Word: teas
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...Tea just got a little more serious: Feb. 6 marked the first National Tea Party Convention and, with it, a degree of legitimacy for the movement. Granted, the hundreds of delegates that descended on Nashville had to shell out as much as $500 per ticket, and their conception of the purpose and message of the party is anything but unified. But in the span of less than a year, grassroots activism from across the country has united in a remarkable...
...City, there are significant and complex elements to the grassroots dimension of the movement, and Democrats need to take them more seriously. During our winter of malcontent, MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann stooped to the level of Limbaugh, referring to Senator Scott Brown, who rode in on a tea party wave, as a “homophobic, racist, teabagging supporter of violence against women.” We need not give the movement undue credit—it’s wrought with internal contradictions and an irresponsible tinge of me-first-ism—but we do need...
Part of the reason Democrats patronize the tea party movement is because the mainstream media has done just that. Even wiser pundits who don’t dismiss the movement’s ideas unduly homogenize it. Moderate New York Times columnist David Brooks has characterized the movement as a mere populist surge against “the educated elite.” In truth, about half of the membership has undergraduate or advanced degrees. Most of its members couldn’t be categorized as populist by most rubrics—they want to live their lives as they...
...Obama administration was doing enough to address their economic concerns. Folks are upset at a lack of both efficacy and backbone. Democrats have to discard the image of a wonkish organization inextricably attached to Wall Street and an inept bureaucracy. Although this may not change the mind of fervent tea partiers in the short run, it’ll help weaken the movement’s influence on swing voters in the long...
...need not cater to individualistic temper tantrums, but we also should not dismiss out of hand the views of a large part of the citizenry. Whatever happens in Nashville today, it shouldn’t be taken as a representation of the tea party movement. Democrats must better respond to the concerns of disconcerted Americans. A movement of “leave-me-aloners” can only form so much solidarity and might diffuse rapidly, but only if a compelling response is offered. Democrats need to reaffirm a narrative and clearly outline how our common sacrifices will help American...