I have been interviewing grassroots activists in over a dozen states who contradict what you say. Most of the TP folks are being organized into an inside/outside pressure group to pull the Republican Party to the Right. This is already documented in over 20 states. The TP support and sentiments just elected a libertarian Republican to replace the late Senator Ted Kennedy here in MA. Meanwhile, some of the central memes of the TP movement have spread to significant portions of the electorate. Consider the following:
Is Obama really eligible to be President?
Tennessee
No All voters 34% Republican voters 47%
Was Obama really born outside the U.S. and thus not eligible to be President?
New Jersey
Yes All voters 21% Republican voters 33%
Is Obama the Antichrist of Biblical Propecy?
New Jersey
Yes All voters 8% Republican voters 14% Maybe All voters 13% Republican voters 15%
Total All voters 21% Republican voters 29%
Creepy, yes?
And all right-wing populist movements seem incoherent because they are built around anger and rage, but that does not mean they are politically powerless. They increase the amount of scapegoating and demonization in a society. Real targets suffer the consequences.
Fascism is the most militant form of right-wing populism.
-cb
________________________________
From: lbo-talk-bounces at lbo-talk.org on behalf of Joanna Sent: Sat 2/20/2010 9:22 PM To: lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org Subject: Re: [lbo-talk] Fascism, right-wing populism,and contemporary research
My overall impression about the TP "movement" is that it is a largely top-down manufactured populist movement that is used by the standing parties to justify further moves to the right as responses to popular pressures.
I have not seen a single interview or any coverage of actual TPers that makes me think these people have a clue or that they could organize their way out of a paper bag. The media attention lavished on them is completely out of proportion with their actual numbers or actual influence.
If anyone out there has evidence to the contrary, I'd be interested ...
Joanna ___________________________________ http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk