Rick Santelli has been called ‘the Father of the Tea Party’ because of his 5 minute rant on the floor of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. Before that, most people couldn’t begin to tell you who Rick Santelli is/was.
According to the Huffington Post:
People ask me if I’m the father of the Tea Party movement…I was the spark …that started it. If being the lightning rod that started the Tea Party is what’s written on my tombstone, I’ll be very happy.”
Santelli was catapulted to instant fame after his five-minute outburst on CNBC in Feb. 2009–where he decried government bailouts, called struggling homeowners “losers” and speculated aloud that a new Tea Party might be needed–went viral.
In the Sun-Times interview, Santelli called the rant “the best five minutes of my life,” but said he has not tried to influence the direction of the Tea Party in any way. He did call the rise of the movement “a proud moment for America.”
He also said that Franklin and Jefferson would be rolling over in their graves. Perhaps he should read a little history of Jefferson. Jefferson was not the most financially responsible person. His personal library had to be sold to pay his debts. Its a lot easier to say platitudes.
Santelli isn’t the only one claiming parenthood to the Tea Party Concept. Many folks look to Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin as the king and queen of the tea party, and if not monarchy, then at least voices of the Tea Party
On Monday, Sept 20, Glenn Beck felt the need to reinforce what the Tea Party believed.
In a nut shell:
- Smaller Government
- Lower Taxes
- Less Spending
- More individual choice
These are all platitudes.
1. What exactly is smaller government? Does that mean I have to build and plow my own roads? Do we dispense with libraries? Do we disregard national security? Not build the fence along the Mexican border? What do we do away with? What you hate, someone else might love.
2. Lower Taxes usually follows something about the deficit. Goods and services provided by a government usually cost money. You have to earn the money if you aren’t going to beg it off the people, if you are a government. Real estate taxes might be reduced, but darn, the house assessments have gone up, or vice versa. The state might being in $250,000,000 in profits from the sale of liquor. If the state no longer owns those stores, then the money will have to come from someplace else.
3. Less spending is a good trick. Where to start? An economic crisis, a terrorist attack, a cat 5 hurricane, a couple wars, Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security. How do we downsize?
4. More individual choice is laughable. Most of the Tea Party candidates I have listened to have been the no exceptions crowd. No abortion for any reason. That’s a real choice. Yeee doggies. How about right to die? The same people who want to control your bedroom also want to make darn sure you can chose when to end your own life or the life of a loved one when death is certain and disease has taken over. There is no end to the puritan police in this category.
I would like to hear some real solutions to real problems rather than a political platform built on a rant. We are all frustrated over the economy. I am very thankful that the powers-that-be stepped in and KEPT our economy from crashing–that includes those in the Bush administration and the Obama administration. For now, I prefer to listen to the economists like Paulson, Buffet, and Bernanke rather than some no-nothing on the economy.
Until he ran for president most people couldn’t tell you who Barack Obama was either!
One of the first things that the current government needs to learn:
When you find yourself in a hole, stop frikkin’ digging!
In other words, stop spending! WE LITERALLY HAVE NO MORE MONEY. 1.4 TRILLION in deficit spending. Our yearly debt has MATCHED our GDP. No more stimulus, etc. CUT SPENDING. Repeal the Stimulus bills. Repeal ObamaCare.
You’re right, Moonhowler.
The problem with the Tea baggers is that they are big on platitudes and very short on specifics. They say things like “Duh, we should control spending” but refuse to consider cut Social Security and Medicare, the biggest deficit drivers of all.
I hope they do win back the House and they’re suddenly responsible for coming up with specific solutions to problems. Platitudes don’t cut it.
Look! A squirrel using perjoratives. While I don’t care about the term “teabagger” since, the OTHER person is the “teabagee”, the term IS a sexual insult. Please stop.
I prefer the term Teajadist.
As for the spending cuts, actually, yeah, we do say cut Social Security and Medicare. Some of us have been saying it for YEARS.
Remember, first comes the “platitudes”, the general idea. THEN comes the specifics. Well, we’ll see what the candidates say. Apparently, you all for the idea of spending willy nilly on everything. More stimulus forever. We’ll never run out of money as long as we have ink and paper.
What’s YOUR solutions, squirrel?
Y’all are winning the hearts and minds of the centrists for us. The above almost smacks of elitest despiration (no offense meant).
The idea that the common people can’t understand what happaned and how to fix it. This common man however can balance his own checkbook and manage debt in a constructive manner (without printing my own money — what a concept!).
I remember Mr. Santelli’s rant. I think the guy should be the next Treasury Secretary. God Bless him and as required by my corporate sponsors.. God Bless Sarah Palin.
