The Loud Noises Party

Teabaggers don't always have a fallback excuse to cover why they are truly angry (Obama Derangement Syndrome) but they sure are good at making LOUD NOISES against whatever they are told is bad.  David Frum, bless his little Republican heartheart, went and asked them why they are so angry.  Steve Benen:

Former Bush speechwriter David Frum enlisted some interns this week to survey Tea Party activists protesting in D.C. earlier this week. The goal was to get a sense of the activists' understanding of taxes -- ostensibly, the "movement's" raison d'etre -- and factual knowledge.

Bruce Bartlett reported today on the survey's results, and found that for an anti-tax group, "they don't know much about taxes."

Indeed, it appears much of the Tea Party crowd is simply clueless about the issues they claim to care the most about, wildly exaggerating federal tax rates, how much a median family pays in taxes, and what's changed since President Obama took office.

In short, no matter how one slices the data, the Tea Party crowd appears to believe that federal taxes are very considerably higher than they actually are, whether referring to total taxes as a share of GDP or in terms of the taxes paid by a typical family.

Tea Partyers also seem to have a very distorted view of the direction of federal taxes. They were asked whether they are higher, lower or the same as when Barack Obama was inaugurated last year. More than two-thirds thought that taxes are higher today, and only 4% thought they were lower; the rest said they are the same.

As noted earlier, federal taxes are very considerably lower by every measure since Obama became president.... No taxpayer anywhere in the country had his or her taxes increased as a consequence of Obama's policies.

There were no questions in the survey about health care policy, but it stands to reason that these same folks are basing their opposition to the Democratic plan based on little more than confusion.

Bruce added that "it's a bad idea for so many participants to operate on the basis of false notions." It is, indeed. We're talking about a reasonably large group of people who seem to have no idea what they're talking about, revel in their own ignorance, and nevertheless seek an active role in the process.

So yes, when teabaggers tell you that taxes are going to go up like they have been, Obama has CUT TAXES FOR THEM.  Obama's payroll tax cut put billions back in American paychecks, and he gets zero credit (ok, 4% give him credit) from these ignorant meatheads.

So no, they don't have any clue what they are talking about on taxes.  They are lying, plain and simple.  Even though they GOT A TAX CUT FROM OBAMA.