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Analysis: Is the tea party brewing a revolution? ["Lot of noise, no muscle." -GOP hack]
Google News / The Associated Press ^ | April 5, 2010 | Ron Fournier

Posted on 04/05/2010 5:36:26 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet

They heeded a pamphleteer's call for "manly opposition to the machinations of tyranny" — the 60 American colonists who stormed Griffin's Wharf and emptied 342 chests of tea into Boston Harbor. And with that, a revolution brewed.

Now, more than two centuries later, come the angry throngs of the modern-day tea party. They've gotten the nation's attention. Can they foment their own revolution?

Not yet.

The Associated Press reviewed tea party operations in almost every state, interviewing dozens of local organizers as well as Democratic and Republican strategists to produce a portrait of the movement to date — and its prospects for tilting this November's elections.

The bottom line:

Though amplifying widespread voter anger at the political establishment, the tea party movement is unlikely to dramatically affect the congressional elections — unless their local affiliates forge alliances with Republican candidates. And how likely is that? Republican operatives look at the possibility of GOP-tea party collaborations with some anxiety, and many tea party activists frankly don't want to see them.

Born of protest and populism, the United States is a nation of movements — people galvanized by causes, summoned with the latest technologies. But none of those causes — not abolition, women's votes, civil rights or anti-war — was certain to succeed in its first fateful steps, or even to leave a lasting mark.(continued)

(Excerpt) Read more at google.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Constitution/Conservatism; Editorial; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: congress; democrats; economy; jourbalism; obama; obamacare; reichstaggers; taxes; teaparty
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Comments?
1 posted on 04/05/2010 5:36:26 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Forging alliances with RINO candidates is one of the things which got us into this mess to begin with.


2 posted on 04/05/2010 5:39:27 AM PDT by NaughtiusMaximus (Light up the Planet! Use lots of power during "Earth Hour;" Sat. March 27, 8:30 PM.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

...I don’t expect the Tea Party to hold together...we don’t understand racial solidarity or class solidarity very well...OTOH Blacks/Union/Jewish/Felons/Illegals know how to stick together...they give the Dems a “hard 20%” of the vote and that Hard 20 is all you need to win.


3 posted on 04/05/2010 5:43:01 AM PDT by STONEWALLS
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To: STONEWALLS

...oops....forgot to include teachers and the academy in the Hard 20


4 posted on 04/05/2010 5:44:06 AM PDT by STONEWALLS
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
I know a man who does 500 pushups every morning and has won trophies in a couple of martial arts. You can't tell it by looking-- at least, when you see him in church in a suit, being so very gentle with his little girls. He could quite easily kill someone-- accidentally-- who aroused his anger.

These people who doubt our capacity for action are looking at us, gathered together as though for church, in our suits, and assuming that's all there is. If they dismiss us now, they will be in for an unpleasant surprise.

5 posted on 04/05/2010 5:46:35 AM PDT by ExGeeEye (When law-makers and law enforcers become law-breakers, the citizens feel free to join in.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
Republican operatives look at the possibility of GOP-tea party collaborations with some anxiety, and many tea party activists frankly don't want to see them.

"Republican operatives" - by which is usually meant "party hacks who care more about keeping their perks than they do conservative ideology" - SHOULD be worried.

Tea Party activists who don't want any collaborations with anyone in the GOP, on the other hand, are idiots who need to get bent, because at that point, all they are doing is fragmenting conservativism, and acting like useful idiots to hand power to the Dems for a generation.

The obvious answer is TEApublicanism - combining the strength of the Tea Parties and conservatives within the GOP to drive out the RINOs and rebuild the conservative Reagan coalition.

I'm not interested in perpetuating the party hacks and their business as usual. But I'm also not interested in encouraging the TPers to fragment conservativism by being a bunch of self-righteous, holier-than-thou jerks going third party, either.

6 posted on 04/05/2010 5:47:57 AM PDT by Titus Quinctius Cincinnatus (We bury Democrats face down so that when they scratch, they get closer to home.)
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To: ExGeeEye

This was an AP story. Whatever they said you are better off not believing any of it.


7 posted on 04/05/2010 5:48:34 AM PDT by muawiyah ("Git Out The Way")
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
A couple weeks ago there was a thread about the Tea Party movement and I wrote that the dems where going to try to drive a LARGE wedge between the Tea Party people and the Republican party. This is apart of their plan.
8 posted on 04/05/2010 5:48:46 AM PDT by painter (No wonder democrats don't mind taxes.THEY DON'T PAY THEM !)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
The Associated Press reviewed tea party operations in almost every state

AP = Always Propaganda!

