Tea Party movement
Encyclopedia
The Tea Party movement (TPM) is an American
populist
political movement that is generally recognized as conservative and libertarian
, and has sponsored protests and supported political candidates since 2009. It endorses reduced government spending, opposition to taxation
in varying degrees, reduction of the national debt and federal budget deficit, and adherence to an originalist
interpretation of the United States Constitution
.
The name "Tea Party" is a reference to the Boston Tea Party
, a protest by colonists who objected to a British tax on tea in 1773 and demonstrated by dumping British tea taken from docked ships into the harbor. Some commentators have referred to the Tea in "Tea Party" as the backronym
"Taxed Enough Already".
The Tea Party movement has caucuses in the House of Representatives
and the Senate
of the United States. The Tea Party movement has no central leadership, but is composed of a loose affiliation of national and local groups that determine their own platforms and agendas. The Tea Party movement has been cited as an example of grassroots
political activity, although it has also been cited as an example of astroturfing
.
The Tea Party's most noted national figures include Republican
politicians such as Ron Paul
and his son Rand Paul
, Sarah Palin
, Dick Armey
, Eric Cantor
, and Michele Bachmann
, with Paul described by some as the "intellectual godfather" of the movement. The Tea Party movement is not a national political party; polls show that most Tea Partiers consider themselves to be Republicans, and the movement's supporters have tended to endorse Republican candidates. Commentators including Gallup editor-in-chief Frank Newport have suggested that the movement is not a new political group, but simply a rebranding of traditional Republican candidates and policies. An October 2010 Washington Post canvass of local Tea Party organizers found 87% saying "dissatisfaction with mainstream Republican Party leaders" was "an important factor in the support the group has received so far".
, an iconic event in American history, has long been used by anti-tax protesters. It was part of Tax Day
protests held throughout the 1990s and earlier. More recently, the anniversary of the original Boston Tea Party was commemorated on December 16, 2007, by Republican
Congressman Ron Paul
supporters who held a fund raising event for the 2008 presidential primaries advocating an end to fiat money
and the Federal Reserve System
, disengaging from foreign entanglements in Iraq and Afghanistan, and upholding States' rights
.
Fox News commentator Juan Williams
says that the TPM emerged from the ashes of Paul's 2008 presidential primary campaign.
Others have argued that the Koch brothers supported the movement.
in New York State organized a "Tea Party" to protest obesity taxes
proposed by New York Governor David Paterson
and call for fiscal responsibility on the part of the government. Several of the protesters wore Native American headdresses similar to the band of 18th century colonists who dumped tea in Boston Harbor to express outrage about British taxes.
Some of the protests were partially in response to several Federal laws: the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008
, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009
, and a series of healthcare reform bills.
New York Times journalist Kate Zernike reported that leaders within the Tea Party credit Seattle blogger and conservative activist Keli Carender
with organizing the first Tea Party in February 2009, although the term "Tea Party" was not used. Other articles, written by Chris Good of The Atlantic and NPR
's Martin Kaste, credit Carender as "one of the first" Tea Party organizers and state that she "organized some of the earliest Tea Party-style protests".
Carender first organized what she called a "Porkulus Protest" in Seattle on Presidents Day, February 16, the day before President Barack Obama
signed the stimulus bill
into law. Carender said she did it without support from outside groups or city officials. "I just got fed up and planned it." Carender said 120 people participated. "Which is amazing for the bluest of blue cities I live in, and on only four days notice! This was due to me spending the entire four days calling and emailing every person, think tank, policy center, university professors (that were sympathetic), etc. in town, and not stopping until the day came."
Contacted by Carender, Steve Beren
promoted the event on his blog four days before the protest and agreed to be a speaker at the rally. Carender also contacted conservative author and Fox News contributor Michelle Malkin
, and asked her to publicize the rally on her blog, which Malkin did the day before the event. The following day, the Colorado branch of Americans for Prosperity
held a protest at the Colorado
Capitol, also promoted by Malkin. Carender held a second protest on February 27, 2009, reporting "We more than doubled our attendance at this one."
According to pollster Scott Rasmussen
, the bailouts of banks by the Bush and Obama
administrations triggered the Tea Party's rise. The interviewer added that the movement's anger centers on two issues, quoting Rasmussen as saying, "They think federal spending, deficits and taxes are too high, and they think no one in Washington is listening to them, and that latter point is really, really important."
On February 19, 2009, in a broadcast from the floor of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange
, CNBC
Business News editor Rick Santelli
criticized the government plan to refinance mortgages
, which had just been announced the day before. He said that those plans were "promoting bad behavior" by "subsidizing losers' mortgages". He suggested holding a tea party for traders to gather and dump the derivatives in the Chicago River
on July 1. A number of the floor traders around him cheered on his proposal, to the amusement of the hosts in the studio. Santelli's "rant" became a viral video
after being featured on the Drudge Report
.
Overnight, websites such as ChicagoTeaParty.com (registered in August 2008 by Chicagoan Zack Christenson, radio producer for conservative talk show host Milt Rosenberg
,) were live within 12 hours. About 10 hours after Santelli's remarks, reTeaParty.com was bought to coordinate Tea Parties scheduled for Independence Day
and, as of March 4, was reported to be receiving 11,000 visitors a day.
According to The New Yorker
writer Ben McGrath and New York Times reporter Kate Zernike, this is where the movement was first inspired to coalesce under the collective banner of "Tea Party". By the next day, guests on Fox News had already begun to mention this new "Tea Party".
As reported by The Huffington Post
, a Facebook page was developed on February 20 calling for Tea Party protests across the country. Soon, the "Nationwide Chicago Tea Party" protest was coordinated across over 40 different cities for February 27, 2009, thus establishing the first national modern Tea Party protest. The movement has been supported nationally by at least 12 prominent individuals and their associated organizations.
Fox News called many of the protests in 2009 "FNC Tax Day Tea Parties" which it promoted on air and sent speakers to. This was to include then-host Glenn Beck, though Fox came to discourage him from attending later events.
Beginning in 2009, the Gadsden flag
has become a favorite among the Tea Party movement nationwide, for Tea Party protesters who feel patriotism for their country and are upset at the government. It was also seen being displayed by members of Congress at Tea Party rallies. Some lawmakers have dubbed it a political symbol due to the Tea Party connection, and the political nature of Tea Party supporters.
The Second Revolution flag gained national attention on January 19, 2010. It is a version of the Betsy Ross flag
, with a Roman numeral II in the center of the circle of 13 stars, symbolizing a second revolution in America. The Second Revolution flag has been called synonymous with Tea Party causes and events.
and slightly more likely to be male, married, older than 45, more conservative than the general population, and likely to be more wealthy and have more education.
A Gallup
poll conducted in March 2010 found that -- other than gender, income and politics -- self-described Tea Party members were demographically similar to the population as a whole.
When surveying supporters or participants of the Tea Party movement, polls have shown that they are to a very great extent more likely to be registered Republican, have a favorable opinion of the Republican Party and an unfavorable opinion of the Democratic Party.
The Bloomberg National Poll
of adults 18 and over showed that 40% of Tea Party supporters are 55 or older, compared with 32% of all poll respondents; 79% are white, 61% are men and 44% identify as "born-again Christians", compared with 75%, 48.5%, and 34% for the general population, respectively.
found that Tea Party movement supporters within those states were "more likely to be racially resentful" than the population as a whole, even when controlling for partisanship and ideology. Of white poll respondents who strongly approve of the Tea Party, only 35% believe that blacks are hard-working, compared to 55% of those strongly opposed to the Tea Party, and 40% of all respondents. However, analysis done by ABC News' Polling Unit found that views on race "are not significant predictors of support for the Tea Party movement" because they are typical of whites who are very conservative.
poll of 1,695 registered voters in the state of Washington reported that 73% of Tea Party supporters disapprove of Obama's policy of engaging with Muslim countries, 88% approve of the controversial immigration law recently enacted in Arizona
, 82% do not believe that gay and lesbian couples should have the legal right to marry, and that about 52% believed that "lesbians and gays have too much political power".
More than half (52%) of Tea Party supporters told pollsters for CBS
/New York Times that they think their own "income taxes this year are fair". Additionally, a Bloomberg News
poll found that Tea Partiers are not against increased government action in all cases. "The ideas that find nearly universal agreement among Tea Party supporters are rather vague," says J. Ann Selzer, the pollster who created the survey. "You would think any idea that involves more government action would be anathema, and that is just not the case."
In advance of a new edition of their book American Grace, David E. Campbell of Notre Dame and Robert D. Putnam of Harvard published in a The New York Times
opinion the results of their research into political attitudes, finding that Tea Party supporters had been largely "highly partisan Republicans" (and not "nonpartisan political neophytes"). Additionally, according to Campbell and Putnam, their rank and file is more concerned about "putting God in government" than it is with trying to shrink government.
The 2010 midterm elections
demonstrated considerable skepticism within the Tea Party movement with respect to the dangers and the reality of global warming
. A New York Times/CBS News Poll during the election revealed that only a small percentage of Tea Party supporters considered global warming a serious problem, much less than the portion of the general public that does. The Tea Party is strongly opposed to government-imposed limits on carbon dioxide emissions as part of emissions trading
legislation to encourage use of fuels that emit less carbon dioxide. An example is the movement's support of California Proposition 23
, which would suspend AB32, the Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006
. The proposition failed to pass, with less than 40% voting in favor.
Many of the movement's members also favor stricter measures against illegal immigration
.
14%, Glenn Beck
7%, Jim DeMint
6%, Ron Paul
6%, Michele Bachmann
4%.
The success of candidates popular within the Tea Party movement has boosted Sarah Palin's visibility. Rasmussen and Schoen (2010) conclude that "She is the symbolic leader of the movement, and more than anyone else has helped to shape it."
The movement has been supported nationally by prominent individuals and organizations, including:
501(c)(4) Non-Profit Organizations:
For-Profit Businesses:
Informal Organizations and Coalitions:
Prominent Individuals:
call for reform prior to the April 15, 2009, Tax Day Tea Party rallies. To get his idea off the ground, he launched a website, ContractFromAmerica.com, which encouraged people to offer possible planks
for the contract.
The Tea Party Patriots
have asked both Democrats and Republicans to sign on to the Contract. No Democrats signed on, and the contract met resistance from some Republicans who since created "Commitment to America". Candidates in the 2010 elections who signed the Contract from America included Utah's Mike Lee, Nevada's Sharron Angle
, Sen. Coburn
(R-OK), and Sen. DeMint
(R-SC).
magazine, Ron Paul outlined foreign policy views the Tea Party movement should emphasize: "[W]e cannot stand against big government at home while supporting it abroad. We cannot talk about fiscal responsibility while spending trillions on occupying and bullying the rest of the world ... I see tremendous opportunities for movements like the Tea Party to prosper by capitalizing on the Democrats' broken promises to overturn the George W. Bush administration's civil liberties abuses and end the disastrous wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. A return to the traditional U.S. foreign policy of active private engagement but government noninterventionism is the only alternative that can restore our moral and fiscal health."
Walter Russell Mead
analyzes the foreign policy views of the Tea Party movement in a 2011 essay published in Foreign Affairs
. Mead says that Jacksonian
populists, such as the Tea Party, combine a belief in American exceptionalism
and its role in the world with skepticism of American's "ability to create a liberal world order". When necessary, they favor total war and unconditional surrender over "limited wars for limited goals". Mead identifies two main trends, one somewhat personified by Ron Paul and the other by Sarah Palin. "Paulites" have a Jeffersonian
, "neo-isolationist" approach that seeks to avoid foreign military involvement. "Palinites", while seeking to avoid being drawn into unnecessary conflicts, favor a more aggressive response to maintaining America's primacy in international relations. Mead says that both groups share a distaste for "liberal internationalism".
, MichelePAC, and sent funds to the campaigns of Sharron Angle, Christine O'Donnell, Rand Paul
, and Marco Rubio
. In September 2010, the Tea Party Patriots
announced it had received a $1,000,000 USD donation from an anonymous donor.
, Jane Mayer
said that the billionaire brothers David H. Koch
and Charles G. Koch
and Koch Industries
are providing financial and organizational support to the Tea Party movement through Americans for Prosperity
, which David founded. The AFP's "Hot Air Tour" was organized to fight against taxes on carbon use and the activation of a cap and trade program. In 1984, David Koch also founded Citizens for a Sound Economy
, part of which became FreedomWorks
in a 2004 split, another group that organized and supports the movement. Koch Industries issued a press release stating that the Kochs have "no ties to and have never given money to FreedomWorks". Former ambassador Christopher Meyer
writes in the Daily Mail
that the Tea Party movement is a mix of "grassroots populism, professional conservative politics, and big money", the last supplied in part by Charles and David Koch. Jane Mayer says that the Koch brothers' political involvement with the Tea Party has been so secretive that she labels it "covert".
and 9 for the Senate
. The Wall Street Journal-NBC News poll in mid October showed 35% of likely voters were Tea-party supporters, and they favored the Republicans by 84% to 10%.
However the effectiveness of the Tea Party to endorse candidates has come into question as only 32% of the candidates that were backed by the Tea Party won the election
For a list of Tea Party politicians, see List of Tea Party politicians
Allegations of Democratic candidates planting "fake" Tea Party candidates have surfaced in Florida, Michigan
, New Jersey
, and Pennsylvania
.
, the first of the 2012 candidates to form a presidential exploratory committee, won the poll with 22%. Runners up were Tim Pawlenty (16%), Ron Paul (15%) and Sarah Palin (10%). Ron Paul won the Summit's online poll.
In September 2011, CNN and Tea Party Express co-hosted a Republican primary debate among presidential candidates which featured questions from various Tea Party groups.
A CBS News/New York Times poll in September 2010, showed 19% of respondents supported the movement, 63% did not, and 16% said they did not know. In the same poll, 29% had an unfavorable view of the Tea Party, compared to 23% with a favorable view. The Center for American Progress
, a progressive group, used this poll to assert that the Tea Party movement holds views that differ from those the general public. The Tea Party differed on views related to Roe v. Wade
, income taxes
, and Obama. The same poll retaken in August 2011 found that 20% of respondents had a "favorable" view of the Tea Party and 40% had an "unfavorable" view. A CNN/ORC poll taken September 23–25, 2011, found that the favorable/unfavorable ratio was 28% versus 53%.
An NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll later in September 2010 found 27% considered themselves Tea Party supporters. In that poll, 42% said the Tea Party has been good for the U.S. political system; 18% called it a bad thing. Those with an unfavorable view of the Tea Party outnumbered those with a favorable view 36–30%. In comparison, the Democratic Party was viewed unfavorably by a 42–37% margin, and the Republican Party by 43–31%.
A poll conducted by Quinnipiac University
in March 2010 found that only 13% of national adults identified themselves as part of the Tea Party movement but that the Tea Party had a positive opinion by a 28–23% margin with 49% who did not know enough about the group to form an opinion. A similar poll conducted by the Winston Group in April 2010 found that 17% of American registered voters consider themselves part of the Tea Party movement.
poll, 28% of adults disapproved of the Tea Party compared to 25% approving, and noted that "[t]he national Tea Party movement appears to have lost some ground in popular support after the blistering debate over raising the nation's debt ceiling in which Tea Party Republicans...fought any compromise on taxes and spending". Similarly, a Pew poll found that 29% of respondents thought Congressional tea party supporters had a negative effect compared to 22% thinking it was a positive effect. It noted that "[t]he new poll also finds that those who followed the debt ceiling debate very closely have more negative views about the impact of the Tea Party than those who followed the issue less closely." A CNN/ORC poll put disapproval at 51% with a 31% approval.
in 2008.
On April 19, 2009, Senior White House Adviser David Axelrod
, when asked about the Tea Party protests on CBS News
, said, "I think any time that you have severe economic conditions, there is always an element of disaffection that can mutate into something that's unhealthy." He also noted, "The thing that bewilders me is this President just cut taxes for ninety-five percent of the American people. So I think the tea bags should be directed elsewhere, because he certainly understands the burden that people face."
On April 29, 2009, Obama commented on the Tea Party protests publicly during a townhall meeting in Arnold, Missouri
, saying: "[W]hen you see, you know ... those of you who are watching certain news channels on which I'm not very popular — and you see folks waving tea bags around ... let me just remind them that I am happy to have a serious conversation about how we are going to cut our health care costs down over the long term, how we're going to stabilize Social Security
. Claire (McCaskill)
and I are working diligently to do basically a thorough audit of federal spending. But let's not play games and pretend that the reason is because of the recovery act, because that's just a fraction of the overall problem that we've got. We are going to have to tighten our belts, but we're going to have to do it in an intelligent way. And we've got to make sure that the people who are helped are working American families, and we're not suddenly saying that the way to do this is to eliminate programs that help ordinary people and give more tax cuts to the wealthy. We tried that formula for eight years. It did not work. And I don't intend to go back to it."
On April 15, 2010, Obama touted his administration's tax cuts, noting the passage of 25 different tax cuts over the past year, including tax cuts for 95% of working Americans. He then remarked, "So I've been a little amused over the last couple of days where people have been having these rallies about taxes. You would think they would be saying thank you. That's what you'd think."
On September 20, 2010, at a townhall discussion sponsored by CNBC, Obama said healthy skepticism about government and spending was good, but it was not enough to just say "Get control of spending", and he challenged the Tea Party movement to get specific about how they would cut government debt and spending: "And so the challenge, I think, for the Tea Party movement is to identify specifically what would you do. It's not enough just to say, get control of spending. I think it's important for you to say, I'm willing to cut veterans' benefits, or I'm willing to cut Medicare or Social Security benefits, or I'm willing to see these taxes go up. What you can't do — which is what I've been hearing a lot from the other side — is say we're going to control government spending, we're going to propose $4 trillion of additional tax cuts, and that magically somehow things are going to work."
