Jodi,

Rose coloured glasses? Quite the contrary. Not once have I suggested that the Tea Party movement hasn't attracted a lunatic fringe. But neither do I dismiss them so casually. I haven't attended a Tea Party rally and have no plans to do so in the future. It's (forgive me) not my cup of tea. But, as someone who works in municipal government, who struggles with the budget numbers all day long, trying to sustain what's become unsustainable, it's going to be interesting to see if the Tea Partiers are a ballot box force come this fall. I might be working with a very interesting City Council this fall.

On a far more pleasant note, since I've never had the chance to correspond with you, I think your ponies are really neat. You're quite talented.

Knut,

I certainly don't think you're off-base. There's a degree of accountability to an open discussion that's most healthy, and personally I gain tremendous insight from the diversity of views presented here.

A flood of private emails like you're talking about seems to me like engaging in a vigourous discussion at a public place, and then having one of the crowd (for lack of a better term) following you home and walking into your house to continue the chin wag. It's like being stalked by an intellectual rapist. Some people need to respect the boundaries...

QUOTE: Gosh, I guess we should all be grateful that Marvel showed such good judgment and selected the far less offensive Tea Party rally signs that they did. And I guess Cap was right in his reasoning of sending the Falcon undercover "...under the thinking that a black government official will most certainly spark their anger." Thanks for clearing that up for us!

Isn't Cap sending the Falcon undercover to set off the Watchdogs, not the Tea Party protesters?  Thats how I read the pages in question.

Mike,

It's called subtext. Just who are the Watchdogs stand-ins for in our ripped-from-the-headlines storyline? Admittedly, it's a little more subtle that having lizard-Reagan running around in his underwear, but not by much...

QUOTE: Mike, It's called subtext. Just who are the Watchdogs stand-ins for in our ripped-from-the-headlines storyline? Admittedly, it's a little more subtle that having lizard-Reagan running around in his underwear, but not by much...

Well the Watchdogs. IIRC, are a racist, homophobic,paramilitary anti-government Milita. Don't recall their stance on taxation. Do you think Brubaker was trying to link antitax protesters with racists and homophobes?

Joseph,

Steven is essentially echoing the "army of angry idiots" line, but he does have a point. From my read of the Tea Party efforts, you have a bunch of people who for the most part have never been involved previously in the political process. They aren't the pros, and it really shows. But they know that their country has gone off the rails, and they are angry about it.

If they stay angry, then the movement dries up in the hot sun and fizzles away in one electoral cycle. But if that anger is turned into fuel, if a bunch of people previously disengaged in the political process are activated, if they start working toward solutions, these might prove to be very interesting times.

QUOTE: Much of the media has. Various posters earlier in this thread have. Why should Mr. Brubaker be any different?

I really dont know him or his work well enough to say. Would he have decided where the captions were placed. If the statement "I dont see a blackman from Harlem exactly fitting in with a bunch of angry white folks" been placed elsewhere, would there be a problem? or was it Sam's statement "So I guess the whole "hate the government" vibe around here isn't limited to the Watchdogs"? Maybe the "Tea Bag the libs before they teabag you" sign?