The overwhelming majority of supporters say Mr. Obama does not share the values most Americans live by and that he does not understand the problems of people like themselves. More than half say the policies of the administration favor the poor, and 25 percent think that the administration favors blacks over whites — compared with 11 percent of the general public. They are more likely than the general public, and Republicans, to say that too much has been made of the problems facing black people. – Poll Finds Tea Party Backers Wealthier and More Educated
Call it a grudge match with Democrats and especially Pres. Obama. But there is no way to escape their wrath right now.
None of the Tea Party activists are blaming George W. Bush and Dick Cheney, the administration that started us down this path. But you can bet that’s where it began, the Republican purge noted in the Times/CBS Poll rooted in what began in the last Administration. George W. Bush the accidental godfather of the Tea Party movement, which hits Washington, DC today, even if they can’t bring themselves to blame a white man. Pres. Obama the trigger of something that has yet to crest.
Tucked inside the polling is some very normal views, though they’re getting overwhelmed by other more stark realities:
The Tea Party movement burst onto the scene a year ago in protest of the economic stimulus package, and its supporters have vowed to purge the Republican Party of officials they consider not sufficiently conservative and to block the Democratic agenda on the economy, the environment and health care. But the demographics and attitudes of those in the movement have been known largely anecdotally. The Times/CBS poll offers a detailed look at the profile and attitudes of those supporters.
Their responses are like the general public’s in many ways. Most describe the amount they paid in taxes this year as “fair.” Most send their children to public schools. A plurality do not think Sarah Palin is qualified to be president, and, despite their push for smaller government, they think that Social Security and Medicare are worth the cost to taxpayers. They actually are just as likely as Americans as a whole to have returned their census forms, though some conservative leaders have urged a boycott.
The economy moves them most: More than 90 percent of Tea Party supporters think the country is headed in the wrong direction, compared with about 60 percent of the general public. They believe America’s best years are behind us, especially on jobs. On that note, it’s as if they’re channeling what Patrick J. Buchanan started saying 10 years ago about our manufacturing base.
Tea Party activists may have “exploded” on to the scene this year, with Obama’s presidency the perfect excuse for their rise, but they’ve been festering since at least 2000.
One “conundrum” in all this is their views on Social Security and Medicare, which they support:
But in follow-up interviews, Tea Party supporters said they did not want to cut Medicare or Social Security — the biggest domestic programs, suggesting instead a focus on “waste.” Some defended being on Social Security while fighting big government by saying that since they had paid into the system, they deserved the benefits.
It’s not a conundrum at all. Tea Party activists cannot relate to Pres. Barack Obama. They consider him unlike them, that he doesn’t understand their lives, and doesn’t share their values. The goodies they get from government beside the point of their emotional spear.
Sarah Palin is doing all she can to help drive those perceived differences home, which continued yesterday in Boston, Massachusetts:
“I’m not calling anyone un-American, but the unintended consequences of these actions — the results — are un-American.”
Democrats and supporters of Barack Obama have dismissed Mrs. Palin’s power for far too long. Lefties calling her “stupid,” “dumb” and every other belittling description, too short-sided and arrogant to admit what’s right in front of them. Now all of a sudden she’s saying things that should be noted, calling her “dangerous,” even if they laughed at her just weeks ago. But as I’ve been writing for many months, even before her “death panels” squeal that further inflamed the Tea Party, it really doesn’t matter if she runs for president when she has the biggest megaphone in the country, is the most visible, as well as the most attractive spokesperson Republican Tea Partiers have on the circuit. She’s helped rouse a sleeping snake inside this country that’s been angry since Bush-Cheney held office, with Pres. Barack Obama the perfect catalyst on which to pin their troubles.
For a long time the left has needed their own Sarah Palin, as I’ve written. Someone to stand up and call Barack Obama’s enemies, like the Tea Party activists, on their inconsistencies, as well as their bigotry, fighting back with the same ferocity as they attack. Instead we’ve gotten bipartisan mumbo jumbo from Democrats. Many of us warned against what Democrats were doing on health care, forcing people into a monopoly system without a public option that is too complex to understand, taxes coming before benefits, but they wouldn’t listen. Now they’ve got to deal with the mess they’ve made.
