I do not like Ted Cruz, Sam-I-Am

While wasting the nation's precious time with a 21 hour filibuster of which the aim was to stop poor and working class Americans from having affordable healthcare (and what a worthy goal that is), Ted Cruz decided he would read his children a bedtime story.  The story he chose was a veritable American classic, one I have read to my children again and again:  Dr. Seuss's Green Eggs and Ham.

Am I the only one who's bothered by the fact that as a (so-called) man was doing everything in his power to make sure that many children do not have adequate healthcare he invoked the name of a man who has brought so much joy to more children than Ted Cruz has dead brain cells?

Even worse--Theodore Geisel was a die hard Liberal.  Chances are he would have approved of Obamacare--at the very least thought it was a good start.

Maybe during future pointless filibusters Cruz can read other childhood classics like Horton's Deaf Because He Lacked Adequate Healthcare and To Think I Let Them All Starve on Mulberry Street!

Peace,
emaycee

Freedom's just another word for greed

Senator Ron Johnson, republican from Wisconsin, thinks that corporations should not have to insure cancer patients as a matter of freedom.

Because, you know, what American workers really need is another reason to hate corporations.

Peace,
emaycee

Say You, Say Me--Part III

Say You:

"We need to accept the principle that sometimes poor people will die just because they are poor."--  Economist Tyler Cowen outlining why republicans should abandon any thoughts of healthcare equality, and enact a survival of the fittest position with regard to providing healtcare services.

Say Me:

As long as I live and breathe, I would never, ever accept such a "principle" (words have meaning--this is not a principle, it's psychopathic heartlessness--this man has no more sympathy for human life than Charles Manson or Ted Bundy).  I refuse to believe that anywhere near a majority of Americans would accept such an ignoble outcome--a majority of republicans and Antoinettes, even a vast majority, but not of all Americans.

This is why we need to re-elect President Obama.  This is why we need to hold the Senate and win back the House.  The sentiment espoused by Mr. Cowen is not the rantings of fringe republicanism--it is the mainstream school of thought in their party.  It strikes at the very backbone of what makes America and Americans so great.

And if this "principle" ever does become acceptable here in America, the exodus for all places not the United States would be stupefying.

Peace,
emaycee

Well, so much for that

So I'm all prepared with my stats for why ruling Obamacare unconstitutional will be a disaster for America, I've got my Antoinette quote ready to go, I've got my future strategy all ready to go...and the Supreme Court upholds (most of) it.

As my father used to say, Fuck me to tears.

I'm sure the number of books, articles, and blog posts that will be written about why Chief Justice Roberts joined the court Liberals will be able to fill libraries eventually, and there are many people who have a much greater understanding and have done much further study on the law than I, but I think quite simply, the Court knew from the get-go they had to uphold this to prevent a legal quagmire over exactly what Congress can do, Roberts won a great concession with turning it into a tax question, and that Roberts took one for the team, like good leaders do (and gave Justice Kennedy's ass a rest as he's usually the one that has to side with the Liberals on social issues).

In the end, I'm not sure it matters.  It's good (from a perception standpoint), though not great, for Obama's re-election chances, but even more importantly, as even the often caustic Digby noted in her somewhat muted reaction, it helps millions upon millions of Americans to get better and more healthcare.

Amen.

Peace,
emaycee

Rallying around the President

You know, for all my whining about President Obama, for all my whining about how disappointing his healthcare reform law (Obamacare) was...it took me all of two seconds to like Obamacare on Facebook when presented the opportunity.

Thanks Gov. Snyder, for reminding me how shitty the republican party really is and how important it is to continue supporting Democrats despite our dejection over their failures.

Time marches on and the class war won't be won sitting on the sidelines.

Peace,
emaycee

Free market, my ass

I found this piece by David Atkins on his healthcare travails to be of some interest because I had a similar encounter with the "best" healthcare system in the world earlier this year.

After several days of being sick with the flu, I began to feel a tightness in my chest and was having some difficulty breathing.  I felt so weak that just trying to stand was a Herculean task.  I was at work, so I called the Beautiful Girl (I was too weak to even think about driving) to have her pick me up and take me to the emergency room.  Once there, I told them my symptoms, and--no surprise--was admitted immediately.  I spent the rest of the evening with a series of nurses taking my blood pressure and a number of doctors coming in to talk to me (one of whom looked like she'd just left a goth convention, which isn't exactly comforting when you're very sick--Wednesday Addams is a cute character but I don't want her for a doctor).  The following morning they ran all the usual tests--and could find nothing to explain my symptoms.  After approximately 24 hours, they sent me home saying all was well.

I went to bed fairly early the evening I came home--if you've ever been in an ICU ward, they wake you on the hour and this particular one was about as warm as a fucking igloo, so I didn't find it particularly odd that I was tired.  I slept for ten hours, and felt well when I woke...for about an hour.  And then I proceeded to feel worse and worse, until eventually I went back to bed.  I woke up and told the Beautiful Girl that something was seriously fucked up with my body and asked her to drive me to the local clinic.  Once I got in to see the doctor, he listened to my chest and had an x-ray taken of it.  About fifteen minutes later, he walked in the room and said, "Two more days and you would have been in a lot more trouble."  In a nutshell, my lungs were full of fluid and I was on the verge of having pneumonia.  He gave me a steroid shot and a prescription for some antibiotics.  I literally started feeling better within a couple of hours.

Here's the kicker:  my visit to the hospital (including doctor's fees) totalled over $12,000 (of which $1500 came out of my pocket).  Twelve thousand fucking dollars to completely fail me as caregivers.  It wasn't as if this was some fucking episode of "House" with some bizarre and exceedingly rare disease.  I had the flu--my lungs were full of fluid.  One would think this wasn't particularly out of the ordinary.

The bill from the clinic?  $150--I paid a $30 co-pay and went on my way.

And like Mr. Atkins, this is where healthcare in America is failing all of us.  I--and the insurance company--paid seriously good money for an utter failure.  There was no recourse for this failure.  There is no accountability for this failure.  And I seriously doubt that those who created the free market envisioned a system wherein failure would be rewarded.  And the worst part is we just accept it.  I mean, if you went into Wal-Mart and one of their managers told you the new Cheesey Doodles were great so you bought them but when you got home you found they tasted like oak bark, you'd take them back to the store and get your money back.  Why do we accept any less from medical providers?

Figure that out and you might actually do something to help the staggering increases in healthcare costs.

Peace,
emaycee

Happy Birthday Obamacare!

In case you missed it, Healthcare reform turned a year old last week, and its conundrum continues--as evidenced by these three pieces, all featured on the same day in the Free Press.  Sister Mary Ellen Howard, in a guest column, says we should not deny the benefits that the reforms have given us, like stopping insurance companies from deciding whether you live or die (or end up in bankruptcy court) and extending benefits to the millions without health insurance.  Rep. John Dingell, the Michigan dean of the U. S. House, says it helps out seniors with doughnut hole gaps in their prescription coverage, allows young people to stay on their parents coverage until age 26, wipes out pre-existing condition limitations, and will cut our deficit.  And James Oliphant, in his "analysis," while trying to play the traditional media game of giving both sides of the debate equal airing, repeats numerous republican falsehoods without supporting proof and basically  turns it into a political question, rather than a bettering human welfare issue.

Methinks I need to read a whole hell of a lot less of traditional media "analysis"....

Peace,
emaycee

Nothing to see here

You have to give them credit--when something works, conservatives go back to it again and again. And nothing works for them like fear, which the Detroit News uses amply in its editorial on Judge Roger Vinson's recent wholly corporate/Koch brothers paid for decision declaring Obamacare unconstitutional. This is their close to the piece: "Interpreting the Constitution to allow it [Obamacare] would mean Congress could do almost anything it wanted." I'm not a scholar on the constitution, but this is your usual conservative total bullshit. In the first place, the Commerce Clause is going to restrict what Congress can do merely by the fact that not everything we do as humans is commerce (Congress couldn't mandate that we all wear nothing but red clothing, for example). And second, I'd make the case that Congress actually can make any law it wants by getting a majority of votes in both Houses and the President to sign it. It doesn't mean that Congress will--using the example above, those of us who like to wear blue, green, and yellow clothes aren't likely to vote for their re-election. And we're likely to make a huge stink about it. A loss of votes and bad publicity are not outcomes that any congressperson wants. Of course, I shouldn't complain too much--this could be one of those "be careful what you wish or you will surely get it" moments: the public option is definitely not a constitutional question. Peace, emaycee

