Jonathan Capehart, the Washington Post’s very own Fairy Godfather crafts a classic “Progressive” false argument – a lie if you will – then excoriates his adversary for things not said, not suggested, and not so . . .

In his screed attacking Tom Coburn (R. OK) he first lumps the Senator among “Tea Partyers”  (sic) which he isn’t. Evidence you demand? Senator Coburn was a member of the “Gang of Six” which consisted of three Republicans and three Democrats who agreed to advance a compromise to our budget impasse that included tax increases on the “Rich” – those who actually already pay for the 60% of government spending that isn’t borrowed from the Chicoms. No TEA Partyer even remotely neared said compromise and most were quite aggressive in their criticism of the moderate senator.

In response to Coburn railing against the SEVENTEEN TRILLION DOLLAR national debt, the Fairy Godfather added, “I don’t recall there being a popular uprising over two wars being funded off the books or tax cuts that weren’t paid for.” This is of course, patently false. First, the wars were fully funded on the books – they were just not part of the regular budget process; second, tax cuts are never paid for because the government doesn’t own our income, nor has it collected it; and third and most important, there were Conservatives who opposed reckless federal spending under President Bush and who voted NO!

The weakest of all Fairy dusting was the argument that “Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) was…  making the usual argument you hear from tea partyers. The one that says the federal government has abandoned the Constitution. This concern has always struck [Capehart] as odd  . . . because [he didn’t] recall hearing such overwrought concern during the previous administration.” One needs only to remember the debate over the security measures adopted after the September 11 attacks to appreciate what a load of Fairy Dust this argument is. Many Republicans, principled Conservatives and even a few Liberals ranted and raved about the personal freedoms and civil rights being sacrificed . . . and many still do. It was the Progressives who characteristically embraced the oppressive standards until they didn’t and found most objectionable the reality that when President Bush refused to unionize the Transportation Security workforce, a huge cash windfall evaporated before it could be spent campaigning. They simply put political lucre ahead of national security and consequently got spanked in the 2002 mid-term elections. Look it up.

falsely claiming that TEA Partyers