From today's paper: "Climate-change skepticism a hallmark of tea partiers" by John M. Broder of the New York Times. The story reports that "Only 14 percent of tea-party supporters said global warming is an environmental problem that is having an effect now". My impression is that a lot of these people are huntin' and fishin' people who spend a lot of time outdoors. I am not the huntin' and fishin' type. But I'm also not one of those "save the (insert species here)" types. I have no problem with hunting and fishing, if done sensibly. Specifically, anyone who wants to blow away Canada Geese in large numbers has my complete support. But you don't have to look far for evidence that the world is a warmer place than it used to be and that this has been bad for animals and fish and people. The story goes on to point out that "The oil, coal, and utility industries collectively have spent $500 million since 2009 to lobby against climate-change legislation". Tea Partiers are quick to see a conspiracy under every bush. Why are they so blind to this actual conspiracy when they are quick to see so many made up ones.
From the Rachel Maddow Show a couple of days ago: She talked to some supporters of Joe Miller (Tea Party Republican running for Senate in Alaska). She asked them why they supported Miller. Two of them mentioned gun rights. Asked for further specifics they both characterized Eric Holder (Obama Attorney General) as being anti-gun. But neither could list a single anti-gun thing Holder had said or done. I know of lots of things Holder has said or done that I approve of and several things that I disapprove of but I know of nothing Holder has said or done on either side of this issue. And Obama is pro-gun. That's his official position. Liberals know this because they are mad at him over it but conservatives just assume he is anti-gun because that fits their belief system. To recap: These people are strong enough Joe Miller supporters to be standing on a street corner in Alaska in late October because of how anti-gun Eric Holder is even though they don't know of one actual anti-gun thing Eric Holder has said or done. Now the Tea Party knocked Lisa Murkowski out in the Republican primary in Alaska. Is she anti-gun? I honestly don't know. But I'd be surprised if she had an NRA rating of less than 100%.
Recently Christine O'Donnell (Republican Tea Party candidate in Delaware) asked: "Where in the Constitution is 'the separation of church and state'". If you are looking for the words "separation of church and state" she's right. But this is a code phrase for the complex relation between specific religions and our Federal Government. And the foundation for that relationship is based on the Constitution, especially the First Amendment. Tea Partiers claim to be ardent supporters and defenders of the Constitution. But they sure seem to want to make a lot of changes to it. Some of them want to repeal the 14th (anyone born in the U.S. is a citizen), 16th (Income tax), and 17th (direct election of Senators) amendments. This last one is particularly peculiar. The relevant text of the first amendment is "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof". Now there are a lot of religions and a lot of religious practises. The plain language prohibits the government from prohibiting these practises. Now what O'Donnell and the Tea Partiers want is to "establish" a religion, namely fundamentalist Christianity, in this country. "Establish", in this context has a specific meaning. It refers to King Henry the VIIIth establishing the Church of England as the official religion of England. Wars were fought about which religion was to be "established" and people were killed for supporting the wrong religion so the issue is as serious as it gets. Establishing a religion in the U.S. is unconstitutional on the face of it. Doing this also interferes with the constitutionally protected religious practise of others. O'Donnell and like minded people are all in favor of interfering with religious practises they don't approve of. I dare you to find a Tea Partier that supports the smoking of peyote, a religious practise of long standing among several Native American peoples. So O'Donnell is in fact anti-constitutional.
Certainly the left is guilty of engaging in dumbth thinking. But they do not engage in it in such a blatant and consistent manner.
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