No party will ever win an election even whispering about doing away with medicare or social security. And you can take that straight to the bank, children. No one but a complete moron would ever tackle that one with the largest group of social security recipients in the history of this country looming on the horizon. Can you say BABY Boomers? 1946-1964. Do da math.
As for the common people–many of them haven’t managed debt too effectively. Very few common people understand macro-economics or the global economy. Very few educated people, unless it is their field, understand it either. Stop spending really isn’t an answer. Governments have to spend money to operate.
Nothing frustrates me more than simplistic sound-bites to very complex issues.
re ‘teabagger’
In most people’s worlds, that is not a sexual term. Tea bag as a noun means a filtered paper containing tea. I have been using them ever since I can remember.
As long as terms are used like Obamacare (hillarycare) , hopey changey thingie and other derisive expressions, I am not going to crawl on someone for saying teabag or tea bagger. I would prefer if individuals didn’t call other individuals on this board names. This isn’t the dark screen. Collective names aimed at a general sub population are a little different than directing something at a specific individual.
cargo – what part of the Healthcare reform would you like repealed –
the repeal of a lifetime cap on medical care?
the repeal of pre-existing conditions?
the repeal of children on your policy until 26?
the repeal of insurance rescission?
I agree with you that they need to stop spending – but our elected officials should not be voting for unfunded mandates – Medicare Part D/tax cuts – a few years ago, and now complain about the costs and spending.
Unfortunately, we as a nation (and many individuals) like to live on a credit card, but at some point, the bill needs to be paid. We should be looking to pay it now rather than later, but no one has the political will to really do after it.
I laugh when I hear the tea bag phrase – because it brings me back to Steve Doocy holding it up on Fox and Friends (repeatedly).
Cargo, I think teajadist is funny. Do you consider it insulting in any way?
SA- you didn’t watch the 2004 Democratic Convention? He gave a keynote speech. That is where many of us who aren’t politically connected first saw him.
4 years, 3 months, whatever [wink wink]
To all TPP-I would actually think that the TPP would like the attention their movement is getting. Its your time to show your clout and your sway. You got Karl the Meanie to capitulate. That is quite an accomplishment.
I have serious issues with your platform. (which I am considering the platitutes–but most platforms are platitudes) Your candidates seem incredibly simplistic and ill-equipped for the complexities of government. More importantly to me, they appear to be candidates from the extreme far right of the Republican party. They also aren’t people who are strangers to activism. They just seem like retreads to me–people no one would listen to until they threw in a few lines from the Tea Party Platform.
Pat, what did Doocy say and do? I missed it.
“They need to stop spending…” Where? what? Where do we start? What would a 5% cut in congressional pay coupled with a 5% cut in each department do?
how many of us can say which stimulus iniatives didn’t work? Sometimes maintaining the status quo is ‘working.’
I am tired of rhetoric as a solution.
And I find letting the country fail simply an abomination and unAmerican.
When the tea partyist’s started having demonstration, Doocy would hold up a tea bag any time they talked about the activists. About 25 seconds in – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQkWSHQwwBY and if you watch until about 35 seconds in, you will see the tea bag on the FoxNation web site (not sure if they are affiliated with Fox News).
@cargosquid
I understand your frustration in the use of sexually-explicit terms of derision by certain full-blown bat-craps here, but you need to remember that these are the left’s intellectual leaders, and they cannot be questioned in any way. You know full well that rules only apply to those who would follow them.
@cargosquid
I agree… “Teajihadist” is a better alternative, thanks cargo!
Geez, how do people get so offended oveer a term like “tea bagger?” Talk about poltically correct – the right wingnuts have their own version of PC.
First tell me what the problem is.
So if I were to change my screen name to “Balzac Teebagher”, that would be cool, right? We’re just talking about little portions of tea used to steep in hot water, correct?
ok. This is not a locker room. If the term were so offensive why were thousands of people milling around summer of 2009 wearing tea bags as earrings, hat horaments, etc and telling everyone they were tea baggers? Just asking. See Pat’s video.
It is not a universally known vulgarism.
@Moon-howler
…and you don’t believe it’s being used as a vulgarism here, by, say, Starryflights?
Smaller Government
Lower Taxes
Less Spending
More individual choice
These are all platitudes, and not nearly as cool as:
Hope
Change
You’ve all got this thing wrong, including Rick Santelli. The real parent and spark of the Tea Party movement was…..The envelope, please….musical fanfare…The winner is….Barack Hussein Obama.
@Pat.Herve
the repeal of a lifetime cap on medical care?
the repeal of pre-existing conditions?
the repeal of children on your policy until 26?
the repeal of insurance rescission?
Yes.
Especially since the federal government has no business enforcing a mandate for citizens to buy anything.
