Sorry Tea Partiers, This Is No Revolution

Matt Taibbi takes a lengthy look at the Tea Party movement in the latest Rolling Stone and sums it up as only he can: "They're full of shit," he writes. "All of them." Tea partiers talk a good game about the evils of government spending—"with the exception of the money spent on them." And forget this talk of revolution. Our system makes "meaningful political change" all but impossible, especially from a movement created by GOP insiders and underwritten by "billionaire businessmen and corporations." Also, let's not forget that early hero Rand Paul has proven to be just so much hot air.

"The Tea Party today is being pitched in the media as this great threat to the GOP," writes Taibbi. "In reality, the Tea Party is the GOP. What few elements of the movement aren't yet under the control of the Republican Party soon will be, and even if a few genuine Tea Party candidates sneak through, it's only a matter of time before the uprising as a whole gets castrated, just like every grass-roots movement does in this country." To get the full flavor, go here.
(More Tea Party stories.)