A Racy Cup of Tea

On a recent cover of The Economist magazine (June 12-18, "What's wrong with America's right") was a caricatured drawing of the contrite state of American politics as evoked by the fighting might of the far right from what was once an attentive grand old party. The magazine cover portrayed a tea party event.

In bold black lettering, the words at the top of the page read, ‘What’s wrong with America’s right’. Lacking the expected punctuation mark, it was a statement… not a question.

At one end of the table sat a bright-smiling Sarah Palin (have you ever seen her otherwise?) brandishing a rapid-fire assault weapon in her right hand while in the left she proudly held up her prized bounty – a startled, bug-eyed donkey fearful of annihilation from its short span of influence.

To the far left of Palin was a teary-eyed old gent, obviously government-bred, wearing a top hat decorated with stripes of red and white, and a blue hat band imprinted with white stars. Attached to the hat was a sign: ‘Nonsense 24/7’. Although he bared no resemblance to Uncle Sam, his right hand was placed over his heart; from his left hand he daintily held a ‘Made In USA’ cup. Definitely not an enthusiast, his pinky finger drooped.

Immediately below and to the left of ‘sad Sam’ was a doll-like image of Barack Obama, the smallest character of them all, with pins sticking out from various parts of the body. Sitting in a cup with the letters ‘BP’ printed on its side, it required no bit of imagination to conclude that the Obama doll was dunked in a cupful of oil. Perhaps oddly, he too shone a bright white grin just like Palin’s.

Situated between Palin and Sam was a white varmint with disproportionately sized head and ears, noticeably larger than the body whole. At the least, he was very cheekish. Aristocratically postured, a smoldering stogie displayed a cigar band with a monogrammed ‘R’. These observations told me he might be a character of some importance. The squinting eyes from making a big wide yawn suggested he had spent a long and harrowing day of scampering about, repeatedly announcing, "I'm late! I'm late! For a very important date! No time to say hello! Goodbye! I'm late, I’m late, I’m late!”

And so it was, after such an exhaustive adventure, White Rabbit had finally delivered to the world Sarah in Tea Party Wonderland. There were many obstreperous observations to bemoan on the tea party table.

Off to the side was a cup with a placard, ‘Immigrants OUT!!’ At the very bottom of the page was a seemingly disinterested elephant. He seemed a lone on-looker, a mascot you might say. Hostess Sarah demanded there be no tea party spoilers.

In mid table, facing the elephant, was a tea pot stamped ‘FOX’, no doubt the right-then-righter cable news network. The creature, its bushy tail billowing out of the spout, glared menacingly at all. The hostess had bestowed upon this vessel of servitude the honor of placement as the centerpiece.

The article that accompanied the cover story was titled, ‘The risk of “Hell, no”!’ The photographs caught my eyes; the pictures were surreal.

In one picture stood Sarah waving to what I imagine was a crowd of a good number of people… good people, patriotism exalted in their every breath. A banner in the background read, ‘TEA PARTY EXPRESS III’ and, in smaller letters, ‘Just Vote Them Out’. An attention-getter for sure but what stood out most of all was Ms. Palin’s attire: a black skirt just above her knees and a bright red dress shirt. (Soccer moms don’t parade around in blouses!)

I revisit photo shots of various other campaign pin buttons. One was of Smilin’ Sarah with ‘RELOAD’ in the forefront… from the get-go, that girl’s got her finger on the trigger and a magazine ready to go. Black and red colors, again, were prominent.
Another button, ‘Take Our Country Back’ had a background of black, the continental United States a solid red. The theme of the pin exudes patriotism – reality includes racism.

It was the repeated prominence of the black and red in the photos and on the pin buttons that concerned me. The only red, white and blue was of what appeared to be an empty pitcher displaying the colors of our flag on a ‘Don’t drink the Kool Aid’ button. Too late… the pitcher was empty.

There once was a county whose military combatants wore hats… black hats… with a bright red star front and center. It was from an era of Communist Red China under the regime of Mao Zedong, of whom I quote, “We should support whatever the enemy opposes and oppose whatever the enemy supports.”

The content of The Economist article was summed up by the magazine’s own synopsis. “Too much anger and too few ideas.”