Cheap Tea

Some emailers want to know my reaction to the Tea Bag protests. Disinterested contempt, mostly. As someone who's been blogging about economic issues for years now, I have the same question that Andrew Sullivan does on civil liberties: "Where the f*ck have you been?" Aware of this vulnerability, some Tea protesters argue that it's a matter of degree, that the level of economic profligacy is worse with Obama. They're right. But the timing of their newfound concern is so precise and so incontrovertibly political -- the motivation synchronized with the swearing-in on January 20, and the action catalyzed solely by a historically evocative slogan that came soon after -- that by itself it almost totally discredits the protesters. This was a political stunt in search of a palatable cover story. Before the election and indeed during the past few years, the only protest about purely fiscal or monetary issues that I saw was this one. There weren't more than about a dozen people there, and I didn't see it mentioned by any of the bloggers or media figures who now champion the Tea protesters. It's like that old baseball joke about how after 1951 millions of people claimed to have seen Bobby Thomson's "Shot Heard Round The World" in person, even though the Polo Grounds only had 56,000 seats.

Beyond the issue of timing, there's a strange new tolerance and inclusivity, isn't there? Political movements are dynamic and heterogeneous. So I thought it was unfair a few years ago when the prowar Right used some of the fringe elements on the Left to disparage the entire antiwar movement, and I feel the same about judging all Tea protesters solely on videos like this (or on the timing issue, for that matter). But during the Bush years, the administration and its defenders pounced and pounded on anything that hinted of conspiracism -- from 9/11 truthers to critics of the Federal Reserve. Take a look at some examples here. Have any prominent Tea boosters disowned the fringe element or the conspiracists? From what I've seen, they've either been embraced, defended, or silently indulged -- another indication of the underlying motivation.

I admit I haven't paid much attention to this during the past few weeks, mostly because whenever I see it promoted by some of the Right's more execrable figures I immediately click away or change the channel. So let me know if I'm missing anything.