Tea Party Movement Spawns 6 Minute Maddow 'Tea-Bagging' Segment

Man, did I ever see this coming (no pun intended (ok, pun intended)). I tried like hell to warn my conservative brethren, but the partisan divide prevented them from paying heed to a liberal.

I speak of the Tea Party movement, essentially born of a rant by CNBC's Rick Santelli that had all the populist resonance of a Marie Antoinette serving suggestion. Sure, we all know about the Boston Tea Party, which seems pretty badass when you see those old-timey lithographs of ax-wielding colonials having at those crates of leafy goodness.

As a rallying cry, though, "Let's have a tea party!" lacks a certain something. The logical extension, of which I was an early adopter, is the term "tea bagging." If you don't know what this means in slang parlance, then the mockery you are about to see will lose some of its oomph. (H/T Jason Linkins at HuffPo)



Confession time: I drink a lot of tea. Because of this, I am keenly awarethat, quite unfairly, the consumption of tea is considered, well, let's just say "un-tough." Sure, I could explain how I like it extra-strong, often steeping a cup with 2 tea bags for an hour, but that just seems to worsen the perception. Add in the slang definition of "tea-bagging," and you've got a tough sale. It ain't exactly "Fight the Power!"

While the Maddow segment might be a bit of "tea-bagging" overkill, it didn't help that Griff Jenkins fed them the ammo they used.

Having said that, I feel kinda bad for the tea-baggers, many of whom probably have heartfelt concern for this country, and just want their voices to be heard. Even if it's to say, "This is what a tea party looks like!"

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