Teabagging

[Lemur]

I'm sorry to bring it up again, but I just can't stop laughing. Every time some red-faced, sweaty person yells about "teabagging" I burst into a fit of schoolgirl-worthy giggles. They really, truly don't know what it means.

Watch this clip and try not to laugh. When Ms. Cox starts going on about "Who wouldn't want to teabag John McCain?" you have to made of stone to not emit a chuckle, if not a guffaw.

[Evil_Maniac From Mars]

I managed to hold on until she said "Stormfront endorses teabagging."

[Lemur]

"You could say that there's a split between the teabags. The social teabaggers and the fiscal teabaggers are really starting to move apart from each other."

Can't see ... laughing too hard ... tears streaming down cheeks ....

[Tribesman]

Come on Lemur , you knew the very vocal "republicans" were really hiding some little sexual quirk , now they are out of the stress of running up huge defecits they can finally teabag to their hearts content as a way to empty the heavy load from their sack of despair .

[HoreTore]

I'm confused. What other things than the one involving testicles does "teabagging" mean?

And what do people think they mean when they say "teabag"?

[seireikhaan]

Don't forget that a good teabag is an excellent complement to one's breakfast. Always a guarantee to perk one up in the morning.

[Lemur]

And what do people think they mean when they say "teabag"?

Here's a website for the teabag movement. From the site (try not to laugh when you read the words, "Need a Tea Bag? We'll Send You One!"):

What are we protesting, exactly?

There are so many things that could be protested that it is hard to settle on any single one. Here's a partial list of some candidate issues. Choose the ones that matter to you, and write to your representative about them.

• Forced bailout of mortgages for those who made bad or risky investment choices by those who were more careful.
• Massive federal spending on government social programs that are likely to become entrenched interests.
• Increasing taxes on small businesses and their owners, who are the engine of the economy.
• Massive deficit spending that will take many generations to recover from.
• Ineffective throwing of hundreds of billions at financial institutions with no discernable positive result.
• Reduction of tax breaks for home mortgages and charitable contributions.
• Not allowing details of "spendulous" plans to be seen, read and comprehended prior to a vote.
• Massive "Cap and Tax" on the same kind of air molecules that we breathe out every few seconds.
• Wealth transfer that discourages industry and promotes laziness.
• Lack of concern for the trillions of dollars of personal savings that is being lost in the stock market.

Fox News is promoting the events heavily, and Glenn Beck's 912 project is somehow tied into it. Pardon me if I'm not 100% on how all of this fits together, but the movement itself seems a bit chaotic. As you would expect from a bunch of teabaggers.

Here's a video of a teabag meeting (posted it in another thread, but it deserves to be viewed again).

Also, if you watch the hi-freakin'-larious video in the OP, you'll hear a pretty good summation of why all of these people are engaging in mutual teabagging.

[Xiahou]

I'm confused. What other things than the one involving testicles does "teabagging" mean?

And what do people think they mean when they say "teabag"?

As far as I know, the only people calling it "teabag" parties or "teabagging" with any sort of regularity is Maddow herself. The protesters themselves are referencing the Boston Tea Party by calling their gatherings "tea parties".

Her news show is a joke, so if she gets a good chuckle out of mischaracterizing the protests, good for her.

[Evil_Maniac From Mars]

As far as I know, the only people calling it "teabag" parties or "teabagging" with any sort of regularity is Maddow herself. The protesters themselves are referencing the Boston Tea Party by calling their gatherings "tea parties".

Her news show is a joke, so if she gets a good chuckle out of mischaracterizing the protests, good for her.

It was still very funny though.

[Tribesman]

I'm confused. What other things than the one involving testicles does "teabagging" mean?