, dontGO
, and Americans for Prosperity, state that the demonstrations are an organic movement. Law professor and commentator Glenn Reynolds
, best known as author of the Instapundit
political blog, argued in the New York Post
that: "These aren't the usual semiprofessional protesters who attend antiwar and pro-union marches. These are people with real jobs; most have never attended a protest march before. They represent a kind of energy that our politics hasn't seen lately, and an influx of new activists." Conservative political strategist Tim Phillips
, now head of Americans for Prosperity, has remarked that the Republican Party is "too disorganized and unsure of itself to pull this off".
"Tea Party supporters", says Patrik Jonsson of the Christian Science Monitor, "have been called neo-Klansmen and knuckle-dragging hillbillies". Jonsson adds, "demonizing tea party activists tends to energize the Democrats' left-of-center base". He notes that "polls suggest that tea party activists are not only more mainstream than many critics suggest, but that a majority of them are women (primarily mothers), not angry white men". Jonsson quotes Juan Williams
saying that Tea Party's opposition to health reform was based on self-interest rather than racism.
Matthew Continetti
of The Weekly Standard
has said: "There is no single Tea Party. The name is an umbrella that encompasses many different groups. Under this umbrella, you'll find everyone from the woolly fringe to Ron Paul supporters, from Americans for Prosperity to religious conservatives, independents, and citizens who never have been active in politics before. The umbrella is gigantic."
Mark Mardell
of BBC News
, who has "spoken to many supporters of the Tea Party and been to lots of rallies" has said that when he talks to Tea Party supporters for more than a few minutes, "fury tends to dissolve into concern, worry about the economic direction of the country, worry about the size of the government and the level of taxation". While "many" supporters of what Mardell calls the "hydra
-headed" Tea Party combine their fiscal and constitutional concerns with social issues associated with their Christian beliefs, the unifying focus is on fiscal conservatism
and the constitution.
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich
's political activist group American Solutions supports the protests, saying on its website that they are "our chance to communicate our anger and opposition to the irresponsible policies of politicians in Washington who have failed to solve problems". Gingrich spoke at the New York City protest on April 15.
Dan Gerstein, a former Democratic political advisor, argued in Forbes
that the protests could have tapped into real feelings of disillusionment by American moderates, but the protesters put forth too many incoherent messages. Democratic Party Chairman Tim Kaine
told CNN that Tea Party candidates will not appeal to independent and moderate voters, and that their growing importance within the Republican Party will help Democrats.
Ned Ryun
, president of American Majority
, an organization that offers training for many Tea Party activists, believes this movement is not about political parties, stating, "It's very much anti-establishment at both parties ... They don't care about party labels." He has also said that "I think we're getting to the point where you can truly say we're entering a post-party era. They aren't going to be necessarily wed to a certain party — they want to see leadership that reflects their values first ... They don't care what party you're in; they just want to know if you reflect their values — limited government, fixing the economy."
According to Arthur C. Brooks
, president of the American Enterprise Institute
, a conservative think tank, America is locked in a culture war between the country as being an "exceptional nation organized around the principles of free enterprise — limited government, a reliance on entrepreneurship and rewards determined by market forces" or as a country determined by "European-style statism". Brooks states that while some have tried to criticize the tea party, they are part of an ideological movement to preserve the former and oppose the latter.
In an April 2009 New York Times
opinion column, contributor Paul Krugman
wrote that "the tea parties don't represent a spontaneous outpouring of public sentiment. They're AstroTurf (fake grassroots) events, manufactured by the usual suspects. In particular, a key role is being played by FreedomWorks
, an organization run by Richard Armey
." The same month, then Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi
(D-California) stated "It's not really a grassroots movement. It's astroturf by some of the wealthiest people in America to keep the focus on tax cuts for the rich instead of for the great middle class"
In a September 2010 piece for Rolling Stone
, journalist Matt Taibbi
wrote: "I've concluded that the whole miserable narrative boils down to one stark fact: They're full of shit. ... [T]he Tea Party is a movement that purports to be furious about government spending — only the reality is that the vast majority of its members are former Bush supporters who yawned through two terms of record deficits ... The average Tea Partier is sincerely against government spending — with the exception of the money spent on them. In fact, their lack of embarrassment when it comes to collecting government largesse is key to understanding what this movement is all about ..." Taibbi concluded, "This, then, is the future of the Republican Party: Angry white voters hovering over their cash-stuffed mattresses with their kerosene lanterns, peering through the blinds at the oncoming hordes of suburban soccer moms they've mistaken for death-panel bureaucrats bent on exterminating anyone who isn't an illegal alien or a Kenyan anti-colonialist."
Observers have compared the Tea Party movement to others in U.S. history, finding commonalities with previous populist or nativist movements and third parties such as the Know Nothing
party, the John Birch Society
, and the campaigns of Huey Long
, Barry Goldwater
, George Wallace
, and Ross Perot
. Two historians, Steve Fraser and Joshua B. Freeman, have written in Salon.com
that the Tea Party movement and anti-immigration movements share a "fear of displacement". Historian Jill Lepore has described the movement as a form of "historical fundamentalism", turning the founding into sacred history and rejecting critical academic study of it. U.S. Senator Chris Dodd compared the movement to the Know Nothings, saying it seeks to roll "the clock back to a point in time which they've sort of idealized in their own minds as being a better time in America". Other commentators, like Jacob Heilbrunn
and Michael Lind
, predict that it will share the short life span of third parties in U.S. history that have faded after altering the political order.
In March 2011 Ronald Schiller, a National Public Radio fundraising executive was secretly recorded during a lunch meeting with two men posing as potential donors. On the recording, Schiller said that he would speak personally, and not for NPR; then he contrasted the fiscally conservative Republican party of old that didn't get involved in people's personal and family lives with "the current Republican Party, in particular the Tea Party, that is fanatically involved in people's personal lives and very fundamental Christian — I wouldn't even call it Christian. It's this weird evangelical kind of move." Schiller said some highly-placed Republicans believed the Republican Party had been hijacked by this radical group, and characterized them as "Islamophobic" and "seriously racist, racist people".
's Situation Room
, journalist Howard Kurtz
commented that "much of the media seems to have chosen sides". He says that Fox News portrayed the protests "as a big story, CNN as a modest story, and MSNBC
as a great story to make fun of. And for most major newspapers, it's a nonstory." There are reports that the movement has been actively promoted by the Fox News Channel, indicating a possible media bias
.
According to Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting
, a progressive
media watchdog, there is a disparity between large coverage of the Tea Party movement and minimal coverage of larger movements. In 2009, the major Tea Party protests were quoted twice as often as the National Equality March
despite a much lower turnout.
In 2010, a Tea Party protest was covered 59 times more than the US Social Forum
(177 Tea Party mentions versus 3 for Social Forum) despite an attendance that was 25 times smaller in size (600 Tea Party attendees versus at least 15,000 for Social Forum).
In April 2010, responding to a question from the media watchdog group Media Matters
posed the previous week, Rupert Murdoch
, the chief executive of News Corporation
, which owns Fox News, said, "I don't think we should be supporting the Tea Party or any other party." That same week Fox News canceled an appearance by Sean Hannity
at a Cincinnati Tea Party rally.
Following the September 12 Taxpayer March on Washington
, Fox News said it was the only cable news outlet to cover the emerging protests and took out full-page ads in The Washington Post
, the New York Post
, and The Wall Street Journal
with a prominent headline reading, "How did ABC
, CBS, NBC, MSNBC, and CNN miss this story?" CNN news anchor Rick Sanchez
disputed Fox's assertion, pointing to various coverage of the event. CNN, NBC, CBS, MSNBC, and CBS Radio News provided various forms of live coverage of the rally in Washington throughout the day on Saturday, including the lead story on CBS Evening News.
James Rainey of the Los Angeles Times
said MSNBC's attacks on the tea parties paled compared to Fox's support, but that MSNBC personalities Keith Olbermann
, Rachel Maddow
and Chris Matthews
were hardly subtle in disparaging the movement. Howard Kurtz
has said that, "These [FOX] hosts said little or nothing about the huge deficits run up by President Bush
, but Barack Obama's budget and tax plans have driven them to tea. On the other hand, CNN and MSNBC may have dropped the ball by all but ignoring the protests."
found that the majority of local Tea Party organizers consider the media coverage of their groups to be fair. Seventy-six percent of the local organizers said media coverage has been fair while twenty-three percent have said coverage was unfair. This was based on responses from all 647 local Tea Party organizers the Post was able to contact and verify, from a list of more than 1,400 possible groups identified.
, a Republican commentator, author and Tea Party supporter, said he has seen racism within the movement and has confronted it by approaching people with racially derogatory signs of President Obama and asking them to take the signs down. Like Brice, McAllister thinks leaders of the Tea Party movement must not ignore the issue. McAllister told The Washington Post
, "The people are speaking up and becoming more educated on the issues, but you have fringe elements that are defining this good thing with their negative, hateful behavior." He said the movement is more diverse than news clips show, commenting that "There is this perception that these are all old, white racists and that's not the case." Jean Howard-Hill, leader of the National Republican African American Caucus, wrote that, "Any movement which cannot openly denounce racism, calling it out as wrong troubles me. To attack President Obama on his policy is one thing, but to do so on his race or some hysterical pretext of socialism is yet another." During an interview on NPR
with Michel Martin, McAllister and columnist Cynthia Tucker
discussed racism and the Tea Parties; Tucker wrote about the interview, concluding that McAllister's take on racism was that he'd seen enough racist signs at other Tea Party gatherings to know that racism is associated with the movement.
Black Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain
said that racist accusations about the Tea Party Movement are "ridiculous". "I have been speaking to Tea Parties, Americans for Prosperity, since 2009, before it was cool," Cain said, and then, referring to his victories in recent Tea Party Straw polls, "... If the Tea Party organization is racist, why does the black guy keep winning all these straw polls?" Cain went on to say that while he doesn't feel President Obama used race to get elected, "a lot of his supporters use race selectively to try to cover up some of his failures, to try to cover up some of his failed policies." Cain said Obama's surrogates "try to play the race card, because there's supposed to be something wrong with criticizing him", and concluded, "Some people have tried to use [race] to try to give the president a pass on failed policies, bad decisions and the fact that this economy is not doing what it's supposed to do."
Another prominent African-American conservative, Ward Connerly
, decried accusations of Tea Party racism and defended the movement in a National Review
column: "Race is the engine that drives the political Left. In the courtrooms, on college campuses, and, most especially, in our politics, race is a central theme. Where it does not naturally rise to the surface, there are those who will manufacture and amplify it," Connerly said. "I am convinced beyond any doubt that all of this is part of the strategic plan being implemented by the Left in its current campaign to remake America."
About 61 percent of Tea Party opponents say racism has a lot to do with the movement, a view held by just 7 percent of Tea Party supporters. Some Tea Partiers blame the media for casting them as racists. Allen West, one of 32 African-Americans who ran for Congress in 2010 as Republicans, says the notion of racism in the Tea Party movement has been made up by the news media. The Washington Post reported that an analysis of the signs displayed at a September 2010 Tea Party rally found that "the vast majority of activists expressed narrow concerns about the government's economic and spending policies and steered clear of the racially charged anti-Obama messages that have helped define some media coverage of such events". Roughly a quarter of the signs "reflected direct anger with Obama", 5 percent "mentioned the president's race or religion, and slightly more than 1 percent questioned his American citizenship". The researcher, Emily Elkins, did not conclude that "the racially charged messages" were "unimportant", but she did conclude that "media coverage of tea party rallies over the past year have focused so heavily on the more controversial signs that it has contributed to the perception that such content dominates the tea party movement more than it actually does". A report published in the fall 2010 by the Institute for Research and Education on Human Rights and backed by the NAACP
has found what it says are efforts by white nationalist groups and militias to link themselves to the Tea Party movement. White nationalists have attempted to recruit new members at Tea Party events. Steve Smith, Pennsylvania Party Chairman of the white nationalist American Third Position Party, has called Tea Party events "fertile ground for our activists".
". It has been reported that he was ejected from the event because of the offensive nature of the sign, and Houston Tea Party Society leaders ousted him from the society shortly after. It was also reported that Robertson intended to sell the domain TeaParty.org; however, he is named the "President & Founder" on the TeaParty.org "Founder" section.
was voted on, several black lawmakers said that demonstrators shouted racial epithets at them. Congressman Emanuel Cleaver
was spat upon, although it is unclear if this was deliberate, and said he heard the slurs. Congressman Barney Frank
, who is gay, was called a "faggot". Representative André Carson
said that while walking with John Lewis and his chief of staff from the Cannon building
, amid chants of "kill the bill", he heard the "n-word at least 15 times". Carson said he heard it coming from different places in the crowd, and one man "just rattled it off several times". Carson quoted Lewis as saying, "You know, this reminds me of a different time." Heath Shuler
, a Democratic U.S. representative from North Carolina commented on the tenor of the protests, saying: "It was the most horrible display of protesting I have ever seen in my life." He also confirmed hearing the slur against Frank.
While attending the health care rally in Washington, D.C., on March 21, 2010, Springboro, Ohio
, Tea Party founder Sonny Thomas posted a racist comment on the Springboro Tea Party Twitter
page he managed by tweeting
"Illegals everywhere today! So many spicks makes me feel like a speck. Grrr. Wheres my gun!?" On April 14, 2010, according to CNN anchor Rick Sanchez, when CNN contacted Thomas to ask for an explanation, Thomas initially said he was making a reference to a Bee Gee's song
. Thomas posted the following on the Springboro Tea Party website, "I take full responsibility for the action and it was not my intention to be insensitive. While it is never appropriate to make such a facetious comment, I hope that we can put this issue behind us for the greater good." The posting triggered cancellations by several local and statewide political candidates and leaders scheduled to speak at a Springboro Tea Party rally on April 17. An Ohio Republican state Senator, Shannon Jones
, boycotted the rally and stated, "I don't think it says anything about the movement per se". A Dayton Tea Party official, Rob Scott, claimed that the posts were "classless" and did not represent the national Tea Party movement as a whole.
three weeks after the incidents, video and audio proof of racial slurs against Lewis and Carson had yet to emerge, and conservative commentator and blogger Andrew Breitbart
insisted the charges were made up. "If so, they're good actors," Andrew Alexander, ombudsman for the Post, said, explaining that reporters described Carson as "trembling", "agitated", "angry" and "emotional" as he recounted what had just happened. Carson implored the reporters to step back outside to witness and document the taunts, but Capitol police prevented them. Andrew Breitbart offered to make a $100,000 donation to the United Negro College Fund
for any audio/video footage of the N-word being hurled at Congressman John Lewis or if Lewis could pass a lie-detector test. "It didn't happen," said Breitbart, who wasn't there. Breitbart asserted that the racial slurs were only alleged as a way for the left, abetted by the "progressive" media, to "marginalize" Tea Party supporters. To support his assertions, Breitbart had posted a mislabeled 48-second video of the Congressional Black Caucus
members on the day in question, but later analysis revealed that the video was not of Lewis and Carson walking to the Capitol, when the slurs were reportedly heard, but instead showed the lawmakers leaving the Capitol — at least one hour after the reported incident. When asked about using the video from the wrong moment on his website, Breitbart stood by his claim that the lawmakers were lying. "I'm not saying the video was conclusive proof," he said.
In response to Breitbart's allegations, AFL-CIO
president Richard Trumka
said he had witnessed the events in question, stating, "I watched them spit at people, I watched them call John Lewis the n-word. I witnessed it." Fox News' Bill O'Reilly
discussed the issue on four of his shows, beginning on March 22. O'Reilly stated, "Just because it's not on tape doesn't mean it's fabricated."
Economist and prominent black conservative Thomas Sowell
told The Washington Post, "This is a serious charge — and one deserving of some serious evidence ... But, despite all the media recording devices on the scene, not to mention recording devices among the crowd gathered there, nobody can come up with a single recorded sound to back up that incendiary charge. Worse yet, some people have claimed that even doubting the charge suggests that you are a racist."
The National Tea Party Federation
sent a letter to the Congressional Black Caucus
denouncing racism and requesting that the CBC supply any evidence of the alleged events at the protest on March 20, 2010.
House Republican leaders criticized the use of slurs against the Democratic congressmen by the protesters, but said they were isolated incidents that should not overshadow the healthcare debate. House Minority Leader John Boehner
called the incidents "reprehensible", and House Minority Whip Eric Cantor
said, "Nobody condones that at all. There were 30,000 people here in Washington yesterday. And, yes, there were some very awful things said." As demonstrators gathered the following day outside the Capitol to rally against the bill again, one held a sign saying, "All tea partiers: If you hear a racial slur, step away, point, boo and take a picture of the rat bastard."
referred to Allah
as a "Monkey God". Williams' comments elicited strong rebukes from New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg
, New York state senators and Muslim leaders. In a subsequent blog posting, Williams wrote, "I owe an apology to millions of Hindus who worship Lord Hanuman, an actual Monkey God. Hanuman is worshiped as a symbol of perseverance, strength, and devotion ... Those are hardly the traits of whatever the Hell (literally) it is that terrorists worship." When questioned by The Washington Post about his comments about Islam, Williams has claimed the controversy has "been fantastic for the movement".
