Teabagging: irony deficiency in 2009 conservatives.

Teabagging: a history of irony deficiency in the 2009 American conservative movement.




Let's answer the questions, Who opened the door to the term "teabagger"? Are Teabaggers Republicans?

In the wake of the election in 2008, the Republican party was in shambles. There was serious talk of forming a new party among some and a bitter anger seething. Some among the conservatives were not done fighting. Fed on anger, small groups outside the Republican party started organizing tax protests.

http://www.sfexaminer.com/opinion/Tea-parties-are-flash-crowds-Obama-should-fear-41547632.html

"the reality that a minority is often more passionate, better organized and more highly motivated about their causes than are the majority, who by definition are more diffused, less passionate and represent broader interests."

Newt Gingrich and Dick Armey saw this as a chance to deal themselves in on the political action by rallying and organizing the masses. Fox News took to sponsoring and encouraging these protests, and Fox News Reporter Griff Jenkins referred to the protesters as teabaggers and their act of defiance as "tea bagging."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Griff_Jenkins

Under the headline "Tea bag the fools" at reteaparty.com, the Tea Party movement said:

"With sincerity and respect, we ask that you join us on April 1st, 2009, in sending the Oval Office a Tea Bag, in honor of the party in Boston on December 16, 1773, and in anticipation of its nationwide symbolic re-enactment in the summer of 2009."

http://www.reteaparty.com/2009/02/27/rick-santelli-is-as-mad-as-hell-chicago-tea-party/

Seizing on this metaphor, the protesters showed up calling for a tea bagging of Washington, or as the protester pictured in this photo said, "TEA BAG the LIBERAL DEMS BEFORE THEY TEA BAG YOU !! -FReeREPUBLIC.Com" (Choices in capitalization are purely those of the protester - Sandy)

http://washingtonindependent.com/31868/scenes-from-the-new-american-tea-party

This is when I first heard the term in Republican use and the general consensus in my office, dominated by some heavy hitting political work at the time, was "You have got to be kidding. Don't they know?"

They caught on quickly at Democratic Underground:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x5452535#5452560

You can see how they are explaining the term and linking to the Urban Dictionary. An Urban Dictionary update quickly followed.

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Tea-Bag

What is delicious about this is that Liberals had used the term teabagger and teabagging for their own protests of George Bush in 2004, 2006 and 2007:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x1815560
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x1836034
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x1893125
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x3399990

I'm proud to say it. Liberals were the first teabaggers. If you aren't violently homophobic and filled with fear, teabagging is simply a humorous way to refer to yourself as you try and force the government to submit. Unfortunately for conservatives, their side suffers a serious irony deficiency.

David Shuster had picked up on this and had a deliciously funny commentary laced with double entendre at MSNBC just before the protest.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELy61zkZHO0

At FreeRepublic.com a full freak out went off that the Dems would dare compare the good clean conservative tea-bagging they had planned with the sexual practices of filthy homosexuals. *gasp* Only the "ooh la la gay crowd" would have understood this term after all. (Follow the link for plenty gay-hating conservative fun.)

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2229051/posts#comment

The big event finally arrived on April 15th Tax Day. Here is a capsule history of the day, April 15, 2009. The Daily show has a collection of clips from half a dozen or more networks.

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/wed-april-15-2009/tempest-in-a-tea-party

Notice, no mention of teabagging in sight. What changed? Did Jon Stewart miss a chance to mock and humiliate conservatives? Not Likely. The label had not yet been applied OUTSIDE THE MOVEMENT. I kid you not. At this point, only the protesters and a few in the know where talking of tea bagging. It was a perfect storm of the ignorant and the wryly ironic.

Rachel Maddow and others began to apply the term with glee and the conservative protests started. Blood was in the water. By the end of April, the rest of the media had seized on this unfortunate choice of self-identification and taken it to its largely humorous conclusion. Even now, some are just starting to catch on.

So, a discredited term of self identification, teabagger has come to refer to the largely emotional, angry and impotent rage that defies logic and denies reason. The label was rapidly defused of relevance by the actions it is associated with, not some magical liberal linguistic magic. The outrageous behavior and flight from reason born of anger has sullied the term, not a relationship to sexual practice or even homosexuality.

I certainly separate the terms Republican, birther and teabagger. You should too. While someone can be all three, there are many Republicans feeling rightfully ashamed and slighted by the other two. Republicans are simply members of a party after all. They may be for smaller government and fiscal responsibility but not opposed to all taxes after all. Birthers and Teabaggers were born outside the party.

Now though, Republicans are being told this term is all a derogatory slur unfairly hurled at them all, for example see here:

http://www.seacoastonline.com/articles/20090912-OPINION-909120309

Or as one protester cries here, ""Don't call us Teabaggers, for God's sake, don't you know what that means?"

http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/08/27/18619844.php

It is all a plot you see by evil or ignorant liberals to smear them. Don't you see. It's so simple.

Simply hilarious.

Find me on facebook... Friend me and comment there.

www.facebook.com/geekherder/

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=2541473&op=1&view=all&subj=154557479482&aid=-1&auser=0&oid=154557479482&id=813274706

http://www.fairtaxblog.com/20060630/its-time-for-a-tea-party-again/

(October, 2008)

http://www.thedonovan.com/beth/archives/2008/10/send_a_tea_bag.html

(Winter 2009)

http://teabagcongress.com/

http://www.cafepress.com/TeabagCongress

I don't think the tax folks expected it to become a verb. The more innocent fundie types probably had no clue it had another meaning as a verb.