Time Magazine Foresees Tea Party Breaking Up Like the Beatles
Time magazine's failure to choose the Tea Party as its Person or Persons of the Year surely reflects a desire that they will cease to be significant any day now. David Von Drehle's "runner-up" article in its Person of the Year issue concluded the Tea Party has already peaked and is well on its way to collapse: "The Tea Party is a hot brand, but there's no one in power to enforce the trademark. Now that the bailouts are history and Democratic hegemony is broken, what does it stand for? It's a sign of the incredible velocity of politics these days that the colossus of 2010, a movement not even two years old, is already facing an identity crisis."
Von Drehle tried to compare the Tea Party to Beatlemania -- which is a goofy analogy, considering they were rock's hottest band for six years. But he was wishing and hoping for a breakup:
In a sense, identifying with the Tea Party movement was like catching Beatlemania in the 1960s. People were drawn in for different reasons — the beat, the haircuts, the lyrics — and great gulfs of taste divided the John fans from the Paul fans, the George fans from the Ringo fans.
Smashing success broke the Beatles apart. As 2010 closes, there is no bigger question in U.S. politics than whether the Tea Party will go the same way. The pressures on this already divided movement will be enormous. As long as the far-flung elements of the Tea Party were shoulder to shoulder against Obama, it was easy to keep them together. But now, the party that argued so effectively for smaller government is headed to Washington, where so many other waves have broken and receded. Having remade Congress and with a GOP presidential nomination up for grabs, the Tea Party is about to learn that rallying against its enemies is easier than choosing among its allies.
The most bizarre paragraph was this one:
Congress will have to decide whether to raise the federal debt ceiling. Increasing it would gall a lot of Tea Party voters, but the alternative would likely involve a government shutdown like the one that proved disastrous for Republicans in 1995. Will GOP leaders find a way to keep government going without alienating Tea Party factions? Can Tea Party deficit hawks avoid a collision with Tea Party tax cutters? Can the rock-ribbed Republicans who have joined the Tea Party movement keep peace with the pox-on-both-parties purists? Or will the most orthodox elements move in anger toward a third-party candidate? (How many times can Michael Bloomberg say no?)
How out of touch can Time magazine be? To think that the leader of New York City's nanny state could ever be a Tea Party darling?
The other very questionable concept is that a government shutdown in 1995 "proved disastrous for Republicans." Let's review the overall congressional election results in 1996: the Republicans lost eight seats in the House and picked up two seats in the Senate. How was that, then, "disastrous"? Yes, Bill Clinton was reelected in 1996, but would anyone want to place bets that Bob Dole was going to beat Clinton in 1996, if only Republicans had been more liberal?
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Comments
The Tea Party?
Submitted by Chris Norman on Mon, 12/27/2010 - 10:14am.
The Tea Party? "Beattlemania"? What an utterly inept and stupid comparison. This guy gets paid to write this gibberish? This just shows how completely disconnected from the rest of America these New York/Washington media types really are. They don't understand the average American and don't even try to.
It may fade for all the reasons given
Submitted by theduck6 on Mon, 12/27/2010 - 11:48am.
conservatives are not usually vocal or moved to march but all the hype regarding hte Tea Party's demise is surely wishful thinking.
the competition for liberal utopia
Submitted by mom_rox on Mon, 12/27/2010 - 12:47pm.
I guess Time was trying to outdo Newsweek's "We Are All Socialists Now".
Possibly
Submitted by 76United on Mon, 12/27/2010 - 10:24am.
Sarah Palin may be Yoko Ono
That could very well be the
Submitted by Bruzilla on Mon, 12/27/2010 - 10:56am.
That could very well be the case when she runs.
The Tea Party is not a
Submitted by MidAmerica on Mon, 12/27/2010 - 10:26am.
The Tea Party is not a party. It is a movement in reaction to how congress governs this country. The size, scope, and even the existance of the Tea Party movement is wholly dependant on the actions of congress.
