blog is to split time between my Inner Citizen and Inner Geekboy, but movies have been thin in '010, and even trips to the comic book store have been less than satisfying. Which is not to say I like comic books because no no no, I'd actually prefer to see naked women. Real ones. Let's just quit while we're behind here.
THE TEA PARTY AND WHY THEY'RE FUNNY.
This is not to say EVERYthing about them is funny. Quite the contrary; aspects of them are quite terrifying, like the fact that they have their traditional conservative roots coming from the same political corner as the Nazis. That and a complete ignorance of history (or else they wouldn't call themselves 'The Tea Party') is pretty much sure to seal their fate on a national level in 2012.
I mean, look. These people make Bill O'Reilly seem reasonable. And even Bill O'Reilly bombs every time he goes on Letterman, because appealing to your tiny little Krazy Kult is not the same as mainstream acceptance. And as a comic-book reading, video-game playing, theatre-reading nerd, I know a thing or two about not being able to gain universal acceptance.
So.
In 1992, Ross Perot garnered 18% of the popular vote. Or, to use a more current but less universal example, in 2006, bigoted Texas Governor Rick Perry (the Lt. Governor under then-Gov. George 'Dubya' Bush) was re-elected after receiving approx. 45% of the vote. The remaining 55% was split between the Democratic challenger (38% or so) and author/musician/activist Kinky Friedman. And so, popular sentiment would tell you, if every person who voted for Friedman, voted instead for the Democrat, then the Democrat would have won.
Which I guess makes the Perot argument kind of invalid, because it's not like liberals were voting for him, but then again this is kind of hindsight. Also I was 16 at the time.
Anyway, through all this, the Neo-Republicans bitched and yelled and screamed about "holding the party line." They all must remain unified under their ONE candidate, because "that's what being a good Republican is all about!" ... And so they all rallied behind Bush Sr., even though he was a weak President and laid the seeds of the current Iraq mess, and they all rallied behind Dole, who lacked all charisma, and they all rallied behind Dubya, even though McCain was more charismatic and had more experience, and at least in 2000, was younger than 500. They even held the party line 8 years later with McCain/Palin, even though the country had cooled on Republican shenanigans, and the party itself had trashed the man 8 years earlier. Also Palin isn't qualified to run a 7-11.
So what do we have in 2010? DISSENT. The Republican party is splitting, with the right-wing over here, and the EXTREME right-wing over there.
This is good for Democrats.
What is, of course, NOT good for Democrats, or the people in general, is the entire Tea-Party's platform, in which they feel marginalized and stepped on and not represented by our government, much like (they say) the colonials of North America circa 1776. The reason they feel marginalized is because they ARE in the margins, and their beliefs are so uneducated and outside the mainstream that they can't ever possibly hope to maintain a foothold bigger than the one they have right now. Then again, that's at a national level. In Kentucky (for example), they're actually doing alright in the polls.
Preaching the good old days, wanting to return to "Traditional American Values," and abhorring the entire popular culture. Finger-pointing. Blaming other Americans who don't share their beliefs as the only problem, and a problem that must be stopped. Uber-conservatism, led by a charismatic leader who gives good speeches but doesn't know what the fuck he's talking about.
Hitler only grew that moustache because his handlers told him it would make him popular-- Charlie Chaplin was pretty big at the time. And while Barack Obama is educated and has a record of service going back to his formative years, Hitler was rejected from art school twice and wrote a popular book in prison in which he blamed everyone else for Germany's problems.
Meanwhile Glenn Beck used to be a drive-time morning radio DJ and has a miltary-esque flat-top haircut (the military is popular with his fans, but he has never served), and has written a lot of retarded books.
I'm just sayin'.
Basically parts of the country are completely screwed, politically... but we must remain optimistic. Granted, there are just chunks of the country ignorant to history-- no doubt a result of the Republicans slashing of education-- but the same can't be said for 100% of us.
And so, Tea Party... creepy as though they may be... means the crazy nutcases who helped put Bush over Kerry in 2004... have all left the party for Insaner Pastures.
Let the good times roll.
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