I don't mean to monopolize this blog. In fact, I think it would be great if we had enough people posting that we had a new post every day. But tonight I read something that made my blood boil, and I just can't help myself. The April 15th Tea Party protests around the country were too big to be suppressed by the media. The fact that these impromptu protests are happening all over the country has the Democrats worried.
That concern was very apparent when I read Paul Begala's commentary tonight. Paul Begala was a political consultant for Bill Clinton in 1992 and was a counselor to Clinton in the White House. He is now a well-known political commentator for CNN and Democratic Strategist. What does a Democratic Strategist do? They develop political strategies for the Democrats to make the Democrats look good (and the Republicans look bad.) Begala was in top form today in response to the Tea Parties.
Let's take a look into Begala's mind and we analyze his column entitled "April 15 is Patriots' Day" one paragraph at a time:
"Happy Patriots' Day. April 15 is the one day a year when our country asks something of us -- or at least the vast majority of us."
What is the significance of April 15? Obviously, it's tax day. Begala is attempting to make a link between paying taxes and being a patriotic. The idea is: The more taxes, the more patriotic. (I guess that means that the 40% of Americans who don't pay any income tax aren't patriotic.)
This is the one day a year we pay taxes... other than those days where we fill up our car with gas, pay into Social Security and Medicare and Unemployement out of our paycheck, buy a pack of cigarettes, pay a property tax, or buy anything.
(Note that it is okay for Begala to claim that "Paying Taxes" = "Patriotic", but it is not okay for Republicans to claim that "Funding the Troops" = "Patriotic.")
"For those who wear a military uniform, those who serve the rest of us as policemen and firefighters and teachers and other public servants, every day is patriots' day. They work hard for our country; many risk their lives -- and some lose their lives."
If you watch closely, you will notice that democratic strategists will always appeal to emotion and avoid logic. Begala is using these examples of true patriots who serve our country to strike up the strong feelings of patriotism in our minds.
"But for the rest of us, the civilian majority, our government asks very little. Except for April 15. On this day, our government asks that we pay our fair share of taxes to keep our beloved country strong and safe.
"Freedom isn't free. That's what the courageous World War II veterans of the American Legion taught me back in Texas Boys State decades ago. That phrase had special meaning for them. Those guys had seen buddies blown apart at Anzio or Guadalcanal."
Here is where Begala lowers the boom as we are meant to feel guilty because there are troops and policemen and firefighters out there dying, and we are complaining about money! We're worried because we have to give a measly half of our income to the government. We are truly the scum of the earth.
What Begala doesn't seem to understand is that if it truly were a "fair share", none of these protests would be happening. Conservatives understand that the need for taxes in order to run a country, and we are more than happy to pay our fair share.
"I grew up in a different era. There was no draft, and while I have friends and family members who joined the military, most of my peers, like me, opted for the security and prosperity of the private sector.
"This country has showered me with the blessings of liberty. So what do I owe my country in return? Paying my fair share of taxes, it seems, is the least I can do. Thanks to President Obama and the Democratic Congress, 95 percent of Americans will get a tax cut this year. No one -- not even the wealthiest 1 percent -- will have to pay higher income taxes until 2011."
This is a strategy that Obama has been instructed to use as well. He will always say something like, "People like me (at a $2.7 million income) can afford to give a little more." This is a jab at the rich Republicans who are so greedy that they don't want to pay another 5% of their income to go to researching shooting pollution higher into the sky to reduce global warming. Obama and Begala are the true patriots because they are willing to give more.
Also, notice that he is very careful to say that no one will have to pay higher "income" taxes. Begala is a smart guy, and he knows as well as you and I do that this $1,000,000,000,000 in new spending has to be funded from somewhere. Income taxes may not increase (keep that promise in mind), but that leaves the capital gains tax, gas tax, sales tax, death tax, and whatever other taxes they choose to impose like they just did the cigarette tax wide open. The total taxes each individual pays each year will most definitely increase -- They have to. How else will be pay for the increase in spending?
"So why are a bunch of Fox News clowns and right-wing cranks hosting 'tea parties' all over the country? The Boston Tea Party, in case the clods at Fox didn't know it, protested 'taxation without representation.' Note the second word: without. The goofballs tossing tea bags today have representation. They voted in the election; they lost."
NOTE TO BEGALA: The Tea Party protests have little to do with the taxes we are currently paying; People are upset about the taxes that are inevitably coming. The spending is absolutely out of control, and that is the reason for the protest.
Begala uses the term "Fox News clowns" even though Fox News had nothing to do with the protests. He does so because he knows this term will conjure up feelings for Democrats and others who feel Fox News is right-wing. He emphasizes that by joining them with the inflammatory words "right-wing cranks", "clods", and "goofballs". I don't know about you, but I am not a right-wing crank, a clod, or a goofball. I didn't see a lot of right-wing cranks in the protests. What I saw was a lot of really normal people who are fed up. Begala can't have his readers think these were normal, level-headed people though.
He brings up the history of the Tea Party to try to make the conservatives look stupid, as if we don't know that the original Tea Party was because of taxation without representation. The term "Tea Party" is just a metaphor used because we're protesting about taxes. (I've got more news for you, Paul -- We aren't actually dumping tea bags over the side of ships either.)
