It seems, when you need to feel big and popular, school kids aren't the only ones who turn to picking on gays.
Carl Paladino's ratings have been falling. The uber-right wing candidate for New York governor started strong with a terrifying six point gap between him and Cuomo, but now has slipped to just over 30% support. Yesterday, in a classy reach for higher ratings, Paladino called homosexuals dysfunctional and chastised Cuomo for marching in the gay pride parade.
The scary thing is, Paladino's move might work.
Just like popular blogger Pamela Geller, the Tea Party makes its mark by finding an underdog and attacking them mercilessly. They employ the same tactics as the school children responsible for the deaths of Tyler Clementi, Seth Walsh and the countless other kids tormented for their perceived sexuality. When we are young, this kind of bullying, picking on the weak, earns popularity. Turns out, it earns the same when we grow up.
The Tea Party refrain, "Take Back America" has been widely associated with an anti-immigration sentiment, homophobia and racism. Its popularity, however, is only growing. With the recent upsets in a number of Republican primaries, the bullying tactics of the Tea Party are garnering increased attention from both established American political parties and independent voters looking for a place to land.
The natural draw we feel towards the powerful, the bully, the one who chooses the scapegoat and acts against them, is an instinct cultivated when young. Because John Doe -- tea party protestor -- heard the unpopular kid in his class called a fa**ot right before he was beat up on his way home from school, he hurls the same slur at Barney Frank in his anger over illegal immigration and taxation for social programs. It is not surprising that Mr. Doe also feels more comfortable with and more supportive of a candidate who turns on gays in the lead up to a heated gubernatorial election battle.
The similarities between Paladino's political posturing and school yard bullying cannot be ignored.
Valerie Jarrett recently addressed a crowd of HRC supporters and emphasized the White House's commitment to ending homophobic bullying in America's schools. Still, many schools have an outright ban on discussions about bullying aimed at gay kids in particular. If we are going to change the direction of American politics, we need to start by teaching the younger generation a new way of interacting -- one not predicated on social hierarchy and power plays. We need to address the prevalence of homophobia in our schools. We need to undermine the bully where he or she is born.
Paladino will likely remain a bully for the rest of his life. The Tea Party will continue to recruit bullies and those attracted to that kind of power play.
Obama can break from this trend. He can act decisively to end bullying in schools by empowering teachers across the country to talk openly about homophobia and LGBT issues. Preventing the loss of more American children to suicide certainly depends on this. Interestingly, the survival of Obama's own brand of politics might depend on this, too.
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The recently exposed Tea Party links to the English Defence League (EDL )confirms the bully/psychopath outlook of the movement.The EDL attracts football thugs and (not mutually exclusive) a number of British National Party Nazis and Combat 18 self styled paramilitary Nazis.
Hard questions must be put to the Tea Party in regard to their willingness to form an anti-Muslim alliance with a group whose activities and personnel would be judged as "vile"by most Americans.
That’s fine. Bullies, like racists, exist in every large organization. It doesn’t mean they define the group. I mean, are all Dems as unethical as Charlie Rangel or Maxine Waters? Are all Czars as outwardly anti-capitalist as Ron Bloom? As deviously manipulative as Cass Sunstien? Are all DOJ members as ignorant of voter intimidation law as Eric Holder?
Of course not. But when you’re a floundering administration on the brink of losing the precise legislative majorities that “caused” the floundering, you gotta get out that grease paint and start smearing.
Hence, every Republican candidate is a bully, a witch, and an employer of illegals (heck, I always thought that last one was a “plus” to you lefties). An odd election strategy, to be sure. But when you’re not proud of anything you’ve done, and the citizenry despises you, what else is left?
So, how do they deal with it? They scream the loudest and angriest in hopes of shutting up the other side so a debate never exists
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You have to go a long way into the weeds to get your conclusion that they are bullies.
You even have to admit that your premise makes no sense. Instead of starting by believing that people are stupid and acting against their own interests and the interests of their own country, maybe you should rethink your premise.
You really have no clue about what the people in the Tea Party think, and at the same time you believe things about government that aren't accurate. Man liberals are screwed up.
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The entire purpose of your posts appears to be getting in "liberals are stupid" "liberals are screwed up"
Yes we know that. As to the contention that the TP are bullies, what does it mean when you have a town hall meeting and some people shout down other people, scream and yell while other people are trying to speak their piece? When one women tells the story of her daughter in law dying, others heckled her, ridiculed her and insulted her. http://thinkprogress.org/2009/11/23/tea-heckle-woman/
This is bullying. Of course a certain segment of our society has always reserved the right to screech at, intimidate and ride roughshod over those they dont agree with.
Too many people just don't think for themselves anymore.
And why are the Tea Party candidates bullies? Because every one of the policies they espouse are intended to kick the people who are already down: low-income seniors, the unemployed, minimum wage workers, damaged veterans, pregnant women, people with long-term illnesses, children born into poverty, children born with disabilities, and teens struggling to grow up, get an education, sort out their sexuality and enter the workforce, all at the same time.
Where do I even begin? It's been associated with anti-ILLEGAL immigration. There is no evidence for homophobia or racism except in patently false accusations from the left.
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They started by calling the Tea Party racists. When that failed due to the lack of real evidence, the switched to saying the Tea Party was promoting violence.
The Tea Party wasn't violent, so they went on to say it didn't represent America, It was a small number of white, uneducated old people. When it grew to millions of people from all walks of life, they were left with nothing.
So now, the liberals are saying, "The Tea Party Are Just Bullies."
How childish are the liberals. There is no attempt to address the concern over the size of government or the outrages spending, just silly name calling.
Let's review: The right wing hates the deficit but it has managed to mobilize lower-to-middle class white Americans to lobby on behalf of continuing cutrate taxes for the very wealthy. Total incongruence. The Tea Party advocates "spending cuts" but rarely enumerates them. So what are they advocating? Read between the lines - they want to cut the very Social Security, Medicare, unemployment benefits, disability benefits and VA benefits that so very very many teabaggers depend on.
So WHY are the teabaggers helping the corporations and the ultra rich to screw themselves over? What motivates them? There is no logical, rational explanation for it. From my direct observation, it seems to me that these people, many of them losing out in this economy, see the Teabag movement as a way to feel powerful and dominant and "better" than those loser welfare recipients they have imagined are ruining our economy. I don't know how else you would describe a bully. The shoe fits.
You even have to admit that your premise makes no sense. Instead of starting by believing that people are stupid and acting against their own interests and the interests of their own country, maybe you should rethink your premise.
You really have no clue about what the people in the Tea Party think, and at the same time you believe things about government that aren't accurate. Man liberals are screwed up.
How corporate interests and Republican insiders built the Tea Party
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/17390/210904
"In the Tea Party narrative, victory at the polls means a new American revolution, one that will "take our country back" from everyone they disapprove of. But what they don't realize is, there's a catch: This is America, and we have an entrenched oligarchical system in place that insulates us all from any meaningful political change. The Tea Party today is being pitched in the media as this great threat to the GOP; in reality, the Tea Party is the GOP. What few elements of the movement aren't yet under the control of the Republican Party soon will be, and even if a few genuine Tea Party candidates sneak through, it's only a matter of time before the uprising as a whole gets castrated, just like every grass-roots movement does in this country."