The tea party is underwritten by big Coal, if the result of the election is a divided paralyzed house this suits big coal just fine.

adam
do you know the lines by Yeats:

We have fed the heart on fantasy
the hearts grown brutal on the fare
more substance in our enmities,
than in our loves
Oh honey bees come build your nests
in the empty house of the stare.

America sure could do with some "honey and wax" right now.

Yes the USA body politic could do with some soothing/healing honey balm. Of course you find it via the applied politics of the Tea Party.

Speaking of Yeats I think these lines sum up the mood, or the murderously reasonable demands and intentions, of the Tea Party and right-wing politics in the USA, and elsewhere.

Written in 1920 after WWI.

Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
the ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
Surely some revelation is at hand
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.

Yeats was acutely sensitive to the world situation, and how the old "order" was disintegrating (or had already done so). This sensitivity was reflected in his poetry and writings in which he tried to create an explanation for and a synthesis of the deep psychic forces that were being dramatized on to the world stage during his life.

As I expect you know, both poems were written in a 'Time of Civil war'.

Remember the Bush flunky that years ago spoke of an end to 'reality politics' ?
They have had a lot of phantasmal meals over the past twenty odd years

gosh, since we're quoting on the USA, here's some from probably the clearest thinker they ever had, Thomas Jefferson.

"The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not.
---
It is incumbent on every generation to pay its own debts as it goes. A principle which if acted on would save one-half the wars of the world.
---
I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.
---
My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much government.
---
The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.
---
To compel a man to subsidize with his taxes the propagation of ideas which he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical."

Americans are conservative by nature, they made a mistake with Obama and he was much more left than he had indicated before the election, this is being corrected.

It's not the Tea Party's fault, nor the voter's fault - it's Obama and the Democrats, making excuses for poor government, doesn't fix it.

It's Obama's watch, and he wears the blame, regardless - let's see some of that "the buck stops here" stuff, man up tot he job and stop blaming everyone else.

Amicus
Come off it. It was Bush who put the bill for the war in Iraq on credit. It was Junior that undid Anglo American foreign policy in the gulf( policy that went back to 1912 and I reckon he did it simply to try and prove that he was smarter that his dad) The endless bail outs every time the inflationary bubble looked set to burst were under republican rule.
The truth is the Republicans under Bush threw out all of the conservative rules; neo- for them meant anything but prudent .
Under their watch the biggest fraud the world has ever seen took place.
Pull the other one its got bells on it,
"Conservative" my arse.

'The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism. But this leads at length to a more formal and permanent despotism. The disorders and miseries which result gradually incline the minds of men to seek security and repose in the absolute power of an individual; and sooner or later the chief of some prevailing faction, more able or more fortunate than his competitors, turns this disposition to the purposes of his own elevation, on the ruins of public liberty.'

'It serves always to distract the public councils and enfeeble the public administration. It agitates the community with ill-founded jealousies and false alarms, kindles the animosity of one part against another, foments occasionally riot and insurrection. It opens the door to foreign influence and corruption, which finds a facilitated access to the government itself through the channels of party passions. Thus the policy and the will of one country are subjected to the policy and will of another.'

'As a very important source of strength and security, cherish public credit. One method of preserving it is to use it as sparingly as possible, avoiding occasions of expense by cultivating peace, but remembering also that timely disbursements to prepare for danger frequently prevent much greater disbursements to repel it, avoiding likewise the accumulation of debt, not only by shunning occasions of expense, but by vigorous exertion in time of peace to discharge the debts which unavoidable wars may have occasioned, not ungenerously throwing upon posterity the burden which we ourselves ought to bear. The execution of these maxims belongs to your representatives...'

Washington's Farewell Address

George warned about the Despots, their wasteful spending, their odious spin and self-promotion.

I'd opine, on reading these thoughts, and given Obama's and Pelosi's performances George would probably back the Tea Party today... and probably would have voted for John McCain.

I did not think the Bush/Howard haters could get any worse. How delightful should Palin/Abbott come to power. The froth coming from the mouth of the 'intellectual' elite would be something to watch.

This "fear" story put out by the Left is their way of avoiding personal responsibility for their own failure and the subsequent voter backlash.

They believe the voting populace is stupid and primitive, easily swayed by 'fear' and should just trust their wonderful ideas which will be wonderful in the end. No the people are unhappy.. very unhappy.The country is in a mess and Obama has not been the saviour all had hoped for.

The reality is that Obama has not performed anywhere near expectations and appears to have a fawning and apologetic approach to some dubious overseas regimes. This causes Americans some trepidation.

So,there is fear. Fear the country is going down the gurgler with 12% unemployment in some parts and a leader who is floundering.

