Perhaps if the protesters had been more careful about what they wore, or more precise in the language they used on their signs… (h/t N O’Brain)

From C-Span’s Washington Journal: Tea Parties are merely ineffective “ad hoc photo ops,” opines his waxy-faced rice paperedness — with all the confidence one expects from a Vanity Fair writer trying to fathom a culture in which Wal-Marts thrive and sidewalk fish markets are as distant a memory as Mr Wolcott’s once-discernable jaw line. Most telling bit: This can’t be a burgeoning movement because people simply weren’t angry enough! Sadly,

Or, when is a contrived mea culpa nothing more than a passive-aggresssive attempt to prove oneself correct and insightful in the long term? Well, there still isn’t much organization and little professionalism, but it turns out that I was the one lacking realism. I failed to grasp the excitement this idea generated and how it would animate the grass roots to actually get out of their chairs and do something

“reports” on the Tea Party in Montpelier yesterday, being a companion piece to happyfeet’s comment, here. This morning, after driving Aidan to school, I heard VPR’s mention of the Tea Party rally at the State Capitol.  Top billing was given to some approximately twenty people who were from S.O.S., Save Our State, who handed in fake tax returns suggesting that higher taxation would result in fewer essential state programs and

To get things started, check out pics and this report from Chicago. Oh. And have I mentioned what Rachel Maddow and Howard Dean think of all this? Roughly the same as some of our more “pragmatic” conservatives, as it turns out. Obligatory italicized “nuance” reminder to follow: Nuance. **** Zombyboy has a photo spread from the Denver tea party. Send along others and I’ll link them here. **** Journalism. Squared.

Well, what did you expect? Somebody has to pay back teacher’s unions, both for their political support and for their willingness to indoctrinate children in the ways of progressive thought, provided they continue to get theirs. And as choice tends really to fuck up even the bestest totalitarian plans, it — like dissent — needs to be carefully managed and controlled. For the greater good. From the Washington Examiner: With

Is “science” clearing the playing field for action to be taken? For the children…?

I see a few folks lingering at the periphery of the Capitol building on East Colfax, but only a handful are actually carrying signs — and of those, at least two are advertising something from Quizno’s called a “$4 Torpedo.” So it’s too soon to tell exactly what kind of turnout we’ll have here in the Mile High City. On the plus side, I have seen a number of people

Just so we’re clear here — and if it helps, you can consider this a public service announcement — “rightwing extremist” is denoted in the DHS report thusly: Rightwing extremism in the United States can be broadly divided into those groups, movements, and adherents that are primarily hate-oriented (based on hatred of particular religious, racial or ethnic groups), and those that are mainly antigovernment, rejecting federal authority in favor of