The Tea Party movement is on fire today. It’s anger one of the most powerfully emotional GOTV weapons in an off-year election that can be wielded and it’s aimed at Congress.
In the 60′s the Left was on fire. So they blew up the Democratic Party. The T-baggers are in the process of blowing up the Republican Party. It took the Democrats 30 years to recover from the antics of the Left. It will take the Republicans 50 years to recover from the antics of the T-baggers. Me, I’m just sitting back very amused as the media creates the perfect conditions for the destruction of the Republican Party and the self-destruction of the T-bag movement. Peace
“For a long time the left has needed their own Sarah Palin, as I’ve written.”
Yep you said that many times, Taylor.
For a long time the left has needed it’s own war room, and more. The left has needed to wake up and come into the real world instead of the make believe world they inhabit. The Republicans and the right do not care one whit about the nation’s problems and are solely interested in enshrining their warped values upon us all; while the Democrats and the left are first and foremost interested in solving the nation’s problems. The difference is the Democrats are naïve enough to believe that the Republicans love America and are prepared to work with them to look for solutions to solve and resolve these problems. Thing is the Republicans only love power. They will destroy America for power.
Democrats are too naïve to countenance the evil, the greed, the naked selfishness, the bigotry that’s at the core of the Republican mind. If they did they’d have the skill and the will to handle the Cheneys and the Limbaughs and the Murdochs et al. Palin would not even count.
I’ve got a draft of an essay on what Rep. are willing to do in the works, which I’ll post soon, Ramsgate.
The aura of Obama seduced way too many that what the world was seeing was the same as what the wingnuts were feeling.
I’ve been saying this for over 15 years, but when you want to know what’s coming all you have to do is listen to wingnut radio, the GOTV movement of Republicans. They started the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth Crusade long before Dems and John Kerry got wind of it. Democrats and Kerry allowing their screeds to take root, as Obama and Dems did with “death panels,” the left always thinking, as Imhotep illustrates above, that those wacky right wingers will never take hold.
Who would have thought when it began that a Navy Silver Star recipient (John Kerry) could have been reduced to a traitor?
Who would have thought that Max Cleland, who lost three limbs and almost his life fighting for this country, could have been reduced to an Osama appeaser in TV ads by Saxby Chambliss, Ralph Reed & Co.?
Of course, you can’t talk about any of this without mentioning William Jefferson Clinton and Hillary Rodham Clinton back in the 1990s.
When Obama was elected there were columns galore about the death of conservatism. No more.
Now, as May approaches, Democrats have lost too much time, so all people can do is hope that the juggernaut doesn’t actually manifest in November like it appears today; perhaps losing steam by election time. I wouldn’t bet on it, but anything is possible.
You worry too much about the media driven Right (T-baggers) and not enough about the real Right (corporatists defined as Fascists). There is a big difference. Peace
“Who would have thought when it began that a Navy Silver Star recipient (John Kerry) could have been reduced to a traitor?”
I would. Ever since Mario Cuomo told Michael Dukakis not to respond to “Willie Horton” as the American people were “too smart believe that nonsense”, the Dems have learned zero. We keep nominating the same wimpy candidates who adamantly refuse to fight back against the Republican blitzkrieg. The Repugs play a brutal game to win at all costs while the Democrats believe its a hifalutin debate. The Dems believe that righteous indignation is to be applauded when the Repugs unleash their dirty tricks as opposed to fighting fire with fire. They prefer to complain about not wanting to stoop to their level.
It really just is amazing that Democrats win elections, after all, the republicans lie, steal, cheat; they use every trick in the book to curtail the minorities vote, and the Dems knowing this do nothing to cut them countermand their efforts.
Still the Republicans sometimes lose. Shows you how weak their message really is, and just how powerful the Democratss could really be if they knew what they were doing.
I can’t speak for the Democrats, and I won’t, but the Left isn’t what you believe it to be. Peace
Ramsgate says Republicans “will destroy America for power.” It sure looks that way.
