Tea Farty
June 14, 2010 4:27 AM   Subscribe

Re-tweeting the Tea Party's hot air.

Clicking on the tweeter's name brings up their Twitter account.
posted by gman (67 comments total) 9 users marked this as a favorite
 
How do they select these people? Is there a database of Tea Party tweeters? Or do they have a Tea Party rhetoric detection algorithm trolling for crazy in the tweetosphere? 'Cause that would be cool.
posted by Salvor Hardin at 4:32 AM on June 14, 2010


I like it, though I'd like it more if I could control the amount of time the tweets displayed before fading.
posted by crunchland at 4:34 AM on June 14, 2010 [2 favorites]


Is it bad that I'm mentally designing a Bayesian filter to give sentences a "Tea Party score"?
posted by Salvor Hardin at 4:35 AM on June 14, 2010 [5 favorites]


As the Texas Board of Education rewrites history with textbook changes, the dummies explore the roots of Tea Party ideology.
posted by gman at 4:37 AM on June 14, 2010 [4 favorites]


How do they select these people?

I can only assume that the posts have a #teaparty or something like that which is excised to make them comprehensible when they appear on that website.
posted by orville sash at 4:42 AM on June 14, 2010 [1 favorite]


Is there a way to turn off the sound? I wanna turn off the sound.
posted by lauranesson at 4:43 AM on June 14, 2010 [1 favorite]


It's the fluttering of the tailcoat that really gets me.
posted by HeroZero at 4:44 AM on June 14, 2010 [2 favorites]


need...rebuttal...box....
posted by DU at 4:48 AM on June 14, 2010


I like it, though I'd like it more if I could control the amount of time the tweets displayed before fading.

Totally agree, if only they could linger around a little longer...
posted by samsara at 5:26 AM on June 14, 2010


Whoever smelt it, dealt it.
posted by chavenet at 5:32 AM on June 14, 2010



Oil is a blessing, not an addiction would make a great bumper sticker.

As would: Definition of a Racist: A Conservative who wins an argument against a Liberal

Proud you voted for a black man, why can't you be proud to be an American? is a little long, but it could be one of those bumper stickers where the first line is large print and the second line is considerably smaller.

Great in the sense of identifying idiots.
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 5:34 AM on June 14, 2010 [2 favorites]


The hatred is strong in them.
posted by Daddy-O at 5:48 AM on June 14, 2010 [1 favorite]


I LOL'd.

Web 2.1: intermediated crazy.
posted by Artful Codger at 5:50 AM on June 14, 2010


When you're climbing up a ladder and you hear something splatter...
posted by MaryDellamorte at 5:51 AM on June 14, 2010 [1 favorite]


it's comforting to know that hillary is charming the pants of the chinese
posted by kitchenrat at 6:07 AM on June 14, 2010


Hey, those pants are notoriously hard to charm!
posted by GenjiandProust at 6:11 AM on June 14, 2010


It's weird how they blame Obama for the oil spill. I mean, it was BP's well, for one. And, they do realize that offshore drilling is now going to always be associated with one of the biggest man-made environmental disasters, right? And that off-shore drilling is their policy, right?
posted by mccarty.tim at 6:12 AM on June 14, 2010 [2 favorites]


The poe is strong in a lot of these. "When n America, SPEAK ENGLISH!"
posted by mccarty.tim at 6:13 AM on June 14, 2010


The last time I saw people so confident an incumbent would be kicked out, it was 2003.
posted by mccarty.tim at 6:16 AM on June 14, 2010 [6 favorites]


Is there a way to turn off the sound? I wanna turn off the sound.

On a mac it's one of the volume control buttons.

I really hate all flash sites. I'm not opposed to flash, but give me the option. The bitching is only going to get worse. I've hated flash for longer than the iPhone and iPad, but it's nice to suddenly have reinforcements.

Anyway, many of those are clever, which I don't generally associate with tea partiers. They quote punkjohnnycash and you can't convince me he's a typical tea partier.

I'm not quite sure I get the point of the site.

It's a lot like the guy who has a Fox News yard sign. He's not going to change any one's mind with the poster. All he is going to do is let half the populace know he's an asshole and get the other half to nod knowingly as they read "Fox News is the only truth!"

LOLteabagger!
posted by cjorgensen at 6:25 AM on June 14, 2010


need...rebuttal...box....

