Tea's Bitter Aftertaste,Homeland Insecurity, Sarah!

Dana Millbank
E J Dionne

"Congress is the only whorehouse in the world that fails to make a profit." - Tobin Smith

"The man of great wealth owes a particular obligation to the state because he derives special advantages from the mere existence of government." - Theodore Roosevelt

"True patriotism isn't cheap." - Robert Reich

There have been several opinion pieces written in response to the tea parties yesterday, by Karl Rove, John Kass in the Chicago Tribune, and Joe Conason in the New York Observer. Locally, our Colorado Springs Gazette had front page coverage: "If there was one prevailing message it was opposition to taxes. "Collecting more taxes than is absolutely necessary is legalized robbery," said Richard Randall, a talk show host on KVOR-AM and emcee of the local event. He was quoting Calvin Coolidge.

But a series of speakers, hailing from various points on the red end of the political spectrum, delivered a message that was far more diffuse. They condemned everything from abortion to Somali pirates.

What the rally lacked in focus it made up for in free-floating anger, epitomized in the "Impeach Them All Now!" and "No More Laws!!" placards that were among hundreds of hand-lettered signs hoisted in the spring sunshine." The attendance was actually about 700 people instead of the 1500 the paper gave. It was a low key crowd, a mixture of all ages, with just about everyone holding a sign or flag of some sort. I'm going to have to buy the Don't Tread On Me flag with the coiled snake, there were quite a few.

I took a lot of pictures, but kept away from the racist and hate signs directed towards Obama. The sound system wasn't very good, you had to be standing in front of the stage to hear well, but the speakers weren't very good so it didn't matter much. My friend Doug Lamborn was there, as characterless and boring as ever... In the end, there was no dancing, no direction, no way to let the anger out for these thousands of people who gathered across our country. If the economy gets worse, and unemployment benefits run out, we will see that low level anger spark into something more destructive and uglier, not just here in the USA, but on a global scale. Talk about your global warming after the riots have set it on fire...

The Department of Homeland Security has issued a nine page report for law enforcement officials on what to look out for in right wing extremist groups, and Deborah Saunders, writing in the SF Chronicle, has a good opinion piece: "The assessment reads like a sophomore's bad political science essay in, for example, noting that right-wing extremism "may include groups and individuals that are dedicated to a single issue, such as opposition to abortion or immigration."

"This is a very unfortunately named document, "Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Sara Kuban told me. No lie. The not-quite-classified-but-also-not-meant-for-public-distribution assessment reads like a rookie mistake penned by political lightweights. But Kuban told me it was written by "career officials" who had been working on the assessment for more than a year. (Read: DHS started working on this when George W. Bush was in charge.) That career officials would write such tripe should scare you.

The "right-wing" document, however, targeted, not activities, but political thought -- opposition to abortion, immigration amnesty and gun laws... The "right-wing" document started with the acknowledgment that Department of Homeland Security intelligence "has no specific information that domestic rightwing terrorists are currently planning acts of violence." Then: "The economic downturn and the election of the first African American president present unique drivers for right-wing radicalization and recruitment."

Janet Napitano issued a response this morning to the conservatives who thought Homeland Security was singling them out: "Let me be very clear: we monitor the risks of violent extremism taking root here in the United States," Napolitano said in a written statement issued by her department. "We don't have the luxury of focusing our efforts on one group; we must protect the country from terrorism whether foreign or homegrown, and regardless of the ideology that motivates its violence."

As Craig Crawford notes in CQ Politics: "Lyndon Johnson once noted that the right wing is more frightening than the left wing because ultra-conservatives are far better at organizing themselves." It's true, there are more right wing think tanks and policy centers with the words Liberty, Independence, and Tax Reform in them, all designed to pull in gullible conservative dollars.

As the Political Animal noticed: "It's probably worth re-emphasizing, then, that the point of the law-enforcement report wasn't that veterans are right-wing extremists, but rather, that right-wing extremists might target veterans for recruitment. Indeed, Bush's Justice Department prepared a similar report in 2008 titled, "White Supremacist Recruitment of Military Personnel Since 9/11," which found that while veterans don't make up a large percentage of "white supremacist extremists," they have sometimes taken leadership roles in the movement.

Oddly enough, when this report was distributed to law-enforcement officials last year, Boehner and Republicans didn't say a word. It's almost as if their goal is to score cheap political points off a misunderstood DHS report, without concern for the facts."

Extreme right wing thought is a form of mental illness, and disenfranchised, confused, alienated young men and women coming back from the stress of constant death and injury are susceptible to its allure, a hand extended when there no others. Right now we are lucky that most of these poor kids kill themselves or commit homicide on our local population and are not organized into a bunch of para-military hate groups like those that flourished during the 1970's and 80's. I remember friends coming home from the Vietnam War, burying automatic rifles in their backyards and taking their wives out into the desert to teach them how to shoot. Thank God our Veteran's Administration has changed and is trying to address the various demons that attach themselves to our returning soldiers, bless them one and all...

The NY Times has an updated piece on Sarah Palin: "Ms. Palin and her aides insist she is as engaged with state businesses as ever. “We have a very good working relationship, as far as we know, with lawmakers,” Ms. Palin said last week in her office, where she met with reporters. “Our door is always open.”

Democratic lawmakers had been crucial in the past to the governor’s efforts to raise oil taxes and approve legislation promoting a natural gas pipeline, her signature achievements, yet many say Ms. Palin has abandoned those relationships, that she has become more polarizing rather than working to broaden her appeal. In turn, some Democrats have missed no opportunity to snipe back...

All of which has made Ms. Palin alternately warm and testy in her dealings around the Capitol. In the meeting with reporters in her office last week, she expressed little distress over lawmakers’ revisions to legislation she favored. She also said she prays for “the revelation of truth” to combat what she says are persistent lies about her and her family." I just don't know if she can last until 2012...

Late night jokes:

"Whew! Last night, I had that great new drink, the Navy Seal. Three shots -- boom -- and you're done." --Jay Leno

"Well, you know, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said the Somali pirates were all 'untrained teenagers with heavy weapons,' or as we call them in this country, rap stars." --Jay Leno

"As you know by now, Captain Phillips was rescued when Navy Seals shot and killed three of the pirates, although, according to Phil Spector's attorney, the pirates shot themselves in the head." --Jay Leno

"There was some nice news this week. The Obamas got a new dog. It's a Portuguese water dog named Bo. Now, don't confuse that with what Dick Cheney had. That was a waterboarding dog. That was totally different." --Jay Leno

"You know, Portuguese water dogs are very intelligent animals. In fact, some White House Cabinet officials have already taught it how to get out of paying taxes." --Jay Leno

"Scientists from the University of Padova, in Italy, announced this week that baby chicks have the ability to do basic arithmetic and can add basic numbers together. You know, it's bad enough our public school kids can't compete with kids in China and Japan. Now we're losing to poultry in Italy? This is bad. We need to get better schools." --Jay Leno

"How about that Obama dog? They got a new dog. Yeah, a little Portuguese water dog. And the dog, as you would expect, is not house broken yet. In fact, earlier today, he left a bigger mess in the Oval Office than Bush did." --David Letterman

"A new dog in the White House. I believe there hasn't been a dog in the White House since that pack of semi-domesticated wolves that Cheney kept in his dungeon." --David Letterman

"General Motors is recalling 1.5 million vehicles, because they say the engines could catch on fire. Well, luckily, no one bought any of them." --Jimmy Fallon

"A new report shows that a bag of heroin can be cheaper than a six-pack of beer. That's really good news and bad news for Amy Winehouse." --Jimmy Fallon