Look, I understand that people have problems with TPA/TPP. Fine. I’m not here to change people’s minds; I make rhetorical weapons for other people to use.  That’s what I am reasonably good at, and I let other people be the silver-tongued devils that go out and convert folks.  However: please do not be stupid.  And ‘stupid,’ in this context, very much includes ‘willing to let people manipulate your opinion without looking them up first.’

A leading voice against a pending Asian free trade agreement is tailoring his message to the country’s grassroots conservatives, but until recently he described himself as a progressive and worked for union-backed Democrats.

Curtis Ellis leads a group called the American Jobs Alliance that vehemently opposes the pending Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and “fast-track” authority that would expedite its congressional consideration.

Which would suggest that Curtis Ellis thinks that you are an idiot.  Yes, you.  Are you laughing and calling it ‘Obamatrade,’ too?  Yeah, let me quote what Curtis Ellis has written about you, specifically.

The [Tea Partiers] are essentially replaying the ’60s protest paradigm. (We’re aging boomers ourselves, so we know it when we see it.) They fancy themselves the vanguard of a revolution, when in fact they are typical self-absorbed, privileged children used to having their way — now— and uninhibited about complaining loudly when they don’t. It’s the same demographic Spiro Agnew called “an effete corps of impudent snobs who characterize themselves as intellectuals.”

As you can see, this came up when Curtis Ellis worked for Jack Davis, a spoiler candidate who helped ensure that Democrat Kathy Hochul won that special election in NY-26 in 2011. So I guess that Curtis Ellis got away with treating conservatives as fools then, huh? He maybe got away with it so cleanly that he’s apparently now cynically and gleefully trying to push an anti-free trade agenda and make the Right the face of it. Because that’s what the Activist Left does. They’re like digger wasps; give them an opportunity, and they will hijack your movement and suck it dry.

Again. You don’t have to be for TPP/TPA.  But you do have to avoid being stupid about it.  There are people who want to take advantage of you.  And some of you are letting them.

Moe Lane (crosspost)

PS: I don’t CARE if you think that you need allies where you can find them. From their point of view, you’re not their ally. You’re a late-night snack.