Tea Party

[Associate Justice PiT]

I don't consider myself a "member" of the Tea Party per se, but I do agree with the idea of Smaller Government and Lower Taxes.

     I agree with this. Just as well, the Tea Party has become a front for the same bog-standard ultra-conservatives that were busy digging us a pit during the Bush Administration. They have no credibility as fiscal conservatives.

[Associate Justice PiT]

I don't consider myself a "member" of the Tea Party per se, but I do agree with the idea of Smaller Government and Lower Taxes.

     I agree with this. Just as well, the Tea Party has become a front for the same bog-standard ultra-conservatives that were busy digging us a pit during the Bush Administration. They have no credibility as fiscal conservatives.

This literally doesn't even make sense.

     Meet the new crooks, same as the old crooks.

[Associate Justice PiT]

     I evidently missed the memo where ultraconservative meant conservative on literally every single issue that exists, has existed, or will exist.

[Associate Justice PiT]

Well if someone deviates from 'conservatism' then how are they 'ultraconservative'? That is assuming some sort of coherent definition. You're still not making any sense. If you had said 'neo-conservative' or 'christian conservative' then I would agree with your point, but you didn't.

     I think I said these people had no credibility as fiscal conservatives, not that they were fiscal liberals. It's not like these people actually support fiscally liberal policies; they just oppose spending cuts to their myriad pet projects, which in practical terms comes out to be largely equivalent to fiscal liberalism.

[Associate Justice PiT]

Well if someone deviates from 'conservatism' then how are they 'ultraconservative'? That is assuming some sort of coherent definition. You're still not making any sense. If you had said 'neo-conservative' or 'christian conservative' then I would agree with your point, but you didn't.

     I think I said these people had no credibility as fiscal conservatives, not that they were fiscal liberals. It's not like these people actually support fiscally liberal policies; they just oppose spending cuts to their myriad pet projects, which in practical terms comes out to be largely equivalent to fiscal liberalism.

Which.. is not fiscally conservative and hence fiscally liberal, because they support more government spending. Again, doesn't make sense. This is like if someone posted that some church was very fundamentalist, but had no credibility because they believed in evolution and were universalist. It's incoherent.

     The issue is that you folks are demanding coherence, when these people are not coherent. You can call them fiscally liberal if you want, but that suggests they have actual reasons for supporting the fiscal policies they do beyond mere selfishness/laziness/base-pandering.

[Associate Justice PiT]

     Okay, that makes sense. I didn't think of the fiscal angle as being "pretty significant", since actual opposition to spending (as long as the politician pays lip service to the idea) has not been an important litmus for conservatism amongst the general public for some time now. But that is taking the notion of perception being reality far too seriously.