Firebaggers1 can fuck off.
What’s a “firebagger”, you ask? It was originally coined by someone at Daily Kos ( in reference to FireDogLake’s new love affair with Grover Norquist and the teabaggers2. Of course, Jane Hamsher lost her fucking mind and thought “Well, shit, if they oppose all things Obama and I oppose all things Obama then we’re peas in a pod!” And that’s how the two names became forever entwined.
Now, a few months later, the termed as become to mean something a little broader. Instead of just referring to those on FDL (who love to hate all things Obama) it’s defining other Progressives who would as soon join with the teabaggers as stand against them. These folks decry the term “teabagger” as offensive and insist that they be referred to as “Tea Party Activists”. They see no reason to stand against them and think progressives should reach out and bring them into our fold. They say things like “They’re just like us– except uninformed!” Suddenly instead of being what they’ve proven themselves to be– against Obama at all costs, birthers, racists, cry-babies, anti-union, anti-Progressive and general idiots– the teabaggers are “populists” just like liberals.
Huh-wha?
I was listening to Thom Hartmann’s radio program today and I just couldn’t take it anymore. He was spouting this bullshit about the teabaggers3 being on the same side of us and how they’re just regular folks who don’t know and blah blah blah. The more he yammered, the more irritated I became. I was, for a while, a fan. I haven’t listened in a couple of weeks because I had other things to do. I wasn’t prepared for the teabagger lovefest. And he became just another firebagger to me.
Teabaggers are anti-union. They believe that unions are the bane of the American business. They don’t believe that workers should have the right to organize. They think that auto-workers make too much money and don’t do enough work. They’re happy for the corporations that send their manufacturing overseas (and get tax credits for it).
Teabaggers don’t believe in global warming or environmental protections. They believe global warming is a hoax perpetuated by unions and liberals to further their “anti-business” agenda. They believe that environmental laws inhibit business and cost too much money. They think that Wal-Mart should be able to put a store any damned where they please. They see nothing wrong with logging the rain forest.
Teabaggers are against any kind of regulations on businesses. They think that the banks should be further deregulated, as should the insurance companies. They blame programs for the poor for the financial meltdown. They think the solution to the nation’s health care woes is to completely deregulate the insurance companies– which is their solution to all other problems regarding industry.
Teabaggers want to privatize social security4 and do away with most other social programs. Those damned poor people are just leeches, welfare queens and free loaders. Make them all get jobs, but don’t give them minimum wage because that’s too hurtful to businesses.
Where do the teabaggers and Progressives agree? Where? Well, firebaggers join with them when they’re busy opposing specific Obama policy– which is pretty much every Obama policy. Firebaggers have decided that since the teabaggers seem so organized then they must be on the side of good– or would be if they were just “informed”. Bullshit.
Teabaggers aren’t uninformed. If anything, they’re willfully ignorant. They were happy with government waste when a Republican was running it, but as soon as that black Democrat with the funny name was elected they decided they were pissed. Mostly they were pissed because that guy won, but they found so many other reasons to be suddenly overwrought with anger at government spending. Especially the spending that would help other people (social programs and/or HCR).
Teabaggers deny Obama’s very citizenship. They ask for “proof” of his birth– even after seeing that proof. They applaud those brave citizens who legally challenge Obama’s legitimacy. They doubt his parents’ marriage was legal. They call him “the Anti-Christ”, “Manchurian Candidate” and “affirmative action candidate”.
Firebaggers are just pissed because Obama hasn’t invited them into the Whitehouse and/or isn’t the Great Liberal Savior they thought he was going to be (depending on the firebagger doing the bitching). Anyone who doesn’t declare Obama a sellout or Rahm puppet is declared a sellout, Obama-worshipper5 and/or paid shill for [insert name of evil government lobby]. They say that we shouldn’t call them “teabaggers” because they’ve got good intentions and ignore the signs that teabaggers carry to their rallies (Obama as a witch doctor anyone?). And since teabaggers are against the same person they are against, they ally themselves with them. They’ve even taken to airing attack ads and doing negative polling against Obama.