Williams came under further criticism in mid-July when he posted a fictional letter named "Colored People" on his blog. Williams claimed the letter was a "satirical" response to a resolution passed by the NAACP calling on Tea Party leaders to repudiate the racist element and activities' from within the movement". In response, the National Tea Party Federation "demanded that the Tea Party Express — a separate group — oust Williams from its ranks. When it did not, the Federation expelled both Williams and his conservative outfit."
, Tea Party activist, attempting to post the home address of Representative Tom Perriello
on his blog, incorrectly posted the address of Perriello's brother, who also lives in Virginia, and encouraged readers to "drop by" to express their anger against Representative Perriello's vote in favor of the healthcare bill. The following day, a severed gas line was discovered in Perriello's brother's yard that connected to a propane grill on the home's screened-in porch. Local police and FBI investigators determined that it was intentionally cut as a deliberate act of vandalism. Perriello's brother also received a threatening letter. The website issued a response saying the Tea Party member's action of posting the address "was not requested, sanctioned or endorsed" by the group.
In early July 2010, the North Iowa Tea Party (NITP) posted a billboard comparing Obama to Adolf Hitler
and Vladimir Lenin
and received sharp criticism, including some from other Tea Party activists. NITP co-founder Bob Johnson acknowledged the anti-socialist message may have gotten lost amid the fascist and communist images. Following a request from the NITP, the billboard was removed on July 14.
The term has also entered into the political debate; supposed or actual supporters of the tea-party movement have been referred to as "tea-baggers" by politicians such as Senators John F. Kerry and Chuck Schumer as well as by President Obama.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
populist
Populism
Populism can be defined as an ideology, political philosophy, or type of discourse. Generally, a common theme compares "the people" against "the elite", and urges social and political system changes. It can also be defined as a rhetorical style employed by members of various political or social...
political movement that is generally recognized as conservative and libertarian
Libertarianism
Libertarianism, in the strictest sense, is the political philosophy that holds individual liberty as the basic moral principle of society. In the broadest sense, it is any political philosophy which approximates this view...
, and has sponsored protests and supported political candidates since 2009. It endorses reduced government spending, opposition to taxation
Tax resistance
Tax resistance is the refusal to pay tax because of opposition to the government that is imposing the tax or to government policy.Tax resistance is a form of civil disobedience and direct action...
in varying degrees, reduction of the national debt and federal budget deficit, and adherence to an originalist
Originalism
In the context of United States constitutional interpretation, originalism is a principle of interpretation that tries to discover the original meaning or intent of the constitution. It is based on the principle that the judiciary is not supposed to create, amend or repeal laws but only to uphold...
interpretation of the United States Constitution
United States Constitution
The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It is the framework for the organization of the United States government and for the relationship of the federal government with the states, citizens, and all people within the United States.The first three...
.
The name "Tea Party" is a reference to the Boston Tea Party
Boston Tea Party
The Boston Tea Party was a direct action by colonists in Boston, a town in the British colony of Massachusetts, against the British government and the monopolistic East India Company that controlled all the tea imported into the colonies...
, a protest by colonists who objected to a British tax on tea in 1773 and demonstrated by dumping British tea taken from docked ships into the harbor. Some commentators have referred to the Tea in "Tea Party" as the backronym
Backronym
A backronym or bacronym is a phrase constructed purposely, such that an acronym can be formed to a specific desired word. Backronyms may be invented with serious or humorous intent, or may be a type of false or folk etymology....
"Taxed Enough Already".
The Tea Party movement has caucuses in the House of Representatives
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
and the Senate
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
of the United States. The Tea Party movement has no central leadership, but is composed of a loose affiliation of national and local groups that determine their own platforms and agendas. The Tea Party movement has been cited as an example of grassroots
Grassroots
A grassroots movement is one driven by the politics of a community. The term implies that the creation of the movement and the group supporting it are natural and spontaneous, highlighting the differences between this and a movement that is orchestrated by traditional power structures...
political activity, although it has also been cited as an example of astroturfing
Astroturfing
Astroturfing is a form of advocacy in support of a political, organizational, or corporate agenda, designed to give the appearance of a "grassroots" movement. The goal of such campaigns is to disguise the efforts of a political and/or commercial entity as an independent public reaction to some...
.
The Tea Party's most noted national figures include Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
politicians such as Ron Paul
Ron Paul
Ronald Ernest "Ron" Paul is an American physician, author and United States Congressman who is seeking to be the Republican Party candidate in the 2012 presidential election. Paul represents Texas's 14th congressional district, which covers an area south and southwest of Houston that includes...
and his son Rand Paul
Rand Paul
Randal Howard "Rand" Paul is the junior United States Senator for Kentucky. He is a member of the Republican Party. A member of the Tea Party movement, he describes himself as a "constitutional conservative" and a libertarian...
, Sarah Palin
Sarah Palin
Sarah Louise Palin is an American politician, commentator and author. As the Republican Party nominee for Vice President in the 2008 presidential election, she was the first Alaskan on the national ticket of a major party and first Republican woman nominated for the vice-presidency.She was...
, Dick Armey
Dick Armey
Richard Keith "Dick" Armey is a former U.S. Representative from Texas's and House Majority Leader . He was one of the engineers of the "Republican Revolution" of the 1990s, in which Republicans were elected to majorities of both houses of Congress for the first time in four decades. Armey was...
, Eric Cantor
Eric Cantor
Eric Ivan Cantor is the U.S. Representative for Virginia's 7th congressional district, serving since 2001. A member of the Republican Party, he became House Majority Leader when the 112th Congress convened on January 3, 2011...
, and Michele Bachmann
Michele Bachmann
Michele Marie Bachmann is a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives, representing , a post she has held since 2007. The district includes several of the northern suburbs of the Twin Cities, such as Woodbury, and Blaine as well as Stillwater and St. Cloud.She is currently a...
, with Paul described by some as the "intellectual godfather" of the movement. The Tea Party movement is not a national political party; polls show that most Tea Partiers consider themselves to be Republicans, and the movement's supporters have tended to endorse Republican candidates. Commentators including Gallup editor-in-chief Frank Newport have suggested that the movement is not a new political group, but simply a rebranding of traditional Republican candidates and policies. An October 2010 Washington Post canvass of local Tea Party organizers found 87% saying "dissatisfaction with mainstream Republican Party leaders" was "an important factor in the support the group has received so far".
Background and history
The theme of the Boston Tea PartyBoston Tea Party
The Boston Tea Party was a direct action by colonists in Boston, a town in the British colony of Massachusetts, against the British government and the monopolistic East India Company that controlled all the tea imported into the colonies...
, an iconic event in American history, has long been used by anti-tax protesters. It was part of Tax Day
Tax Day
In the United States, Tax Day is a colloquial term for the day on which individual income tax returns are due to the federal government. The term may also refer to the same day for states, even where the tax return due date is a different day....
protests held throughout the 1990s and earlier. More recently, the anniversary of the original Boston Tea Party was commemorated on December 16, 2007, by Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
Congressman Ron Paul
Ron Paul
Ronald Ernest "Ron" Paul is an American physician, author and United States Congressman who is seeking to be the Republican Party candidate in the 2012 presidential election. Paul represents Texas's 14th congressional district, which covers an area south and southwest of Houston that includes...
supporters who held a fund raising event for the 2008 presidential primaries advocating an end to fiat money
Fiat money
Fiat money is money that has value only because of government regulation or law. The term derives from the Latin fiat, meaning "let it be done", as such money is established by government decree. Where fiat money is used as currency, the term fiat currency is used.Fiat money originated in 11th...
and the Federal Reserve System
Federal Reserve System
The Federal Reserve System is the central banking system of the United States. It was created on December 23, 1913 with the enactment of the Federal Reserve Act, largely in response to a series of financial panics, particularly a severe panic in 1907...
, disengaging from foreign entanglements in Iraq and Afghanistan, and upholding States' rights
States' rights
States' rights in U.S. politics refers to political powers reserved for the U.S. state governments rather than the federal government. It is often considered a loaded term because of its use in opposition to federally mandated racial desegregation...
.
Fox News commentator Juan Williams
Juan Williams
Juan Williams is an American journalist and political analyst for Fox News Channel, he was born in Panama on April 10, 1954. He also writes for several newspapers including The Washington Post, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal and has been published in magazines such as The Atlantic...
says that the TPM emerged from the ashes of Paul's 2008 presidential primary campaign.
Early local protest events
On January 24, 2009, Trevor Leach, chairman of the Young Americans for LibertyYoung Americans for Liberty
Young Americans for Liberty is a political organization that was formed in 2008 at the end of Congressman Ron Paul's Presidential campaign. They focus on educating their peers about various topics including libertarian values and emphasizing the role of the Constitution in the American government...
in New York State organized a "Tea Party" to protest obesity taxes
Fat tax
A fat tax is a tax or surcharge that is placed upon fattening foods, beverages or individuals. As an example of Pigovian taxation, a fat tax aims to discourage unhealthy diets and offset the economic costs of obesity....
proposed by New York Governor David Paterson
David Paterson
David Alexander Paterson is an American politician who served as the 55th Governor of New York, from 2008 to 2010. During his tenure he was the first governor of New York of African American heritage and also the second legally blind governor of any U.S. state after Bob C. Riley, who was Acting...
and call for fiscal responsibility on the part of the government. Several of the protesters wore Native American headdresses similar to the band of 18th century colonists who dumped tea in Boston Harbor to express outrage about British taxes.
Some of the protests were partially in response to several Federal laws: the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008
Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008
The Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 The Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 The Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 (Division A of , commonly referred to as a bailout of the U.S. financial system, is a law enacted in response to the subprime mortgage crisis...
, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, abbreviated ARRA and commonly referred to as the Stimulus or The Recovery Act, is an economic stimulus package enacted by the 111th United States Congress in February 2009 and signed into law on February 17, 2009, by President Barack Obama.To...
, and a series of healthcare reform bills.
New York Times journalist Kate Zernike reported that leaders within the Tea Party credit Seattle blogger and conservative activist Keli Carender
Keli Carender
Keli Carender is a Seattle, Washington-based blogger credited with being the first Tea Party protest activist when she was the principal organizer of a protest of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 on February 16, 2009...
with organizing the first Tea Party in February 2009, although the term "Tea Party" was not used. Other articles, written by Chris Good of The Atlantic and NPR
NPR
NPR, formerly National Public Radio, is a privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization that serves as a national syndicator to a network of 900 public radio stations in the United States. NPR was created in 1970, following congressional passage of the Public Broadcasting...
's Martin Kaste, credit Carender as "one of the first" Tea Party organizers and state that she "organized some of the earliest Tea Party-style protests".
Carender first organized what she called a "Porkulus Protest" in Seattle on Presidents Day, February 16, the day before President Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
signed the stimulus bill
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, abbreviated ARRA and commonly referred to as the Stimulus or The Recovery Act, is an economic stimulus package enacted by the 111th United States Congress in February 2009 and signed into law on February 17, 2009, by President Barack Obama.To...
into law. Carender said she did it without support from outside groups or city officials. "I just got fed up and planned it." Carender said 120 people participated. "Which is amazing for the bluest of blue cities I live in, and on only four days notice! This was due to me spending the entire four days calling and emailing every person, think tank, policy center, university professors (that were sympathetic), etc. in town, and not stopping until the day came."
Contacted by Carender, Steve Beren
Steve Beren
Steve Beren is an American speaker, writer, and political activist from Seattle, Washington. Beren was also the 2006 and 2008 Republican candidate for U.S...
promoted the event on his blog four days before the protest and agreed to be a speaker at the rally. Carender also contacted conservative author and Fox News contributor Michelle Malkin
Michelle Malkin
Michelle Malkin is an American conservative blogger, political commentator, and author. Her weekly syndicated column appears in a number of newspapers and websites. She is a Fox News Channel contributor and has been a guest on MSNBC, C-SPAN, and national radio programs...
, and asked her to publicize the rally on her blog, which Malkin did the day before the event. The following day, the Colorado branch of Americans for Prosperity
Americans for Prosperity
Americans for Prosperity is a Washington, D.C.–based political advocacy group. According to their literature, they promote economic policy that supports business, and restrains regulation by government...
held a protest at the Colorado
Colorado
Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...
Capitol, also promoted by Malkin. Carender held a second protest on February 27, 2009, reporting "We more than doubled our attendance at this one."
According to pollster Scott Rasmussen
Scott Rasmussen
Scott W. Rasmussen is the founder and president of Rasmussen Reports. He is an American political analyst, author, speaker, and public opinion pollster...
, the bailouts of banks by the Bush and Obama
Presidency of Barack Obama
The Presidency of Barack Obama began at noon EST on January 20, 2009 when he became the 44th President of the United States. Obama was a United States Senator from Illinois at the time of his victory over Arizona Senator John McCain in the 2008 presidential election...
administrations triggered the Tea Party's rise. The interviewer added that the movement's anger centers on two issues, quoting Rasmussen as saying, "They think federal spending, deficits and taxes are too high, and they think no one in Washington is listening to them, and that latter point is really, really important."
First national protests
Chicago Mercantile Exchange
The Chicago Mercantile Exchange is an American financial and commodity derivative exchange based in Chicago. The CME was founded in 1898 as the Chicago Butter and Egg Board. Originally, the exchange was a non-profit organization...
, CNBC
CNBC
CNBC is a satellite and cable television business news channel in the U.S., owned and operated by NBCUniversal. The network and its international spinoffs cover business headlines and provide live coverage of financial markets. The combined reach of CNBC and its siblings is 390 million viewers...
Business News editor Rick Santelli
Rick Santelli
Rick Santelli is an American on-air editor for the CNBC Business News network. He joined CNBC as an on-air editor on June 14, 1999, reporting primarily from the floor of the Chicago Board of Trade. He was formerly the vice president for an institutional trading and hedge fund account for...
criticized the government plan to refinance mortgages
Homeowners Affordability and Stability Plan
The Homeowners Affordability and Stability Plan is a U.S. program announced on February 18, 2009 by U.S. President Barack Obama. According to the US Treasury Department, it is a $75 billion program to help up to nine million homeowners avoid foreclosure, which was supplemented by $200 billion in...
, which had just been announced the day before. He said that those plans were "promoting bad behavior" by "subsidizing losers' mortgages". He suggested holding a tea party for traders to gather and dump the derivatives in the Chicago River
Chicago River
The Chicago River is a system of rivers and canals with a combined length of that runs through the city of the same name, including its center . Though not especially long, the river is notable for being the reason why Chicago became an important location, as the link between the Great Lakes and...
on July 1. A number of the floor traders around him cheered on his proposal, to the amusement of the hosts in the studio. Santelli's "rant" became a viral video
Viral video
A viral video is one that becomes popular through the process of Internet sharing, typically through video sharing websites, social media and email...
after being featured on the Drudge Report
Drudge Report
The Drudge Report is a news aggregation website. Run by Matt Drudge with the help of Joseph Curl and Charles Hurt, the site consists mainly of links to stories from the United States and international mainstream media about politics, entertainment, and current events as well as links to many...
.
Overnight, websites such as ChicagoTeaParty.com (registered in August 2008 by Chicagoan Zack Christenson, radio producer for conservative talk show host Milt Rosenberg
Milt Rosenberg
Milton J. Rosenberg is a prominent social psychologist who was professor of psychology at the University of Chicago and is the host of a long-running radio program in Chicago, Illinois....
,) were live within 12 hours. About 10 hours after Santelli's remarks, reTeaParty.com was bought to coordinate Tea Parties scheduled for Independence Day
Independence Day (United States)
Independence Day, commonly known as the Fourth of July, is a federal holiday in the United States commemorating the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, declaring independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain...
and, as of March 4, was reported to be receiving 11,000 visitors a day.
According to The New Yorker
The New Yorker
The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
writer Ben McGrath and New York Times reporter Kate Zernike, this is where the movement was first inspired to coalesce under the collective banner of "Tea Party". By the next day, guests on Fox News had already begun to mention this new "Tea Party".
As reported by The Huffington Post
The Huffington Post
The Huffington Post is an American news website and content-aggregating blog founded by Arianna Huffington, Kenneth Lerer, and Jonah Peretti, featuring liberal minded columnists and various news sources. The site offers coverage of politics, theology, media, business, entertainment, living, style,...
, a Facebook page was developed on February 20 calling for Tea Party protests across the country. Soon, the "Nationwide Chicago Tea Party" protest was coordinated across over 40 different cities for February 27, 2009, thus establishing the first national modern Tea Party protest. The movement has been supported nationally by at least 12 prominent individuals and their associated organizations.
Fox News called many of the protests in 2009 "FNC Tax Day Tea Parties" which it promoted on air and sent speakers to. This was to include then-host Glenn Beck, though Fox came to discourage him from attending later events.
Symbols
Gadsden flag
The Gadsden flag is a historical American flag with a yellow field depicting a rattlesnake coiled and ready to strike. Positioned below the snake is the legend "DONT TREAD ON ME." The flag was designed by and is named after American general and statesman Christopher Gadsden. It was also used by the...
has become a favorite among the Tea Party movement nationwide, for Tea Party protesters who feel patriotism for their country and are upset at the government. It was also seen being displayed by members of Congress at Tea Party rallies. Some lawmakers have dubbed it a political symbol due to the Tea Party connection, and the political nature of Tea Party supporters.
The Second Revolution flag gained national attention on January 19, 2010. It is a version of the Betsy Ross flag
Betsy Ross flag
The Betsy Ross flag is an early design of the flag of the United States, popularly attributed to Betsy Ross, using the common motifs of alternating red-and-white striped field with five-pointed stars in a blue canton. The flag was designed during the American Revolution and features 13 stars to...
