"With all due respect, Mr. Zogby is revealing his insularity. I presume he is a resident of and attuned to the "Beltway Culture". That is, the culture of Washington D.C.
Increasingly, the culture of Washington, D.C. has grown apart from the culture of the rest of the USA.
That the Tea Party movement strikes fear in the hearts of the Washington, D.C. culture is not surprising.
That it should be characterized as a "populist" movement of uneducated rednecks is a complete misconception -- borne of Washington's insularity.
Instead it is a popular movement (distinct from "populist") that is composed of ordinary middle-class Americans -- who are as educated as Washington and of all creeds and colors -- who are resisting the assumption of power by the political class.
Only if Mr. Zogby considers himself part of a "ruling political class" does he have cause to worry. And, even then, not for his life or limb. Solely, for his position of influence."
The media and the left are trying very hard to assign the negative word "populist" to our movement because they do not want the word "conservative" associated with anything good or positive in the public arena.
We need to intentionally use the word "Conservative" every chance we get, especially when responding to smear jobs against the Tea Party movement itself. Conservative American principles built this country and the regular folks know it. That will drive the message home to the decent folks who are following us and thinking of following us. We need them to vote with us and we need to stop the language pirates from stealing more of our good, American ideas.