Perdidors

Unfortunately, it's not the idiot and liar who touts the same tired ass republican talking points on Healthcare reform ("Socialism!" "Death Panels!") in the Free Press' new weekly point/counterpoint column featuring Dem Jill Alper and conservidiot John Truscott. It's us, the fools who continue to subscribe to the Free Press and instead of cutting edge opinion get lame ass blow jobs to the tea party and its village idiots. Truscott and his lame ass platitudes was the best they could do? Really? Good to see that the Free Press is just like any other corporation: decided lack of leadership, pandering to the lowest common denominator, and profit at the expense of integrity. Kudos! Not to be outdone, the Detroit News had its usual "gee, how far up corporate fanny can we get our noses" piece this week concerning Obama's call for more careful monitoring of corporate regulation. Never mind that corporations are enjoying record profits or that (with the possible exception of Elizabeth Warren's consumer commission) the Obama administration's corporate reform had all the force of a gentle poke in the ribs--there's too much of it. Their idiocy would be kind of a melancholy funny were it not so anti-working class American. Less regulation will not result in either more jobs or better pay. The one thing it will do, though, is allow corporations to laugh all the way to the bank over how they suckered in conservidiots to do their bidding for them with nothing--zip, zero, zilch, nada--to show for their bidding. Peace, emaycee

This is your republican party...

...and you can fucking have them. Seems there will be a vote tomorrow on repealing healthcare reform. Never fucking mind that more people are in favor of expanding it than repealing it. Never fucking mind that a mere 17% of Americans consider it a priority for Congress (46% think it's jobs, 34% protecting Medicare and Social Security). Never fucking mind that the republicans have absolutely no alternative to the current plan. Never fucking mind that there is no way in hell President Obama will ever sign it and they have no chance at getting 2/3 of Congress to override the veto. They're going to have a big ass vote over a lot of big ass nothing. And this is helping the American people how? This is listening to the American people how? This is going to create jobs how? The toadies for the healthcare industry march on at our expense. Peace, emaycee

Where were you when we needed you?

Where the fuck was this poll when we were going through the whole Healthcare reform debacle? A full 40% of Americans think the new healthcare law didn't go far enough, while a mere 20% doesn't want the government involved in healthcare. This is a massive case of media and polling failure--in short, a large majority of Americans (factoring in the 30% who approve of the new law) want a greater government involvement in our healthcare system. How much better of a chance would the public option have had with these numbers (though with the jellyfish spinal columns of too many Dems it is hard to judge)?

Special thanks to the Free Press for publishing their article on page 18A--one can see that their readers' needs and opinions are obviously not a priority (or they must really need the revenue from the healthcare industry ads).

Note to republicans: good luck keeping the House in 2012 with the strategy of repealing healthcare reform....

Peace,
emaycee

Woo-Hoo!

A very beautiful thing happened today--despite its flaws, despite our disappointment, some very good pieces of the Affordable Care Act went into effect today, including one that benefits my family personally: if I choose to leave my shit job tomorrow, whatever company hires me will not be able to have its health insurance company deny coverage to the Beautiful Boy because he has a pre-existing condition. To which I have one thought: biiiitttttccccchhhhhinnnnnnn'.

Oh, and one other short thought: fuck the health insurance industry!

Peace,
emaycee

My Healthcare Horror Story

For those not familiar, a few months back the Beautiful Boy was diagnosed with ADHD. No big deal--working with his doctor, and to an extent, his school, we started him on medication. It has gone very well (though certainly not perfectly)--his condition has improved markedly. Also for those not familiar, like many medications, one can eventually plateau with ADHD medication and need to switch to another prescription to reignite the brain. This is what happened to the Beautiful Boy. Like any good parents, we noticed he was slipping, took him to his doctor, who also noticed and wrote a new prescription. Off to the pharmacy, and voila, he'd be on the road to stability again. Not so fast, bucko.... I dropped the prescription at the pharmacy that my company requires me to use or else pay exorbitant prices at 11:00 am on a Tuesday. By five o'clock I was told that it had yet to be authorized. By six-thirty, I was told I'd have to wait until tomorrow because the woman who had to authorize it was off at five. Keep in mind, we're dealing with the health of a five year old here. We went through the same rigamarole on Wednesday. On Thursday, the Beautiful Girl got a call from our doctor's office (but not the insurance company who had to authorize it) telling us the claim had been denied. So she made a trip to the doctor, got a new prescription, and it was finally filled on Thursday, more than 48 hours after we originally had dropped off the prescription. The reason it was denied? Well, we didn't find that out until the Tuesday after the original drop off when we received a letter from the company telling us that the medication wasn't approved for children under six years of age. Of note: neither was the last medication he was on, and they approved that one. Also of note: he turns six in a month. The reason I mention this is because there are people fighting tooth and nail against National Health Insurance by claiming that the government would fuck it up. Really? Worse than the insurance company handled our claim? At no time did we have access to the insurance company, at no time were we notified of the current status of our claim, and even worse, they have banker's hours...who the fuck lives in a five o'clock world anymore? I can guarantee you that if the government ran it we would, at the very least, have a helpline to call to expedite our claims and can absolutely guarantee that people would be on the job past five o'clock. So for all those who claim the government would fuck up our healthcare, I have but one retort: Fuck you, next idiot please! We need National Health Insurance, and we need it now. Still don't think so? Check out this piece: health insurance companies are stopping offering coverage to children because of the law that goes into effect tomorrow requiring them to cover children with pre-existing conditions. May all insurance companies and their executives rot in hell. Peace, emaycee

