• What kind of jokers post on her wall, anyway? We were curious, so we decided to dig in, and found that fans of “Going Rogue” and people who want her to run for President are most prevalent, but occasionally, she gets ripped on by her own conservative base. Why? Check out our latest AOL News article to find out. (Photo courtesy geerlingguy on Flickr.) source

• Lots of potential, but many Americans aren’t convinced. The new ABC News/Washington Post poll on bizarro hippies (not to be confused with the similar New York Times/CBS News poll a few weeks ago) suggests that the party has a lot of opportunity to grow their base, but could find themselves ticking off moderates in the process.

• 2% of Americans are directly a part of the bizarro hippie movement

Would you vote for these guys?

• 15% of registered voters are more apt to
  support a bizarro hippie candidate
  running for Congress (9 percent
  “much more likely”)
• 24% are more apt to oppose
  that candidate because they’re
  a bizarro hippie (17 percent “much more likely”)

Do you like what you hear?

• 34% like bizarro hippies the more
  they hear about them
• 43% hate bizarro hippies the more
  they hear about them

• » The neutral problem: There’s a large sub-section of the population that’s fairly neutral to the bizarro hippies – around 44 percent – and 45 percent of them really REALLY grow to dislike them the more they hear about them.

Understanding their constituients

• Bizarro hippies may be a movement built out of republican weakness. While progressives largely stand behind the Democratic party, Republicans on the other hand have trouble getting their political equals under the same tent, according to the study:

• 86% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning indie kids say the party represents their values
• 56% of Republicans and Republican-leaning indie kids say the same thing about their party
• 29% of Republicans would much rather wear a funny hat and tape tea bags to the rim of it

Who doesn’t like Obama? Bizarro hippies

• 84% of bizarro hippies think Obama is lamesauce

• 87% of bizarro hippies say race is not a reason that the support the movement
• 57% of evil socialists think race is a huge reason why bizarro hippies hang out and party together

• » Other notes: Bizarro hippies think that race is less of a problem in this country than the country at large, but they also tend to be more likely to be white. 81 percent of bizarro hippies are white, versus 74 percent of all adults and 65 percent of people who think bizarro hippies are lamesauce. Just as many bizarro hippies think Obama is doing too much for black people as he is not doing quite enough, which matches the population at large. source

• Last night, a reader of ours made an astute observation. The Tea Party movement is doing a lot of damage to the memory of the old-school Boston Tea Party, which defined the start of our country. And it’s gonna be tough to wipe the movement away from the history. So, here’s our Contract With America. Let’s call the Tea Party Movement the “bizarro hippie movement.”

• why? Because, much like the protest movement of the late 1960s, bizarro hippies meet up en masse, drive around crazy buses and rage about politics. Except the exact, bizarro opposite.
• usage Use it as a non-proper noun. Example of usage: “Did you hear those bizarro hippies talking about slaying the Porkulus at Perkins the other day? One was wearing a ‘Palin 2012’ hat.”
• next? From this post forward, ShortFormBlog will only call the Tea Party Movement by this name. We feel that our name is a better fit that best represents the movement’s historical context.

• 35% of tea party supporters agree that blacks are largely hard-working,
  vs. 55 percent of
  anti-tea partiers
• 59% of tea party supporters think immigrants are stealing jobs from citizens, vs. 24 percent of anti-tea partiers
• 36% of tea party supporters think gays should be
  allowed to adopt,
  vs. 87 percent of anti-tea partiers source

• It’s strayed away from the message of wasteful spending and Washington not listening to its constituents, and it’s become more of this rally of hate.
• Black conservative Brandon Brice • Regarding the Tea Party movement. Brice, who labels himself a “hip-hop Republican,” says that the movement was a lot more diverse a year ago, and now it seems hateful and disrespectful to other races. Not every black conservative feels that way, but this does play into the movement’s image problem. 79 percent of Tea Partiers are white. 6 percent are black. source

• My hope is that as we move forward and we’re tackling things like the deficit, imposing a freeze on domestic spending, taking steps that show we are sincere about dealing with our long-term problems, that some of that group will dissipate.
• President Barack Obama • Discussing, with great care, the Tea Party, which largely views him with disdain. While realizing some of them are on the fringe and tough to court, he does feel that he can win over some of the moderate members with firm economic policies. “I think that there’s a broader circle around that core group of people who are legitimately concerned about the deficit, who are legitimately concerned that the federal government may be taking on too much,” he said. source

• 
  symbolic showdown On “Fox News Sunday,” Republicans Marco Rubio and Charlie Crist had a straight-up debate over the Florida Senate seat they both want. Crist is a moderate. Rubio is the Tea Party’s Great Cuban Hope. Part 1 is above, but the other two parts are also worth watching.
• 
  “Lamestream”? What?Sometimes, Sarah Palin says mean things towards people she doesn’t like, and yesterday’s epic Tea Party Woodstock thang yesterday was no exception. Palin used the not-nice phrase “lamestream media.” If she becomes president in 2012, her four years are gonna suck.
• 
  So, where was Harry?Harry Reid was the (negative) focus of the Tea Party event in Searchlight, Nevada yesterday, but he wasn’t around. Instead, he was at an NRA event, shooting off a gun, just in case he needed self defense when he tried to go home later that night. Better safe than sorry.

• 2008 McCain, the highly-regarded Republican senator, plucks Sarah Palin out of obscurity to be his running mate. He loses.
• 2010 Palin, who’s now the toast of the Tea Party movement, stumps for McCain, who’s now facing a tough Senate fight. source

• It’s like a microcosm of the Tea Party movement. Especially the cat. As the city of Searchlight, Nevada gets overtaken by the Tea Party for the day, with Sarah Palin as the centerpiece of the movement. Fun fact: Former SNL star Victoria Jackson will also be there, according to this video. Our friends at FreeRepublic have the event covered. source

• 5,000+ bloodthirsty Tea Party activists are expected to descend on Harry Reid’s hometown today
• >1,000 people actually live in the humble villa of Searchlight, Nev.; residents are leaving en masse source