In relation to fear in Politics, the truth, is that the Left are the biggest scaremongers by far, preaching gloom and doom if a Conservative is ever elected. Gillard tried that one on Abbott in the last election here and nearly got rolled for it.

The U.S. is having to reexamine its priorities in the wake of the Bush Administrations gross lack of regulatory governance and its mega expenditure undertaken to further its capitalistic worldwide hegemony.
Obama, of course, has not been the "instant" saviour that everyone(in their ignorance) assumed would magically convert things back "to the way they should be".
Under the U.S. system, it's not specifically the fault of left or right - just capitalism turning full circle on itself, leaving the home of unrestrained private enterprise to be out-performed by "communist"(Lol) China.
Interesting times...

Incredible isn’t it? Here we have a bloke who worked for, & with Rudd, in the worst government yet known in Oz, & he has the hide to denigrate Palin. Now she may not be the brightest spark in the fire, but she could run rings around the other three offered in that presidential election.

With the choice of a silly old fart, & a fool, they chose the fool, then he chose the idiot for Foreign Secretory. The states ended up with dumb, & dumber, just like Oz. They could only go on for so long, patting themselves on the back, for their maturity, before they actually saw their stupidity for what it was.

We had better start to learn from the US. They at least had the sense to correct their foolishness, as far as they could, as soon as possible. We on the other hand were silly enough to perpetuate our mistakes, or at least not correct them fully. You would have say sanity came closer in the US than it did here.

About the only skill you need to be a good president or PM is the ability to sort the good advice, from the bad, & then take that advice. Simple really.

However, when you get dills who think they are smart, & sure they know it all, they won’t even listen to, & evaluate, that advice. We sure seem to have had our fill of that type in power recently

It seems to be a foible of human nature, for people to commonly
blame eveyone but themselves, when things go wrong.

So it is in the US, where Obama is the convenient scapegoat,
for Americans having got it so wrong, by electing Bush/Cheney
twice.

Bush/Cheney effectively drove the US economy into a ditch and
digging it out, is going to take more then the magic wand which
some expected Obama to bring with him.

Americans also need to blame themselves, for spending far mor
then they earned for far too long. Eventually the crunch came,
as was to be expected.

But lets deny all that, we'll just blame the black guy.

Where were the tea party, when Bush was going off the rails?

pedestrian "Under their watch the biggest fraud the world has ever seen took place." rubbish, the war debts are trivial compared to the stupidity of regulating the US banking system to give out unsecured loans, by government order!

When did the GFC happen .. under Obama's watch.

Who pushed Fanny Mae and Freddy Mac into hosing money to people who could not afford it, with "no docs" loans, the Democrats.

Suck it up, you reap what you sow - it's actually really funny that Obama got in just in time for the effects of the GFC, banking crises, caused by the democrats during previous presidencies, to hit.

The wars cycle money into the community via the technical, engineering and manufacturing they create, the US always gets stronger with war. At the same time that drives innovation and development.

What came from the democrats trying to hose poor people into unaffordable housing with stupid loan structures? A GFC.

Obama wanted yet more public debt with his health system and a raft of other things the Americans clearly did not want or had changed their minds about.

Fools at the levers, and the tea Party was a reaction to it. They didn't need the Tea Party folks when the Bush's were in power, they stood for American values.

The mid-term elections were won because the inmates managed to escape from the institution and they went looking for the Bushes, the poor things. Tea bushes grow well in critical areas of the US...and see what you get.

It'll take some time to round up the inmates and get them back. The trouble is that the seekers are themselves as bad. The inmates mAy well take them in with them. Solidarity and all that.

LOL

socratease

The left will repeat their mistakes because they cannot see they lost the mid terms election for their policies, not for the Bushs, not for the wars not for any other reason than Obama did not live up to what he promised.

Blaming the voters is a sign that you don't get it.

If they re-elect Pelosi as leader of the Democrats next year, then we will know for sure, they don't get it.

"It's you, you idiot!", could easily be the catch cry of the mid terms elections .. so when the democrats do their analysis into why they lost do you think they'll blame themselves?

All the posters blaming Bush, I and II, blaming war, blaming blaming blaming, everything and everyone except the ones who did this to themselves, Obama and the dems

We see the same thing here, the voters have been fooled by the green, the coalition by whatever .. but the ALP just can't come to grips that it's them!

talk about hubris ..

rpg - feel free to transmit from your fairyland...You are most entertaining!

The reality is that the old U.S. of A is well and truly recumbent in the economic mire, having been dragged a good deal of the way there by Messrs Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld.
However, Americans, like most Westerners, can't get their heads around the proposition that there are no quick fixes to a sunken economy - especially if you continue to conduct "business as usual".
Certainly, a "down home firebrand" like Sarah Palin is capable of striking a chord with the people, but her shrill cries only serve to further drown out the reality while encouraging denial of the rot in the system.