You can always do so thru Twitter. That's an endless rabbit hole, though.
posted by zarq at 6:29 AM on June 14, 2010


And that off-shore drilling is their policy, right?

Their policy? Really? Just theirs? I guess you learn something new everyday.
posted by MarshallPoe at 6:30 AM on June 14, 2010


Tea is the new kool-aid.
posted by pwally at 6:31 AM on June 14, 2010 [2 favorites]


This is crudely elegant. I like.

The teabaggers aren't the only ones infesting the interwebs with half baked thoughts, poor grammar and an attack of the rants.

In my world, the whole of Twitter would be redesigned like this.
posted by MuffinMan at 6:33 AM on June 14, 2010 [1 favorite]


Yes, but polyester shorts barely shake when you fart.
posted by mccarty.tim at 6:38 AM on June 14, 2010


Marshall, I meant as in, Sarah Palin saying "Drill baby Drill!"
posted by mccarty.tim at 6:39 AM on June 14, 2010


Sorry for the drive-by post, Tim. Too much coffee....
posted by MarshallPoe at 6:43 AM on June 14, 2010


I can only assume that the posts have a #teaparty or something like that which is excised to make them comprehensible when they appear on that website.

No, they're presented as they are.

I clicked through one and:

a) He was following people like Glenn Beck, his local tea party, obamasux etc.
b) ALL of his tweets were tea party-ish. It's not like, oh today I'll talk about seeing Iron Man 2. Every tweet is about global warming being false or something.
posted by Solon and Thanks at 6:52 AM on June 14, 2010


I love this one:

"Is Obama the Antichrist? 12 of 19 characteristics met!"
posted by ORthey at 6:55 AM on June 14, 2010 [1 favorite]


"Is Obama the Antichrist? 12 of 19 characteristics met!"

There's a checklist?
posted by zarq at 7:01 AM on June 14, 2010 [1 favorite]


I have a hard time considering quoting stuff from March to be "re-tweeting" , which would imply it is 'live' or, at the minimum, very recent.
posted by Bovine Love at 7:02 AM on June 14, 2010 [1 favorite]


It's weird how they blame Obama for the oil spill.

Come on - you must recognise an obvious conspiracy designed to discredit the free world's oil industries and force America to buy the gas which is our birthright at inflated prices from his Muslim terrorist friends, or if it's not a conspiracy then why doesn't he stop it?
posted by Phanx at 7:10 AM on June 14, 2010 [3 favorites]


Noise warning for those at work! There's only 2 other people in this room and I'm pretty sure they both think I have bad gas now because that fart noise is VERY audible. There's no way for me to save face now, just going to have to pretend it didn't happen.
posted by hellojed at 7:18 AM on June 14, 2010


It's weird how they blame Obama for the oil spill. I mean, it was BP's well, for one. And, they do realize that offshore drilling is now going to always be associated with one of the biggest man-made environmental disasters, right? And that off-shore drilling is their policy, right?

They are gittin' the Demmycrats back for blaming Bush for all the rain.
posted by gjc at 7:18 AM on June 14, 2010


There's a checklist?

Some of the lesser-known criteria:

- Paid a lot for this muffler
- Has 99 problems, and a bitch is one
- Slips Canadian coins into the middle of rolls of quarters
- Tugged on Superman's cape
- Spit into the wind
- Pulled the mask off the old Lone Ranger
- Messed around with Jim
posted by Mr. Bad Example at 7:23 AM on June 14, 2010 [17 favorites]


The poe is strong in a lot of these. "When n America, SPEAK ENGLISH!"

That's a tough call to make.


I love this one:

"Is Obama the Antichrist? 12 of 19 characteristics met!"


Wouldn't it take all meeting all 19 characteristics to qualify?
posted by Rykey at 7:26 AM on June 14, 2010 [1 favorite]


Wouldn't it take all meeting all 19 characteristics to qualify?

That's exactly the sort of thing the Antichrist would say.
posted by joe lisboa at 7:32 AM on June 14, 2010 [12 favorites]


Obama is only 1.5 years into his term, and you expect him to have fulfilled all of his campaign promises and Antichrist characteristics? Give the man a break. He is working with NOAA, NASA, and NAMBLA to develop a device that actually makes it rain pedophile frogs, which will take care of characteristics 14, 18, AND 19 in one fell swoop. Have faith!
posted by Mister_A at 7:50 AM on June 14, 2010 [2 favorites]


Also this is kinda boring; dude just follows a few predictable nutjobs and I've already seen duplicates in my 2 1-min. sessions.
posted by Mister_A at 7:56 AM on June 14, 2010


That's nothing but awesome. (I mean the sound effect.) And super 12.
posted by heyho at 8:54 AM on June 14, 2010 [1 favorite]


"b) ALL of his tweets were tea party-ish. It's not like, oh today I'll talk about seeing Iron Man 2. Every tweet is about global warming being false or something."

