Lois & Clark Forums Forums General Discussion Off Topic Tea Party, anyone?

In the last month or so, anti-tax protest rallies have taken place in at least 150 cities across America. (The name, of course, comes from the Boston Tea Party in the American Revolution; I don't think many people are literally dumping tea into harbors, though). The different events are adopting the title of Tea Party but generally are locally organized, by independent citizens outraged at the amount of money being borrowed and wasted by the Obama-Pelosi-Reid government. Some have been pretty small, but apparently over the weekend there were more than 10,000 people at a rally in Cincinatti. [edit: I was getting my numbers confused - there might have been more like 5,000 in Cincinatti. Fullerton, CA, however, might have has as much as 15,000]

I'm told that there's been little to no covereage of this phenomenon in major news outlets. (see NewsBusters )

So I'm wondering, had you heard about these before this post? If so, where did you hear of it? A major newspaper? A national network news program? Local news? Facebook?

Discuss.

PJ

I'd heard about them. I saw it on Facebook and Fox News. I don't *remember* seeing it on any of the other news outlets [but I wouldn't swear to it]. I also heard from my mother-in-law. What she said was about sending tea bags to Obama/appropriate members of Congress, though I've also heard of the rallies elsewhere.

Carol

I heard about it from my Mom after the fact. There was one here in San Diego last month, I think, and there's going to be another one next month. I also heard that a bunch of people are going to send tea bags to the White House addressed to the president to protest things, too. I'm considering sending one, myself.

I didn't hear about it on the news at all.

Tara

Here's one of the sites that are tracking these, focusing on the Tax Day Tea Parties . Might be coming soon to a city near you... there will be one in Raleigh, though I don't think I'll be going to it, since it's a Wednesday night and we do church on Wednesday nights....

PJ

I think the elephant in the room is getting a bit hard to ignore. Here are excerpts from the article by Adam Nagourney of the New York Times:

Bracing for a Bailout Backlash

The Obama administration is increasingly concerned about a populist backlash against banks and Wall Street, worried that anger at financial institutions could also end up being directed at Congress and the White House and could complicate President Obama’s agenda.

The Administration’s sharp rebuke of the AIG… marks the latest attempt by the White House to distance itself from abuses that could feed potentially disruptive public anger.

“Never underestimate the capacity of angry populism in times of economic stress,” said Robert Reich… “The desire for culprits at times like this is strong.”

“The change now is you have a free-floating economic anxiety that has expressed itself in a kind of lashing out at those being bailed out and the people bailing out,” Michael Kazin, a Georgetown professor who has written extensively on populism. “I do think there’s a potential for a ‘damn everybody in power’ kind of sentiment.”

“There’s definitely a strong populist surge out there," said Joel Benenson… “It’s been brewing for close to four years.”

NOTE: I saw red when I first read this. I was so angry I sat down and wrote my own satirical translation (what the author is *really* saying), but I deleted it because I realize these boards are frequented by people of all political views. Although, come to think of it, what I wrote couldn't be any more offensive to Obama supporters than this piece of junk "journalism" was to me! Anyway, if anyone is interested, feel free to email or pm me. Otherwise, suffice it to say the author of this article and the people he quotes don't have a clue what the protests are about.