Simply put the Tea Party is We the People demanding -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
Seroiusly? Could liberals
Submitted by johnsonl on Mon, 12/27/2010 - 10:31am.
Seroiusly? Could liberals have less of a sense of reality? Politics/Beatles? What children.
Nice comparison. Too bad
Submitted by ninerdog on Mon, 12/27/2010 - 10:32am.
Nice comparison. Too bad neither has anything to do with the other. I would say comparing the complexity of watering your lawn to the moon shot would be closer than this drivel.
Leftist Projectionism
Submitted by aryxmyth on Mon, 12/27/2010 - 10:33am.
The Left is always projecting it's own fears and desires upon it's perceived enemies. It's how we can always know what they are up to. If they say they think some conservative group or movement is in danger of breaking up, it is exactly what they fear. If the spout "suspected" corruption, you're sure to know there's something they wish to cover up.
Write about what you know, as they say...
your right aryxmyth
Submitted by dmaley1714 on Mon, 12/27/2010 - 1:11pm.
the far left is furious with Pr Obama a breaking Democratic party is coming soon, but as usual
the press projects their dilema on the Republicans, how many stories have you seen about the
moveon portion of the Dems causing trouble?
The liberal / socialist
Submitted by Barack_must_go..... on Mon, 12/27/2010 - 10:34am.
The liberal / socialist bowell movement in this country is scared to death of the Tea Party folks so they pontificate through chattering teeth of it's demise.
Although these various independent grass root groups throughout the country were all lumped under the label of " Tea Party ", this label is in actuality a metaphor for " REAL AMERICAN " people.
The name will most likely fade as the true American patriots are absorbed back into the Republican party, from which they came.
The conservative values of limited government, free enterprise, family and God have only become stronger and more important throughout this land because of this truely American phenomenon.
You need look no further than the Republican parties sweep of State Houses and Legislatures in the mid term elections to know ObamaCare/ Socialism is dead and America will live on for another 230 years as the greatest society to ever inhabit the earth..........no matter what that Ass Clown in our White House spews to the contrary.
Barack_Must_Go.....
Time's Insightful Predictions for 2011
Submitted by Hunter12 on Mon, 12/27/2010 - 11:00am.
The Tea Party breaks up.
Brad and Jen get back together.
Unemployment rises "unexpectedly".
I'm pretty sure the third one is the only one that will come to pass.
"An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last." - Sir Winston Churchill
Victory
Submitted by libBuster on Mon, 12/27/2010 - 11:07am.
The Tea Party will break up when they win. Is time predicting victory?.
Time and the other MSM
Submitted by celator on Mon, 12/27/2010 - 12:02pm.
Time and the other MSM racketeers refuse to acknowledge the true nature of the Tea Party--an asymetric citizens-wide movement that is picking up more steam every day. It's not a party. There is no real "boss". We use the US Constitution as a guidebook. And we ain't taking the crap out of Washington anymore. It's no more complicated than that,
I foresee
Submitted by Model850 on Mon, 12/27/2010 - 12:43pm.
I foresee the worthless and irrelevant Time magazine breaking up and sold for parts in 2011.
The sale should net about $0.79.
Time?
Submitted by iveseenitall on Mon, 12/27/2010 - 12:56pm.
Time Magazine? What's that? The average American isn't reading Time Magazine. And , as already written here , the "Tea Party" is not a political party at all--it's average Americans who are sick and tired of the prattle of the "elites" in politics and the media. They are sick and tired of being ripped off --intellectually, morally, and financially. They are tired of seeing America being dragged to the bottom by bottom-dwellers of all stripes. And they are the majority of Americans. The "Tea Party", rather than breaking up, is on the rise and, as demonstrated by this Time Magazine ( what's that?) article,--- the "elites" are scared S#%@less.
NEVER,NEVER trust a "liberal" (progressive)
Office Trash
Submitted by Utherpend on Mon, 12/27/2010 - 3:46pm.
I think Doctors offices and Dentists are all that is keeping TIME from becoming a bad memory.
David Von Drehle
Submitted by okiehawk44 on Mon, 12/27/2010 - 1:40pm.
And others on the left had better hope that the Tea Party movement doesn't collapse because it is the pressure relief valve on a country chock full of people who have had it with a lifetime of liberal BS.
I'm confused. Is he saying
Submitted by ant on Mon, 12/27/2010 - 1:51pm.
I'm confused. Is he saying Beatles fans were racist Nazis or Bloomberg is the eggman?
Difference between '95 and '11
Submitted by gopcongress on Mon, 12/27/2010 - 2:35pm.
The difference between '95 and '11 with regard to a potential GOP meltdown is that back in '95, the GOP was elected in response to a radical takeover by the Clintons. The GOP made the assumption that the mainstream media would "come over" to their side and report their victory and the governing power with the same respect that they accorded the Democrats.
But the press was relentless it its demonization of Congress. Instead of reporting the actions of the GOP in a fair and balanced manner, they used their influence to demonize Newt Gingrich at every opportunity.
So when Clinton and the Democrats shut down the economy, they were able to shift this blame onto the GOP, allowing the media to trumpet how the GOP was the culprit, and this perception took hold on the country. Clinton, of course by this time had moved toward the center with many of his governing actions, diffusing any GOP movement, so by the time the next presidential rolled around the GOP could only put out a McCain-type war hero RINO, Bob Dole, on the ticket. Great guy personally, but lousy presidential material for a GOP candidate.
This time around, the mainstream media has FAR less influence, as the Internet and other new media sources are providing real-time analysis of governing that cannot be filtered out by conventional editorial bias. The Tea party candidates know this to a "T(ea)". This will be key in determining the direction of the country, and the actual influence of why the party (more specifically, a movement) even had to exist in the first place. In addition, Barack Obama shows NO inclinination to move to the center, and will most likely be a mouthpiece propped up at every opportunity by media who, day by day, have less influence over society.
"The news and truth are not the same thing." -Walter Lippmann (1889-1974) FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER
The really funny thing about
Submitted by Free Stinker on Mon, 12/27/2010 - 2:37pm.
The really funny thing about this is, Time just compared The Tea Party Movement to one of the all time great music groups. I guess this means The Tea Party is one of the all time great political movements?
And I just bet Time doesn't even realize they admited as much . . .
/// Sarah Palin Fan since July 11, 2007 /// خال
Oh Brother
Submitted by DaMama on Mon, 12/27/2010 - 4:33pm.
What an incredibly stupid analogy. It makes no sense.
The Tea Party is just getting started. Leftist liberals are shaking in their boots after Nov. 2, 2010. They know that the American People have spoken, and they are tired of the idiotic policies of the liberal Congress and Barak Obama.
I may not agree with all that the Tea Party stands for, but I will support them before I support any brainless liberal.
DaMama....TEA Party....
Submitted by ww thumper on Mon, 12/27/2010 - 6:50pm.
Yes...the TEA party is JUST GETTING STARTED...It is GROWING Every Day! It ain't going away anytime soon , or later for that matter.. ;>} The LIB Fools are afraid...yes Libs ; U be very araid... We The People are raising up in Anger , and will return America back to a FREE nation.
I hope the new House and Senate will have the Brains and other Bs to IMPEACH this COMMIE in the White House and his Stooopid VP too. AND clean out all the Commie Tzars, and others he has hired. We need to start writing LETTERS and making DEMANDS on those who "Represent " us . I hope the new Congress will start Representing us; if not we must vote them out too , and find good people who will. May GOD Bless America this New Year. :-) WW
MY PASTOR SAYS "GOD BLESS AMERICA"!!!I ASK " GOD SAVE AMERICA, AND RESTORE OUR AMERICAN HONOR!"
Does that mean Reagan was the
Submitted by Newsbusterbrown on Mon, 12/27/2010 - 7:25pm.
Does that mean Reagan was the Elvis of the modern conservative movement?
“There are no easy answers, but there are simple answers. We must have the courage to do what we know is morally right.” - Ronald Reagan (1964 Republican Convention)