How Do You View The Tea Party Movement

[tigerbob]

Tea Party Profile: Many Ways To Describe A Movement

The number of people who say they're part of the Tea Party Movement nationally has grown to 24%. That's up from 16% a month ago, but the movement still defies easy description. Some on the political left see nothing but hate, while some on the right see a threat to Republican prospects. Others see a grass roots movement that is challenging a corrupt Political Class and trying to save the nation from politicians.

I tend to see it in two ways, in which I have highlighted in bold.

rasmussenreports.com

I see it as being, at its core, a group of like minded individuals who are concerned about public spending and big Government.

Add to that the fact that the GOP has done its level best to manipulate this core sentiment.

Add to that the fact that CNN / MSNBC have not been evenhanded in their coverage of tea parties.

Add to that the fact that Fox have hyped the tea parties in order to use them as a political tool to advance the station's agenda.

Add to that the fact that every fringe element imaginable has attempted to graft themselves onto the tea parties (with significant success, thanks to shoddy media) to provide a platform from which they can air their views.

Add all those elements together and you have 'The Tea Party Movement'. So, in reality, not one movement but several, with the core element effectively lost in the background. Great shame. But so long as the left and right choose to attack the fringe elements (and I'm not just talking about the tea parties) rather than discuss the real issues, such is the America that has been built. An America that is completely fucked as far as reasoned debate is concerned, and one where all that matters is how to screw over the other guy.

Donald Segretti is probably amazed at how widely the concept of "rat fucking" is now accepted as a reasonable way to behave.

 

[my2¢]

How do I view The Tea Party movement:

Favorably. Hopefully it'll have the effect of pushing Republicans towards the right and Democrats towards the center.

 

[VaYank5150]

The Tea Party represents the views of about 25% of the country. They are the same 25% that still thought George Bush was doing a good job, the same 25% that think Palin would make a great President and the same 25% who watch Glenn Beck religiously and believe every word he says.

Problem is that the 25% will force the GOP into unelectable positions while driving moderates to more centrist candidates

I believe this is the way most non-Tea Baggers view them.

 

[tigerbob]

The Tea Party represents the views of about 25% of the country. They are the same 25% that still thought George Bush was doing a good job, the same 25% that think Palin would make a great President and the same 25% who watch Glenn Beck religiously and believe every word he says.

Problem is that the 25% will force the GOP into unelectable positions while driving moderates to more centrist candidates

I support the core aims of the tea party movement, hate Bush, think Palin is a bit of a joke and have seen Glenn Beck maybe 2 or 3 times in my life, at which times I've remarked on how appallingly partizan and hysterical he appears. But that's just me.