All Dems and some Pubbie weanie's are in for a scorching in November. It is wishful thinking on their part to expect their actions to go unpunished.

9 posted on 04/05/2010 5:49:49 AM PDT by Texas Fossil (Government, even in its best state is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Useless article.


10 posted on 04/05/2010 5:51:11 AM PDT by stephenjohnbanker (Support our troops....and vote out the RINOS!)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

I believe the Tea partiers came about in response to the wild swing to the left that the current gov’t is taking us.

No matter their party, dem, independent, moderate pubbies, they have to vote against the dems who are now controlled by the far left loons.


11 posted on 04/05/2010 5:56:26 AM PDT by umgud (Obama is a failed experiment.)
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To: NaughtiusMaximus

So are you the Tea Party voter the writer is talking about? The guy who will stay at home and let the country sink rather than vote for his perfect candidate?

I hope not.

What critics don’t seem to understand about the Tea Parties is that the “party” designation is not political, but rather a reflection of anger and uprising, like the original Boston Tea Party.

Most of us don’t want another organized political party. We just want to throw the bums out and vote in some new faces who may — at least for a while — listen to us.

Therefore, as a voting block, the Tea Parties may prove a very strong force in changing Congress come September, working from outside the established political parties. A magnificently democratic thing to do.

Except for those idealogues who sit home and pout and call every GOP candidate who doesn’t agree with them 100% a “RINO.”


12 posted on 04/05/2010 5:56:38 AM PDT by Jedidah (Character, courage, common sense are more important than issues.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Republicans know they are just as complicit as the Democrats in most cases and they understand that when the tipping does occur, they will be gone just as well as the Dems.

The GOP only cares about the Tea Party to the point that they hope to swipe some votes out of us.


13 posted on 04/05/2010 5:56:44 AM PDT by autumnraine (America how long will you be so deaf and dumb to the chariot wheels carrying you to the guillotine?)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Consider the source.


14 posted on 04/05/2010 5:58:09 AM PDT by Bringbackthedraft (THE CANDIDATE THE LEFT SMEARS THE MOST IS THE ONE THEY FEAR THE MOST.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
My biggest fear for the Tea Party is that they will be co-opted by someone less than savory (left, right or mushy middle) who will claim to speak for all of the tea party.
It's up to us the people to keep it alive and speak up loudly when that happens.
Beware of so-called Tea Party Candidates.
My second biggest fear is that agent provocateurs will infiltrate Tea Party rallies and start fights or foment vandalism.
Keep your camcorders running.

15 posted on 04/05/2010 5:59:29 AM PDT by BitWielder1 (Corporate Profits are better than Government Waste)
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To: stephenjohnbanker

Well I have got the days counted until election day on my calender and I’ve never done that before. That tells me there is something different going on. 211 DAYS TO GO.


16 posted on 04/05/2010 6:00:00 AM PDT by maxter (Ignorance is not bliss, it is devastating, and we are witnessing some of the fruits of it.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Repeal or Rebel!


17 posted on 04/05/2010 6:02:01 AM PDT by UnbelievingScumOnTheOtherSide (NEW TAG ====> **REPEAL OR REBEL!** -- Islam Delenda Est! -- Rumble thee forth)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
The Associated Press reviewed tea party operations in almost every state

The MSM is so arrogantly sure of their ability to control the populous. They along with the leaders of the GOP still don't get the whole Tea Party thing.

18 posted on 04/05/2010 6:03:41 AM PDT by Altura Ct.
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

The GOP establishment is a big part of the problem. They are evil and need to be replaced. It won’t be easy or pretty.


19 posted on 04/05/2010 6:05:32 AM PDT by MichiganConservative (A government big enough to do unto the people you don't like will get to doing unto you soon enough.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet; All

Ron Fournier is an assclown, that is my analysis.

Widespread voter anger is demonstrated by the Tea Party.

And Ron Fournier, if he could pull his nose out of Obama’s bum for a breath of fresh air, might take notice of widespread voter anger in Virginia, New Jersey, and (gasp) Massachusetts....

Gallup supposedly is the second organization to report the Tea Party movement is NOT merely a Republican front group, but that there are significant populations of so-called Independents and Democrats therein.

Fournier amazingly gets one thing correct: the Tea Party’s future is in the Republican party....there are just too damn few Democrats who are fiscally responsible to think they’d get a Tea Partier’s backing...there might be some, but they are EXCEPTIONS.


20 posted on 04/05/2010 6:07:27 AM PDT by SoFloFreeper
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