Fox News develops the Tea Party Brand Name calling consitutional reformation groups Extremists!

If you are a member of the John Birch Society, the Patriot Movement, or Friends for Liberty you are the problem in the Team Party Movement. Bill O'Reilly thinks that professional leaders that are fiscal conservative and pro military intervention should head the Tea Party (hmm that sounds an awful lot like the Republican Party platform outside of the fact that they only want war contracts). Without professional leadership O'Reilly seems to think it will go nowhere.

I would like to say that I think the power of the TPM was never in the amount of people that could show up at an event. While impressive as it was, the power of the movement was in holding elected leaders accountable for their actions. Nothing can take that away from a bunch of Americans that still believe in this country. We don't need a leader if we are free thinkers. A leader would just slow us down.

www.foxnews.com...

The tea partys roots were founded in a honest movement to hold government (right, left, and center) accountable for their spending and decisions.

That was then, this is now.

The tea party = the republican party...flat out, the end.

The republicans after the 2008 loss spent time seeking out a image change. Instead of doing that, they simply jumped on a highjacked a semi-popular movement already in the works that was going long before 2008


So, next time you see a "Tea Party" movement going, you can safely ignore the title and simply stick the proper title on it...that being the GOP in disguise.

The catalyst behind the movement was, and still is, genuine. How ever the movement was coopted as soon as the GOP realized there was potential for media attention. This happened as soon as the terms "teabagger" and "tea party movement" were coined.

For anyone interested in the ideas of small government, freemarket capitalism (thats freemarket capitalism not to be confused with the neo-liberal crap that we have today), and accountable officials the website freedomworks.com is a good place to start finding information.

So do the people actively involved in the TPM realize what is going on, or do they just not care and will vote how they feel?

reply to post by ExPostFacto


I know there are people that were involved in the begginings of the grass roots movement who are extremely dissatisfied with the TPM and have worked to dissasociate themselves and on-going campaigns from the TPM.

there are probably some who were less informed, that were in the original movement, and have been coopted by people like glenn beck and palin. The people in charge of the TPM do not hold the ideals on which the movement started, they wholly endorse corporate driven politics, and are out for fame and money, as can be seen witth the recent TPM fiasco that was hounded by bad press for outrageous ticket fees and Palins demand for an enormous appearance fee.

Then there are those who blindly rushed into the TPM largely because they are ignorant blind conservatives. these are people that follow the republican party because they hate jews and immigrants and progressive movements and the such. these people love the TPM because it has less restraint and is more radical or fundamental than the GOP. (note this is my opinion, many will probably disagree, but there are people out there that fit this category.)

andd there are also people that are not racist or prejudiced but just follow the TPM because they actually beleive what the leaders are saying.

i think that largelly people involved in the TPM do not realize what the original intent was and focus on fringe issues or propaganda. I think there are valid questions about topics such as Obamas birth record, but these issues have led to ignorant people who focus soley on that issue as a reason obama is unfit. or you get the people howling about fiscal responsibility while supporting Palin who was running with McCain and a platform that was pretty much the exact same as Obamas, just insignificantly smaller and providing kickbacks to different interest groups.

what you have with the TPM is a largely fannatical group that focuses on big hype issues. if a TPM candidate such as Palin actually won an election you would see the SOS because the entire movement has abandoned the aim of accountable government.

Sorry this rant went longer than i intended. short answer:I think the supporters of the TPM are ignorant of the real issues and are led by propoganda.

reply to post by ExPostFacto


I think the majority of the people in the Tea Party Movement were always going to vote however they wanted. I doubt these are the kind of people that like being told what to do.

The so-called "leaders" of the TPM however are a different story. These are the same people that made the for-profit "Tea Party Convention" that in reality was more a right-wing Republican conference. The "leaders" are nothing more than Republican operatives, and they are on the right-wing of the party as well.

I agree that the ideals that founded the TPM, before it was even called that, are still there, and they will find a way to be heard. However, here's my prediction for what the future holds in store for the TPM if the talking heads on Fox are right:

The TPM will continue to be co-opted by the Republican party in order to attempt a retaking of the Congress this year. Once the election cycle is completed, if the GOP win, they will dismantle and discredit the TPM so as to keep them from holding them to a higher standard of transparency. If they loose they will discard the TPM and blame it for their loss, distancing themselves from it for the 2012 elections.

Either way, the movement as it was intended and as it was started is over, claimed by politics and greed.

I gave up on the TPM as well. I still stand behind the ideals but I hate structured and organized leadership. It breads corruption at some point with most people.

reply to post by ExPostFacto


I think this is the reason that mainstream politicians disregard the real grass roots movement. i cant say i blame you, but i think that you can have organized structure and leadership without rampant corruption.

it would take near complete transparency, accountability for all people within the organisation especially those at the top, and constant vigilance by those at the bottom.

I guess this theory is like any other utopian theory though, its fine in theory. i just think that it will never be implemented successfully due to the combination of human greed and laziness. greed of the people at the top and laziness and ignorance of those at the bottom!

reply to post by Ozzy Mandias


Very true. It is possible to have an organized structure without corruption. However, I think the TPM has now entered that territory. I never thought I would see the day when some of the groups mentioned in the article would be labeled as extremists. All they do is argue for the constitution.