That “pre-existing conditions” idea. Didn’t make it in….so they lied.
26 year old children are not.
Etc….
The current mess known as the Health care reform bill needs to be repealed in toto. Reform may be needed in many areas of health care, but a 1500 page bill that no one read before passing? A bill that helps out special interests, adds a huge number of agencies, AND adds a trillion bucks to the debt?
We can do better. Lets have a debate in Congress over different parts of reform, instead of locking out one party while compiling a bill from outside interests.
As for the term “Tea Baggers”…..as used ORIGINALLY by some Tea Party members, it was not a vulgar term. I didn’t know about it until it was pointed out to me too. However, since it hit general exposure, use of it has been considered vulgar.
I stopped saying it because it apparently offended you and Wolverine. That’s the only reason and I certainly wouldn’t hound anyone else to do it.
Again, I ask, because you wisely ignore the question. You think Starryflights has no idea about any vulgar connotation when she uses the term here? I’m just trying to establish that ultra-libs get free reign here.
Moon, thank you. That’s why I brought it up, mainly for your attention, about Starry’s use. I think it at least deserves a mention to Starry about being polite. I try to be.
cargo – I cannot help it if you do not believe or understand what is in the bill – They did not lie. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39294608/ns/health-health_care/
Starryflights isn’t a female to my knowledge. He took his wife to South Africa. And I have no idea who knows what.
You all seem to enjoy calling him a squirrel. Surely you know that ‘squirrel’ is also one of those expressions that has a vulgar meaning. I have known that expression since I was a teenager.
@Moon-howler
Well, technically, Liberace wasn’t a female, either. I’ll have to look squirrel up.
So, there is nothing vulgar to be found about the word Squirrel in any urban or slang dictionary that I see. The closest thing to vulgarity I found would go something like the following:
“Starryflights is nuttier than squirrel-chit”
I did see one obscure reference in an old book of rude poems that used squirrel to refer to the male organ…….talk about obscure and not current. Since you STILL refuse to answer, anyone paying attention has to surmise that you understand that Starryflights is using the term “teabagger” in a vulgar sense…..typical double-standard. I know, I know, don’t pick on the “special” kids.
Since we’re in the gutter about the use of the word, teabagging — which if you are into online gaming you know that 12 year olds use the term all the time when fragging an opponent and dancing on the corpse while performing the verb form of “tea bag”.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CtZKL74LgMg Axe Commercial on tv.
@Pat.Herve
Then, if they did not lie, they did not know what was in their own bill. Insurers are NOT required to issue new policies to children with pre-existing conditions. The bill mandates that all insurance companies IN THE GOVERNMENT POOL IN 2014 will do so. So now, insurance companies are not issuing new child only policies.
If insurance companies cannot prevent pre-existing conditions from being covered, why should I pay premiums? Why not wait until you’re sick or hurt? Instead of this rigamarol, I wish the Dems would just put their argument for single payer on the table and try to convince Americans that its a good idea. Also, nothing stops the government from opening medical services for pre-exisiting condition patients.
Good, there’s my “I learned something new today” moment out of the way for today!!
cargo – If insurance companies cannot prevent pre-existing conditions from being covered, why should I pay premiums? Why not wait until you’re sick or hurt? – is the reason why insurance is mandated for all – that way, there is more people in the pool, and you should have been maintaining coverage.
today, they can refuse to cover your pre-existing conditions – some of these things we are born with, some develop over time – even though you were paying all along, you loose your insurance for a day, and you may no longer be covered.
Ask any woman over the age of say 35 about the definition of the word squirrel. verb form.
@ Cargo. It is fairly universal amongst women. That’s about like saying you don’t know anything about the mascot for Oregon State.
Moon, actually I don’t know about “squirrel” as any other term nor the mascot for Oregon State. They have a mascot? I was making a joke about acorns.
I just went to the Urban Dictionary for squirrel. Hot female? Since when? Never heard that one before.
So, how can it be called insurance if they have to cover pre-existing conditions? Isn’t that like buying car insurance AFTER the wreck?
I know all about the problems with insurance companies. My daughter has diabetes. Mandates are still unconstitutional.
I’ll have to check UD for Squirrel. I knew about beaver but not squirrel. To be honest, my wife and I use squirrel the same way it’s used in “Up”. “SQUIRREL!” and then look in that direction for a few seconds while everyone looks at you with bewilderment.
LA Time is reporting http://articles.latimes.com/2010/sep/21/business/la-fi-kids-health-insurance-20100921 the same. Makes sense. Children pose an unquantifiable risk now. Sides, the government will take care of them….
I will just email Cargo as to definition. It is a universal expression that has perhaps lost some of its advent since most women now wear slacks rather than skirts.