How the Tea Party won the debt deal

[DonCoquixote]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2011/aug/02/tea-party-debt-deal

Juicy sample:

The Tea Party has the will to do things in a way that the left in America currently does not. They have taken the old leftist battle cry of "Organise! Organise! Organise!" and done just that. Not for them the mass emails, spot protests and petition-signings of top liberal pressure groups. Not for them obeying their political elites. Instead, using the primary system, they have made sure that virtually any Republican candidate aspiring to office has either to be of the Tea Party or to pay homage to it.

[napi21]

1. No. They won because they were willing to crash the World Economy!

In every degotiation, there is always a breaking point, on each side. You win if you find it. If you are willing to do the disasterous thing that noone else is willing to do, you will win the negotiation, but you well may lose the ultimate goal.

Think about how you're taught to negotiate for a car. The first thing you are told is "You must be willing to walk away without the car."

Jonathan Alter made a terrific statement last night on MSNBC. He said "What Obama could have done when the teapartiers said they were unwilling to negotiate and willing to crash the economy, he could have said OK, I will prepare for that to happen. He then would put a hold on the SS checks for all the wealthy people, put a hold on all Defense spending, close down the parks, national monuments etc, all in the interest of putting that money aside to be able to ride out the shutdown." I thought that was a GREAT WAY to fight the tbers. THEY would have to take the hit from the public who were so unhappy with what was going on.

[proud2BlibKansan]

4. They won because they worked for it. They lobbied and campaigned.

I was in DC until yesterday. Teabaggers are all over, lobbying for their balanced budget amendment. Liberals are nowhere to be found.

[WingDinger]

2. Their unbalanced, screaming blather makes good TV. Like the idiots in commercials, they dont know

shit, but are certain. And address the issues tangentially, at best. We are far too urbane to look the fools.

[readmoreoften]

3. They "won" because they are an astroturf organization funded by a few billionaires.

And the media takes directives from them. I've been to local rallies in Texas of 12,000. They don't make the news. But Tea Party rallies of 400 do.

[SpartanDem]

5. However they're funded

they're more organized than we are.