Two nights ago, Tea Party Express chair Amy Kremer developed the same sudden case of love for the federal government that Senator “Shut Down” Ted Cruz and host “Shut Down” Sean Hannity suddenly developed last night. Just in time to read the polls showing that Americans blame Republicans for the shut down and just in time to try to blame Senator Harry Reid instead. And host Greta Van Susteren did her part.
Van Susteren played a montage of quotes from Democrats saying that Republicans with ties to the Tea Party have been actively aiming for the shutdown (I’m sorry, slim down) for a long time, and that this was their successful attempt. Instead of providing any counter, Van Susteren described the Tea party as taking “the brunt of the blame,” and introduced Kremer. From the transcript (with a few corrections)”
VAN SUSTEREN: Amy, obviously, the—the—many on Capitol Hill are pointing at Senator Ted Cruz and Senator Mike Lee, and they’re using the term Tea Party because a many of their policies align with the Tea Party. Do you consider yourselves sort of an adjunct of them or—when you hear this criticism of the Tea Party, or are you in another category?
KREMER: No, I mean, it was the Tea Party movement that helped, you know, elect them. They—they’re definitely our conservatives. And we are all in this together.
You know, these attacks are coming at us. But Greta, it’s nothing that we’re not used to. It’s been going on for four years now, and we’re used to being called these names and everything blamed on the Tea Party movement.
But you know what? That’s what happens when they can’t have a discussion on the issues. It’s the personal attacks. You know, if ObamaCare is so good, then let’s have a discussion on the merits of ObamaCare. But they can’t do it! So what do they do? They resort to the attacks.
And we haven’t shut this government down. There’s no one that’s more responsible for shutting the government down than Harry Reid!
Well, it’s nice to know that Kremer wants a discussion rather than a shutdown and even nicer of Van Susteren not to question it. But maybe Van Susteren would like to take a step back - and not just because Tea Partiers like Marsha Blackburn are actually celebrating the shutdown as a victory for the small government agenda on Fox & Friends. Hey, wasn’t she on Greta’s show whining about how this was the fault of Dems like Reid shortly before the Shudown began? And she isn’t the only one… Washington Post has a lovely little collection of comments on the shutdown from the right, which include:
“We’re very excited; It’s exactly what we wanted, and we got it… People will be very grateful.” -Michele Bachmann (R-Minn)
“It’s wonderful,“ (clapping his hands) “We’re 100 percent united! Ulysses S. Grant said, ‘Quit worrying about what Bobby Lee’s doing and let’s focus on what we are doing,’? We are focusing on what we need to do and not worrying about what the other guy is going to do. .? That’s how Ulysses S. Grant won the war.” -Abney Culberson (R-TX)
“I just think you saw members who said, ‘Look, let’s just do what we all know needs to be done and frankly what the American people want to see done.” Jim Jordan (R- OH)
“This is a culmination of doing what we said we were going to do. “Mark Twain once said, do the right thing and it will gratify some people and astonish the rest, America’s been a little astonished by us doing the right thing in the last few days here in the House.” -Tim Heulskamp (R-Kan.)
Dave Johnson at Campaign for America’s Future has a similar article talking about the giddiness of the Tea Party Republicans, as well as excerpts from Tea Party leaders, strategists and bloggers hoping the Republicans continue to keep the government shut down. And if that isn’t enough, the Boston Globe has a wonderful read about how many Tea Party Republicans seem to actually be proud of what they’ve done, even going as far as to simultaneously justify themselves and deflect the blame. It’s complemented by an equally wonderful read from SF Gate about how much compromise seemed to mean to the Tea Partiers in office, pointing out that Democrats and moderate Republicans have bent over backwards for the Tea Partiers, but have been met with demands from House Republicans that either they get everything, or no one gets anything.
Also, there’s the small matter of how Wall Street blames the shutdown on the Tea Party Right, too. NASDAQ’s website has an article comparing the Tea party to Tech Disruptors. An excerpt near the end of the article:
The media talking points show that the Tea Party is more prepared for this battle, from a communications standpoint, than their opposition. The disrupters talking point in this debate is “fairness,” while the establishment is using the words “hijack” and “distraction.” The establishment is not prepared to fight a battle against this leaderless ideology, and uses words like “fringe groups” or “extremists” in an effort to marginalize them. However, the fact that the president is discussing the Tea Party’s role in shutting down the government refutes that assertion. Rather, these are serious competitors that are succeeding in disrupting the system, and forcing the entire political establishment to either swallow unpalatable changes or scrap the entire system.
It’s also reported that Wall Street CEOs are meeting with Obama to seek solutions because they see the Tea Party’s behavior as a threat to their system. Christian Science Monitor, Politico, and The Washington Post all have articles citing CEOs and strategists that claim the war on Obamacare is threatening to destabilize the market, and that the shutdown could accelerate the process. They also refer to the Tea Party as a fringe that won’t listen to anyone who deviates from their agenda and made more dangerous by a lack of leverage against them in terms of funding or endorsements. From the Politico article:
“The extreme radicals are going to get reelected because they come from districts where they don’t need to raise that much money,” said Greg Valliere, chief political strategist of the Potomac Research Group. “This new tea party movement is not particularly pro-business. They certainly are not pro-Wall Street and pro-big banks. That is a new strain in the Republican party that worries many on Wall Street.”
Yeah, I’m really going to blame Harry Reid for something that Tea Partiers are celebrating and insisting we’ll be grateful for. Especially when Reid’s reaction to the shut down happening was that it made him sick, though not as sick as the Republicans who are openly giddy about this happening. And guess what? I’m not alone. Most of America sees it this way, as all but conservative media outlets are saying the Tea Party deserves most (though not all) of the blame, and pointing out that their behavior suggests this is part of a larger plan for them.
But the supposedly liberal Greta Van Susteren let her Tea Party guest's dishonesty go unchallenged.