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62 of 71 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
That's No Angry Mob...Is a must Read!, March 14, 2010
This review is from: That's No Angry Mob, That's My Mom: Team Obama's Assault on Tea-Party, Talk-Radio Americans (Hardcover)
Just finished reading the book. Loved it. Michael Graham has managed to debunk every leftist view without a single insult toward me. This book backs up every argument with FACTS unlike the progressives who's only idea is to call tea party participants "racist, teabaggers, and stupid" when questioned! Living in Amherst, Massachusetts where terroist are being invited to live once Gitmo closes (see page 13) I know only too well how the left believes their opinion is the right and only opinion. Michael's wit and sense of humor is evident throughout the book. Some parts were LOL funny. Joe Biden, need I say more? If you attended a tea party rally, or were there in spirit, or are concerned about the direction our country is heading, buy this book. You will feel vindicated and ready to keep fighting the fight!!!
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56 of 71 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Defense of the Tea Party Movement, March 10, 2010
This review is from: That's No Angry Mob, That's My Mom: Team Obama's Assault on Tea-Party, Talk-Radio Americans (Hardcover)
Recently an Amazon friend wrote a comment under one of my reviews complaining that tea party participants were openly talking about nullification, the concept that states and local governments can nullify federal laws. This harkens back to the separatist south, he noted, with the implication that anyone who would believe such a thing is racist. Of course, it also harkens back to various liberal and libertarian constituencies that opposed the Bush administration's "Real ID Act" by encouraging state and local agencies to oppose it, but no one ever accused these "nullification" advocates of racism. But the broader point was a suspicion of people who attend tea parties and otherwise are active and vocal about their opposition to the policies of the Obama administration. Who are these people, and why do they arouse such heated passions? Talk show host Michael Graham's answer is that they are ordinary people who represent a significant new force in politics, and they cannot be simply written off by name calling.
In general, the "agenda" of the people who attend tea parties, according to Graham, is personal responsibility. They dislike government bailouts, whether to GM or Melanie Griffiths-Evans (a real estate agent who nonetheless managed to default on her Adjustable Rate Mortgage). It is not, Graham argues, that people who listen to talk radio (as opposed to NPR) and attend tea parties lack compassion. He claims conservatives contribute more to private charity than liberals. But tea party activists dislike rewarding those who make bad decisions. They also dislike government run health care and they especially dislike being told they are stupid (or racist) if they voice their objections. But they are, for the most part, not "intellectuals" in the sense that their opposition to government health care does not come from reading Milton Friedman; it comes from visiting the post office.
Graham concedes that there are a few rabble rousers among those who attend tea parties, just as there are more than a few leftist kooks who still promote vast conspiracy theories about how elections were stolen in 2000 and how the US blew up their own towers in 2001. (Fair warning; there are a fair number of right wing kooks who also believe that sort of thing.) But on the whole his take is that the tea party movement is made up of middle class people who are simply fed up with adding nearly 2 trillion to the deficit in a single year and who would rather run their own lives.
I found this book a moderately convincing and I say that as one of the "elitist" snobs who opposes socialized health care precisely because I read (and understand) free market economists. My main contact with the tea party crowd was at a local debate between a Democrat and Republican candidate for a state legislative office and they were very polite and thoughtful, and somewhat more critical of the Republican. They knew what the Democrat stood for and even found some common ground with him, but the previous Republican candidate had broken his no tax increase pledge on his very first budget vote, so they were understandably skeptical of people pandering to them.
Beyond that, however, I was a little put off by this book. It has a very chatty style which is what I should expect from a talk radio host but nonetheless I like more analysis and less anecdotes. The book spends a lot of time dissecting the attacks made by "Team Obama" on the tea party crowd. And undoubtedly the administration has tried to marginalize their increasing large number of opponents as extremists. But I don't think every left wing blogger can be categorized as part of "Team Obama" any more than I think every right wing hack is a "birther." Nonetheless, the strident opposition to the Obama administration cries out for some sort of analysis and simply labeling these people as racists (or as "my mom") will not do, regardless of how convenient these labels are for a given political agenda.
My own take is fairly simple. Obama won because people were fed up with George W. Bush. Specifically, they were upset at how long two wars were taking. Beyond that, many Americans, for whom fiscal responsibility is a big deal, were upset at Bush's 700 billion dollar bailout (more than a few fiscal conservatives, myself among them, actively hoped the Repubicans would lose for that alone) and in general the previous president's policies on immigration and his own venture into socialized health care (prescription drug coverage) alienated his base without attracting any real support from the left. Obama, a man without a record, said all the right things. He would support a transparent government; no secret deals. He would impose fiscal discipline and pay for any new programs with cuts elsewhere. He would not raise taxes on anyone making more than $250,000 a year. And he would bring our troops home. Obama has since broken every one of those key campaign promises and people are upset. And they are becoming increasingly vocal about it. So naturally, the administration and its supporters are faced with a choice: they can actually do the things that won them the election, or they can attempt to marginalize their opponents. They are going with the latter strategy and all polls suggest it will come back to haunt them this election year.
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43 of 54 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
To understand the Tea Party Movement- Click Purchase!, March 10, 2010
This review is from: That's No Angry Mob, That's My Mom: Team Obama's Assault on Tea-Party, Talk-Radio Americans (Hardcover)
Just received my pre-ordered copy and cannot put it down. As a 4-15-09, 1st time activist, just call me "Mom!" Michael has our backs and the bullhorn! Reading the "Love Letters from the Left", you will be amazed just how many insults have been thrown at mild mannered, taxpaying, Americans. Michael's cutting wit will have you laughing the fools off. The book captures the arrogance of 2009 and brings you to The People's response- Scott Brown. A must read for anyone who feels insulted or unheard and wants a good laugh. It is an educational book (common sense 101) for politicians or those who have spent too much time with MSNBC.
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