*When did the GFC happen .. under Obama's watch*

Err not so Amicus. Lehman crashed in September, that is when the
global financial system started falling apart. Paulson was
already shoveling out money, to try and rescue things, to no avail.
GM and Chrysler were already receiving Govt payments.

By the time Obama came along in the following January, the US
economy and global economy were already well and truly in the ditch.

It was under Bush's watch that the SEC was turned into a toothless
tiger.
It was under Bush's watch that ratings agencies were labelling
everything as AAA, with impunity.
It was Bush/Cheney's ideology of no regulation required, that was
at the root of the problem.

Compare that to Australia, where we had learned from the HIH fiasco.
Costello installed a tough new regulator, the results are there
for all to see.

Fact is Obama is hardly left wing, in fact more right wing then
our own liberals.

On the global scene he has made a massive difference. The old
Bush sabre rattling did little but create alot of enemies for the
US. Obama understands the value of people skills, as did Clinton.
Bush was battling to walk and chew gum at the same time, he
was a dummie.

So Americans are paying a price, for getting it wrong. Fair enough.

When Clinton left the White House, the budget had a surplus. When
Bush left, the cupboards had been stripped bare.

Luckily Obama won, for a folksy dimwit like Palin would have the
US in another war, before we'd know it. Who knows, the may yet
happen. That trailer park trash are not always the brightest,
neither are the religious right.

yabby "When Clinton left the White House, the budget had a surplus. When Bush left, the cupboards had been stripped bare."

Clinton left office 2001, US Federal debt was $5,759 Billion

Bush left office 2008, US Federal debt was $10,413 Billion

Where's that surplus yabby?

What a dreamland the left lives in, still doing the hopey changy thing with Obama ..

poirot, entertaining, I find it hilarious that you all try to twist the facts and blame everyone but the culprits here Obama and the democrats.

they failed .. the US public has turned

next we'll see them vote in someone with clear vision, like Sarah Palin, because that's what they want - whether the left in Australia or the US does or not doesn't matter, because the US public wants it.

We'll all have big laugh won't we, when she wins (over all the left's spite and bitterness), because she more than Obama represents your average American.

Amicus, do you really believe Sarah Palin will be president? I have yet to see any credible commentator suggest that this is possible, regardless of the recent mid-term results. It seems that what is happening in the US is the usual polarization of the opposition (to the right in this case) combined with the usual disappointment with the new government. Same could be said for the Libs (Abbott) and Labs (Rudd).

Amicus...you're even more entertaining than rpg.

I agree that we'll have a laugh if Sarah Palin wins the U.S. presidency.
Just to think that the crowning glory of American capitalist hegemony (as it sinks slowly in the west) could be personified by a vacuous, moose-hunting, loudmouthed redneck from Alaska is really side-splitting stuff...but then again, as you point out, she's what America wants.

*Where's that surplus yabby? *

Amicus, you are confusing annual budgets, with federal debt.

In 2000, Clinton's last year, the US ran a surplus budget.
8 years later, Bush had increased debt by around 5 trillion.

* next we'll see them vote in someone with clear vision, like Sarah Palin *

Hehe Amicus, you can't be serious. A folksy fishwife, great to
run the local PTA, not so great in charge of all those weapons.

Even Karl Rove, the brains behind Bush's wins, admits that she
simply doesen't have what it takes to do the job.

In fact given her lack of judgement, she'd be downright dangerous.

Americans have paid an enormous price for electing Bush, the price
for electing Palin would be even greater.

As Bush shed office, hundreds of thousands of jobs a month were
being shed. That is the price Americans have paid.

I don't think mant people here understand that the real power to effect the economy in the US lies with the Congress and not the President.

Blaming Obama is just as wrong as blaming Bush.

The real responsibility for the state of the US economy lies with two organisations: The congress ie The Senate and the House of Reps and the Federal Reserve.

No President has much influence over either. eg Obama was hamstrung in his dealings with the DEMOCRAT controlled Congress. Even with the Super Majority in the Senate he couldn't get his health care enshrined and as a result a simple majority can alter it.

No president has much control over the Fed Res. It is owned by the big US banks and especially the big money families of the New York Banks and their New York Federal Reserve.

Most US commentators recognise the harm done to the US economy was and is mostly confined to Wall Street and the production of consumer goods and by excessive spending of Congress.

Congress dominated by the Democrats it is held, almost universally in the US, responsible for the initial impetus of the GFC. Check out Democrat leaders Barney Frank and Chris Dodd. They were, along with Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, the architects of the affordable housing schemes for Freedy Mac and Fanny May which led to the parcelling of the unrepayable loans. During Bush's presidency congress was mostly dominated by the Democrats. Check out how the Dem's spending got out of control, during this period.