Disgusting and pitiful. I believe that the majority of firebaggers are just PUMAs remade. I firmly believe that they would have opposed Obama no matter what stance he would have taken on anything. And I believe their leader(s) is(are) using them in the same way that the teabagger leaders are using the teabaggers. They want power and prestige and donations and are willing to tear down anyone that gets in their way. They are using the anger and disillusionment of some Dems6 to their financial advantage. I mean, they didn’t write “Crashing the Gates”, so they had to get on the teevee somehow. Right?
Popularity: 20% [?]
Sphere: Related Content- Because some people take offense at the term “firebagger” I will use it as much as I can. Pfft. [↩]
- A name which firebaggers now consider “offensive”. What the fuck ever. They named themselves. [↩]
- They named themselves. [↩]
- Except theirs. [↩]
- Straight from the PUMA playbook, by the way. [↩]
- The ones that weren’t fucking paying attention during the campaign. [↩]
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6 Comments
You can’t say the other side is just like you except they’re “uniformed”. If the other side doesn’t know what you know, they’re not like you. And it’s not that the other side is “uninformed”. They have access to the same information and disagree with you on what it means. So they are NOT like you.
There’s far to many cry babies out there.
I personally think that the firebaggers want hcr to fail. I think some of them (those looking for money and power) may have been working an angle while taking a paycheck from those who would not benefit from hcr. But that’s a truly unlikely scenario and I’ll leave it at that.
The crybabies, I think, are the ones that wanted Obama to come in and announced that the U.S. was now a Monarchy and He was going to save us all from those evil teabaggers and their corporate masters. When he didn’t create a unitary executive and make Congress his bitches, well he was a failure and everything he tries from here on out will be failures.
Or
He wanted the teabaggers and firebaggers to think they won beause really he wanted NO hcr and is secretly hoping for a senior position in some comfy insurance company–sometime after he gives away his presidency. Or something.
Either Obama sucks and can’t do shit. Or Obama waves his magical wand and everything he wants happens. Firebaggers argue both and none of it makes sense to someone who voted for a president and not a dictator.
*sigh*
//Don’t read anything past here \\\
I must confess that a few minutes ago I took my Ambien. I was going to do a quick reply and off to bed. However, I’ve noticed a very strange effect the Ambien is having on my writing and thought processes. I should erase this entire reply, but I think I want to look at it tomorrow. I’ve seen “blogging while drunk” but have never experience “blogging while Ambien starts taking control of the faculties”. Normally I lie straight down when I take a pill, but this time I just needed to type one thing. Oops.
Optical illusions are, um, interesting at this point. And there lies the reason for my co-workers warning me “You’ll hallucinate on Ambien”. Guess so. crap. I’m off to bed.
Obama reminds me a lot of Kennedy. Lots of charisma. Great speaker and national figure. Not a terribly effective president. There’s just way too much dead weight to overcome to get any real momentum going. Couple that with a party that doesn’t know who it is, and this is the result. Check my blog for my personal political rant.
BTW, you blog quite well on Ambien.
First of all, I’ve got a friend who sometimes writes while on Ambien and doesn’t remember a single thing the next day.
Second, I really really really wish that “teabaggers” hadn’t caught on.
Third, this is one of my favorite of your posts, evah. Thanks for writing it.
That was the first time that ever happened. I didn’t realize it worked so quickly. Then I tried to lie down and my ear hurt so badly that I couldn’t sleep. It was incredibly strange.
I don’t think of ‘teabagger’ as anything other than people wearing actual teabags and I think that’s because I didn’t recognize it as the more offensive term (not being “worldly” as such). Still, if that’s what they want to name themselves, who am I to argue? And if the firebaggers (who I think of as little trolls who fling flaming bags of crap– funny imagery) want to try to give them legitimacy then they can do it with the name they’ve given themselves originally. Ha!
Honestly, the whole thing just makes my brain hurt.
And thank you. I appreciate that (typos and all).
Hi Jenny, thanks for the comments over at SP, I just wanted to drop by and say hi! The puma are a funny lot but I think the teabaggers are a bigger threat and are much much crazier.