And if Begala's logic that we voted and lost is correct, then what were all those protests about the War in Iraq? The Democrats voted in the 2000 and 2004 elections; they lost. They should have happily embraced the war.
"That a bunch of overpaid media millionaires would lead a faux-populist revolt is comical. They somehow held their populist instincts in check as George W. Bush and the Republicans cut taxes on the idle rich and put the screws to the working stiffs."
Again, Begala wants to mislead people to think that Fox News was somehow responsible for these protests. It would do great harm for people to know that this a grass-roots movement started by and organized by the people. Fox News had nothing to do with them. The only way I can see that he might justify his comment is because Hannity attended one of the Tea Party protests. (This actually was a populist revolt, Paul, and that's why you are so worried.)
Notice how he talks about George W. Bush cutting taxes on the "idle rich." He mentions Paris Hilton by name in the next paragraph. He tries to create an image of these rich folks sipping lemonade by the pool and watching their bank accounts grow. I don't know about you, but the rich people I know are the exact opposite of idle. They get more done in a day than I get done in a week. What percentage of the millionaires in the world do you suppose got that way by being idle? 1%? Less? Yet this is who he focuses his comments on.
Begala doesn't want you to think of individuals like Henry Ford, who started from scratch and worked tirelessly to create a company that now provides 213,000 jobs.
Bush's tax policies were a godsend to the Paris Hilton class, but they sent the country on the road to bankruptcy and helped ruin the economy. But now that we the people have decided to set things right, now that we've hired Obama to fix the mess conservatives created, now they're protesting?"
One common strategy used by liberal commentators is to state something as a fact, expecting that nobody will take the time to investigate whether the facts are true or not. Begala expects that his readers will just take his word for it. Unfortunately, this is a very effective strategy as people do just that.
How did Bush's tax policies send the country on the road to bankruptcy? There is no information, no graphs, no evidence to back up his claim. If we trace back to the beginning of the current economic crisis, it all started with the housing market collapsing. What does that have to do with Bush? Absolutely nothing. This is not a hard one. Who would change regulations to make it so underprivileged people could buy houses they couldn't afford? You liberals know it wasn't the mean, cold-hearted conservatives.
How did Bush's tax policies affect what happened to AIG? How about GM? Let me ask you this, Paul: How would higher taxes have helped either of those companies or any of the banks that have been bailed out?
"Give me a break. Instead of tossing tea bags for the cameras, the Fox phonies ought to go to Walter Reed Army Medical Center. There they would find better, braver men who have truly sacrificed for their country. They deserve nothing but the best -- not the shameful and shoddy conditions they endured during the Bush administration."
Again, Begala has no facts, so he has to appeal to emotion. What shameful and shoddy conditions? It's true that the troops obviously face unpleasant conditions in war, but they don't blame the Bush administration. How do I know? Here is a little video of the troops showing their "disdain" and "disgust" for Bush as they send him off after his last visit to Iraq in December 2008:
Bush Sendoff From the Troops
"You want something to protest? How 'bout protesting how little we give back to our veterans? Or how 'bout protesting that the entire budget of the National Cancer Institute (where government researchers battle a disease that will strike half of all men and a third of all women) is 0.03 percent of what we gave the bandits at American International Group alone? Oh, but veterans benefits and cancer research might cost money. It might require -- dare I say it? -- paying taxes."
Begala again paints the picture that these Tea Party protests are an attempt to get out of paying taxes altogether. He wants the reader to believe that if we don't raise these taxes, veterans with cancer won't be treated. Again, an appeal to emotion. In reality, only $1 billion of the new stimulus goes to maintain and repair VA medical facilities. That's 1/10 of 1%.
We have no problem paying taxes, Paul. Obama likes to say, "We just are going to go back to the tax levels we paid under Bill Clinton." We would say, "We just want to go back to the tax levels we paid under Ronald Reagan." We are proud to pay taxes. (If you'll notice, it isn't the Republican nominees whose names keep needing to be withdrawn because of tax problems.) We don't even mind the progressive tax system, because we are "patriots" who don't mind shouldering a little more of the burden to help out those who are less fortunate. But the taxes should be fair.
If I work at McDonald's, you order a meal that costs $5, you hand me a $20 bill, and I hand you back $5 in change, I'm guessing even you, Paul, would have a problem with me taking 50% of your money.
"If the whiners at Fox News want to advertise their selfishness, they are free to do so. But please don't dress it up as patriotism. Patriotism is putting your country ahead of yourself -- which is the precise opposite of what the tea party plutocrats are doing."
Again, Fox News is referenced. Democratic strategists believe if you say something enough, people will believe it is true. "Fox News was responsible." "If you are protesting, you are selfish." "If you are protesting, you are putting your own interests ahead of your country."
Begala couldn't be more wrong. The point of these protests is that we are desperately trying to save our country before it's too late.
The most frustrating part is that Begala seems to be a smart guy. He has to realize all of this. He knows exactly what he is doing as he executes each strategy from his playbook. He knows that most of those who read his commentary will fall for it. And he is proud of his ability to talk so well that he can have this kind of influence on people. As he finishes the commentary, he chuckles and thinks to himself, "I could sell a ketchup popsicle to a woman with white gloves."
Unfortunately for Begala, this is too big. There are too many people who are upset. The wheels are set in motion, and it's only going to gain more momentum. Just like in Boston in 1773, the people of this nation will not stand to be treated unfairly.