My guess is because this much of the "Tea Party" is astroturf. People posing as everyday people and tweeting to look pissed off so that the media will be forced to say there is a movement. Kinda like Gore v Bush protesters in 2000. Looked like everyday (well, white with polo shirts ... it is Florida afterall) people angry and shouting, when in fact it was mostly GOP staffers sent to make it look like there was a movement. I assume that many of these activists hiding behind these Twitter usernames are actually paid by the GOP and that they have multiple accounts.
posted by terrapin at 9:00 AM on June 14, 2010 [1 favorite]


Actually, my husband tweets. Wouldn't shock me a bit if one of his wound up being farted out on that site. All his tweety friends sound like that....and hey, if the GOP is paying, I'm pissed because we could use the money.
posted by St. Alia of the Bunnies at 9:10 AM on June 14, 2010


Oh just rename the service Tooter, open it up to the public and you'll have something everyone can enjoy.
posted by mazola at 9:13 AM on June 14, 2010


Then maybe you can see if your husband can get a cut of the ignorance pie!
posted by terrapin at 9:15 AM on June 14, 2010


"Is Obama the Antichrist? 12 of 19 characteristics met!"

Wouldn't it take all meeting all 19 characteristics to qualify?


Ok. So Obama is *almost* the Anti-christ. Are you happy now?
posted by mr.curmudgeon at 9:52 AM on June 14, 2010


The highlight was when I saw a tweet that reminded me of this.
posted by box at 10:25 AM on June 14, 2010


Ok. So Obama is *almost* the Anti-christ. Are you happy now?

GOD DAMM MOOSLIM CAN'T DO ANYTHING RIGHT!!1!1!!
posted by me & my monkey at 10:31 AM on June 14, 2010


He just farted that Sarah Palin had a nice rack. Good lord when will these people stop?
posted by msbutah at 10:41 AM on June 14, 2010


Sarah Palin disappointed me for the first time ever when she said she didn't have implants. She just did her usual denny and hide behind Trig thing. I was hoping she would say something truly bizarre, but instead she's seemed to settle into a routine. She used to be the wacky, interesting one in the GOP, but now she's resting on her laurels, spouting the same GOP talking points. Will people even care about her anymore by 2012?
posted by mccarty.tim at 11:03 AM on June 14, 2010


Yup, Sarah needs to go full crazy to live up to her track record. Like, kill and eat a furry during an interview.
posted by Mister_A at 11:26 AM on June 14, 2010


This site proves that twitter is so intuitive, even these assholes can use it. It used to be that there was a certain barrier of entry for building a website or blogging. You had to have at least a few active brain cells to do it. Now, any old cretinous numbskull can vomit his hateful and narrow opinions out onto the ether.
posted by crunchland at 11:27 AM on June 14, 2010


Crunchland, my husband was a veteran of the old days in the 80s when you had to know something about computers to mess with them. He bemoans the old days as well (days in which I had Absolutely No Use for a computer, ahem.)

Just sayin'.
posted by St. Alia of the Bunnies at 12:28 PM on June 14, 2010


Oh, and I was one of the folks who had a twitter account back before twitter got to be the phenomenom it is now...you do realize we have the Republicans to blame for the fact that all of a sudden Twitter took off like a rocket? They all discovered it around the same time and there it went. (I want to say it was the March after the election but I don't remember-I do remember the TPers finding it -plus my husband -and then all of a sudden people were doing things with Twitter that shocked and amazed me.)
posted by St. Alia of the Bunnies at 12:30 PM on June 14, 2010


No. I refuse to believe that, but do allow me to introduce you and your friends to this new trend that involves finding a bottle of Smirnoff Ice.
posted by crunchland at 12:55 PM on June 14, 2010 [1 favorite]


Twitter still looks to me like a monumental waste of time that requires little use of mental resources. In short, the kind of thing politicians and their supporters turn to after losing elections. What can you do with Twitter that's shocking and amazing, other than knowing what Lady Gaga is up to or knowing where that taco truck you like is?
posted by mccarty.tim at 1:17 PM on June 14, 2010


Metafilter: Now, any old cretinous numbskull can vomit his hateful and narrow opinions out onto the ether.

sorry.
posted by quin at 1:31 PM on June 14, 2010


What can you do with Twitter that's shocking and amazing, other than knowing what Lady Gaga is up to or knowing where that taco truck you like is?