, with a Roman numeral II in the center of the circle of 13 stars, symbolizing a second revolution in America. The Second Revolution flag has been called synonymous with Tea Party causes and events.
Membership and demographics
Several polls have been conducted on the demographics of the movement. Though the various polls sometimes turn up slightly different results, they tend to show that Tea Party supporters are mainly whiteWhite American
White Americans are people of the United States who are considered or consider themselves White. The United States Census Bureau defines White people as those "having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa...
and slightly more likely to be male, married, older than 45, more conservative than the general population, and likely to be more wealthy and have more education.
A Gallup
The Gallup Organization
The Gallup Organization, is primarily a research-based performance-management consulting company. Some of Gallup's key practice areas are - Employee Engagement, Customer Engagement and Well-Being. Gallup has over 40 offices in 27 countries. World headquarters are in Washington, D.C. Operational...
poll conducted in March 2010 found that -- other than gender, income and politics -- self-described Tea Party members were demographically similar to the population as a whole.
When surveying supporters or participants of the Tea Party movement, polls have shown that they are to a very great extent more likely to be registered Republican, have a favorable opinion of the Republican Party and an unfavorable opinion of the Democratic Party.
The Bloomberg National Poll
Bloomberg L.P.
Bloomberg L.P. is an American privately held financial software, media, and data company. Bloomberg makes up one third of the $16 billion global financial data market with estimated revenue of $6.9 billion. Bloomberg L.P...
of adults 18 and over showed that 40% of Tea Party supporters are 55 or older, compared with 32% of all poll respondents; 79% are white, 61% are men and 44% identify as "born-again Christians", compared with 75%, 48.5%, and 34% for the general population, respectively.
Canvass and polls
An October 2010 Washington Post canvass of local Tea Party organizers found 99% said "concern about the economy" was an "important factor". Polls have also examined Tea Party supporters' views on race and racial politics. The University of Washington poll of registered voters in Washington State found that 74% of Tea Party supporters agreed with the statement "[w]hile equal opportunity for blacks and minorities to succeed is important, it's not really the government's job to guarantee it", while a CBS/New York Times poll found that 25% think that the administration favors blacks over whites, compared with just 11% of the general public, and that they are more likely to believe Obama was born outside the United States. A seven state study conducted from the University of WashingtonUniversity of Washington
University of Washington is a public research university, founded in 1861 in Seattle, Washington, United States. The UW is the largest university in the Northwest and the oldest public university on the West Coast. The university has three campuses, with its largest campus in the University...
found that Tea Party movement supporters within those states were "more likely to be racially resentful" than the population as a whole, even when controlling for partisanship and ideology. Of white poll respondents who strongly approve of the Tea Party, only 35% believe that blacks are hard-working, compared to 55% of those strongly opposed to the Tea Party, and 40% of all respondents. However, analysis done by ABC News' Polling Unit found that views on race "are not significant predictors of support for the Tea Party movement" because they are typical of whites who are very conservative.
Views of supporters
Various polls have also probed Tea Party supporters for their views on a variety of political and controversial issues. A University of WashingtonUniversity of Washington
University of Washington is a public research university, founded in 1861 in Seattle, Washington, United States. The UW is the largest university in the Northwest and the oldest public university on the West Coast. The university has three campuses, with its largest campus in the University...
poll of 1,695 registered voters in the state of Washington reported that 73% of Tea Party supporters disapprove of Obama's policy of engaging with Muslim countries, 88% approve of the controversial immigration law recently enacted in Arizona
Arizona
Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
, 82% do not believe that gay and lesbian couples should have the legal right to marry, and that about 52% believed that "lesbians and gays have too much political power".
More than half (52%) of Tea Party supporters told pollsters for CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
/New York Times that they think their own "income taxes this year are fair". Additionally, a Bloomberg News
Bloomberg L.P.
Bloomberg L.P. is an American privately held financial software, media, and data company. Bloomberg makes up one third of the $16 billion global financial data market with estimated revenue of $6.9 billion. Bloomberg L.P...
poll found that Tea Partiers are not against increased government action in all cases. "The ideas that find nearly universal agreement among Tea Party supporters are rather vague," says J. Ann Selzer, the pollster who created the survey. "You would think any idea that involves more government action would be anathema, and that is just not the case."
In advance of a new edition of their book American Grace, David E. Campbell of Notre Dame and Robert D. Putnam of Harvard published in a The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
opinion the results of their research into political attitudes, finding that Tea Party supporters had been largely "highly partisan Republicans" (and not "nonpartisan political neophytes"). Additionally, according to Campbell and Putnam, their rank and file is more concerned about "putting God in government" than it is with trying to shrink government.
The 2010 midterm elections
United States elections, 2010
The 2010 United States elections were held on Tuesday, November 2, 2010. During this midterm election year, all 435 seats in the United States House of Representatives and 37 of the 100 seats in the United States Senate were contested in this election along with 38 state and territorial...
demonstrated considerable skepticism within the Tea Party movement with respect to the dangers and the reality of global warming
Global warming
Global warming refers to the rising average temperature of Earth's atmosphere and oceans and its projected continuation. In the last 100 years, Earth's average surface temperature increased by about with about two thirds of the increase occurring over just the last three decades...
. A New York Times/CBS News Poll during the election revealed that only a small percentage of Tea Party supporters considered global warming a serious problem, much less than the portion of the general public that does. The Tea Party is strongly opposed to government-imposed limits on carbon dioxide emissions as part of emissions trading
Emissions trading
Emissions trading is a market-based approach used to control pollution by providing economic incentives for achieving reductions in the emissions of pollutants....
legislation to encourage use of fuels that emit less carbon dioxide. An example is the movement's support of California Proposition 23
California Proposition 23 (2010)
Proposition 23 was a California ballot proposition that was on the November 2, 2010 California statewide ballot It was defeated by California voters during the statewide election by a 23% margin.. If passed, it would have suspended AB 32, a law enacted in 2006 that is in extenso, legally referred...
, which would suspend AB32, the Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006
Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006
The Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, or Assembly Bill 32, is a California State Law that fights climate change by establishing a comprehensive program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from all sources throughout the state...
. The proposition failed to pass, with less than 40% voting in favor.
Many of the movement's members also favor stricter measures against illegal immigration
Illegal immigration
Illegal immigration is the migration into a nation in violation of the immigration laws of that jurisdiction. Illegal immigration raises many political, economical and social issues and has become a source of major controversy in developed countries and the more successful developing countries.In...
.
Leadership and groups
An October 2010 Washington Post canvass of 647 local Tea Party organizers asked "which national figure best represents your groups?" and got the following responses: no one 34%, Sarah PalinSarah Palin
Sarah Louise Palin is an American politician, commentator and author. As the Republican Party nominee for Vice President in the 2008 presidential election, she was the first Alaskan on the national ticket of a major party and first Republican woman nominated for the vice-presidency.She was...
14%, Glenn Beck
Glenn Beck
Glenn Edward Lee Beck is an American conservative radio host, vlogger, author, entrepreneur, political commentator and former television host. He hosts the Glenn Beck Program, a nationally syndicated talk-radio show that airs throughout the United States on Premiere Radio Networks...
7%, Jim DeMint
Jim DeMint
James Warren "Jim" DeMint is the junior U.S. Senator from South Carolina, serving since 2005. He is a member of the Republican Party and a leader in the Tea Party movement. He previously served as the U.S. Representative for from 1999 to 2005.-Early life and education:DeMint was born in...
6%, Ron Paul
Ron Paul
Ronald Ernest "Ron" Paul is an American physician, author and United States Congressman who is seeking to be the Republican Party candidate in the 2012 presidential election. Paul represents Texas's 14th congressional district, which covers an area south and southwest of Houston that includes...
6%, Michele Bachmann
Michele Bachmann
Michele Marie Bachmann is a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives, representing , a post she has held since 2007. The district includes several of the northern suburbs of the Twin Cities, such as Woodbury, and Blaine as well as Stillwater and St. Cloud.She is currently a...
4%.
The success of candidates popular within the Tea Party movement has boosted Sarah Palin's visibility. Rasmussen and Schoen (2010) conclude that "She is the symbolic leader of the movement, and more than anyone else has helped to shape it."
The movement has been supported nationally by prominent individuals and organizations, including:
501(c)(4) Non-Profit Organizations:
- Tea Party PatriotsTea Party PatriotsTea Party Patriots is an American political organization that promotes "fiscally responsible" activism as part of the Tea Party movement. It claims to have over 1,000 local chapters...
, an organization with more than 1,000 affiliated groups across the nation that proclaims itself to be the "Official Home of the Tea Party Movement. - Americans for ProsperityAmericans for ProsperityAmericans for Prosperity is a Washington, D.C.–based political advocacy group. According to their literature, they promote economic policy that supports business, and restrains regulation by government...
, an organization founded by David H. KochDavid H. KochDavid Hamilton Koch is an American businessman, philanthropist, political activist, and chemical engineer. He is a co-owner and an executive vice president of Koch Industries, a conglomerate that is the second-largest privately held company in the U.S...
in 2003, and led by Tim PhillipsTim Phillips (political strategist)Tim Phillips , born July 13, 1964, is the current president of Americans for Prosperity.- Personal life :Phillips grew up in Spartanburg, SC. After briefly attending Liberty University in the fall, 1983, he went to Washington DC as part of a school sponsored internship with the Department of...
. The group has over 1 million members in 500 local affiliates, and led protests against health care reform in 2009. - FreedomWorksFreedomWorksFreedomWorks is a conservative non-profit organization based in Washington D.C., United States. FreedomWorks trains volunteers, assists in campaigns, and encourages them to mobilize, interacting with both fellow citizens and their political representatives....
, an organization led Dick ArmeyDick ArmeyRichard Keith "Dick" Armey is a former U.S. Representative from Texas's and House Majority Leader . He was one of the engineers of the "Republican Revolution" of the 1990s, in which Republicans were elected to majorities of both houses of Congress for the first time in four decades. Armey was...
. Like Americans for Prosperity, the group has over 1 million members in 500 local affiliates. It makes local and national candidate endorsements. - Tea Party ExpressTea Party ExpressThe Tea Party Express is a California-based group founded in the summer of 2009 to support the Tea Party movement. Founded as a national bus tour to rally Tea Party activists, the group's leadership also endorses and promotes conservative candidates running for state and federal offices...
, a national bus tour run by Our Country Deserves Better PACOur Country Deserves Better PACOur Country Deserves Better PAC is a political action committee formed in August 2008 to oppose the election of Democratic Party presidential candidate Barack Obama. The organization, based in Sacramento, California, is one of the largest conservative PACs in the United States...
, itself a conservative political action committeePolitical action committeeIn the United States, a political action committee, or PAC, is the name commonly given to a private group, regardless of size, organized to elect political candidates or to advance the outcome of a political issue or legislation. Legally, what constitutes a "PAC" for purposes of regulation is a...
created by SacramentoSacramentoSacramento is the capital of the state of California, in the United States of America.Sacramento may also refer to:- United States :*Sacramento County, California*Sacramento, Kentucky*Sacramento – San Joaquin River Delta...
-based RepublicanRepublican Party (United States)The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
consulting firm Russo, Marsh, and AssociatesMove America ForwardMove America Forward is a conservative political action group based in California that grew out of the campaign to recall California Governor Gray Davis. Move America Forward seeks to advance many conservative causes by lobbying of politicians at the local, state, and federal levels, through media...
.
For-Profit Businesses:
- Tea Party NationTea Party NationTea Party Nation Corporation is a Conservative American political organization considered part of the tea party movement. Their official website describes them as "group of like-minded people who desire our God given Individual Freedoms which were written out by the Founding Fathers...
, which sponsored the National Tea Party Convention that was criticized for its $549 ticket price. and because Sarah PalinSarah PalinSarah Louise Palin is an American politician, commentator and author. As the Republican Party nominee for Vice President in the 2008 presidential election, she was the first Alaskan on the national ticket of a major party and first Republican woman nominated for the vice-presidency.She was...
was apparently paid $100,000 USD for her appearance (which she put towards SarahPACSarahPACSarah PAC is the political action committee of former Alaska Governor, Sarah Palin. It was founded in 2009 following the resignation of Governor Palin. It endorses candidates for various offices, then organizes into local chapters in the United States of America and assists the candidate...
).
Informal Organizations and Coalitions:
- The National Tea Party FederationNational Tea Party FederationThe National Tea Party Federation was formed on April 8, 2010 by leaders of a broad coalition of national and regional Tea Party groups to help spread the movement's message and to respond to mainstream media misinformation about the Tea Party with a quick, unified response...
, formed on April 8, 2010, by several leaders in the Tea Party movement to help spread its message and to respond to critics with a quick, unified response. - The Nationwide Tea Party Coalition, a loose national coalition of several dozen local tea party groups.
Prominent Individuals:
- In July 2010, Representative Michele BachmannMichele BachmannMichele Marie Bachmann is a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives, representing , a post she has held since 2007. The district includes several of the northern suburbs of the Twin Cities, such as Woodbury, and Blaine as well as Stillwater and St. Cloud.She is currently a...
, a MinnesotaMinnesotaMinnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
Republican, formed the House congressional Tea Party CaucusTea Party CaucusThe Tea Party Caucus is a caucus of the United States House of Representatives and Senate launched and chaired by Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann on July 16, 2010. The caucus is dedicated to promoting what it considers fiscal responsibility, adherence to the movement's interpretation of...
. This congressional caucusCongressional caucusA congressional caucus is a group of members of the United States Congress that meets to pursue common legislative objectives. Formally, caucuses are formed as congressional member organizations through the United States House of Representatives and governed under the rules of that chamber...
, which Bachmann chairs, is devoted to the Tea Party's stated principles of "fiscal responsibility, adherence to the Constitution, and limited government". As of March 31, 2011, the caucus consisted of 62 Republican representatives. Jason ChaffetzJason ChaffetzJason E. Chaffetz is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 2009. He is a member of the Republican Party. The district is based in Provo and includes large portions of central and west-central Utah.-Early life, education and career:...
and Melissa Clouthier have accused them of trying to hijack or co-opt the grassroots Tea Party Movement.
Contract from America
The Contract from America was the idea of Houston-based lawyer Ryan Hecker. He stated that he developed the concept of creating a grassrootsGrassroots
A grassroots movement is one driven by the politics of a community. The term implies that the creation of the movement and the group supporting it are natural and spontaneous, highlighting the differences between this and a movement that is orchestrated by traditional power structures...
call for reform prior to the April 15, 2009, Tax Day Tea Party rallies. To get his idea off the ground, he launched a website, ContractFromAmerica.com, which encouraged people to offer possible planks
Party platform
A party platform, or platform sometimes also referred to as a manifesto, is a list of the actions which a political party, individual candidate, or other organization supports in order to appeal to the general public for the purpose of having said peoples' candidates voted into political office or...
for the contract.
- Identify constitutionality of every new law
- Reject emissions trading
- Demand a balanced federal budget
- Simplify the tax system
- Audit federal government agencies for waste and constitutionality
- Limit annual growth in federal spending
- Repeal the healthcare legislation passed on March 23, 2010
- Pass an 'All-of-the-Above' Energy Policy
- Reduce Earmarks
- Reduce Taxes
The Tea Party Patriots
Tea Party Patriots
Tea Party Patriots is an American political organization that promotes "fiscally responsible" activism as part of the Tea Party movement. It claims to have over 1,000 local chapters...
have asked both Democrats and Republicans to sign on to the Contract. No Democrats signed on, and the contract met resistance from some Republicans who since created "Commitment to America". Candidates in the 2010 elections who signed the Contract from America included Utah's Mike Lee, Nevada's Sharron Angle
Sharron Angle
Sharron Elaine Angle is an American politician who served as a Republican member of the Nevada Assembly from 1999 to 2007. She ran unsuccessfully as the 2010 Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate seat in Nevada, garnering 45 percent of the vote...
, Sen. Coburn
Tom Coburn
Thomas Allen "Tom" Coburn, M.D. , is an American politician, medical doctor, and Southern Baptist deacon. A member of the Republican Party, he currently serves as the junior U.S. Senator from Oklahoma. In the Senate, he is known as "Dr. No" for his tendency to place holds on and vote against bills...
(R-OK), and Sen. DeMint
Jim DeMint
James Warren "Jim" DeMint is the junior U.S. Senator from South Carolina, serving since 2005. He is a member of the Republican Party and a leader in the Tea Party movement. He previously served as the U.S. Representative for from 1999 to 2005.-Early life and education:DeMint was born in...
(R-SC).
Other agenda items
In October 2011, a Tea Party group proposed that business executives take a pledge not to hire anyone until the Democrats’ “war against business” ends.Foreign policy
In an August 2010 article for Foreign PolicyForeign Policy
Foreign Policy is a bimonthly American magazine founded in 1970 by Samuel P. Huntington and Warren Demian Manshel.Originally, the magazine was a quarterly...
magazine, Ron Paul outlined foreign policy views the Tea Party movement should emphasize: "[W]e cannot stand against big government at home while supporting it abroad. We cannot talk about fiscal responsibility while spending trillions on occupying and bullying the rest of the world ... I see tremendous opportunities for movements like the Tea Party to prosper by capitalizing on the Democrats' broken promises to overturn the George W. Bush administration's civil liberties abuses and end the disastrous wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. A return to the traditional U.S. foreign policy of active private engagement but government noninterventionism is the only alternative that can restore our moral and fiscal health."