You Got to Dance with Them What Brung You

Oh, Molly, Molly, will I be the one...

I had a few other things I wanted to post about, but sometimes something so pitiful comes along that you really can't ignore it. This is absolutely pitiful--a White House aide celebrating that labor spent $10 million on a candidate (Bill Halter) who lost to a candidate (Blanche Lincoln) who has no chance of winning the election in November. Um, whose side are these guys on? If we didn't know before, we certainly know now. (Those shots of Lincoln saying her vote isn't for sale--really, Blanche? I wonder what the Chamber of Commerce thinks about that?--were enough to make one vomit).

I really can't add much more to what Mr. Lewison wrote (or Digby) but I can honestly say that whatever hope I had for the Obama administration is gone. They have failed us on jobs, failed us on healthcare, failed us on Wall Street reform--and now they're dissing the very folks who played a major role in getting them to the heights they've reached? The private sector is not going to get us out of this economic mess, and now, apparently, neither is the Obama administration.

And all this bullshit talk about ordinary people having to tighten their belts--until we start talking about higher taxes on the wealthy, cuts in executive pay, an end to golden parachutes, and massive cuts in defense spending--in short, fuck you, next idiot please!

Peace,
emaycee

That's the sound of the men, working on the chain gang

This, my friends, is really rich. Newt Gingrich, a man who has lived off the public trough, as well as that of corporate benefactors for most of his career, thinks we need a better work ethic. Two words, Newt: fuck you. Why is it that it's always the working man who is supposed to sacrifice? Why don't these numb nuts ever suggest that perhaps the private sector needs leaders whose sole talents are much more than just cutting jobs and begging for corporate welfare? Further, what the fuck is up with this: "'Poor people respond to money,' and will turn to illegal activities if it's not available through other means, he said, as an example of how the free enterprise can lift people." Really? I'd be willing to bet there is a shitload of poor people who do not turn to illegal activities and keep trying to raise themselves and their families through legitimate means--otherwise, approximately 20% of our population would be in prison (or else we have a hellaciously talented bunch of criminals out there) instead of the 1-2% currently residing in prisons.

Thank, God, though, for one Heaster Wheeler of the NAACP who summed Gingrich (and the Republican party as a whole) up perfectly" "Newt Gingrich is less than a joke. If he understood the needs of the urban centers of America where was he when he had the authority to do something about it as speaker of the House?" Preach it, brother! The only accomplishment that would come from Gingrich's ideas for urban centers would be for us to do all the work while the private sector buys low and sells high, i.e. the rich stay rich and the poor stay poor. Next fucking idiot, please!

Tom Walsh is one of the few Free Press pundits that I can occasionally stomach (he's hardly a liberal, but he once predicted that by the year 2100 we'd have National Health Insurance a la Canada and wonder what the fuck we were thinking before we did), but this is sick. Channeling Bob Dylan as the background music for some radical right winger's pipe dream of making Michigan a right to work state? Uh...I'm pretty sure that as a musician Dylan is a member of the Musician's Union, and considering that they've helped him make a pretty penny, I'm pretty sure he wouldn't be too thrilled with making union membership even harder to attain. And why the fuck is it always the union's fault (because the right to work states are in such good shape--always in the bottom five for highest poverty levels like Mississippi)? Why does the working man always have to take the hit for the idiocy of industry leaders who have guaranteed contracts and golden parachutes to counter their failing? I've got a great idea for turning around the economy--end welfare for corporate leaders and give them what the working man gets if they fail: a few months of unemployment (about $350 a week here in Michigan). I bet that'd light a fire up their asses. As it stands now, there's no incentive for not failing--they get paid whether they're successful or not.

