Tea Partier, Or Tea Bagger?

We're all familiar with the Tea Party movement sweeping across the US. You may have heard folks who are part of this movement referred to as Tea Partiers, or Tea Baggers. There is a big difference ...

Tea Partier describes, accurately, someone who participates in the Tea Party movement. It is also used by some in the mainstream media to describe anyone who is considered a conservative.

Tea Bagger is something different altogether. Shortly after the Tea Party movement started gaining steam, left wingers started referring to participants as Tea Baggers. Mainstream media has picked the term up, and you frequently hear it used in newscasts. The far left is laughing their butts off about it.

Tea Bagging is a very coarse, vile, arrogant insult. I will not describe what it is here, but if you google it, you will find plenty of references to what this insulting, degrading act is. By referring to conservatives as Tea Baggers, the far left is hurling that insult at conservatives. With the mainstream media picking it up (some innocently, others not so much), conservatives are the target of this insult over and over in public. The media have used the term so often that I've heard some conservatives refer to themselves and the movement via this term - they just don't know what the real meaning is.

Whenever you hear Tea Partiers referred to as Tea Baggers, in the media, in the blog world, in person - realize it for what it is.