Walter Russell Mead
Walter Russell Mead
Walter Russell Mead is James Clarke Chace Professor of Foreign Affairs and Humanities at Bard College and Editor-at-Large of The American Interest magazine, and is recognized as one of the country's leading students of American foreign policy . Until 2010, Mead was the Henry A. Kissinger Senior...
analyzes the foreign policy views of the Tea Party movement in a 2011 essay published in Foreign Affairs
Foreign Affairs
Foreign Affairs is an American magazine and website on international relations and U.S. foreign policy published since 1922 by the Council on Foreign Relations six times annually...
. Mead says that Jacksonian
Jacksonian democracy
Jacksonian democracy is the political movement toward greater democracy for the common man typified by American politician Andrew Jackson and his supporters. Jackson's policies followed the era of Jeffersonian democracy which dominated the previous political era. The Democratic-Republican Party of...
populists, such as the Tea Party, combine a belief in American exceptionalism
American exceptionalism
American exceptionalism refers to the theory that the United States is qualitatively different from other countries. In this view, America's exceptionalism stems from its emergence from a revolution, becoming "the first new nation," and developing a uniquely American ideology, based on liberty,...
and its role in the world with skepticism of American's "ability to create a liberal world order". When necessary, they favor total war and unconditional surrender over "limited wars for limited goals". Mead identifies two main trends, one somewhat personified by Ron Paul and the other by Sarah Palin. "Paulites" have a Jeffersonian
Jeffersonian democracy
Jeffersonian Democracy, so named after its leading advocate Thomas Jefferson, is a term used to describe one of two dominant political outlooks and movements in the United States from the 1790s to the 1820s. The term was commonly used to refer to the Democratic-Republican Party which Jefferson...
, "neo-isolationist" approach that seeks to avoid foreign military involvement. "Palinites", while seeking to avoid being drawn into unnecessary conflicts, favor a more aggressive response to maintaining America's primacy in international relations. Mead says that both groups share a distaste for "liberal internationalism".
Fundraising and support
Sarah Palin headlined four "Liberty at the Ballot Box" bus tours, to raise money for candidates and the Tea Party Express. One of the tours visited 30 towns and covered 3,000 miles. Following the formation of the Tea Party Caucus, Michele Bachmann raised $10 million for a political action committeePolitical action committee
In the United States, a political action committee, or PAC, is the name commonly given to a private group, regardless of size, organized to elect political candidates or to advance the outcome of a political issue or legislation. Legally, what constitutes a "PAC" for purposes of regulation is a...
, MichelePAC, and sent funds to the campaigns of Sharron Angle, Christine O'Donnell, Rand Paul
Rand Paul
Randal Howard "Rand" Paul is the junior United States Senator for Kentucky. He is a member of the Republican Party. A member of the Tea Party movement, he describes himself as a "constitutional conservative" and a libertarian...
, and Marco Rubio
Marco Rubio
Marco Antonio Rubio is the junior United States Senator from Florida . A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives ....
. In September 2010, the Tea Party Patriots
Tea Party Patriots
Tea Party Patriots is an American political organization that promotes "fiscally responsible" activism as part of the Tea Party movement. It claims to have over 1,000 local chapters...
announced it had received a $1,000,000 USD donation from an anonymous donor.
Koch Industry influence
In an August 30, 2010, article in The New YorkerThe New Yorker
The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
, Jane Mayer
Jane Mayer
Jane Mayer is an American investigative journalist who has been a staff writer for The New Yorker magazine since 1995...
said that the billionaire brothers David H. Koch
David H. Koch
David Hamilton Koch is an American businessman, philanthropist, political activist, and chemical engineer. He is a co-owner and an executive vice president of Koch Industries, a conglomerate that is the second-largest privately held company in the U.S...
and Charles G. Koch
Charles G. Koch
Charles de Ganahl Koch is co-owner, chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Koch Industries Inc., the second-largest privately held company by revenue in the United States according to a 2010 Forbes survey...
and Koch Industries
Koch Industries
Koch Industries, Inc. , is an American private energy conglomerate based in Wichita, Kansas, with subsidiaries involved in manufacturing, trading and investments. Koch also owns Invista, Georgia-Pacific, Flint Hills Resources, Koch Pipeline, Koch Fertilizer, Koch Minerals and Matador Cattle Company...
are providing financial and organizational support to the Tea Party movement through Americans for Prosperity
Americans for Prosperity
Americans for Prosperity is a Washington, D.C.–based political advocacy group. According to their literature, they promote economic policy that supports business, and restrains regulation by government...
, which David founded. The AFP's "Hot Air Tour" was organized to fight against taxes on carbon use and the activation of a cap and trade program. In 1984, David Koch also founded Citizens for a Sound Economy
Citizens for a Sound Economy
Citizens for a Sound Economy was a conservative political group operating in the United States, whose self-described mission was "to fight for less government, lower taxes, and less regulation." In 2004, Citizens for a Sound Economy split into two new organizations, with Citizens for a Sound...
, part of which became FreedomWorks
FreedomWorks
FreedomWorks is a conservative non-profit organization based in Washington D.C., United States. FreedomWorks trains volunteers, assists in campaigns, and encourages them to mobilize, interacting with both fellow citizens and their political representatives....
in a 2004 split, another group that organized and supports the movement. Koch Industries issued a press release stating that the Kochs have "no ties to and have never given money to FreedomWorks". Former ambassador Christopher Meyer
Christopher Meyer
Sir Christopher John Rome Meyer, KCMG is a former British Ambassador to the United States , former Ambassador to Germany and the former chairman of the Press Complaints Commission...
writes in the Daily Mail
Daily Mail
The Daily Mail is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper owned by the Daily Mail and General Trust. First published in 1896 by Lord Northcliffe, it is the United Kingdom's second biggest-selling daily newspaper after The Sun. Its sister paper The Mail on Sunday was launched in 1982...
that the Tea Party movement is a mix of "grassroots populism, professional conservative politics, and big money", the last supplied in part by Charles and David Koch. Jane Mayer says that the Koch brothers' political involvement with the Tea Party has been so secretive that she labels it "covert".
Impact on the 2010 election cycle
In 2010 Tea Party-endorsed candidates upset established Republicans in several primaries, such as Alaska, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Nevada, New York, South Carolina and Utah, giving a new momentum to the conservative cause in the 2010 elections. In the 2010 midterm elections, The New York Times has identified 138 candidates for Congress with significant Tea Party support, and reported that all of them were running as Republicans — of whom 129 are running for the HouseUnited States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
and 9 for the Senate
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
. The Wall Street Journal-NBC News poll in mid October showed 35% of likely voters were Tea-party supporters, and they favored the Republicans by 84% to 10%.
However the effectiveness of the Tea Party to endorse candidates has come into question as only 32% of the candidates that were backed by the Tea Party won the election
For a list of Tea Party politicians, see List of Tea Party politicians
- On January 19, 2010, Republican Scott BrownScott BrownScott Brown is a United States senator.Scott Brown may also refer to:-Sportsmen:*Scott Brown , American college football coach of Kentucky State...
was elected as the U.S. senator from MassachusettsMassachusettsThe Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
in the special election held after Ted KennedyTed KennedyEdward Moore "Ted" Kennedy was a United States Senator from Massachusetts and a member of the Democratic Party. Serving almost 47 years, he was the second most senior member of the Senate when he died and is the fourth-longest-serving senator in United States history...
's death. The election was notable in that Massachusetts is normally a solidly pro-Democratic state. Brown received Tea Party support. - Dean Murray, a Long IslandLong IslandLong Island is an island located in the southeast part of the U.S. state of New York, just east of Manhattan. Stretching northeast into the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island contains four counties, two of which are boroughs of New York City , and two of which are mainly suburban...
businessman, won a special election for a New York State Assembly seat. He is believed to be the first Tea Party activist to be elected into office. - John Frullo won the nomination for the Texas District 84 seat vacated by the retiring Carl IsettCarl IsettCarl Hawkins Isett is a Certified Public Accountant from Lubbock, Texas, and a Republican former member of the Texas House of Representatives. First elected in 1996, Isett announced on December 18, 2009, that he would not be a candidate for an eighth two-year term in the Republican primary held...
, also a Republican. Frullo defeated businessman Mark Griffin, a former Texas Tech UniversityTexas Tech UniversityTexas Tech University, often referred to as Texas Tech or TTU, is a public research university in Lubbock, Texas, United States. Established on February 10, 1923, and originally known as Texas Technological College, it is the leading institution of the Texas Tech University System and has the...
regent. He was elected as a representative. - In Texas, April 13, 2010, Charles PerryCharles Perry (Texas politician)Charles Lee Perry is a Republican member of the Texas House of Representatives from District 83 based in Lubbock, Texas. A certified public accountant, Perry unseated incumbent Representative Delwin L. Jones, the oldest current member of the Texas House, in the April 13, 2010, runoff election. He...
won the GOP primary against 86-year-old incumbent and fellow Republican Delwin JonesDelwin JonesDelwin L. Jones is a U.S. state political figure from West Texas currently serving as the oldest member of the Texas House of Representatives from Lubbock, Texas. Jones was originally elected as a Democrat in 1964, when that party won 149 of the 150 seats in the Texas House. Jones was defeated for...
in District 83 and is unopposed in the November 2 general election. - In UtahUtahUtah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...
attorney Mike LeeMichael S. LeeMichael Shumway "Mike" Lee is the junior United States Senator from Utah and a member of the Republican Party. He is supported by the Tea Party movement....
defeated establishment Republican U.S. Senator Bob Bennett (R-UtahUtahUtah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...
) in the GOP senate primary on May 8, 2010. Lee's win is seen as a victory for the Tea Party Movement, whose supporters were against Bennett's return. - Rand PaulRand PaulRandal Howard "Rand" Paul is the junior United States Senator for Kentucky. He is a member of the Republican Party. A member of the Tea Party movement, he describes himself as a "constitutional conservative" and a libertarian...
, endorsed by Tea Party groups, won the Super TuesdaySuper TuesdayIn the United States, Super Tuesday, in general, refers to the Tuesday in February or March of a presidential election year when the greatest number of states hold primary elections to select delegates to national conventions at which each party's presidential candidates are officially nominated...
GOP Senate primary in KentuckyKentuckyThe Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...
. Paul, the son of Republican Congressman Ron PaulRon PaulRonald Ernest "Ron" Paul is an American physician, author and United States Congressman who is seeking to be the Republican Party candidate in the 2012 presidential election. Paul represents Texas's 14th congressional district, which covers an area south and southwest of Houston that includes...
of Texas, comfortably beat Republican establishment favorite Trey GraysonTrey GraysonCharles Merwin "Trey" Grayson III is the director of the Institute of Politics at Harvard Kennedy School, a former Secretary of State of Kentucky and a candidate in the 2010 GOP primary to replace Jim Bunning, losing to Rand Paul.-Early years and career:A product of the Kenton County public school...
with 60% of the vote, and subsequently won in the November general election. He was quoted saying, "The Tea Party Movement is about saving our country from a mountain of debt." - In the Republican primary in South DakotaSouth DakotaSouth Dakota is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux American Indian tribes. Once a part of Dakota Territory, South Dakota became a state on November 2, 1889. The state has an area of and an estimated population of just over...
for the at-large Congressional seat, Kristi NoemKristi NoemKristi Lynn Arnold Noem is the U.S. Representative for , serving since January 2011. She is a member of the Republican Party and has been elected to the Republican Leadership for the 112th Congress as one of its two freshman representatives...
, a Tea Party-approved candidate, defeated incumbent Secretary of State Chris NelsonChris NelsonChris Nelson is the former Secretary of State of South Dakota. A Republican, he was a candidate to become U.S. Representative from South Dakota's At-large congressional district in 2010. Nelson lost to Kristi Noem in the Republican primary....
and state representative Blake Curd. - In the South CarolinaSouth CarolinaSouth Carolina is a state in the Deep South of the United States that borders Georgia to the south, North Carolina to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence...
first Congressional District GOP Primary, Tea Party favorite Tim ScottTim Scott (politician)Timothy Eugene "Tim" Scott is the U.S. Representative for . Elected in November 2010 to the 112th Congress, he and Allen West of Florida are the first Republican African-American Representatives from the South since Reconstruction, and the first Republican African-American members of Congress...
, defeated two establishment Republicans with long family histories in Republican politics: Paul Thurmond, son of the former South Carolina U.S. SenatorUnited States SenateThe United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
Strom ThurmondStrom ThurmondJames Strom Thurmond was an American politician who served as a United States Senator. He also ran for the Presidency of the United States in 1948 as the segregationist States Rights Democratic Party candidate, receiving 2.4% of the popular vote and 39 electoral votes...
. and Carroll Campbell, son of former South Carolina Governor Carroll A. Campbell, Jr.Carroll A. Campbell, Jr.Carroll Ashmore Campbell, Jr. was a U.S. Republican Party politician who served as 112th Governor of South Carolina from 1987 to 1995.-Early life:He was born in Greenville, South Carolina, the oldest of six children...
Scott has spent one term in the South Carolina House, where the businessman became the first African American GOP representative in more than 100 years. - Nikki HaleyNikki HaleyNimrata Nikki Randhawa Haley is the 116th and current Governor of South Carolina. A member of the Republican Party, Haley represented Lexington County in the South Carolina House of Representatives from 2005 to 2010....
, a 38-year-old Indian-American state representative, beat out three prominent Republican rivals in the South CarolinaSouth CarolinaSouth Carolina is a state in the Deep South of the United States that borders Georgia to the south, North Carolina to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence...
primary race for governor, capturing 49% of the vote. She defeated the second-place finisher, U.S. Representative Gresham Barrett, in a run-off election on June 22. - In MaineMaineMaine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...
, Paul LePagePaul LePagePaul Richard LePage is an American businessman and politician who is serving as the 74th and current Governor of Maine. A Republican, he was previously mayor of Waterville from 2003 to 2011, and was a city councilor before that...
won the GOP primary for governor. - In California, Chuck DeVoreChuck DeVoreCharles S. "Chuck" DeVore is an American politician who served as a Republican member of the California State Assembly from 2004 to 2010 and represented the 70th District, which includes portions of Orange County...
, who had Tea Party backing, lost the GOP senate primary to Carly FiorinaCarly FiorinaCarly Fiorina is an American business executive and a former Republican candidate for the United States Senate representing California. Fiorina served as chief executive officer of Hewlett-Packard from 1999 to 2005 and previously was an executive at AT&T and its equipment and technology spinoff,...
, who had backing from Sarah PalinSarah PalinSarah Louise Palin is an American politician, commentator and author. As the Republican Party nominee for Vice President in the 2008 presidential election, she was the first Alaskan on the national ticket of a major party and first Republican woman nominated for the vice-presidency.She was...
. But she lost on November 2, 2010, to Boxer. - In New JerseyNew JerseyNew Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
, Anna C. LittleAnna C. LittleAnna Campbell Little is an American Republican Party politician who served as mayor of Highlands, New Jersey from 2008 through 2010, and who has previously served on the Monmouth County Board of Chosen Freeholders. She ran for congress in New Jersey's 6th congressional district, conceding to...
defeated Republican "establishment" candidate Diane Gooch in the Republican congressional primary for the 6th Congressional DistrictNew Jersey's 6th congressional districtNew Jersey's Sixth Congressional District is currently represented by Democrat Frank Pallone. In the 2010 election, Pallone defeated Republican Anna C...
on June 8, 2010. Little will face Democratic Congressman Frank PalloneFrank PalloneFrank Pallone, Jr. is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 1993. He is a member of the Democratic Party. He previously represented the 3rd district from 1988 to 1993.-Early life, education, and early political career:...
in November. Pallone defeated Little by over 16,000 votes, 55% to 43%. - In NevadaNevadaNevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...
, Sharron AngleSharron AngleSharron Elaine Angle is an American politician who served as a Republican member of the Nevada Assembly from 1999 to 2007. She ran unsuccessfully as the 2010 Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate seat in Nevada, garnering 45 percent of the vote...
won the U.S. Senate Republican primary race, defeating the GOP favorite, Sue LowdenSue LowdenSuzanne Parkinson "Sue" Pluskoski Lowden is the former Chairwoman of the Nevada Republican Party and a former State Senator in Nevada. Lowden is a former businesswoman, television news anchor and kindergarten teacher...
, the one-time front runner. Angle was defeated by SenateUnited States SenateThe United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
Majority LeaderMajority leaderIn U.S. politics, the majority floor leader is a partisan position in a legislative body.In the federal Congress, the role differs slightly in the two houses. In the House of Representatives, which chooses its own presiding officer, the leader of the majority party is elected the Speaker of the...
Harry ReidHarry ReidHarry Mason Reid is the senior United States Senator from Nevada, serving since 1987. A member of the Democratic Party, he has been the Senate Majority Leader since January 2007, having previously served as Minority Leader and Minority and Majority Whip.Previously, Reid was a member of the U.S...
. - In ArizonaArizonaArizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
Jesse Kelly beat state Sen. Jonathan Paton, the National Republican Congressional Committee's preferred candidate, in the August primary for the party's nomination in congressional district 8. He lost the general election to incumbent Gabrielle GiffordsGabrielle GiffordsGabrielle Dee "Gabby" Giffords is an American politician. A Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives, she has represented since 2007. She is the third woman in Arizona's history to be elected to the U.S. Congress...
. - In AlaskaAlaskaAlaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...