The real US economy continues to dominate and rolls on in two main fronts: The manufacture of the means of production( Aeroplanes, heavy machinery, manufactuing machinery and tools) and the military.

Of course the worst of the unemployment is in areas that haven't adopted 21st century technologies.

The US voters at the mid terms did not dump Obama ... they overwhelmingly dumped those whose policy they see as being responsible for the US ills and it's current malaise. I reckon once again they got it right.

The truth, The whole truth and nothing but the truth, never let the truth get in the road of a good story. There are good storytellers aplenty on OLO, and most wouldn't know the truth if it stared them in the face. Anyone waiting for the child to be born who is the Christ has missed the boat. All are fallible, Left & Right for the one born King arrived 2000 years ago. When he comes back the party is over. Lala land may be the prefered position but not the safest. God set the boundary and we shift it at our own peril. If you get caught outside the fence remember God is good and the fence was for your benefit & protection not your imprisonment as all rebellious like to think. Grace and Truth came with Jesus " The Word of God ". The Law came with Moses the man of God.
None of us are capable of keeping the whole Law. It is impossible to earn grace, it is free so are you going to still try to earn your salvation or are you going to bury your head in the sand. That covers the Left and the Right for narrow is the way and few find it.

Amicus: The GFC actually started under Bush. He was the one who started the bank bailouts. To blame Obama for the GFC is beyond disingenuous.
Where were the Tea Party when Bush was presiding over tax cuts, spending increases and wars of unlimited spending? If "small government" is so vital, why support such a massive taxpayer funded military for pure economic/political reasons? Why support a global kidnapping organisation like the CIA with black budgets in the $Billions? Do you care that Bush's wars were based on known lies, with an ex-ally of the US that was back-stabbed when the alliance became a problem. (Can we trust such people?) Bush allowed Wall St bankers to consume more and more of a nations wealth whilst contributing nothing in wealth creation.
How can these same folk claim to be "Christian" when they are effectively supporting a bunch of kidnapping, drug dealing, arms dealing thugs? Do you guys *care* about the lies peddled by the Fox media?
Oh, and because Obama couldn't fix 10 years of reckless un-governance in 2 years he is the *cause* of the problems?!
The hypocrisy and |ignore|ance are stunning.
Without a fair media the "Two tribes" will just get further apart as the hype cycle continues. Hopefully this insanity will warn Australians not to follow along as we are currently doing...then again, Murdoch just got a board slot on channel 10. Sigh.

In the American south the combination of- folk religion , rock and roll , and snake oil has always been a popular entertainment , a better name for the tea party anthem might be: "The W. C. Walcotts medicine show".

Americans have a different attitude to both loan defaults and bankruptcy; Over there you just hand back the keys and walk away to a new start. I suspect that the proposition that they might have to spend 25 years paying of these failed loans might explain some of the anger.

The west has been in general decline ever since the first oil crisis.

The most lasting legacy of Bush jumior could be the resurrection of the 'Persian' empire.
Ever since Winston changed the British fleet from coal to oil, preventing Iran from dominating this place of vital national interest,was a corner stone of Anglo-american foreign policy.
Bush senior understood this reality, his son did not understand.

I am a liberal voting liberal conservative , being described as "left" is a new experience; "Pray sirs what planet do you come from"

The Tea Party was a creation of the FOX Network http://crooksandliars.com/john-amato/chuck-todd-admits-fox-news-created-and and is indeed underwritten by Big Coal and directly funded by a few Big Oil Billionaires such as the Koch brothers.

It is representative of a handful of disaffected white middle-class conservatives who refuse to acknowledge there has been a desire for change - not only in the US but also in Britain, Australia and some European countries - after the extremist policies of the last decade.

Unfortunately Obama has been blamed for everything that's happened since he was elected (but not actually in control) and the economic situation in the US is hurting everyone.
The public hysteria resulting from even the Health reforms is just an indication of how volatile their society is.

Lies are constantly presented as news -http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_upshot/20101105/el_yblog_upshot/citing-shady-numbers-republicans-take-aim-at-the-cost-of-obamas-trip-to-india

The Old Guard is fighting their way back the only way it knows how - by fostering social division and dissent.

Time will tell if the Tea Party will split the traditional Conservative vote.

One wonders which century or even millennia Richie 10 lives in to write such a comment. Perhaps the 12th century?

Ho Hum , I have absolutely no idea as to what Mr 10 is saying, do you?

Mr 10,

Is that you Kevin?

wobbles
'the old guard' are actually pretty new.