A quick answer to a stupid question: Fuck no. It's a slippery slope when you start singling out people to question for any reason. Who's next? Catholics? Bald-headed men? The only outcome of any such law is to move America one step closer to totalitarianism.

Leave it to the political reporters (so-called) of the Free Press to key on some meaningless sniping between two lame ass candidates (Republicans Mike Cox and Rick Snyder) and just give a passing mention to Virg Bernero who "stood up loudly for unions and decried corporate abandonment of the middle class." I mean because their petty sniping over some piddly bullshit is so much more important than the working men and women of Michigan making a decent living. The editorial board of the Free Press wasn't much better: their sole response toward Bernero was to call him out for "ranting on behalf of union positions." For those not familiar, here's how the "liberal" Free Press deals with unions.

Another bullshit poll on healthcare reform: the results show 51% oppose and 43% in favor, but the poll fails to note how many of those opposed are opposed because the bill isn't liberal enough. Or how many will base their vote on it. American media fail indeed....

Peace,
emaycee

It's my (Democratic) party and I'll cry if I want to

Frankly, this is just sad--I sometimes wonder if we expected too much after the 2008 landslide, but the more I see, the more I think we were just hoodwinked. We are talking 300,000 teaching jobs gone, an end to extended unemployment compensation, less police and firefighters--versus hedge fund managers (all of whom played a huge role in the mess we're in) getting taxed at a bullshit rate, that's considerably lower than most of us pay (Robert Reich--can we elect this guy President?--has an excellent analysis). And the Democrats are just slinking away, when they should be screaming about it from the roofs of every building and home in America. Is this the Democratic Party that I signed up for?

Obama has become the second coming of Bill Clinton--complete and utter mediocrity, without the pure shit luck of a dot.com boom to help us forget how mediocre his leadership has been. Healthcare reform has its bright spots (an end to lack of coverage for pre-existing conditions, kids kept on their parents' insurance until age 26, an end to recision), but I have a hunch that the individual mandate unless markedly changed is going to come back and bite Democrats in the ass, and without, at the very least, the public option the whole exercise was pretty much futile. Financial reform is a joke, as nothing with any teeth has passed and without serious safeguards we're setting ourselves up for another disaster at some point down the road. I mean, what exactly have we gotten for our troubles in getting these people elected? Stem cell research and the Lilly Ledbetter fair pay act. Woo-fucking-hoo.

Yes, I know that things would be considerably worse under McCain, but if we can't take bold action after winning a huge majority in Congress and the White House in a landslide after the worst financial crisis in 80 years, when the fuck can we? Where are the courageous leaders of our party who are going to stand up and essentially say, for example, "Deficits my ass! We need to spend to keep the economy going, we need to spend to keep the unemployed going, we need to spend to make the necessary repairs to our infrastructure..."? Or "Wall Street? Fuck them--they're going to pay to make Main Street whole again...." Or "BP stands for Better Pay Up...." Apparently they only exist in an alternate universe (or our fantasies) because there certainly aren't any of them (at least with any serious clout) in the Democratic Party now.

I've tried all day to come up with the proper adjective for all of this, but the best I can do is: pathetic.

One thing's for sure--my money this election cycle is going for books and CDs. At least then I'll get something of value for my hard-earned cash.

Peace,
emaycee

You can't handle the truth...

While I was watching Eric Cantor give his little speech today (and this comes from years of watching Republicans speak--trust me, if you wake up in the morning and a Republican tells you the sun is shining, you'd better grab your umbrella: guaranteed it's raining) the first thought that came to mind after he said his office window had been shot at was...this doesn't pass the stink test. Guess what? It probably didn't--looks like it was bullshit. Just a bit of difference between a brick thrown in anger and an idiot shooting a bullet into the air.... Republicans are also claiming that all these current terrorist acts are the fault of the...Democrats. For fuck's sake, do these people have no shame? Apparently, the Dems are supposed to shut up about it or else they'll just fan the flames and bring on even more. By this logic, one supposes that the party of law and order would advise an abused wife to just shut up about it or else her husband will hurt her even worse. And if there is anyone alive who believes were the shoe on the other foot that Republicans wouldn't be politicizing this...well, congratulations you have just been awarded the Stupidest Human Out of the Six Billion People on this Planet Award. Thank you, Mr. President--"Go for it!" sure beats the hell out of "Bring it on." First time in quite a while I cheered the President's words. And it felt great. A rarity: I was right. Turns out that despite their rhetoric about being independent-minded, how they are the voice of the silent majority, speaking out for the American taxpayer, the Tea Party is really just a radical wing of the Republican party. Good luck with that. Oh--you may have missed this with all the other bullshit going on today, but it seems the Reconciliation bill passed the Senate and then the House. It's over--it may be flawed, it might not contain all that we wished, but anyway you cut it...WE FUCKING WON! Peace, emaycee

