About the size of it

From this point of view, it's not the quantity but the quality of the protesters that counts. Liberal causes draw hundreds of thousands of people, but they are of the wrong sort, whereas the tea parties drew hundreds of rightwing activists -- definitionally a superior class of people. Thus rightbloggers could be satisfied that any number of protesters for their cause constituted a major victory.

:Roy Edroso, Village Voice

Glenn Beck, probably the most genuinely stupid consevative to get a high profile media gig, ran what he called a worst case scenario on his show last week. Cartoonish, but what he and his guests talk about--and don't talk about--is telling. It's all 95% tax rates--because the gov't will apparently try to erase the deficit overnight--and angry bubbas.

You'd think that unemployment and potential shortages of food and medicine would be part of any "worst case scenario." Apparently not so much. And you'd think that poor minorities would be a larger factor in these doomsday scenarios. After all, people watching Glenn Beck are ready to believe that a brothah carved up a McCain volunteer's face. By that logic couldn't they cause more trouble than some homeowners in the sticks?

Ah, but the public fear/secret hope revolves around the good boys of the National Guard siding with the Toro mower rebels. And the assumption is that if the military sees a bunch of n__gers, gr__sers, and a few dirty white kids bathed in p__chouli causing trouble, well... These aren't folks who'll be missed when our boys Do What Must Be Done.

It must be nice knowing that you're among the elect. None of that troubling self-examination.