> I know Tea Partiers who are anti-war. And not foaming at the mouth about
> socialism. They also hate the bailouts and see the middle class getting
> crushed.
>
> Right now the Right owns this by default. It doesn't have to be that way.
> But will be if the Left continues doing nothing.
>
This is an illusion. The tea-baggers are yet another "new and different" incarnation of the exact same movement that went from "100% Americanism" (1920's) to McCarthyism (1950's) to Goldwaterism (1960's) to the 1970's "New Right" (said at the time to be different - "more populist" - than the "old" Goldwater Right), to the 1994 Republican Revolution. In every case, the social base and leading personnel were almost identical. Yet people keep falling for the same old act.
See below....
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http://roomfordebate.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/01/31/tea-partyers-and-the-power-of-no/
> Who’s at the Tea Party
> Neil Newhouse
>
> Neil Newhouse is a partner with Public Opinion Strategies, a national
> public opinion research firm that includes among its clients hundreds
> of Republican elected officials. He served as the pollster for
> Senator-elect Scott Brown’s campaign in Massachusetts. The NBC
> News/Wall Street Journal poll was conducted jointly by Public Opinion
> Strategies and Hart Research.
>
> The NBC/W.S.J. poll shows that Americans are somewhat divided in their
> impression of the Tea Party Movement, with 28 percent having a
> positive impression of the movement and 21 percent a negative
> impression (20 percent were neutral, and 31 percent were unsure or
> hadn’t heard of the movement).
>
> Taking a closer look at those Americans with “very positive”
> impressions of the Tea Party movement (14 percent of the NBC/W.S.J.
> sample) provides us with a glimpse of the movement’s ranks.
>
> A few points are clear:
>
> 1. The lion’s share of the movement’s strongest supporters are
> Republicans. In fact, fully 74 percent of those Americans with a “very
> positive” impression of The Tea Party Movement identify themselves as
> Republicans.
>
> 2. They are also overwhelmingly conservative — 78 percent of
> respondents with a “very positive” impression of the movement consider
> themselves ideological conservatives.
>
> 3. They tend to be white and older — 87 percent are white and 60
> percent are at least 50 years of age.
>
> 4. They are NOT uneducated. Forty-six percent have at least a college
> degree.
>
> 5. The strongest Tea Party advocates are also the most energized about
> the November elections — 77 percent of these voters rate their
> interest in the elections a “9″ or “10″ on a “1-10″ scale, compared to
> just 40 percent of all those interviewed.
>
> 6. Finally, those with the most positive impression of the Tea Party
> movement are also most likely to get their news from Fox News — 64
> percent say that’s where they get most of their information on
> politics and current events.
>
> What’s clear from this data is that the strongest Tea Party supporters
> come from the Republican/conservative ranks and that they will likely
> provide G.O.P. candidates with overwhelming support in the fall elections.