Imhotep says:
15 April 2010 at 10:29 am
In the 60’s the Left was on fire. So they blew up the Democratic Party. The T-baggers are in the process of blowing up the Republican Party. It took the Democrats 30 years to recover from the antics of the Left
Gee, are things like the Civil Rights Act antics?
Don’t understimate the virulence and anger of the racists in our country who don’t want ANY of their tax money to go to those unlike themselves.
Don’t undereastimate the MSM, the FBI and the Justice Department. The Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Acts caused the Dixiecrats to become Republicans. Don’t confuse the anti-war movement on the Left with the pro-war moderates who passed that legislation to take the black separatists out of the game. Peace
and all this taxation hyper-ventilation in a year when Americans have actually paid LESS taxes….
go figure
People have been screaming about “taxation without representation” since the first caveman had to give up half of his kill to the biggest guy in the cave. Americans have always hated the 16th Amendment. As PT Barnum said about the American public, “There’s a sucker born every minute.” Peace
The scary thing is the disproportionate influence that Tea Partiers will have in mid-term elections which usually result in depressed Democratic turnout, particularly this time without the excitement of Obama on the top of the ticket.
I challenge everyone to start listening a bit to Sean Hannity. He’s driving the vote by traveling the entire country.
You have this exactly correct, LATC, though I’d challenge your “excitement of Obama” as being circa 2008 at this point, even as people still “like” him, there is real doubt whether that excitement can come close to being replicated.
Liberalastheycome says:
15 April 2010 at 11:20 am
Good point.
“She’s helped rouse a sleeping snake inside this country…”
– rather good image
Unnoticed, disregarded, under the brush… it’s finally been spotted and it’s morphed into a giant serpent.
If the recent election in my little Berg is an example we are in for a drubbing.
The issue was the annexation of a small commercial strip in an unincorperated area ajacent to our very small town. They currently benefit from our water,sewer and police without paying taxes.The business in question would have sustained very minimal costs with most of it passed on to the consumer. A hamburger might have cost the buyer five cents more.
The opposition led by a smart pol framed it as an expantion of GOVERNMENT.
The people living in the subdivisions zoned at an acre per house were too busy to vote but the citizens of the two mobile home parks,who had virtually no skin in the game(ie. property taxes),came out in droves.
This might not fit the demographics of the recent poll but it sure fits the mood.These people were voting against their own interests as the money coming from the increased taxes was to be earmarked to fix their enviromentally damaging sewer and stormwater drainge systems at no cost to them.
That’s a great example of the general stupidity of the American public. Peace
That’s a good example of the derangement that is afflicting people who should know better.
If the American public knew any better they wouldn’t have permitted the situation that we find ourselves in today where 2% of the wealthiest Americans control 85% of America’s wealth. And the other 98% of American’s control only 15% of the wealth of our country. Peace
Oh,I neglected to mention that the pol leading the opposition was a Dem.What did he get out of it? Why he registered all those people in the mobile parks to vote and he became their hero.
Damn the environmental damage going on in his district that impacts the children of those very voters.
Another reason to become an Independent.
Lake Lady says:
15 April 2010 at 11:54 am
This is the Rush phenom.
Rush Limbaugh and wingnut radio convinced people long ago to vote against their own interests in lieu of The Dream that only a few can grab, especially when they’re not being paid a living wage.
Dems won over this meme after GW Bush, his spending and the Iraq war.
However, Obama, with the help of Pelosi, let these culprits off the mat by not investigating and prosecuting their malfeasance, lies and unconstitutional behavior. Obama was so naive as to believe that he could turn the page, with Rep. doing so too.
In national politics, you should *never* let your adversary live to fight another day. You throttle him into shame and oblivion. That’s what the Reagan machine did to Jimmy Carter and the Dems after the gas shortage and the Iranian revolution.
Dems never learn.
For me it is not only politics. It is doing the right thing.For the health of our democracy those that abuse it and distort it and break its laws should be punished.
In my memory it all started to go wrong with the Nixon pardon.
We do not have a healthy democracy at this point of our history.
Taylor Marsh says:
15 April 2010 at 12:47 pm
Well said.
I doubt that the craze of the populace is just about Mr. O being black and “other” although I wouldn’t deny that may be part of it, but also, as Taylor mentioned, the damn health scheme is so darn complicated and difficult to figure out and when one does one doesn’t like it very much, and there are even reports that the people on capitol hill are learning they may have hornswoggled themselves, their own health plans now in some sort of risk. One could laugh, but it’s all too bitter for laughing.
I think it is a part of the activist part of the movement.It pushed them over the edge into activism but as for the people who sympathize with them and will follow their lead when it comes to voting I think it is more complicated.
People know that there is something structurally wrong with our country.They can see that their future looks dim.They are frightened and frustrated. They recognize that things are rigged against them.They don’t see the Dems trying to fix things for them.They see them in bed with all the special interests.
The Repubs don’t care if they lie and cheat and smear to regain power and they are very skilled at displacing blame and giving people something to hate the very government they want to control.
They come up with sound bites that are pure BS but they don’t care. Simple slogans for simple thinkers. Sometimes they are even right as Buchanan was about our manufacturing base and Perot was about that giant sucking sound.
“simple slogans for simple thinkers” — good turn of phrase
sorta like “change you can believe in” ?
But, no, I jest a little there. Actually slogans, good ones, can be helpful
unless they’re cynically discarded once they’ve achieved – - – an election, or…..
Don’t kid yourself. Demagogues in the past have risen to the top of the heap on less. Peace
Who is kidding themselves?
Certainly nobody around here.
It’s why I began writing about Palin while everyone else was scoffing, even amidst self-satisfied lefty squeals, let me add.
Again, for emphasis, it’s as simple as one word: EMOTION.
It’s what drives people over any other issue. It’s what wins elections. Follow the emotion, predict the outcome.
Yup,reason has nothing to do with it.
It has to do with respect too. The less respect shown to Palin from the left just adds more fuel to the fire.
As for respect, the right and Palin, they’re long past caring what lefties think. They know what they’ve got in Sarah Palin. I’ve written reams about it.
Taylor says:
George W. Bush the accidental godfather of the Tea Party movement, which hits Washington, DC today, even if they can’t bring themselves to blame a white man. Pres. Obama the trigger of something that has yet to crest.
Right now I’m not so sure that I agree with the premise behind this statement. I don’t believe the TP (Tea Party) movement sprang totally from Obama’s election and year of governance based on seeds established by Bush & Company. Rather, I wonder if its not a reestablishment and I dare say elevation of the forces that so tied up the Clinton Administration spurred on by latent racism that’s such a fundamental part of the Republican Base and “Republican hands” who’s desire is to attack the credibility of any Democratic Administration.
If Obama wasn’t black I really doubt the TP Movement would exist as it does today. Moreover, if Obama was simply a liberal Republican (which he really is) then the modern TP wouldn’t exist because the TP is simply another wing of the Republican Party.
The genesis of the Tea Party only matters, because the spending of Republicans, this time by George W. Bush (but also a GOP Congress that rubber-stamped his policies), in order to moor it in the bad economic policies, which actually had its genesis in Reagans’ deregulation, which precipitated Wall Streets’ greed. It was GW Bush who started the Rep. outrage against spending, with Obama’s bailout of the car industry and continued Wall Street coziness, which ignited the latent economic fury. Health care was the final straw.
The truth is that going back to Bill and Hillary Clinton, Republicans NEVER believe Democrats are legitimate heirs to the White House. Because Obama is black, coupled with his very first actions when he came in, which built on economic anger already festering, we have a perfect political storm.
There can be little doubt that Obama being African American is part of many people’s discontent. However, it’s ingrained in the Republican right that Dems are NEVER worthy of the White House. (As Democratic soldiers are never seen as heroes either, see Kerry and Cleland, even though Rep. supposedly revere the military.) Obama being black makes it more so.
I think you’re right.
Don’t forget that part of the reason for WJC success and two terms is that he showed respect to all americans.Hillary was winning a lot of these people during the primary because she showed them respect.It goes a long way.
This is incorrect. WJC had economic successes, but it was because he was a corporatist genius in negotiating. I’m not saying he didn’t respect all Americans, because his policies benefited a greater majority of lower and middle class, but remember he also ended Welfare as it was known. Edelman never forgave the Clintons for it.