Well thats because you get confused with history , back in the early 1900s the colonials had this kinda revolution where they did a pre-emptive strike against the evil King George V before he gained the throne as a protest about the invention of tea bags , they rebeled against the tyranny of the German royals . The introduction of the tea bag had given rise to doubts about the percolative effects of the bag on the tea which might weaken the resolve of the american colonial upstarts in the morning withtheir cuppa . They bravely rallied round the table cloth and said no percolation without representation and tipped the offending tea into Boston harbour , unfortunately after they won their heroic struggle their new leaders under the malignant influence of the vested interests of the bevarage industry sold out the revolution and convinced the people to have coffee instead , which of course has that evil percolation thing with it .

[Lemur]

Her news show is a joke [...]

And in this instance, a hilarious one. Come on, Xiahou, even you must crack a smile now and then. Did you even watch the video?

Fox News has repeatedly referred to "teabagging". The Facebook groups are variously called Tea-bags for D.C. and In the Interests of Teabagging Congress.

Here's a Tea-themed blog for meeting fellow teabaggers that quite un-ironically calls itself Teabag Obama ("One more time... Teabagging is for everyone - it's not a left right conflict"). Here's the Twitter feed for Teabag Obama (warning, profanity). Here's another website called millionteabags.org ("What’s this tea bag thing all about?" Indeed! Tell us!). None of these groups appear to be anything but sincere.

I'd love to hear some sort of back-up for your assertion that "teabagging" is a creation of Rachel Maddow's.

Here's another comedian enjoying the teabagging.

-edit-

P.S.: You forgot to claim that the images in the OP were photoshopped. Folks, who you gonna believe, Xiahou or your lying eyes?

-edit of the edit-

Oh. My. God. In further unintentional sexual slang news, The National Organization for Marriage has dubbed their campaign "2 Million for Marriage". Or 2M4M. "I don't think that means what you think it means ...."

[Tribesman]

I'd love to hear some sort of back-up for your assertion that "teabagging" is a creation of Rachel Maddow's.

Your links prove nothing , everyone knows that the expression in that context is an invention of the liberal media .

[Lemur]

Ladies and (especially) gentlemen, I give you Phil Gingrey (R) of Georgia, holding up his teabags on Fox News. No wonder he looks pleased.

[Splitpersonality]

My girlfriend's mother is a teabagger. It's pretty funny being told that by anyone

"Oh you know those teabaggers? My mom does that!"

[Reverend Joe]

Fox News has repeatedly referred to "teabagging".

Stupid, pointless symbolic protests consisting of a vague message and a lot of shouting?

Sounds like hippies to me.

[Lemur]

And now a host on Fox News has declared that it is his "great duty to promote the tea parties." It's cool when they don't even bother to pretend to be a news network anymore. I'd call them the American Al-Jazeera, but that would be degrading to Al-Jazeera, which sucks up most of its staff from the BBC anyway. Maybe the American Pravda?

[Seamus Fermanagh]

And now a host on Fox News has declared that it is his "great duty to promote the tea parties." It's cool when they don't even bother to pretend to be a news network anymore. I'd call them the American Al-Jazeera, but that would be degrading to Al-Jazeera, which sucks up most of its staff from the BBC anyway. Maybe the American Pravda?

Why don't we ban all media outlets considered "biased" by one of the top 5 political parties in the USA. Certainly would free up a lot of bandwidth....

[Lemur]

I think that is an excellent proposal to air at the nearest Teabag Party. No doubt they'll love it!

[Gregoshi]

I think that is an excellent proposal to air at the nearest Teabag Party. No doubt they'll love it!

Or it could land you in hot water with the people who give a squat about such things.

[Lemur]

Don't dilute the message, Gregoshi; don't water down the issue. Seamus is referring to the model in which the media is a bag or sack, in which there is a leftist ball and a rightist ball. He's suggesting that both balls should be amputated, which will leave our public discourse quite gelded. I prefer a full, open-mouthed discourse in which both the left ball and right ball are chewed over and spit out as necessary.

[Gregoshi]

I prefer a full, open-mouthed discourse in which both the left ball and right ball are chewed over and spit out as necessary.

Well, then...

[Xiahou]

Well, then...