Whining wimps and blithering babies--Danger ahead edition

I don't care for my congressman (Mike Rogers-R-MI). I disagreed with him vociferously while he was rubber stamping the disastrous Bush the Lesser agenda. He's little more than a Republican toadie, a seasoned liar, and his mind knows independence like mine knows cold fusion (i.e., zip, zero, nada). I wrote him letters expressing my disappointment with his votes. I've voted proudly against him twice. Never, though, never did I think that throwing a brick through his office window or threatening the lives of his children was a valid option. Silly me--apparently this is appropriate behavior for "patriots." For the rest of us, though, I'm certain it would be viewed as terrorism. Along that same line, the Republicans passed many bills during the Bush the Lesser years (tax cuts for the wealthy, the credit card bill, Iraq war resolution, the Medicare prescription plan that was little more than a giveaway to the pharmaceutical industry) that I vehemently opposed--**Aside--good day for big words beginning with the letter "v"**--but never, repeat, never did I think that somehow they had cheated to pass their agenda. Yes, I was unhappy, yes, I think they made our country worse off, but the truth of the matter is they won majorities in the House and Senate, won the Presidency, and therefore had the right to pass their agenda. And I had the right to write letters to the editor, donate to Democratic candidates, and work for defeating those majorities (2006--YES!! 2008--YES, AGAIN!!). One would think that now that Healthcare reform has passed (nyah, nyah--fuck you Tea Partiers) and the Republicans are perilously close to the political wilderness again (once the majority of the American people see what this bill does, they're going to like it--though it does have its faults--and vote for the party of go over the party of no) they would at least attempt to be good losers and give themselves a chance with socially liberal/fiscally conservative independents. Nope--why suck it up like an adult when you can throw a tantrum like a child. Is there a more pathetic politican these days than John McCain? And, thank you, Vice President Biden, your enthusiasm is warranted: this is a "...big fucking deal!" Peace, emaycee

This America, is your Tea Party...

Oh, but the truth of the matter always has a funny way of coming out eventually. For all its talk about being a grass roots organization, the national debt, looking out for the American taxpayer, ad nauseum, turns out the Tea Party is basically the lunatic fringe of the far right wing of the Republican party: little more than a radical group of racists and homophobes (don't know if there's an epithet for those who hawk loogies). As reported by Digby and Think Progress, the Tea Party showed its true colors with their antics today in protest of tomorrow's historic healthcare reform vote. If ever there were reasons for the gutless to stand up and vote yes tomorrow, these are those. Nothing like being proven right to make for a good night's sleep... Peace, emaycee

Na, na, na, na, hey, hey...goodbye

A whopping 300 tea partiers showed up yesterday to protest the Democrats' healthcare proposals. A mass of humanity--a whole three hundred! I suspect that any day now we'll be seeing the mainstream media begin to concede that perhaps this Tea Party movement is what it is: a fringe movement that has about as much chance of success as does the Green Party. Nah--blithering idiots screaming at town hall meetings makes for good TV (or not). Also, as reported in the Daily Kos, an NBC/WSJ poll shows the following: while 20% of those polled said they would consider voting for a Tea Party candidate (a relatively decent number until you remember that number would probably represent the far right lunatic fringe of the Republican party--which is basically what the tea partiers are), 50% said no. Good luck with those numbers.... Perhaps that most surprising number of the poll was that 18% of those polled had never heard of the Tea Party movement. Jesus fucking Christ, what galaxy are these people living in? It certainly isn't the Milky Way. Must be the never listen to the radio, never watch TV, never read a book, magazine, or newspaper, never log on to a computer demographic. Didn't realize we had quite so many catatonic people here in America... Peace, emaycee