On Friday's Dylan Ratigan show on MSNBC, host Dylan Ratigan reported on Minnesota Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann attempting to form a congressional tea party caucus and proceeded to rant: "...the tea partiers were nowhere when it came to ending the mass extraction in Wall Street, so I think they're actually full of crap." [Audio available here]
Ratigan then wondered: "...for a movement, however, that prides itself on having no formal ties to the federal government, forget the aspect of being full of crap when it comes to the banking system, why are the Republican Party members and tea party members so receptive to getting together?" He posed that question to his guests, left-wing talk show host Cenk Uygur and former Bill Clinton speechwriter Michael Waldman.
Uygur couldn't agree more with Ratigan's assessment: "You took the words right out of my mouth. She [Bachmann] is so full of crap. I mean, she might be the queen of crap." He then proclaimed: "All she's ever done is protected the bankers....I guess the tea party movement, in essence, is actually about protecting the richest people in America. Wow, what a populist movement you have there."
Waldman took the conversation even lower, as he argued: "The Republicans would like to benefit from the...neurotic energy of the tea party. But they don't really want them in the front parlor. They don't want everybody to identify their extremism with the Republican Party, just the way the Democrats didn't want the Weathermen determining the face...At the front of the house." The Weathermen, or Weather Underground, was a anti-war domestic terrorist organization during the Vietnam war era. Barack Obama associate Bill Ayers was a member.
Here is a full transcript of the exchange:
4:42PM EDT
DYLAN RATIGAN: Up next, institutionalizing the tea party, interesting. Minnesota Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann spearheading a campaign to create a House Tea Party Caucus. Bachman filing paperwork yesterday to found the caucus herself and become its chairwoman. She says the informal group would be dedicated to promoting tea party ideals like fiscal responsibility and limited government. Then again, the tea partiers were nowhere when it came to ending the mass extraction in Wall Street, so I think they're actually full of crap. But they have nice words.
For a moment, however - for a movement, however, that prides itself on having no formal ties to the federal government, forget the aspect of being full of crap when it comes to the banking system, why are the Republican Party members and tea party members so receptive to getting together? Cenk, what's going on here?
CENK UYGUR [HOST, THE YOUNG TURKS]: Well, you took the words right out of my mouth. She is so full of crap. I mean, she might be the queen of crap. What is she talking about? All she's ever done is protected the bankers. And these tea party guys, 'rah, rah, let's cut taxes.' Obama already cut taxes for making under a quarter of a million dollars. So I guess the tea party movement, in essence, is actually about protecting the richest people in America. Wow, what a populist movement you have there.
RATIGAN: Go ahead, Michael.
MICHAEL WALMAN [FMR. CLINTON SPEECHWRITER]: This is, as a political matter, this is really interesting. It's a risk for the tea party and it's a risk for the Republicans. The Republicans would like to benefit from the energy-
RATIGAN: Anger, 'we're pissed off.'
WALDMAN: The neurotic energy of the tea party. But they don't really want them in the front parlor. They don't want everybody to identify their extremism with the Republican Party, just the way the Democrats didn't want the Weathermen determining the face-
RATIGAN: At the front of the house.
WALDMAN: At the front of the house. And for the tea party, it does call into question just how independent a force they are. Are they going to be taking - are they going to be taking orders from kind of the K Street consensus about what - you know, how to vote on various things?
-Kyle Drennen is a news analyst at the Media Research Center. You can follow him on Twitter here.