I thought for sure that this would be where the link pointed.

[a completely inoffensive name]

...

[Banquo's Ghost]

Well thats because you get confused with history , back in the early 1900s the colonials had this kinda revolution where they did a pre-emptive strike against the evil King George V before he gained the throne as a protest about the invention of tea bags , they rebeled against the tyranny of the German royals . The introduction of the tea bag had given rise to doubts about the percolative effects of the bag on the tea which might weaken the resolve of the american colonial upstarts in the morning withtheir cuppa . They bravely rallied round the table cloth and said no percolation without representation and tipped the offending tea into Boston harbour , unfortunately after they won their heroic struggle their new leaders under the malignant influence of the vested interests of the bevarage industry sold out the revolution and convinced the people to have coffee instead , which of course has that evil percolation thing with it .

No, no, no, old chap. George V was our object of affection.

You see, he was a small, even tiny person, as was his Prime Minister, Lloyd George. It turned out that De Valera, who was trying to arrange a meeting between the three, was also quite small of stature.

So we sent Michael Collins over, who was not known as "The Big Fella" for nothing, and Ireland won her independence.

[a completely inoffensive name]

Everything I know about American history I learned from Fallout 3, my teacher was named Abraham Washington and he told me:

"On July the 4th 1776, a group calling themselves the Second Judgemental Congress got together at For McHarry in Maryland. After a ceremony which ended with Paul Revere singing the famous battle hymn known as the National Anthem, the document was signed. From there, it was sent to England by plane presumably and presented to King George himself. Thus began the Evolutionary War."
- Abraham Washington

He told me this after I managed to blast my way through DC and retrieve the Magna Carta, Bill of Rights and Declaration of Independence for him.

[Alexander the Pretty Good]

I'm hoping to attend one of these things in Piscataway Wednesday. If successful, I will post my experience.

[Crazed Rabbit]

I'm sorry to bring it up again, but I just can't stop laughing. Every time some red-faced, sweaty person yells about "teabagging" I burst into a fit of schoolgirl-worthy giggles. They really, truly don't know what it means.

Watch this clip and try not to laugh. When Ms. Cox starts going on about "Who wouldn't want to teabag John McCain?" you have to made of stone to not emit a chuckle, if not a guffaw.

Why, exactly, must we let every vulgar pop-culture meaning dominate discussion?

Since when does a news network air a segment that's based solely on making fun of widespread protests by changing the name (from tea parties to 'tea bagging') and then laughing at the vulgar double meaning? Is that supposed to make me laugh and inspire confidence in the direction of discourse in this country?

Instead, we have here a national news network anchor laughing at a widespread movement against increasing government by using a term connected to what the organizers are using. They're using that to ridicule and dismiss these people without even touching on the issues.

Sure, I'll laugh a bit at the people who actually say they're going to 'tea bag' people. But it just isn't that funny if this sort of discussion is what dominates.

Ladies and (especially) gentlemen, I give you Phil Gingrey (R) of Georgia, holding up his teabags on Fox News. No wonder he looks pleased.

He said he's holding tea bags. Give me a ******* break. He didn't even say he was going to tea bag anyone or go tea bagging. He said he had tea bags. Can a person now never even refer to the ************* containers of tea without some snarky jerk laughing? Are we in middle school?

I'm getting sick of letting every urban dictionary definition, or anything close to an urban dictionary term, dominate discourse like this. But instead of having a short laugh, we have national networks and liberal blogs aiming to take down a whole movement.

I'd call them the American Al-Jazeera, but that would be degrading to Al-Jazeera, which sucks up most of its staff from the BBC anyway. Maybe the American Pravda?

Pravda, arm of the state? How could you miss the network you linked in the OP, msnbc?

CR

[a completely inoffensive name]

CR, I sympathize with the statement they are trying to make, but even I can laugh at this.

[Fragony]

So teabagging isn't humping the corpse of the clueless newbie you just fragged

[CountArach]

Oh my god Lemur, that is gold!