, attorney Joe Miller defeated current U.S. Senator Lisa MurkowskiLisa MurkowskiLisa Ann Murkowski is the senior U.S. Senator from the State of Alaska and a member of the Republican Party. She was appointed to the Senate in 2002 by her father, Governor Frank Murkowski. After losing a Republican primary in 2010, she became the second person ever to win a U.S...
, in the GOP primary race on August 24, 2010. Murkowski had been appointed to the seat by her father, Alaska Governor Frank MurkowskiFrank MurkowskiFrancis Hughes Murkowski is an American politician and a member of the Republican Party. He was a United States Senator from Alaska from 1981 until 2002 and the eighth Governor of Alaska from 2002 until 2006.- Early life and career :...
, who had held the Senate seat for 30 years prior to becoming governor. Murkowski remained in the election as a write-in candidate, eventually beating Miller in the general election. - In DelawareDelawareDelaware is a U.S. state located on the Atlantic Coast in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It is bordered to the south and west by Maryland, and to the north by Pennsylvania...
, Tea Party-backed candidate Christine O'DonnellChristine O'DonnellChristine Therese O'Donnell is an American Republican Party politician who founded two advocacy organizations. She has been an advocate for nonprofit clients and nonprofit causes for nearly 20 years. A Tea Party favorite, and with strong financial support from the Tea Party movement, she defeated...
defeated veteran Representative Mike Castle in the Republican primary for U.S. Senate. Her victory was a surprising upset and was seen as a sign of Tea Party movement strength. O'Donnell lost the election. - In New York, Tea Party-backed candidate Carl PaladinoCarl PaladinoCarl Pasquale Paladino is an American businessman and political activist from Buffalo, New York. Paladino is the founder and chairman of Ellicott Development Company, a real estate development company he founded in 1973. He was the 2010 Republican nominee for the New York gubernatorial election,...
defeated former Representative Rick LazioRick LazioEnrico Anthony "Rick" Lazio is a former U.S. Representative from the state of New York. Lazio became well known nationally when he ran against Hillary Rodham Clinton for the U.S. Senate in New York's 2000 Senate election...
in the Republican primary for governor; in the November election he was defeated by Democrat candidate Andrew CuomoAndrew CuomoAndrew Mark Cuomo is the 56th and current Governor of New York, having assumed office on January 1, 2011. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the 64th New York State Attorney General, and was the 11th United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development...
. - In LouisianaLouisianaLouisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
, in the last congressional primary of 2010, Tea Party-endorsed Republican Jeff LandryJeff LandryJeffrey Martin "Jeff" Landry is the U.S. Representative for . He is a member of the Republican Party and the Tea Party Caucus.-Early life, education, and military service:...
of New IberiaNew Iberia, LouisianaNew Iberia is a city in and the parish seat of Iberia Parish, Louisiana, United States, 30 miles southeast of Lafayette. In 1900, 6,815 people lived in New Iberia; in 1910, 7,499; and in 1940, 13,747...
defeated the establishment choice, former Speaker of the Louisiana House of Representatives Hunt DownerHunt DownerMajor General Huntington Blair Downer, Jr., known as Hunt Downer , is a Republican politician in the U.S. state of Louisiana who is the assistant adjutant general of the state National Guard and the first ever director of the new Louisiana Veterans Affairs Department.A former Speaker of the...
by a 65–35 percent margin. Landry won the 2010 general election. - In Florida, tea party favorite Marco RubioMarco RubioMarco Antonio Rubio is the junior United States Senator from Florida . A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives ....
defeated Independent and sitting governor Charlie CristCharlie CristCharles Joseph "Charlie" Crist, Jr. is an American politician who was the 44th Governor of Florida. Prior to his election as governor, Crist previously served as Florida State Senator, Education Commissioner, and Attorney General...
for the U.S. Senate seat. - In ColoradoColoradoColorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...
, tea party favorite Ken BuckKen BuckKenneth R. "Ken" Buck is the District Attorney for Weld County, Colorado, and was the unsuccessful Republican challenger to Michael Bennet in the 2010 U.S. Senate race in Colorado.-Early life and education:...
won the GOP Senate primary, defeating Republican establishment candidate Lt. Governor Jane NortonJane E. NortonJane E. Norton was the 46th Lieutenant Governor for the State of Colorado and an unsuccessful Republican candidate for a party nomination to compete for a U.S. Senate seat to challenge Senator Michael Bennet in the 2010 election...
. In the November general election, Buck was defeated by Senator Michael Bennet.
Allegations of Democratic candidates planting "fake" Tea Party candidates have surfaced in Florida, Michigan
Michigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
, New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
, and Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
.
Impact on the 2012 election cycle
In February 2011, the Tea Party Patriots organized and hosted the American Policy Summit in Phoenix, Arizona. The 1,600 attendees were polled regarding their preference for a 2012 presidential candidate. Herman CainHerman Cain
Herman Cain is a candidate for the 2012 U.S. Republican Party presidential nomination.Cain has a background as a business executive, syndicated columnist, and radio host from Georgia. He served as chairman and CEO of Godfather's Pizza from 1986 to 1996...
, the first of the 2012 candidates to form a presidential exploratory committee, won the poll with 22%. Runners up were Tim Pawlenty (16%), Ron Paul (15%) and Sarah Palin (10%). Ron Paul won the Summit's online poll.
In September 2011, CNN and Tea Party Express co-hosted a Republican primary debate among presidential candidates which featured questions from various Tea Party groups.
Public opinion
A USA Today/Gallup poll conducted in March 2010, found that 28% of those surveyed considered themselves supporters of the Tea Party movement, 26% were opponents, and 46% were neither. These figures remained stable through January 2011, but public opinion of the movement changed by August 2011. In the USA Today/Gallup poll conducted in January 2011, approximately 70% of adults, including approximately 9 out of 10 Republicans, feel Republican leaders in Congress should give consideration to Tea Party movement ideas. In August 2011, 42% of registered voters, but only 12% of Republicans, said Tea Party endorsement would be a "negative" and that they would be "less likely" to vote for such a candidate.A CBS News/New York Times poll in September 2010, showed 19% of respondents supported the movement, 63% did not, and 16% said they did not know. In the same poll, 29% had an unfavorable view of the Tea Party, compared to 23% with a favorable view. The Center for American Progress
Center for American Progress
The Center for American Progress is a progressive public policy research and advocacy organization. Its website states that the organization is "dedicated to improving the lives of Americans through progressive ideas and action." It has its headquarters in Washington D.C.Its President and Chief...
, a progressive group, used this poll to assert that the Tea Party movement holds views that differ from those the general public. The Tea Party differed on views related to Roe v. Wade
Roe v. Wade
Roe v. Wade, , was a controversial landmark decision by the United States Supreme Court on the issue of abortion. The Court decided that a right to privacy under the due process clause in the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution extends to a woman's decision to have an abortion,...
, income taxes
Income tax in the United States
In the United States, a tax is imposed on income by the Federal, most states, and many local governments. The income tax is determined by applying a tax rate, which may increase as income increases, to taxable income as defined. Individuals and corporations are directly taxable, and estates and...
, and Obama. The same poll retaken in August 2011 found that 20% of respondents had a "favorable" view of the Tea Party and 40% had an "unfavorable" view. A CNN/ORC poll taken September 23–25, 2011, found that the favorable/unfavorable ratio was 28% versus 53%.
An NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll later in September 2010 found 27% considered themselves Tea Party supporters. In that poll, 42% said the Tea Party has been good for the U.S. political system; 18% called it a bad thing. Those with an unfavorable view of the Tea Party outnumbered those with a favorable view 36–30%. In comparison, the Democratic Party was viewed unfavorably by a 42–37% margin, and the Republican Party by 43–31%.
A poll conducted by Quinnipiac University
Quinnipiac University
Quinnipiac University is a private, nonsectarian, coeducational university located in Hamden, Connecticut, United States at the foot of Sleeping Giant State Park...
in March 2010 found that only 13% of national adults identified themselves as part of the Tea Party movement but that the Tea Party had a positive opinion by a 28–23% margin with 49% who did not know enough about the group to form an opinion. A similar poll conducted by the Winston Group in April 2010 found that 17% of American registered voters consider themselves part of the Tea Party movement.
After debt-ceiling crisis
After the debt-ceiling crisis, polls became more unfavorable to the Tea Party. According to a GallupGallup
Gallup can refer to:*Gallup, New Mexico*Gallup, South Dakota *George Gallup, American pollster*Elizabeth Wells Gallup, American educator and scholar...
poll, 28% of adults disapproved of the Tea Party compared to 25% approving, and noted that "[t]he national Tea Party movement appears to have lost some ground in popular support after the blistering debate over raising the nation's debt ceiling in which Tea Party Republicans...fought any compromise on taxes and spending". Similarly, a Pew poll found that 29% of respondents thought Congressional tea party supporters had a negative effect compared to 22% thinking it was a positive effect. It noted that "[t]he new poll also finds that those who followed the debt ceiling debate very closely have more negative views about the impact of the Tea Party than those who followed the issue less closely." A CNN/ORC poll put disapproval at 51% with a 31% approval.
Obama administration
Polls found that just 7% of Tea Party supporters approve of how Obama is doing his job compared to 50% (as of April 2010) of the general public, and that roughly 77% of supporters had voted for Obama's Republican opponent, John McCainJohn McCain
John Sidney McCain III is the senior United States Senator from Arizona. He was the Republican nominee for president in the 2008 United States election....
in 2008.
On April 19, 2009, Senior White House Adviser David Axelrod
David Axelrod
David Axelrod may refer to:* David Axelrod * David Axelrod , Senior Advisor to U.S. President Barack Obama* David B. Axelrod , poet and educator...
, when asked about the Tea Party protests on CBS News
CBS News
CBS News is the news division of American television and radio network CBS. The current chairman is Jeff Fager who is also the executive producer of 60 Minutes, while the current president of CBS News is David Rhodes. CBS News' flagship program is the CBS Evening News, hosted by the network's main...
, said, "I think any time that you have severe economic conditions, there is always an element of disaffection that can mutate into something that's unhealthy." He also noted, "The thing that bewilders me is this President just cut taxes for ninety-five percent of the American people. So I think the tea bags should be directed elsewhere, because he certainly understands the burden that people face."
On April 29, 2009, Obama commented on the Tea Party protests publicly during a townhall meeting in Arnold, Missouri
Arnold, Missouri
Arnold is the largest city in Jefferson County, Missouri, United States. The population was estimated to be 20,603 in 2008, slightly more than the 19,965 number reported in the 2000 census.-Geography:Arnold is located at...
, saying: "[W]hen you see, you know ... those of you who are watching certain news channels on which I'm not very popular — and you see folks waving tea bags around ... let me just remind them that I am happy to have a serious conversation about how we are going to cut our health care costs down over the long term, how we're going to stabilize Social Security
Social Security (United States)
In the United States, Social Security refers to the federal Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance program.The original Social Security Act and the current version of the Act, as amended encompass several social welfare and social insurance programs...
. Claire (McCaskill)
Claire McCaskill
Claire Conner McCaskill is the senior United States Senator from Missouri and a member of the Democratic Party. She defeated Republican incumbent Jim Talent in the 2006 U.S. Senate election, by a margin of 49.6% to 47.3%. She is the first woman elected to the U.S. Senate from Missouri in her own...
and I are working diligently to do basically a thorough audit of federal spending. But let's not play games and pretend that the reason is because of the recovery act, because that's just a fraction of the overall problem that we've got. We are going to have to tighten our belts, but we're going to have to do it in an intelligent way. And we've got to make sure that the people who are helped are working American families, and we're not suddenly saying that the way to do this is to eliminate programs that help ordinary people and give more tax cuts to the wealthy. We tried that formula for eight years. It did not work. And I don't intend to go back to it."
On April 15, 2010, Obama touted his administration's tax cuts, noting the passage of 25 different tax cuts over the past year, including tax cuts for 95% of working Americans. He then remarked, "So I've been a little amused over the last couple of days where people have been having these rallies about taxes. You would think they would be saying thank you. That's what you'd think."
On September 20, 2010, at a townhall discussion sponsored by CNBC, Obama said healthy skepticism about government and spending was good, but it was not enough to just say "Get control of spending", and he challenged the Tea Party movement to get specific about how they would cut government debt and spending: "And so the challenge, I think, for the Tea Party movement is to identify specifically what would you do. It's not enough just to say, get control of spending. I think it's important for you to say, I'm willing to cut veterans' benefits, or I'm willing to cut Medicare or Social Security benefits, or I'm willing to see these taxes go up. What you can't do — which is what I've been hearing a lot from the other side — is say we're going to control government spending, we're going to propose $4 trillion of additional tax cuts, and that magically somehow things are going to work."
Commentaries on the movement
According to The Atlantic, the three main groups that provide guidance and organization for the protests, FreedomWorksFreedomWorks
FreedomWorks is a conservative non-profit organization based in Washington D.C., United States. FreedomWorks trains volunteers, assists in campaigns, and encourages them to mobilize, interacting with both fellow citizens and their political representatives....
, dontGO
DontGo
DontGo is a free market political activist non-profit group founded by American conservative Patrick Ruffini, who had previously created the blog , and libertarian Eric Odom, an internet marketer living in Chicago, Illinois.-History:The group started during the August 2008...
, and Americans for Prosperity, state that the demonstrations are an organic movement. Law professor and commentator Glenn Reynolds
Glenn Reynolds
Glenn Harlan Reynolds is Beauchamp Brogan Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of Tennessee, and is best known for his weblog, Instapundit, one of the most widely read American political weblogs...
, best known as author of the Instapundit
Instapundit
Instapundit is a United States political blog produced by Glenn Reynolds, a law professor at the University of Tennessee. The blog began in August 2001 as an experiment, and a part of Reynolds' class on Internet law...
political blog, argued in the New York Post
New York Post
The New York Post is the 13th-oldest newspaper published in the United States and is generally acknowledged as the oldest to have been published continuously as a daily, although – as is the case with most other papers – its publication has been periodically interrupted by labor actions...
that: "These aren't the usual semiprofessional protesters who attend antiwar and pro-union marches. These are people with real jobs; most have never attended a protest march before. They represent a kind of energy that our politics hasn't seen lately, and an influx of new activists." Conservative political strategist Tim Phillips
Tim Phillips (political strategist)
Tim Phillips , born July 13, 1964, is the current president of Americans for Prosperity.- Personal life :Phillips grew up in Spartanburg, SC. After briefly attending Liberty University in the fall, 1983, he went to Washington DC as part of a school sponsored internship with the Department of...
, now head of Americans for Prosperity, has remarked that the Republican Party is "too disorganized and unsure of itself to pull this off".
"Tea Party supporters", says Patrik Jonsson of the Christian Science Monitor, "have been called neo-Klansmen and knuckle-dragging hillbillies". Jonsson adds, "demonizing tea party activists tends to energize the Democrats' left-of-center base". He notes that "polls suggest that tea party activists are not only more mainstream than many critics suggest, but that a majority of them are women (primarily mothers), not angry white men". Jonsson quotes Juan Williams
Juan Williams
Juan Williams is an American journalist and political analyst for Fox News Channel, he was born in Panama on April 10, 1954. He also writes for several newspapers including The Washington Post, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal and has been published in magazines such as The Atlantic...
saying that Tea Party's opposition to health reform was based on self-interest rather than racism.
Matthew Continetti
Matthew Continetti
Matthew Continetti is a conservative journalist and associate editor at The Weekly Standard.-Biography:He graduated from Columbia University in 2003. While in college he wrote for the Columbia Spectator and the Intercollegiate Studies Institute's magazine, CAMPUS...
of The Weekly Standard
The Weekly Standard
The Weekly Standard is an American neoconservative opinion magazine published 48 times per year. Its founding publisher, News Corporation, debuted the title September 18, 1995. Currently edited by founder William Kristol and Fred Barnes, the Standard has been described as a "redoubt of...
has said: "There is no single Tea Party. The name is an umbrella that encompasses many different groups. Under this umbrella, you'll find everyone from the woolly fringe to Ron Paul supporters, from Americans for Prosperity to religious conservatives, independents, and citizens who never have been active in politics before. The umbrella is gigantic."
Mark Mardell
Mark Mardell is the North American Editor for BBC News. He has provided coverage for each United Kingdom general election since 1992.-Education:...
of BBC News
BBC News
BBC News is the department of the British Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs. The department is the world's largest broadcast news organisation and generates about 120 hours of radio and television output each day, as well as online...
, who has "spoken to many supporters of the Tea Party and been to lots of rallies" has said that when he talks to Tea Party supporters for more than a few minutes, "fury tends to dissolve into concern, worry about the economic direction of the country, worry about the size of the government and the level of taxation". While "many" supporters of what Mardell calls the "hydra
Lernaean Hydra
In Greek mythology, the Lernaean Hydra was an ancient nameless serpent-like chthonic water beast, with reptilian traits, that possessed many heads — the poets mention more heads than the vase-painters could paint, and for each head cut off it grew two more — and poisonous breath so virulent even...
-headed" Tea Party combine their fiscal and constitutional concerns with social issues associated with their Christian beliefs, the unifying focus is on fiscal conservatism
Fiscal conservatism
Fiscal conservatism is a political term used to describe a fiscal policy that advocates avoiding deficit spending. Fiscal conservatives often consider reduction of overall government spending and national debt as well as ensuring balanced budget of paramount importance...
and the constitution.
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich
Newt Gingrich
Newton Leroy "Newt" Gingrich is a U.S. Republican Party politician who served as the House Minority Whip from 1989 to 1995 and as the 58th Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1995 to 1999....
