There's a kind of uneasy collaboration going on between Republican leaders and tea baggers now protesting in Washington. Think about it. The bagsters are protesting government spending and they know, no less than we know, that the biggest spending took place during the most recent Republican presidency.
Still, with significant help from radio demagogues, there's collaboration between the street people and the village people and a desperate hope on the part of the Republican party that it can own the political activism of the baggers while keeping some distance from the excesses of protesters.
The big question, the one we're getting really tired of having to ask, is why in hell isn't the Democratic party fighting back? Why isn't it actively driving a wedge between the Republicans and their street libertarians and "independents"? It's something that could be done quite easily. Just link the kind of violence we saw at the town hall meetings in August with key Republican figures. Show, over and over again (like those planes flying into the WTC), the behaviors of stooges like Joe Wilson.
Speaking of Joe Wilson, our Vermont correspondent takes issue with the notion that he rose to his feet "spontaneously", driven by a sudden surge of righteousness. His action was neither spontaneous nor driven by righteous passion. Rather, it was designed and scheduled.
I think Joe Wilson's rude outburst achieved its calculated goal on the national front which is that the main networks gave as much attention to Wilson as Obama, on some networks even more. "Spontaneous remark" my ass. The fact that he even labeled it as such is suspect.The Rovian-type Repugnants know how to steal a scene with nasty, unfounded accusations and attention getting stunts.
Update: Money is exchanging hands. McClatchy counts it up.
Rep. Joe Wilson and his Democratic challenger said Friday that they'd raised nearly $1.8 million combined in the 40 hours after the South Carolina Republican yelled "you lie" during President Barack Obama's address to Congress. That total — more than $1 million for Democrat Rob Miller, $750,000 for Wilson — is almost as much as the two men received over the entire 24-month campaign cycle for their 2008 race, in which Wilson defeated Miller by 54-46 percent.
