The national Democratic Party let it all hang out this week, calling out Republicans for embracing the Tea Party's reactionary "Contract from America" platform. You knew Democrats were finally toughening up when they named their national blog, "Kicking Ass."
And now they've started doing just that, kicking some radical right-wing ass and taking names, naming the buttheads' names too, as well they should - from old-school obstructionist "leaders" like Rep. John Boehner and Senator Mitch McConnell, to "next generation" congressional wingnuts like Michelle Bachmann, to scary new ultra-conservative candidates like Rand Paul in Kentucky and Sharron Angle in Nevada.
Democrats launched their Get Tough campaign with a new online video (watch it below) and a simple new summation of the GOP/ Tea Party extremist agenda, entitled "The Republican Tea Party Contract On America". It's an attempt to uncover and underline the ugly truths hidden beneath the false facade of mainstream civility that the Republican Party still tries laying claim to.
The name of the campaign is of course a little kickass wordplay on the supposedly populist platform that the Tea Party issued back in April, a "contract" which, in ironic reality, features a laundry list of very thinly veiled pro-corporate, pro-special interest, anti-public interest proposals. But the puppet-masters behind the movement distract followers from focusing on any long term impact issues, keeping them fired up around the baseline "Get government off our backs!" theme.
That's the most maddening aspect of the entire Tea Party phenomenon (and its historical equivalents), the manipulation of grassroots socioeconomic discontent - and Racism and Xenophobia - by powerful behind-the-scenes special interests intent on protecting and expanding only their own power and profits. Racists and haters aside, plenty of legitimate public anger is redirected away from the unholy alliance of the Republican Party & Big Business, and aimed instead at a Public Sector hog-tied by that very alliance.
No sooner had the ink dried on the Tea Party's misbegotten manifesto, than the minority leader of the U.S. House of Representatives, John Boehner, had called it "...the latest example of how the Tea Party movement has done this nation a great service...".
That "great service" includes pushing for pro-business, anti-populist measures like repealing health reform legislation that already gives millions of children and young adults new access to health insurance; blocking environmental protection legislation that would begin to slowly wean our nation off the teat of Big Oil and Big Coal; instituting a flat tax that would screw working people, further enrich rich people, and widen the gap between the two even more.
Those are just a few examples of the "great service" that the Republican Party wants to deliver to America, with the Tea Party's help. So it is a true public service for the Democratic Party to connect the dots here and help all those voters within the reach of reason to understand the frightening consequences lurking beneath all the overblown anti-government rhetoric.
Lots and lots of dots need connecting, and ass needs kicking, nationwide and state by state. Think it's time for a "Republican Party Of Florida Contract ON Floridians"?
No question that the Sunshine State's leading GOP special interest tools, ethically challenged panderers like Marco Rubio, Rick Scott, Bill McCollum, Jeff Atwater, John Thrasher, Dean Cannon, Mike Harodopolis, and so many more, all deserve a great big political repudiation and electoral ass-kicking.
So let's get this Democratic Revival Party started.
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