The only reason WJC *survived* to have two full terms is because he fought like a tiger, with HRC having much to do with him making it through it all. It was sheer force that propelled them through the witch hunt, something we should never forget.
Unfortunately, Obama not only forgot the right’s vengeance, but allowed them to rise again.
Let’s also not romanticize Hillary’s campaign. She and the people she chose to listen to from the beginning were absolutely clueless about her strengths to the working class. In fact, they ran against those strengths and her entire resume from the start. It wasn’t until Hillary was losing what had once been assured that she found her roots again.
I said *part* of the reason.In addition to what you said above and even when Hillary thought she was a sure thing,you never heard them or got any whiff of disrespect for common people from either of them.
Welfare reform is probably an argument for it’s own thread but it can be argued both ways.
I’d agree that the Clintons come through as more like regular people. The word “elite” would not fit either of them. or “aloof”
And would someone tell me why the Discovery channel is giving Sarah Palin her own show?
http://tinyurl.com/y3rmddw
Taylor – great writing!
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
Thanks JA!
That’s for sure. Look what they’re paying her. She’s got it coming in from all corners. I loved Discovery channel. Guess I won’t be watching much of it now.
I’m actually curious about Alaska. It remains to be seen whether she’ll do a good job, but the state itself is supposed to be gorgeous. I’ve had friends that have taken the cruises up there and say it was spellbinding.
My husband was up there and loved it. The beauty and immenseness of Alaska are spellbinding according to him. Of course, it would have helped him if he had brought the right credit card at the time. Most of the places he was at would take Visa or Mastercard only, not Am. Exp. This was in the 90s. He worked it out with his friends so he didn’t miss anything. But as he said “God certainly knew what he was doing when he gave the world Alaska.”
It IS spellbinding, Taylor. I was on one of those cruises and took a land tour, too in 2005. We wanted to see the glaciers before they all melt! Alaska is stunning country – you would love it.
I heard they use tourist file footage, and dub in some speaking by Palin, something like that.
We’ve had several friends who have lived in Alaska and each one absolutely loved it.
God certainly knew what she was doing when she gave the world something like Alaska etc…..
(couldn’t resist. I recall reading someone asked Germaine Greer if she believed in God. Yes, she said, I pray to her quite frequently.
Made me smile Pilgrim – thank you.
Thinking about the current and potential influences of the Tea Party (on Republican and Democratic parties), a few things in the poll, in addition to what Taylor has highlighted, stood out to me:
18% of those surveyed identify as Tea Party supporters, and yet 78% of those have never attended a rally or made a donation to a group, and most have not visited a Tea Party website.
59% are men, 41% women, and of course, 89% are white.
92% believe Obama is moving the nation toward socialism
24% say it is sometimes justified to take violent action against the government
78% believe economic issues are of greater concern than social issues
53% say Rove v. Wade was a bad decision
40% oppose “same-sex marriage”
30% want gun control laws eased
Maybe a surprise to some: 37% are college educated (compared to 25% of Americans overall).
Lots of anger and fear, with scared and angry people doing what people often do: forcing what they see to fit into what they already think and believe; it’s a comfort of kind. But there are also some interesting bits and pieces here. For example, with 92% believing Obama is leading to socialism it’s interesting that only 40% oppose “same-sex marriage.” The key, I’d guess, is that 78% identify economic issues as a greater concern than social issues.
I guess I’m just thinking that this isn’t your father’s (or maybe grandfather’s) Moral Majority or Christian Coalition. Maybe some Ross Perot follower types? Probably just the latest version of the same game
The “89% white” should be a flag.
My understanding is that 12% of U.S. population is afro-american. So why should any representative group of people have a number much greater than that of black.
Of course not all 88% would be white, there would be asiatics and others considered non-white.
All of this analysis is interesting and (most) sound. But I still believe that racism plays a leading role.
Perhaps you are right. It is said often and often how deep a fault-line in U.S. is the race factor.
But when it comes to playing race-card, it isn’t just whites who do it. Johnny Cochrane sure did in the O.J. Simpson case. And I personally believe it was played by Obama people against the Clintons, and I thought it was pretty shameful.
You’d be dead on. Peace