Tea Party Fail Again

Well, today is the big day!  The great national Teabag March on the IRS in Washington!  A march which is going to change everything!

"Tea Party Set for Mass “Audit the IRS” Rally in DC – A massive and unprecedented “Audit the IRS” Tea Party rally is set to take place in Washington, DC on June 19 at noon.

Organized by local and national Tea Party groups and patriots nationwide, thousands, if not millions, are set to converge on our nation’s capital in a display of unity, protesting the IRS’ targeting of the Tea Party and conservative groups."

Thousands, if not MILLIONS!

A march with a stellar constellation of right wing stars that must certainly attract a massive group of angry American patriots!  Here's a description (in advance) from the Washington Times:

"Party like it’s 2009? Fourteen Republican lawmakers, media mavens and liberty-minded activists will crowd onto the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol Wednesday, ready to rumble as they did four years ago when the tea party first crackled to life.

The bodacious group will assemble for the “Audit the IRS” rally organized by the Tea Party Patriots, which is intent on reminding the nation that the federal agency paid excruciatingly close attention to conservative groups in recent years. Yes, C-SPAN will be there, with coverage from noon to 3 p.m.

Among the lawmakers who will have their say: Sens. Ted Cruz, Mike Lee, Rand Paul and Michele Bachmann, plus Reps. Jim Bridenstine, Dave Camp, John Fleming, Louie Gohmert, Tom Graves, Tim Huelskamp, Mike Kelly, Steve King, Tom Price and Matt Salmon.

Also at the podium: Glenn Beck, filmmaker Stephen Bannon and Sonnie Johnson of Breitbart News, radio hostDana Loesch, “Gateway Pundit” Jim Hoft and constitutional lawyer Jordan Sekulow, among many other speakers."

Man, did they leave any wingnut wackos out?  So, how did they do?  Can we do anything better than turn to that paragon of Conservative Honesty and Far Reporting, Jim Hoft?

The American Patriots are Defending Our Freedom!  Well, sort of.  Here's an aerial photo of the demonstration:

A massive crowd!  Let me first point out that, in a country that has seen several liberal protests in Washington in recent years that attracted hundreds of thousands of participants, even Jim Hoft's claimed attendance of 10,000 would be a miserable failure.  But there are not 10,000 people here; by my count there are somewhat less than a thousand.  This is not even a failure- it is a grotesque humiliation.

I have reported on these events over and over again, all with the same purpose- to document the virtual nonexistence of this movement, which has been hailed by the mainstream press over and over again as a major force in American political life.  It is a total sham.

Well, as I have been writing this post, this pathetic event came to an end, and with it the CSPAN wall-to-wall coverage of it.  If you think the above photo is pathetic, take a look at this crowd shot of the people left at the end of the protest:

As I said, this is beyond pitiful.  This represents the supposedly massive movement which has taken total control of the Republican party and which is given the right to speak for the American people.  Even the presence of their biggest stars can't produce a turnout bigger than this, and yet Democrats quiver in fear at them.

It is long past the time that our leaders make it clear that these Conservative stars and their followers speak for no one except the most deluded and ignorant fringe in the country (and for the Koch brothers, of course, who finance these pathetic displays.)  It is time for Democratic politicians make it clear that they are going to do what is right for the country, regardless of how loud these people shriek their bigoted, self-serving demands.

Fat chance, huh?

Oh, and when, exactly, is someone on Wall Street going to be held responsible for their rigged game that destroyed the economy?

Update:  I just caught Chris Matthews' coverage of this event on his show today.  He allowed several of the jackasses who spoke there to appear on TV spreading their errant nonsense.  What he never once saw fit to do was show the essentially nonexistent crowd.  Thus, even the allegedly liberal end of the mainstream press collaborates in pretending that this miserable handful of people deserve an equal voice with the tens of millions of Americans who continue to suffer due to the greed of the rich and the stupidity of a small number who have fallen for the rich people's lies.

Update:  I have now seen a ground level picture of this demonstration that seems to show a slightly larger crowd than the aerial photo above- perhaps 1200 or 1600.  It's hard to tell from that angle.  This still represents a miserable showing and doesn't affect my comments in any way, but just for accuracy, I wanted to add this comment.



Thanks to John in Oregon for motivating me to get this post out.