Does it have to be shocking or amazing?

Many of the journalists I know use it to help them gather resources for story ideas and articles in progress. The medium allows them to connect directly to PR reps or CIO liaisons without sending a formal email, and use alternate channels to corroborate stories. It also allows them to be instantly informed about breaking news without relying on rss feeds or sms. In some cases, it allows them to bypass bureaucracy to reach the people they want to interview directly. Some PR reps use it to broadcast corporate messages, or promote changes within the brands they work with.

Many actors and other celebrities use it as a platform to get work or promote their current projects or appearances. They may also ask their networks of fans to support various people, projects and causes. Twitter affords them the ability to connect with their fans in a limited way without engaging them directly and in person. This is of course, can be both good and bad. Most of Adam Baldwin's fans probably would never have known he was a Tea Partier without Twitter. On the other hand, the incredibly talented Ming-Na talks about her work, gives you behind the scenes looks at the series she's in and actually responds to some questions from fans. She's not the only one, either. I think that's pretty neat. Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson tweets a wide range of fascinating thoughts and ideas. Roger Ebert turned to the medium after he lost his voice, and became incredibly prolific. It has gained him an audience that may have only known him in passing.

And of course, you can use twitter to tell you the time in London. :)
posted by zarq at 1:35 PM on June 14, 2010


Oh... and you can use Twitter to:

Translate small blocks of text

Track Packages

and as a Timer.
posted by zarq at 1:46 PM on June 14, 2010


Twitter still looks to me like a monumental waste of time that requires little use of mental resources.

So, you're not all that familiar with Twitter is what you're saying.
posted by Astro Zombie at 2:16 PM on June 14, 2010 [2 favorites]


I must admit I'm getting a kick out of "commie lib" as a Twitter-friendly euphemism.
posted by HeroZero at 2:35 PM on June 14, 2010


Twitter still looks to me like a monumental waste of time that requires little use of mental resources.

What? Are books a waste of time because some people write bad ones? What on earth are you talking about?
posted by ORthey at 5:39 PM on June 14, 2010


I'm glad that some people have a use for twitter, but I've always thought that limiting the amount people feel they have to write to express themselves is not the direction I want to see writing go in. Twitter comes off lazy to me, and while good for quick updates and such, I agree with mccarty.tm - it seems like a time-waster and a brain drain.

Love this site though - the more exposure the hateful assholes of the teaparty get, the better. Most of these comments are absolutely indefensible.
posted by agregoli at 5:46 PM on June 14, 2010


The noise is annoying after the second time but it was fun to read the publicized rantings of nimrods and then imaging how furrowed their brows were while tapping it out.

Plus I saw one from Megan McCain and that made me think of her great big happy Republican boobies and I lol'ed.
posted by fenriq at 7:29 PM on June 14, 2010


Ugh. There was a Tea Party float in a recent parade in my hometown handing out literature. I've been Tea-bagged Enough Already. The mindset of the tea party "patriots" and republicans have been pretty disastrous for this country. I can't even lol at this stuff any more.
posted by various at 8:02 PM on June 14, 2010


Twitter comes off lazy to me, and while good for quick updates and such, I agree with mccarty.tm - it seems like a time-waster and a brain drain.

Trust me, writing in a very limited format can be an awful lot of work. I have to think about a tweet far more carefully than a MetaFilter comment, because I have to express myself so succinctly.
posted by Astro Zombie at 8:27 PM on June 14, 2010


Yeah, I know it can be a lot of work - I've done all kinds of rule-based writing, including short pieces - I still don't like the trend. Honestly, how many "tweets" (I hate that word so much I could barely type it) are of the well-thought-out variety? But this is all off-topic anyway...
posted by agregoli at 8:31 PM on June 14, 2010


When I was young (say, 12) and trying to think about how I'd know when I'm finally an adult, I decided that a good signifier would be no longer laughing at farts and fart jokes. Heh. Sad to report, that still hasn't happened. God, what is it about that word/sound?!
posted by heyho at 9:02 AM on June 15, 2010


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