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Sep 21 2009, 6:30 am

Question Of The Day: When Will Conservative Energy Fade?

Conservatives have been energized all summer in protesting President Obama, his health care reform effort, and the rest of his agenda. When will the energy fade?

Comments (12)

There will be a light fading when the health care bill fails. Also, theere's always the Holiday Season.

When the socialist and communist agendas fade.

First of all, protesting never gets anything done quickly. It takes a long time for a movement to begin to see results. That takes a commitment that these people haven't shown yet. Second, they aren't really trying to do anything anyway but protest Obama and big government. Obama has at least three more years as president and big government isn't about to go away anytime soon. Once a health care bill passes, then the President, the Congress and the media will move on and the tea party movement will feel the sting of defeat and futility. After that, the passion of the Beer halls and pizza parlors will be nothing but a fading memory.

Mike Burns
http://www.disorderlyreport.com/

It won't. But then their demographics are shrinking. Lily white, old, and on the wrong side of history. To be sure, a part of the population will always cling to an aggrieved, anarchic, but increasingly unremembered and rose-tinged past. Thankfully we will be able to shunt them off in a corner where they can continue to be the scared, angry, and crying children they have shown themselves to be - without unduly disturbing the adults in the room.

24AheadDotCom (Replying to: Pineview1997)

Ah, the "liberal" racist and eliminationist streak raises its ugly head again. Isn't it odd how Dem leaders never condemn remarks like that? Sometimes they even joke about them.

As for the question, the energy hasn't really been all that "conservative"; see my Tea Parties coverage for what they actually represent, who's pulling the strings, and what they didn't do that would have actually been effective.

The same string-pullers are probably going to be on the opposite side from their followers when BHO starts pushing amnesty. What happens then is anyone's guess. Will the followers wise up, or will some of them be fooled by their leaders, or will the splintering help BHO get what he, the Dems, corrupt businesses, and the Mexican government want? That would be a good thing for this site to talk to DickArmey about.

Pineview1997 (Replying to: 24AheadDotCom)

Hmm, what did I say that was racist or eliminationist? Btw, what does "eliminationist" mean 24AheadDotCom? Never heard of that before.

"Conservatives have been energized all summer in protesting President Obama, his health care reform effort, and the rest of his agenda. "

You answered your own questions. They aren't energized about a single positive thing, only about protesting everything associated with the president. How long were people fired up about protesting the Iraq war? As long as it lasted, but it depended a lot on perceived progress and lack thereof; the conservative protests don't seem tied to anything actually happening. They'll probably find a tizzy hard to maintain through the 2012 elections, though they may stay at peak-aggrievedness through the 2010 midterms.

Republicans in congress have been trotting out the claim that they agree with the president about 80% of the reform; does their fired up base appear to agree with the president about 80% of the reform? It's going to be very hard to turn these people into a useful political force for electing people Republicans want to be seen with.

Thorley Winston (Replying to: Deborah)

Which Republicans in Congress?

I would assume it will fade when Obama is no longer president. Republicans acted this way the entire time Clinton was president. They don't handle being out of power well.

Thorley Winston

I don’t expect the energy to fade anytime soon since it’s been building up for a long time.


Anyone who thinks that this is all or even mostly about Obama or his agenda simply hasn’t been paying attention.


......The "energy" is a few renta mobs funded by Fox and the usual suspects and hyped by the media because conflict is what they do because it sell papers or airtime.....none of it means much in terms of the legislative process as we'll find out over the next few weeks as the healthcare reform effort moves into the home straight.......in any case I already see signs of fade as summer comes to an end and the economy starts to recover so that these clowns look more and more disconnected from reality.......if you want a reality check go over to Andy Sullivan who has a Benen chart up showing GOP approvals.....apart from the south they are in single figures or teens everywhere.....basically you have an angry 25% most of it concentrated in the South......why journalists are speculating about Obama's problems when the Republicans are in monumental trouble is an enduring mystery.