Why were there no tea parties...

...during the last eight years when the Bush administration was running up record budget deficits? Where were the Republican congressmen then? Where was the outrage? Why were there no teabags at the Republican convention last year? And why no tea parties when St. Ronald of Reagan was running up his record budget deficits? Why don't I recall reading about tea parties during World War II when the government was running up record budget deficits then? Why now? Is this really Obama's fault? Didn't all these government bailouts of the financial sector and the auto industry begin under a Republican administration? Isn't this all just a bit disingenuous?

My impression of the tea party brigades is that they are a small, vocal minority. Very small. And not even that coherent. Their gripes were all over the map. I saw signs calling for a repeal of NAFTA practically next to posters of Ayn Rand, the big proponent of free markets. And although a number of them turned out yesterday, I'll bet they amount to even less than the thirty-something percent that still approved of George Bush at the end of his presidency. The silent majority remains with Obama. Recent polls say that about 60% trust him to make good decisions on the economy while less than 30% feel that way about the Republicans in Congress. That could change, of course, if things don't turn around by 2010 or 2012, but for now the teabaggers look more like just a bunch of cranks to me.