Taliban or Tea Party?

[PiKA2001]

Originally Posted by AOII Angel

They are all comedians. Comedians make asshat comments all the time. Are we shocked? No. Actually, I was a little shocked by Wayne Brady bc it's not his usual topic. Again, other than Bill Maher, comics aren't defining political commentary. They are making a buck making people laugh. Wayne Brady obviously didn't get away with it. Trying to pretend there is some liberal conspiracy to trash Trig Palin is ridiculous.

Actually many comics regularly discuss politics in their routines and on interviews. Dennis Miller, Stephan Colbert, Jon Stewart, George Carlin, Lewis Black and Janeane Garofalo instantly come to mind and believe it or not, a lot of them are quite influential within certain demographics.

And I'm not pretending there is a liberal conspiracy to trash Trig Palin. I just mentioned instances where liberal leaning people have actually trashed him. No conspiracy theories needed there.

[AOII Angel]

Originally Posted by PiKA2001

Actually many comics regularly discuss politics in their routines and on interviews. Dennis Miller, Stephan Colbert, Jon Stewart, George Carlin, Lewis Black and Janeane Garofalo instantly come to mind and believe it or not, a lot of them are quite influential within certain demographics.

And I'm not pretending there is a liberal conspiracy to trash Trig Palin. I just mentioned instances where liberal leaning people have actually trashed him. No conspiracy theories needed there.

The ones you mentioned before don't. Notice I gave you Bill Maher because I recognized that some do, but rarely do these people actually effect policy. They also, with the exception of Miller, Colbert and Stewart, don't have daily platforms to spout their ideas.

BTW, I love Bill Maher. I don't agree with him on everything, but it never fails that I'll be bitching about something, and I flip on his show and it's on his monologue. He's very inciteful and not afraid to say something even when it's not popular. He's been "anti-war on drugs" since the 80s, before it was cool. He's a misogynist, but I'm not going to marry him.

[AGDee]

Extremists of any kind are scary. I agree that there are differences between the Tea Party and the Occupy movement. The Tea Party has candidates as part of the Republican party. Occupy does not support either major party. In fact, they pretty much feel like the whole government, as is, is corrupted by corporate interests. You may see some people who support Occupy on the Green party ticket. A lot of them really like Ron Paul, who is so much more Libertarian than Republican.

I do love The Newsroom. I'm watching the finale right now because I couldn't see it Sunday. LOVE this show

[TonyB06]

For some reason, it's not an apples to apples comparison. As someone said upthread, left wing extremists haven't dominated the Democratic Party as Tea Partyiers have come to take over the "directional arc" of the Republican Party.

It's axiomatic in politics that the hard-core; those that make the calls, knock on doors, give early, stuff envelope, have first and early say on the slate of candidates. It's always been that way.

Honestly, I think Mitt Romney, and probably to a lesser extent McCain in the previous cycle, are held a bit "hostage" to the Tea Party/Republican base. Looking at his Massachuttes (sp, I know) record, I have no doubt he's a moderate. But he's beholden to this current party's dominant group think(his Ryan selection was another sop to them).

Were he a "freer" candidate, allowed to run closer to his own (historic?) views, I think he'd be a more formidable candidate among the sliver of independents who may tip this election. (of course, he wouldn't have the Rep base, so there is that.)

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by TonyB06

Honestly, I think Mitt Romney, and probably to a lesser extent McCain in the previous cycle, are held a bit "hostage" to the Tea Party/Republican base.

I agree.