Who Owns Anger

[Irving]

I am not well spoken enough to respond to this article. Maybe some of you are.

http://www.mattersofprinciple.com/?p=440

[BigBear]

I am not well spoken enough to respond to this article. Maybe some of your are.

http://www.mattersofprinciple.com/?p=440

uh huh... I see it....

[Irving]

Thanks for catching my typo.

[ronaldrwl]

My anger is directed at politicians that are disregarding the Constitution so they can make changes they believe in. My feeling is the Constitution preceded us by many generations and gave us the freedom we enjoy. We're allowing in our generation, on our watch to let it to be diminished for all the generations that follow us. That article takes a straw man argument and then points out why it's not valid. A common tactic.

[jason303]

I disagree with the premise of your post. The passage doesn't merit a response. I can't state reasons for my anger before Mr. Hart's incorrect assertions are corrected.

Mr Hart, the "Tea-partiers" also include democrats. When you describe the makeup of the group as fringe elements on the conservative side, it's a weak attempt marginalize what in fact is a mainstream point of view. Furthermore, your attempts to characterize the whole group by the behavior of a very few, or with complete fabrications by elements of the radical left betray your stated intention of communication through understanding. Your implications of racism and sexism expose you behind your thin disguise of reason and curiosity. As for your closing statement, I hope the members of the Tea Party are concerned with more important issues such as derailing the intentions of the leftist progressive elements that have hijacked the democrat party and seem to be steering the government for the moment.

[Irving]

I hope you sent that to him, because he deserves to hear it.

[jason303]

Copied and pasted paragraph 2 to his blog. Let's see if it passes the moderator.

[sniper7]

I am tired of the elected officials not listening to the people who elected them, working with each other and working with the speaker of the house to pass her agenda.
I am mad at those who has a disregard to the Constitution they took an oath to uphold.

I am mad at all of the forms of government that are more concerned about health care and imposing fees on those who do not pay for it, when there are soo many people who do not have jobs and will be unable to afford health care let alone the increased taxes and fees we are seeing on the local and federal level.

I am tired of politicians wanting to control private sectors and force CEOs to accept smaller salaries when the first lady has more helpers than the previous 10 first ladies before her.

I am mad at the speaker of the house who feels she has a right to fly back and forth home to California every week on a 757 so she doesn't have to stop to refuel.

I am mad at the president for apologizing to other countries for what the previous presidents and men and women of our military have done.

[BigBear]

Yeah, you guys need to write your own blogs, lol. Good stuff. I'm not very articulate either, but I throughly enjoy reading intellectual arguements and ressponses.

[funkfool]

Well, Gary Hart is, again... a damn progressive moron.
Remember: He IS Chairman of the Council for a Livable World

Its mission is to advocate for progressive national security policies and help elect congressional candidates who support them.

So he is, in effect, trying to distract from the real issue at the heart of the Tea Party movement...
If that doesn't work...then discredit the movement... then if all else fails label them as racists/terrorists/fascists and rabble.

I’m mad as hell at people who claim to revere the Constitution and hate the institutions it created and the elected officials who inhabit them.

Re-assigning guilt and re-direction
"you revere the Constitution - yet hate..." You hater! You should feel guilty!
Well I am a law abiding citizen.
Those institutions and people that inhabit them ARE CRIMINAL! I hate criminal behavior and believe that incarceration (read: punishment) is the cure for illegal behaviors.

No one in the tea party, including former governor Palin, is more angry than I am at Wall Street bankers.

Logical disconnect.
This shows he has no clue on the motivation of the average citizen who is part of the movement.
I don't think many Tea Partiers have too much anger at "Wall Street Bankers" - this is another attempt by Mr. Hart at distraction and the placing of blame on a 'target' that is not the real responsible party. The folks that create and supposedly enforce the rules (read: legislators, remember, these folks were investigating misappropriation of funds... but that is like having the rats hold the cheese) are responsible and ultimately the people who invest the money are responsible for the losses/gains/theft of said monies.

If you are angry at Barack Obama, or any member of Congress, you are angry at your fellow citizens who voted for them.

Another attempt to re-direct.
The citizens who voted for BO & Co. most likely DID NOT vote for the direction he is taking this country.
The ones that want the country going in this direction?
Hell yes, I am angry at them for being fools and not educating themselves in the underlying concepts of WHY this country was founded.

If tea party anger is more complicated than losing an election, then what is it?

Equate anger/hatred with electorial loss.
Attempt to make you feel petty and unjustified in your feelings.
Just because you lost - you're a hater!~

The university where I work could fire me any day, without notice.

We can only hope!
(But he has tenure: In 2006, Hart accepted an endowed professorship at the University of Colorado at Denver.)
So - this is an empty statement with no possibility of ramifications.

But if this anger is something else, let’s say bitterness at a black couple in the White House, or women being more equal, or medical care for poor children, or efforts to create a more decent and humane society, then there is little we can talk about.

Associative guilt.
You're the same as racists, and bigots and evil in general.
Just put it all in the same sentence and the association is right there.

If the tea party draws up a manifesto to clean up the air and water, to outlaw former elected officials from lobbying, to get rid of nuclear weapons, to take care of sick children and have Wall Street bankers pay for it, to provide decent care for wounded soldiers, to lock up drug dealers and clean up ghettos, to create jobs for working people, and to enforce the Fourth Amendment, I’ll be the first to sign it.

Perfect world strategy.
Name things that no-one could be against and then tie them all together and say "Why can't you be FOR this?"
Then defy people to attack you.

Hart is toeing the Democratic / progressive leadership line here, attempting to discredit and dishonor the tea party movement with the talking points he has been provided.
Look around, you'll see all the progressives doing the exact same thing with their media lapdog more than happy to be disseminating their diatribe for them.
You'd think they would grasp the concept that repeating the same tactics would ultimately allow folks to catch on to their tricks.

/rant

Is THAT what you were after Stuart?