Who's Tea-Bagging?

Today is Tax Day. The right wing is going crazy with its tea-bagging--and they claim they're going to have tea party protests, too. I'd do a Google search to see if there are any good images from the demonstrations, but I'm afraid much of what I'd find would be "not safe for work," and I'd prefer to hold on to this job for the time being, thank you.

The protests are supposed to take their inspiration from the Boston Tea Party (which all of a sudden makes more sense when you realize Sam Adams was brewing beer and the plot was likely hatched down at the alehouse), but I'm not sure quite how far you get with the line, "Taxation with representation, but we're still mad about it anyway." Steve Benin may have the best explanation:

So, at some point in the future (we don't know when), some politicians (we don't know who) might find it necessary to raise taxes. Whose taxes would be raised? It's too soon to say. How much would taxes go up? No one knows.

But the mere prospect of a possible future tax increase has led untold thousands of activists, an entire cable news network, corporate lobbyists, conservative bloggers, conservative talk-radio hosts, and Republican officials to organize a series of national events. With extraordinary foresight, they've organized thousands of rallies to register their outrage, not at existing tax rates, but at tax policies that haven't been proposed, but might exist at some undermined point.

The best line about all of this, though, came from David Shuster Monday night on Countdown. He'd just discussed how one of the prime movers in the tea-bag movement was former House Majority Leader Dick Armey.

If you are planning simultaneous tea bagging all around the country, you're going to need a Dick Armey.

We'll be back with more family-oriented material soon, as long as the right wingers will lay off the blatant set ups.