"Does 'tea party' populism verge into extremism?" Today's Christian Science Monitor asks.

Um, ya think?

This is a trick question, right?

Unfortunately, CSM, which is not known for its sardonic wit, seems to be in earnest.  And it's part of the continuing legitimization of  a "movement" created and cultivated by a foreign-owned* media outlet, Fox News, which has a financial stake in perpetuating it by whipping its "members" into a froth. 

I think the question here is actually: are teabaggers really dangerous, or just a bunch of clowns?  Or — a third and very distinct possibility — a bunch of dangerous clowns?

The CSM story is actually a recap of reaction to this story in the New York Times about the Tea Party Movement, which makes it out to be a combination of KKK social club and new age cult.  

At a recent Tea Party meeting the Times journalist attended the rubes were well-represented.

Most of the people there had paid only passing attention to national politics in years past. “I voted twice and I failed political science twice,” said Darin Stevens, leader of the Spokane 9/12 Project.

Until the recession, Mr. Stevens, 33, had poured his energies into his family and his business installing wireless networks. He had to lay off employees, and he struggled to pay credit cards, a home equity loan, even his taxes. “It hits you physically when you start getting the calls,” he said.

He discovered Glenn Beck, and began to think of Washington as a conspiracy to fleece the little guy. “I had no clue that my country was being taken from me,” Mr. Stevens explained. He could not understand why his progressive friends did not see what he saw.

He felt compelled to do something, so he decided to start a chapter of Mr. Beck’s 9/12 Project. He reserved a room at a pizza parlor for a Glenn Beck viewing party and posted the event on Craigslist. “We had 110 people there,” Mr. Stevens said. He recalled looking around the room and thinking, “All these people — they agree with me.”

So, to recap, Mr. Stevens mismanaged his business and personal finances, and now he's mad as hell at a government that did the same thing.  Clown.

But you don't have to be a Coulrophobe to know that if you get 110 clowns in the same room for a Glenn Beck pizza party (the girls were off doing a Sarah Palin sleep-over) it could turn ugly. 

So is it time to take these clowns seriously? 

That Fox News and people like Glenn Beck, who is a self-described "rodeo clown" himself, could wield what is turning out to be real political power in domestic policy is scary.  Could American history turn into Killer Klowns From Outer Space? 

I hate to break it to ya, but I think it already has.
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*Fox is part of News Corp., a publicly-traded company listed on the New York Stock Exchange, the Australian Securities Exchange and London Stock Exchange, is the world's second-largest media conglomerate. Australian Rupert Murdoch owns a controlling share, and is Chariman and CEO. Saudi Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud is the second-largest shareholder.