's political activist group American Solutions supports the protests, saying on its website that they are "our chance to communicate our anger and opposition to the irresponsible policies of politicians in Washington who have failed to solve problems". Gingrich spoke at the New York City protest on April 15.
Dan Gerstein, a former Democratic political advisor, argued in Forbes
Forbes
Forbes is an American publishing and media company. Its flagship publication, the Forbes magazine, is published biweekly. Its primary competitors in the national business magazine category are Fortune, which is also published biweekly, and Business Week...
that the protests could have tapped into real feelings of disillusionment by American moderates, but the protesters put forth too many incoherent messages. Democratic Party Chairman Tim Kaine
Tim Kaine
Timothy Michael "Tim" Kaine is a Virginia politician. Kaine served as the 70th Governor of Virginia from 2006 to 2010, and was the chairman of the Democratic National Committee from 2009 to 2011...
told CNN that Tea Party candidates will not appeal to independent and moderate voters, and that their growing importance within the Republican Party will help Democrats.
Ned Ryun
Ned Ryun
Ned Ryun is the founder and president of American Majority, an organization that identifies and trains candidates and activists who will become involved in local government, school district governance, or state legislatures...
, president of American Majority
American Majority
American Majority is a nonprofit, nonpartisan political training organization. Founded with an initial investment by the Sam Adams Alliance, the organization is funded by smaller individual donors. The organization provides political training to conservative activists and candidates in state and...
, an organization that offers training for many Tea Party activists, believes this movement is not about political parties, stating, "It's very much anti-establishment at both parties ... They don't care about party labels." He has also said that "I think we're getting to the point where you can truly say we're entering a post-party era. They aren't going to be necessarily wed to a certain party — they want to see leadership that reflects their values first ... They don't care what party you're in; they just want to know if you reflect their values — limited government, fixing the economy."
According to Arthur C. Brooks
Arthur C. Brooks
Arthur C. Brooks is an American social scientist and musician. He is the president of the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank. Brooks is best known for his work on the junctions between culture, economics, and politics...
, president of the American Enterprise Institute
American Enterprise Institute
The American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research is a conservative think tank founded in 1943. Its stated mission is "to defend the principles and improve the institutions of American freedom and democratic capitalism—limited government, private enterprise, individual liberty and...
, a conservative think tank, America is locked in a culture war between the country as being an "exceptional nation organized around the principles of free enterprise — limited government, a reliance on entrepreneurship and rewards determined by market forces" or as a country determined by "European-style statism". Brooks states that while some have tried to criticize the tea party, they are part of an ideological movement to preserve the former and oppose the latter.
In an April 2009 New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
opinion column, contributor Paul Krugman
Paul Krugman
Paul Robin Krugman is an American economist, professor of Economics and International Affairs at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University, Centenary Professor at the London School of Economics, and an op-ed columnist for The New York Times...
wrote that "the tea parties don't represent a spontaneous outpouring of public sentiment. They're AstroTurf (fake grassroots) events, manufactured by the usual suspects. In particular, a key role is being played by FreedomWorks
FreedomWorks
FreedomWorks is a conservative non-profit organization based in Washington D.C., United States. FreedomWorks trains volunteers, assists in campaigns, and encourages them to mobilize, interacting with both fellow citizens and their political representatives....
, an organization run by Richard Armey
Dick Armey
Richard Keith "Dick" Armey is a former U.S. Representative from Texas's and House Majority Leader . He was one of the engineers of the "Republican Revolution" of the 1990s, in which Republicans were elected to majorities of both houses of Congress for the first time in four decades. Armey was...
." The same month, then Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi
Nancy Pelosi
Nancy Patricia D'Alesandro Pelosi is the Minority Leader of the United States House of Representatives and served as the 60th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 2007 to 2011...
(D-California) stated "It's not really a grassroots movement. It's astroturf by some of the wealthiest people in America to keep the focus on tax cuts for the rich instead of for the great middle class"
In a September 2010 piece for Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
, journalist Matt Taibbi
Matt Taibbi
Matthew C. "Matt" Taibbi is an American author and journalist reporting on politics, media, finance, and sports for Rolling Stone and Men's Journal, often in a polemical style. He has also edited and written for The eXile, the New York Press, and The Beast.- Early years :Taibbi grew up in the...
wrote: "I've concluded that the whole miserable narrative boils down to one stark fact: They're full of shit. ... [T]he Tea Party is a movement that purports to be furious about government spending — only the reality is that the vast majority of its members are former Bush supporters who yawned through two terms of record deficits ... The average Tea Partier is sincerely against government spending — with the exception of the money spent on them. In fact, their lack of embarrassment when it comes to collecting government largesse is key to understanding what this movement is all about ..." Taibbi concluded, "This, then, is the future of the Republican Party: Angry white voters hovering over their cash-stuffed mattresses with their kerosene lanterns, peering through the blinds at the oncoming hordes of suburban soccer moms they've mistaken for death-panel bureaucrats bent on exterminating anyone who isn't an illegal alien or a Kenyan anti-colonialist."
Observers have compared the Tea Party movement to others in U.S. history, finding commonalities with previous populist or nativist movements and third parties such as the Know Nothing
Know Nothing
The Know Nothing was a movement by the nativist American political faction of the 1840s and 1850s. It was empowered by popular fears that the country was being overwhelmed by German and Irish Catholic immigrants, who were often regarded as hostile to Anglo-Saxon Protestant values and controlled by...
party, the John Birch Society
John Birch Society
The John Birch Society is an American political advocacy group that supports anti-communism, limited government, a Constitutional Republic and personal freedom. It has been described as radical right-wing....
, and the campaigns of Huey Long
Huey Long
Huey Pierce Long, Jr. , nicknamed The Kingfish, served as the 40th Governor of Louisiana from 1928–1932 and as a U.S. Senator from 1932 to 1935. A Democrat, he was noted for his radical populist policies. Though a backer of Franklin D...
, Barry Goldwater
Barry Goldwater
Barry Morris Goldwater was a five-term United States Senator from Arizona and the Republican Party's nominee for President in the 1964 election. An articulate and charismatic figure during the first half of the 1960s, he was known as "Mr...
, George Wallace
George Wallace
George Corley Wallace, Jr. was the 45th Governor of Alabama, serving four terms: 1963–1967, 1971–1979 and 1983–1987. "The most influential loser" in 20th-century U.S. politics, according to biographers Dan T. Carter and Stephan Lesher, he ran for U.S...
, and Ross Perot
Ross Perot
Henry Ross Perot is a U.S. businessman best known for running for President of the United States in 1992 and 1996. Perot founded Electronic Data Systems in 1962, sold the company to General Motors in 1984, and founded Perot Systems in 1988...
. Two historians, Steve Fraser and Joshua B. Freeman, have written in Salon.com
Salon.com
Salon.com, part of Salon Media Group , often just called Salon, is an online liberal magazine, with content updated each weekday. Salon was founded by David Talbot and launched on November 20, 1995. It was the internet's first online-only commercial publication. The magazine focuses on U.S...
that the Tea Party movement and anti-immigration movements share a "fear of displacement". Historian Jill Lepore has described the movement as a form of "historical fundamentalism", turning the founding into sacred history and rejecting critical academic study of it. U.S. Senator Chris Dodd compared the movement to the Know Nothings, saying it seeks to roll "the clock back to a point in time which they've sort of idealized in their own minds as being a better time in America". Other commentators, like Jacob Heilbrunn
Jacob Heilbrunn
Jacob Heilbrunn is an American writer who has written for Commentary, the Atlantic Monthly, and World Affairs, among other publications. He is a senior editor at The National Interest. His book They Knew They Were Right: The Rise of the Neocons explores the neoconservative movement and its...
and Michael Lind
Michael Lind
Michael Lind is an American writer. Currently Lind is Policy Director of the Economic Growth Program at the New America Foundation in Washington, D.C., Editor of New American Contract and its blog Value Added, and a columnist for Salon magazine. Lind was a guest lecturer at Harvard Law School and...
, predict that it will share the short life span of third parties in U.S. history that have faded after altering the political order.
In March 2011 Ronald Schiller, a National Public Radio fundraising executive was secretly recorded during a lunch meeting with two men posing as potential donors. On the recording, Schiller said that he would speak personally, and not for NPR; then he contrasted the fiscally conservative Republican party of old that didn't get involved in people's personal and family lives with "the current Republican Party, in particular the Tea Party, that is fanatically involved in people's personal lives and very fundamental Christian — I wouldn't even call it Christian. It's this weird evangelical kind of move." Schiller said some highly-placed Republicans believed the Republican Party had been hijacked by this radical group, and characterized them as "Islamophobic" and "seriously racist, racist people".
Media coverage
US News and World Report reported that the nature of the coverage of the protests has become part of the story. On CNNCNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
's Situation Room
The Situation Room
The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer is an afternoon/early evening newscast on CNN and CNN International hosted by Wolf Blitzer that first aired on August 8, 2005. The show replaces three politics and hard news programs: Judy Woodruff's Inside Politics, Crossfire and Wolf Blitzer Reports.At first,...
, journalist Howard Kurtz
Howard Kurtz
Howard "Howie" Alan Kurtz is an American journalist and author with a special focus on the media. He is host of CNN's Reliable Sources program, and Washington bureau chief for The Daily Beast. He is the former media writer for The Washington Post. He has written five books about the media...
commented that "much of the media seems to have chosen sides". He says that Fox News portrayed the protests "as a big story, CNN as a modest story, and MSNBC
MSNBC
MSNBC is a cable news channel based in the United States available in the US, Germany , South Africa, the Middle East and Canada...
as a great story to make fun of. And for most major newspapers, it's a nonstory." There are reports that the movement has been actively promoted by the Fox News Channel, indicating a possible media bias
Fox News Channel controversies
Critics of Fox News Channel have accused the network of having a bias favoring the political right and the Republican Party. Fox News has publicly denied such charges, stating that the reporters in the newsroom provide separate, neutral reporting....
.
According to Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting
Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting
Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting is a progressive media criticism organization based in New York City, founded in 1986.FAIR describes itself on its website as "the national media watch group" and defines its mission as working to "invigorate the First Amendment by advocating for greater diversity...
, a progressive
Progressivism
Progressivism is an umbrella term for a political ideology advocating or favoring social, political, and economic reform or changes. Progressivism is often viewed by some conservatives, constitutionalists, and libertarians to be in opposition to conservative or reactionary ideologies.The...
media watchdog, there is a disparity between large coverage of the Tea Party movement and minimal coverage of larger movements. In 2009, the major Tea Party protests were quoted twice as often as the National Equality March
National Equality March
The National Equality March was a national political rally that occurred October 11, 2009 in Washington, D.C.. It called for equal protection for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people in all matters governed by civil law in all 50 states and the District of Columbia...
despite a much lower turnout.
In 2010, a Tea Party protest was covered 59 times more than the US Social Forum
US Social Forum
The United States Social Forum is a gathering of social justice activists in the United States which grew out of the World Social Forum process, bringing together activists, organizers, people of color, working people, poor people, and indigenous people from across the United States...
(177 Tea Party mentions versus 3 for Social Forum) despite an attendance that was 25 times smaller in size (600 Tea Party attendees versus at least 15,000 for Social Forum).
In April 2010, responding to a question from the media watchdog group Media Matters
Media Matters for America
Media Matters for America is a politically progressive media watchdog group which says it is "dedicated to comprehensively monitoring, analyzing, and correcting conservative misinformation in the U.S. media." Set up as a 501 non-profit organization, MMfA was founded in 2004 by journalist and...
posed the previous week, Rupert Murdoch
Rupert Murdoch
Keith Rupert Murdoch, AC, KSG is an Australian-American business magnate. He is the founder and Chairman and CEO of , the world's second-largest media conglomerate....
, the chief executive of News Corporation
News Corporation
News Corporation or News Corp. is an American multinational media conglomerate. It is the world's second-largest media conglomerate as of 2011 in terms of revenue, and the world's third largest in entertainment as of 2009, although the BBC remains the world's largest broadcaster...
, which owns Fox News, said, "I don't think we should be supporting the Tea Party or any other party." That same week Fox News canceled an appearance by Sean Hannity
Sean Hannity
Sean Hannity is an American radio and television host, author, and conservative political commentator. He is the host of The Sean Hannity Show, a nationally syndicated talk radio show that airs throughout the United States on Premiere Radio Networks. Hannity also hosts a cable news show, Hannity,...
at a Cincinnati Tea Party rally.
Following the September 12 Taxpayer March on Washington
Taxpayer March on Washington
The Taxpayer March on Washington was a Tea Party protest march from Freedom Plaza to the United States Capitol that was held on September 12, 2009, in Washington, D.C. The event coincided with other similar protests organized in various cities across the nation...
, Fox News said it was the only cable news outlet to cover the emerging protests and took out full-page ads in The Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
, the New York Post
New York Post
The New York Post is the 13th-oldest newspaper published in the United States and is generally acknowledged as the oldest to have been published continuously as a daily, although – as is the case with most other papers – its publication has been periodically interrupted by labor actions...
, and The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal is an American English-language international daily newspaper. It is published in New York City by Dow Jones & Company, a division of News Corporation, along with the Asian and European editions of the Journal....
with a prominent headline reading, "How did ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
, CBS, NBC, MSNBC, and CNN miss this story?" CNN news anchor Rick Sanchez
Rick Sanchez
Ricardo León "Rick" Sánchez de Reinaldo , known professionally as Rick Sanchez, is a Cuban-American journalist, author and former TV news anchor...
disputed Fox's assertion, pointing to various coverage of the event. CNN, NBC, CBS, MSNBC, and CBS Radio News provided various forms of live coverage of the rally in Washington throughout the day on Saturday, including the lead story on CBS Evening News.
James Rainey of the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
said MSNBC's attacks on the tea parties paled compared to Fox's support, but that MSNBC personalities Keith Olbermann
Keith Olbermann
Keith Theodore Olbermann is an American political commentator and writer. He has been the chief news officer of the Current TV network and the host of Current TV's weeknight political commentary program, Countdown with Keith Olbermann, since June 20, 2011...
, Rachel Maddow
Rachel Maddow
Rachel Anne Maddow is an American television host and political commentator. Maddow hosts a nightly television show, The Rachel Maddow Show, on MSNBC. Her syndicated talk radio program, The Rachel Maddow Show, aired on Air America Radio...
and Chris Matthews
Chris Matthews
Christopher John "Chris" Matthews is an American news anchor and political commentator, known for his nightly hour-long talk show, Hardball with Chris Matthews, which is televised on the American cable television channel MSNBC...
were hardly subtle in disparaging the movement. Howard Kurtz
Howard Kurtz
Howard "Howie" Alan Kurtz is an American journalist and author with a special focus on the media. He is host of CNN's Reliable Sources program, and Washington bureau chief for The Daily Beast. He is the former media writer for The Washington Post. He has written five books about the media...
has said that, "These [FOX] hosts said little or nothing about the huge deficits run up by President Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
, but Barack Obama's budget and tax plans have driven them to tea. On the other hand, CNN and MSNBC may have dropped the ball by all but ignoring the protests."
Tea Party's views of media coverage
In October 2010, a survey conducted by The Washington PostThe Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
found that the majority of local Tea Party organizers consider the media coverage of their groups to be fair. Seventy-six percent of the local organizers said media coverage has been fair while twenty-three percent have said coverage was unfair. This was based on responses from all 647 local Tea Party organizers the Post was able to contact and verify, from a list of more than 1,400 possible groups identified.
Racial issues
Black conservatives have expressed mixed feelings about the Tea Party's inclusiveness and concerns about racism. Brandon Brice, a primary black speaker at a tax-day Tea Party rally, said he was worried about the movement, claiming that, "It's strayed away from the message of wasteful spending and Washington not listening to its constituents, and it's become more of this rally of hate. The tea party leaders should apologize on behalf of the irresponsible comments that were made, but they should also stand very firm on where we stood and where they stood in 2009." Lenny McAllisterLenny McAllister
Lenny McAllister is a conservative American political commentator for a number of newspapers and websites, including AOL and The Root.-Early life:...
, a Republican commentator, author and Tea Party supporter, said he has seen racism within the movement and has confronted it by approaching people with racially derogatory signs of President Obama and asking them to take the signs down. Like Brice, McAllister thinks leaders of the Tea Party movement must not ignore the issue. McAllister told The Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
, "The people are speaking up and becoming more educated on the issues, but you have fringe elements that are defining this good thing with their negative, hateful behavior." He said the movement is more diverse than news clips show, commenting that "There is this perception that these are all old, white racists and that's not the case." Jean Howard-Hill, leader of the National Republican African American Caucus, wrote that, "Any movement which cannot openly denounce racism, calling it out as wrong troubles me. To attack President Obama on his policy is one thing, but to do so on his race or some hysterical pretext of socialism is yet another." During an interview on NPR
NPR
NPR, formerly National Public Radio, is a privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization that serves as a national syndicator to a network of 900 public radio stations in the United States. NPR was created in 1970, following congressional passage of the Public Broadcasting...
with Michel Martin, McAllister and columnist Cynthia Tucker
Cynthia Tucker
Cynthia Tucker is an American columnist and blogger for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, syndicated by Universal Press Syndicate. She received a Pulitzer Prize for Commentary in 2007 "for her courageous, clear-headed columns that evince a strong sense of morality and persuasive knowledge of the...
discussed racism and the Tea Parties; Tucker wrote about the interview, concluding that McAllister's take on racism was that he'd seen enough racist signs at other Tea Party gatherings to know that racism is associated with the movement.
