Yes. The Coffee Party is now bigger than The Tea Party. Well, at least it is on Facebook where the Coffee Party Movement currently has 109,606 fans while the Tea Party Patriots have 108,658 fans. Considering the Tea Party Patriots page has been up for almost a year longer, that seems quite meaningful.
What it means is that there’s a huge backlash in this country against the negativity and lies coming out of the corporate sponsored Tea Party and the absurd idea that those on the far right wing of the political spectrum speak for average Americans. Nothing could be further from the truth.
President Obama won the election by nearly 10 million votes in 2008 and, for the most part, if some of those who voted for him are upset with him it’s not because he’s a “too liberal” or a “socialist” it’s actually more likely to be because they feel he hasn’t done enough, that he’s done too much to compromise with the Republican party who drove this country into the ditch it’s in in the first place! He’s made the mistake of making “bipartisanship”*** his number one priority, when it really should have been fixing what’s wrong with the government whether those that broke it want to help him fix it or not.
If you want to join this growing movement of intelligent informed American citizens who are tired of the politics of fear and lies then you should “Become a Fan” and make plans to attend one of the many Coffee Party gatherings scheduled all around the country for this Saturday (that’s March 13th.)
*** It’s important to note that “bipartisanship” is an impossible goal with the modern Republican party as they are not willing to work together with the Democratic party to govern the country. These people play politics 24/7. Not once do they stop playing political games to actually think about what’s best for the future of the country. It’s truly despicable, and the sooner President Obama comes to grips with that reality, the better off we will all be. The Republican party is the problem. And unless they change in a big way, they are not part of the solution.
I hope the American people are not so stupid as to actually reward their disgusting behavior by giving them control of the House this November. That would be a huge step backwards.
According to the latest Gallup poll released today 52% of Americans approve of President Obama’s job as President while 41% disapprove.
If you compare these numbers to the 2008 election results (Obama won 53% of the vote while John McCain won 46%) it’s clear Obama has not lost support as President. The same majority of Americans that elected him as President support him for the job he is doing trying to move the country forward (despite the best efforts of the obstructionist Republican party to stop that progress.)
When corporate funded movements such as the “Tea Party Patriots” try to make the claim that many Americans regret voting for Obama, that is simply not true. In fact, I think most feel very pleased with their vote when considering the very frightening alternative of Sarah Palin being one cranky old man’s heartbeat away from the Presidency.
That is not to say that everyone who voted for Obama is pleased with the way things are going, that is definitely not the case. But that displeasure stems more from the continued corporate influence on politics than anything about President Obama’s job performance.
Obama won the election by about 9.5 million votes yet the obstructionist Republicans have stood in the way of everything he’s trying to do from day one of his Presidency.
But not all of the blame goes on the Republicans for placing politics above the future of the country. The blame also goes to Democrats for not standing up for what their constituents want. For example the Democrats have been reluctant to move forward with a Public Option for health care despite the fact that it has overwhelming support among Democratic voters (and indeed with the country as a whole.) This calls into question who they are working for. Is it for us? Or is it for corporate interests?
That being said, this is not a time for people who support the country moving forward to give up. It’s a time for them to wake up and stand up and that’s what the new Coffee Party Movement is all about.
For the past year the “Tea Party Patriots” have sucked all of the energy out of the room. They have done everything they can to spread lies and hate. They have been essential in the health insurance industry’s successful (so far) attempts to block health care reform. And the media has treated them with kid gloves and acted as if they represent a much greater portion of the US than they actually do.
Now there’s an alternative to the “back to 1776″ crowd. There’s The Coffee Party Movement which is focused on civil, reasoned, & informed debate rather than absurd name calling and misinformation. This is a movement which represents the “silent majority” of Americans who recoil in disgust at the “Tea Party Patriots” and how they are trying to derail our democracy.
There’s a new grassroots movement brewing: The Coffee Party. This movement is an adult alternative to the childish tea parties ( “tea parties are for little girls with imaginary friends.” )
How the Coffee Party differs from the Tea Party:
+ Solution oriented, not blame oriented.
+ A true grassroots movement rather than an “astroturf” movement created to further the goals of huge corporations.
+ Seeks a political discourse based on facts, reason, & cooperation rather than on fear, ignorance, & political games.
+ Unlike the Tea Party, the Coffee Party is made up of a diverse group of people.
Go to MoveOn.org to get contact information for your Senators so that you can ask them to support the public option through reconciliation.
We live in a democracy and that means we should only need 51 votes out of 101 (Vice President Joe Biden is the tie breaking vote) in order to pass legislation. The Republicans have abused the filibuster to the point where the Democrats must go around it in order to make the will of the people (the public option has overwhelming public support) a reality.
The Democrats have already given up a huge amount to the Republicans in order to try and get them on board but no Republican votes are forth coming. This shows that the Republicans have no interest in health care reform and will never support it no matter what. They are the “party of no.” They will say no to reform no matter what. So there’s no point in trying to work with them any longer. They only play politics. They don’t care about our country.
Blue Cross recently increased premiums by 39% in California despite the fact that Blue Cross made $4.7 billion in profit last year. If that doesn’t make it obvious why we need health care reform then I guess you have a lot of money that you’d like to give to the health insurance industry have.