Black Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain
Herman Cain
Herman Cain is a candidate for the 2012 U.S. Republican Party presidential nomination.Cain has a background as a business executive, syndicated columnist, and radio host from Georgia. He served as chairman and CEO of Godfather's Pizza from 1986 to 1996...
said that racist accusations about the Tea Party Movement are "ridiculous". "I have been speaking to Tea Parties, Americans for Prosperity, since 2009, before it was cool," Cain said, and then, referring to his victories in recent Tea Party Straw polls, "... If the Tea Party organization is racist, why does the black guy keep winning all these straw polls?" Cain went on to say that while he doesn't feel President Obama used race to get elected, "a lot of his supporters use race selectively to try to cover up some of his failures, to try to cover up some of his failed policies." Cain said Obama's surrogates "try to play the race card, because there's supposed to be something wrong with criticizing him", and concluded, "Some people have tried to use [race] to try to give the president a pass on failed policies, bad decisions and the fact that this economy is not doing what it's supposed to do."
Another prominent African-American conservative, Ward Connerly
Ward Connerly
Wardell Anthony "Ward" Connerly is an American political activist, businessman, and former University of California Regent . He is also the founder and the chairman of the American Civil Rights Institute, a national non-profit organization in opposition to racial and gender preferences...
, decried accusations of Tea Party racism and defended the movement in a National Review
National Review
National Review is a biweekly magazine founded by the late author William F. Buckley, Jr., in 1955 and based in New York City. It describes itself as "America's most widely read and influential magazine and web site for conservative news, commentary, and opinion."Although the print version of the...
column: "Race is the engine that drives the political Left. In the courtrooms, on college campuses, and, most especially, in our politics, race is a central theme. Where it does not naturally rise to the surface, there are those who will manufacture and amplify it," Connerly said. "I am convinced beyond any doubt that all of this is part of the strategic plan being implemented by the Left in its current campaign to remake America."
About 61 percent of Tea Party opponents say racism has a lot to do with the movement, a view held by just 7 percent of Tea Party supporters. Some Tea Partiers blame the media for casting them as racists. Allen West, one of 32 African-Americans who ran for Congress in 2010 as Republicans, says the notion of racism in the Tea Party movement has been made up by the news media. The Washington Post reported that an analysis of the signs displayed at a September 2010 Tea Party rally found that "the vast majority of activists expressed narrow concerns about the government's economic and spending policies and steered clear of the racially charged anti-Obama messages that have helped define some media coverage of such events". Roughly a quarter of the signs "reflected direct anger with Obama", 5 percent "mentioned the president's race or religion, and slightly more than 1 percent questioned his American citizenship". The researcher, Emily Elkins, did not conclude that "the racially charged messages" were "unimportant", but she did conclude that "media coverage of tea party rallies over the past year have focused so heavily on the more controversial signs that it has contributed to the perception that such content dominates the tea party movement more than it actually does". A report published in the fall 2010 by the Institute for Research and Education on Human Rights and backed by the NAACP
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, usually abbreviated as NAACP, is an African-American civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909. Its mission is "to ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all persons and to...
has found what it says are efforts by white nationalist groups and militias to link themselves to the Tea Party movement. White nationalists have attempted to recruit new members at Tea Party events. Steve Smith, Pennsylvania Party Chairman of the white nationalist American Third Position Party, has called Tea Party events "fertile ground for our activists".
Specific racial slurs
While at a Tea Party event on February 27, 2009, a photo was taken of TeaParty.org founder and president Dale Robertson with a sign that said "Congress = Slaveowner, Taxpayer = NiggarNigger
Nigger is a noun in the English language, most notable for its usage in a pejorative context to refer to black people , and also as an informal slang term, among other contexts. It is a common ethnic slur...
". It has been reported that he was ejected from the event because of the offensive nature of the sign, and Houston Tea Party Society leaders ousted him from the society shortly after. It was also reported that Robertson intended to sell the domain TeaParty.org; however, he is named the "President & Founder" on the TeaParty.org "Founder" section.
Reports of slurs at health care reform protests
On March 20, 2010, during a rally at the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C., before the Patient Protection and Affordable Care BillPatient Protection and Affordable Care Act
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is a United States federal statute signed into law by President Barack Obama on March 23, 2010. The law is the principal health care reform legislation of the 111th United States Congress...
was voted on, several black lawmakers said that demonstrators shouted racial epithets at them. Congressman Emanuel Cleaver
Emanuel Cleaver
Emanuel Cleaver II is a United Methodist pastor and the U.S. Representative for , serving since 2005. He is a member of the Democratic Party, and in January 2010 became chair of the Congressional Black Caucus....
was spat upon, although it is unclear if this was deliberate, and said he heard the slurs. Congressman Barney Frank
Barney Frank
Barney Frank is the U.S. Representative for . A member of the Democratic Party, he is the former chairman of the House Financial Services Committee and is considered the most prominent gay politician in the United States.Born and raised in New Jersey, Frank graduated from Harvard College and...
, who is gay, was called a "faggot". Representative André Carson
André Carson
André D. Carson is the U.S. Representative for , serving since the special election in 2008. He is a member of the Democratic Party....
said that while walking with John Lewis and his chief of staff from the Cannon building
Cannon House Office Building
The Cannon House Office Building, completed in 1908, is the oldest congressional office building as well as a significant example of the Beaux-Arts style of architecture...
, amid chants of "kill the bill", he heard the "n-word at least 15 times". Carson said he heard it coming from different places in the crowd, and one man "just rattled it off several times". Carson quoted Lewis as saying, "You know, this reminds me of a different time." Heath Shuler
Heath Shuler
Joseph Heath Shuler is a businessman, a former NFL quarterback, and the U.S. Representative for , serving since 2007. He is a member of the Democratic Party....
, a Democratic U.S. representative from North Carolina commented on the tenor of the protests, saying: "It was the most horrible display of protesting I have ever seen in my life." He also confirmed hearing the slur against Frank.
While attending the health care rally in Washington, D.C., on March 21, 2010, Springboro, Ohio
Springboro, Ohio
Springboro is an affluent suburb of Cincinnati and Dayton located in Warren and Montgomery counties in the U.S. state of Ohio. It is in Warren County's Clearcreek and Franklin Townships and Montgomery County's Miami Township...
, Tea Party founder Sonny Thomas posted a racist comment on the Springboro Tea Party Twitter
Twitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
page he managed by tweeting
Tweet
Tweet may refer to:*Tweet, a post on Twitter*A type of bird vocalisation*Tweet , American R&B and soul singer-songwriter*Cessna T-37 Tweet, a trainer aircraft*Jonathan Tweet, a game designer...
"Illegals everywhere today! So many spicks makes me feel like a speck. Grrr. Wheres my gun!?" On April 14, 2010, according to CNN anchor Rick Sanchez, when CNN contacted Thomas to ask for an explanation, Thomas initially said he was making a reference to a Bee Gee's song
Spicks and Specks (song)
"Spicks and Specks" is a song by The Bee Gees .An instrumental version of the song is part of the soundtrack for Melody, which also featured several other Bee Gees songs.-Live performances:...
. Thomas posted the following on the Springboro Tea Party website, "I take full responsibility for the action and it was not my intention to be insensitive. While it is never appropriate to make such a facetious comment, I hope that we can put this issue behind us for the greater good." The posting triggered cancellations by several local and statewide political candidates and leaders scheduled to speak at a Springboro Tea Party rally on April 17. An Ohio Republican state Senator, Shannon Jones
Shannon Jones
Shannon Jones is a Republican member of the Ohio Senate, who has represented the 7th District since 2009. She serves as majority whip. She served in the Ohio House of Representatives from 2007 to 2009.-Early life and career:...
, boycotted the rally and stated, "I don't think it says anything about the movement per se". A Dayton Tea Party official, Rob Scott, claimed that the posts were "classless" and did not represent the national Tea Party movement as a whole.
Response
According to The Washington PostThe Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
three weeks after the incidents, video and audio proof of racial slurs against Lewis and Carson had yet to emerge, and conservative commentator and blogger Andrew Breitbart
Andrew Breitbart
Andrew Breitbart is an American publisher, commentator for the Washington Times, author, an occasional guest commentator on various news programs who has served as an editor for the Drudge Report website...
insisted the charges were made up. "If so, they're good actors," Andrew Alexander, ombudsman for the Post, said, explaining that reporters described Carson as "trembling", "agitated", "angry" and "emotional" as he recounted what had just happened. Carson implored the reporters to step back outside to witness and document the taunts, but Capitol police prevented them. Andrew Breitbart offered to make a $100,000 donation to the United Negro College Fund
United Negro College Fund
The United Negro College Fund is an American philanthropic organization that fundraises college tuition money for black students and general scholarship funds for 39 private historically black colleges and universities. The UNCF was incorporated on April 25, 1944 by Frederick D. Patterson , Mary...
for any audio/video footage of the N-word being hurled at Congressman John Lewis or if Lewis could pass a lie-detector test. "It didn't happen," said Breitbart, who wasn't there. Breitbart asserted that the racial slurs were only alleged as a way for the left, abetted by the "progressive" media, to "marginalize" Tea Party supporters. To support his assertions, Breitbart had posted a mislabeled 48-second video of the Congressional Black Caucus
Congressional Black Caucus
The Congressional Black Caucus is an organization representing the black members of the United States Congress. Membership is exclusive to blacks, and its chair in the 112th Congress is Representative Emanuel Cleaver of Missouri.-Aims:...
members on the day in question, but later analysis revealed that the video was not of Lewis and Carson walking to the Capitol, when the slurs were reportedly heard, but instead showed the lawmakers leaving the Capitol — at least one hour after the reported incident. When asked about using the video from the wrong moment on his website, Breitbart stood by his claim that the lawmakers were lying. "I'm not saying the video was conclusive proof," he said.
In response to Breitbart's allegations, AFL-CIO
AFL-CIO
The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations, commonly AFL–CIO, is a national trade union center, the largest federation of unions in the United States, made up of 56 national and international unions, together representing more than 11 million workers...
president Richard Trumka
Richard Trumka
Richard Louis Trumka is an organized labor leader in the United States. He was elected President of the AFL-CIO on September 16, 2009, at the labor federation's convention in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He served as the Secretary-Treasurer of the AFL-CIO, from 1995 to 2009, and prior to that was...
said he had witnessed the events in question, stating, "I watched them spit at people, I watched them call John Lewis the n-word. I witnessed it." Fox News' Bill O'Reilly
Bill O'Reilly (political commentator)
William James "Bill" O'Reilly, Jr. is an American television host, author, syndicated columnist and political commentator. He is the host of the political commentary program The O'Reilly Factor on the Fox News Channel, which is the most watched cable news television program on American television...
discussed the issue on four of his shows, beginning on March 22. O'Reilly stated, "Just because it's not on tape doesn't mean it's fabricated."
Economist and prominent black conservative Thomas Sowell
Thomas Sowell
Thomas Sowell is an American economist, social theorist, political philosopher, and author. A National Humanities Medal winner, he advocates laissez-faire economics and writes from a libertarian perspective...
told The Washington Post, "This is a serious charge — and one deserving of some serious evidence ... But, despite all the media recording devices on the scene, not to mention recording devices among the crowd gathered there, nobody can come up with a single recorded sound to back up that incendiary charge. Worse yet, some people have claimed that even doubting the charge suggests that you are a racist."
The National Tea Party Federation
National Tea Party Federation
The National Tea Party Federation was formed on April 8, 2010 by leaders of a broad coalition of national and regional Tea Party groups to help spread the movement's message and to respond to mainstream media misinformation about the Tea Party with a quick, unified response...
sent a letter to the Congressional Black Caucus
Congressional Black Caucus
The Congressional Black Caucus is an organization representing the black members of the United States Congress. Membership is exclusive to blacks, and its chair in the 112th Congress is Representative Emanuel Cleaver of Missouri.-Aims:...
denouncing racism and requesting that the CBC supply any evidence of the alleged events at the protest on March 20, 2010.
House Republican leaders criticized the use of slurs against the Democratic congressmen by the protesters, but said they were isolated incidents that should not overshadow the healthcare debate. House Minority Leader John Boehner
John Boehner
John Andrew Boehner is the 61st and current Speaker of the United States House of Representatives. A member of the Republican Party, he is the U.S. Representative from , serving since 1991...
called the incidents "reprehensible", and House Minority Whip Eric Cantor
Eric Cantor
Eric Ivan Cantor is the U.S. Representative for Virginia's 7th congressional district, serving since 2001. A member of the Republican Party, he became House Majority Leader when the 112th Congress convened on January 3, 2011...
said, "Nobody condones that at all. There were 30,000 people here in Washington yesterday. And, yes, there were some very awful things said." As demonstrators gathered the following day outside the Capitol to rally against the bill again, one held a sign saying, "All tea partiers: If you hear a racial slur, step away, point, boo and take a picture of the rat bastard."
Mark Williams anti-Islam comments
Tea Party Express leader Mark WilliamsMark Williams (radio host)
Mark Williams is an American conservative activist and author based in Sacramento, California. He is the author of It's Not Right Versus Left, It's Right Versus Wrong; Exposing the Socialist Agenda and Taking Back America One Tea Party at a Time....
referred to Allah
Allah
Allah is a word for God used in the context of Islam. In Arabic, the word means simply "God". It is used primarily by Muslims and Bahá'ís, and often, albeit not exclusively, used by Arabic-speaking Eastern Catholic Christians, Maltese Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox Christians, Mizrahi Jews and...
as a "Monkey God". Williams' comments elicited strong rebukes from New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg
Michael Bloomberg
Michael Rubens Bloomberg is the current Mayor of New York City. With a net worth of $19.5 billion in 2011, he is also the 12th-richest person in the United States...
, New York state senators and Muslim leaders. In a subsequent blog posting, Williams wrote, "I owe an apology to millions of Hindus who worship Lord Hanuman, an actual Monkey God. Hanuman is worshiped as a symbol of perseverance, strength, and devotion ... Those are hardly the traits of whatever the Hell (literally) it is that terrorists worship." When questioned by The Washington Post about his comments about Islam, Williams has claimed the controversy has "been fantastic for the movement".
Williams came under further criticism in mid-July when he posted a fictional letter named "Colored People" on his blog. Williams claimed the letter was a "satirical" response to a resolution passed by the NAACP calling on Tea Party leaders to repudiate the racist element and activities' from within the movement". In response, the National Tea Party Federation "demanded that the Tea Party Express — a separate group — oust Williams from its ranks. When it did not, the Federation expelled both Williams and his conservative outfit."
Other controversies
On March 22, 2010, a Lynchburg, VirginiaLynchburg, Virginia
Lynchburg is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The population was 75,568 as of 2010. Located in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains along the banks of the James River, Lynchburg is known as the "City of Seven Hills" or "The Hill City." Lynchburg was the only major city in...
, Tea Party activist, attempting to post the home address of Representative Tom Perriello
Tom Perriello
Thomas Stuart Price "Tom" Perriello is the former U.S. Representative for , serving from 2009 until 2011. He is a member of the Democratic Party. The district includes much of Southside Virginia and stretches north to Charlottesville....
on his blog, incorrectly posted the address of Perriello's brother, who also lives in Virginia, and encouraged readers to "drop by" to express their anger against Representative Perriello's vote in favor of the healthcare bill. The following day, a severed gas line was discovered in Perriello's brother's yard that connected to a propane grill on the home's screened-in porch. Local police and FBI investigators determined that it was intentionally cut as a deliberate act of vandalism. Perriello's brother also received a threatening letter. The website issued a response saying the Tea Party member's action of posting the address "was not requested, sanctioned or endorsed" by the group.
In early July 2010, the North Iowa Tea Party (NITP) posted a billboard comparing Obama to Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
and Vladimir Lenin
Vladimir Lenin
Vladimir Ilyich Lenin was a Russian Marxist revolutionary and communist politician who led the October Revolution of 1917. As leader of the Bolsheviks, he headed the Soviet state during its initial years , as it fought to establish control of Russia in the Russian Civil War and worked to create a...
and received sharp criticism, including some from other Tea Party activists. NITP co-founder Bob Johnson acknowledged the anti-socialist message may have gotten lost amid the fascist and communist images. Following a request from the NITP, the billboard was removed on July 14.
Use of term "teabagger"
The term "teabagger" emerged after a protester displayed a placard using the words "tea bag" as a verb. The label has prompted additional puns by commentators, the protesters themselves, and comedians based on the sexual meaning of the term. It is routinely used as a derogatory term to refer to conservative protestors.The term has also entered into the political debate; supposed or actual supporters of the tea-party movement have been referred to as "tea-baggers" by politicians such as Senators John F. Kerry and Chuck Schumer as well as by President Obama.
See also
- Coffee Party USACoffee Party USAThe Coffee Party USA is an American political movement that was initially formed in January, 2010, as an alternative to the Tea Party movement, and has since grown into an increasingly diverse organization....
External links
- Collected news and coverage at Fox News
- Collected news and coverage at The New York TimesThe New York TimesThe New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
- Collected news and coverage at The GuardianThe GuardianThe Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
- Tea Party Movement at History News NetworkHistory News NetworkHistory News Network is a project of the Center for History and New Media at George Mason University. Although the HNN resides on GMU's server, it operates independently of the university as a non-profit corporation registered in Washington State...
at George Mason UniversityGeorge Mason UniversityGeorge Mason University is a public university based in unincorporated Fairfax County, Virginia, United States, south of and adjacent to the city of Fairfax. Additional campuses are located nearby in Arlington County, Prince William County, and Loudoun County...