We must have a public option or the health insurance industry will have no true competition and they will continue to raise rates until only the very rich can afford health care.
Plus, it’s important to know that health insurance companies often turn down coverage to those who need it most. Their goal is not your health, but their profits. Even if you think you have good health insurance, you may find out when you need it most that your health insurance company has found some loophole so they don’t have to pay for your health care.
We need a public option.
Join the Virtual March on Washington on February 24th. We must tell our congressmen and our Senators that we support health care reform 100%! We must also tell them that we will not accept health care reform without a public option.
It’s sad to see so many people buying into the lies of the Republican party (and at this point it’s become clear to anyone following what’s going on that everything the Republicans say is a lie - they only care about hurting Obama politically, not about helping the country.)
But within that sadness there is hope. The young people of America are not buying it. Their grandparents may be buying it, but they aren’t. The Republican party now appeals only to old ignorant white people. That’s it. That’s their entire demographic. Certainly there are a lot of old ignorant white people but the good thing is, they make up a smaller percentage of the population every single day.
It’s the 87% from 18 to 29 that gives me the most hope (especially in comparison to the 39% of the 60+ age group.)
On the other hand I find the 30-44 and the 45-59 results very confusing (and I went back to previous weeks of this poll and this pattern is clear week after week.) I’m actually in the 30-44 demographic myself and I’m a bit embarrassed of my age group. I’m assuming it’s mostly folks in the older half of this age group who have fond memories of Ronald Reagan?
Why it be that people born from 1966 through 1980 would have such a lower opinion of the President than those born from 1951 through 1965? I really don’t know what would explain it. I would love to hear some opinions on this in the comments.
But my point is; the young people get it. Those that have grown up with the internet. Those that can look up the lies of the Republicans and see for themselves what the truth is. They are not getting fooled. And I see great hope in that. Our country will move past the idiocy of the tea baggers and the lies of Sarah Palin, Mitch McConnell, and the rest of the GOP liars. It will be a struggle but we will make progress eventually!
If you haven’t seen this yet, you need to. It’s President Obama’s question and answer session with the Republican obstructionists in congress at a GOP retreat:
Obama refuted every single Republican talking point with reason & facts. All of the Republican talking points are either outright lies or distortions of fact.
This becomes obvious when their talking points can be answered like they are in this Q&A rather than spouted out without response like on the right wing echo chamber that is the teabagger network (Fox “News.”)
Republicans are not interested in helping this country, they are only interested in campaigning. They vote “no” on everything no matter what it is (including “Pay As You Go” - so much for being “fiscal conservatives”) not because they are against the policies but because it fits into their political strategy.
Also, anyone who bought into that “Obama needs a teleprompter” meme has been proven to be a complete idiot by this impressive performance by the President.
President Obama gave an amazing speech tonight in which he called on politicians in both parties in both the House & the Senate to get past playing political games and to actually work towards the good of the country for a change. Watching this speech tonight was like watching an adult speaking to a room full of children.
Here’s hoping that at least a few Republican Senators will take the hint and will actually start do what’s right instead of just doing whatever they need to do to get reelected. As Obama said, it’s time for the “perpetual campaigning” to stop.
And to any confused person who actually thinks the Republicans are on the side of the people (and not on the side of big business) watch the members of the GOP sit on their hands as President Obama talks about getting all of the bailout money back from the banks:
And it’s very important to remember that the “solutions” that the Republican party are offering in 2010 are nothing new. In fact, they’re exactly the course we took for eight years during the Bush administration. Those “solutions” are what got us into this mess in the first place. And if McCain/Palin had won instead of Obama/Biden we’d have 13% or 14% unemployment instead of 10%.
Yes, things are bad. But they’re bad because of the enormity of the mess left by eight years of Republican policies, not because President Obama hasn’t tried to do everything he can to make things better.
And things could be better already if Republicans and “conservative Democrats” weren’t standing in the way of progress now. The time of “just say no” needs to come to an end. It’s time to do what’s right.
With not much to say about the 2012 presidential campaign in January of 2010 (Obama’s approval rating is at a decent 50% as of the most recent Gallup polling and he leads all potential Republican opponents in polls) it seems like a reasonable time to take a look back at the 2008 presidential campaign which is quickly receding into history with President Obama nearing the one year mark in office.
What follows are some books about the 2008 campaign that you may want to check out, both as a reminder for all of the twists & turns of that epic campaign and to get the “inside scoop” of what was really going on inside the campaigns (the stuff that wasn’t on TV or in the papers or even on the internet.)
I believe all of the books below are available on the Kindle.
David Plouffe - The Audacity to Win
Plouffe was the mastermind behind the Obama campaign’s winning approach so this is a true “inside account” of the ‘08 presidential election.
Richard Wolffe - Renegade: The Making of a President
John Heilemann & Mark Halperin - Game Change
This is the most recent book out on the campaign (it came out last week.) I’m somewhat suspicious of this book as it’s sources aren’t sourced. This book was the cause of the faux “controversy” surrounding Harry Reid’s comment about Barack Obama. It’s also where we learn more about the true idiocy of Sarah Palin (she thought that Iraq was behind the attacks on 9/11.)
Haynes Johnson and Dan Balz - The Battle For America: 2008
Chuck Todd & Sheldon Gawiser - How Barack Obama Won
