danivon wrote:You would, Steve. Shame you need to be spoonfed citations when a simple search would suffice for you.
Here, let me jump to the end of your post:
Go on, Steve, call me a liar again . . .
As you wish.
You see, "a simple search" would not suffice to establish the truth of your opinions. Firstly, it would not suffice because they are false. Secondly, it would not suffice because even your own "simple search" could not establish their veracity.
At the very least, you are blithely disingenuous.
Btw, your BH link does not function.
So, how do I know you're being dishonest? Because I know when the Tea Party started in earnest. Any fool could find the info if he wanted to, unless he was being dishonest. Since I do not take you for a fool, I can only conclude you are dishonest.
From Wiki:Birth of national Tea Party movement
On February 19, 2009,[53] in a broadcast from the floor of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, CNBC Business News Network editor Rick Santelli loudly criticized the government plan to refinance mortgages, which had just been announced the day before, as "promoting bad behavior" by "subsidizing losers' mortgages" and raised the possibility of putting together a "Chicago Tea Party in July".[72][73] A number of the traders and brokers around him cheered on his proposal, to the apparent amusement of the hosts in the studio. It was called "the rant heard round the world".[74] According to The New Yorker writer Ben McGrath[75] and New York Times reporter Kate Zernike,[76] this is where the movement was first inspired to coalesce under the collective banner of "Tea Party". By the next day, guests on Fox News had already begun to mention this new "Tea Party".[77]
The day following Santelli's comments from the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, on February 20, 2009, roughly 50 national conservative leaders participated in a conference call that gave birth to the national Tea Party movement.[78]
In response to Santelli, websites such as ChicagoTeaParty.com, registered in August 2008 by Chicago radio producer Zack Christenson, were live within twelve hours.[79] About 10 hours after Santelli's remarks, reTeaParty.com was bought to coordinate Tea Parties scheduled for July 4, and as of March 4, was reported to be receiving 11,000 visitors a day.[79]
Also on February 19, Young Americans for Liberty NY State Chairman Trevor Leach created a Facebook page called "The Capitalist Chicago Tea Party—Rick's Revolution," in response to Santelli's call for a national Tea Party.[80][81] According to The Huffington Post, a Facebook page was developed on February 20 calling for Tea Party protests across the country.[46] Eric Odom of the conservative activist group FreedomWorks was one of the group administrators, and the group was created by Phil Kerpen from the conservative advocacy organization Americans for Prosperity—the same group credited for the Denver "porkulus" protest as well as Mary Rakovich's early February 10 protest. Soon, the "Nationwide Chicago Tea Party" protest was coordinated across over 40 different cities for February 27, 2009, thus establishing the first national modern Tea Party protest.[82][83]
[edit] Protests
[edit] April 15, 2009 tax day events
Tea Party protesters in Louisville, Kentucky on April 15, 2009.
April 15, 2009, was the date of the largest number of tea parties, with demonstrations reported to be occurring in more than 750 cities.[84] Estimates of numbers of protesters varied by location and source. The Christian Science Monitor reported on the difficulties of calculating a cumulative turnout and said some estimates state that over half a million Americans participated in the protests, noting, "experts say the counting itself often becomes politicized as authorities, organizers, and attendees often come up with dramatically different counts.".[85][85][86] Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform, estimated that at least 268,000 attended in over 200 cities.[87] Statistician Nate Silver, manager of FiveThirtyEight.com, has stated that the largest protests were in capitals and large cities while many others had little or no reliable media coverage and were thus not included in his estimate. He reported cumulative crowd size estimate from credible sources to be an estimated 311,460 for 346 cities and on April 16, 2009 stated "essentially all major cities and state capitals should now be accounted for."[88] The largest event, in Atlanta, Georgia, drew an estimated 7,000[89] to 15,000 people.[88][90] Some of the gatherings drew only dozens.[85]
An April 15, 2009, Tea Party protest outside the White House was moved after a box of tea bags was hurled over the White House fence. Police sealed off the area and evacuated some people. The United States Secret Service brought out a bomb-detecting robot, which determined the package was not a threat.[91] Approximately a thousand people had demonstrated, several waved placards saying "Stop Big Government," "What Would Jefferson Do," and "Taxation is Piracy".[3]
According to an April 20, 2009 Rasmussen poll, 51% of Americans polled viewed the protests favorably and 32% of these viewed them "very favorably." About one in four people polled knew someone who had attended a Tea Party protest.[92] Those results, however, stand in contrast to a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey in March which found that 62% said that they approved how Obama is handling tax policy.[86] An April USA Today/Gallup also found that a majority of Americans favor the expansion of government economic intervention, at least for now.[3]
After April 15, 2009, Tea Party rallies continued in various locales around the nation. Many of these events were focused on opposition to state or local taxes and spending, rather than with national issues. Late April saw Tea Parties in Annapolis, Maryland, White Plains, New York,[93] Jackson, Tennessee,[94] and Monroe, Washington.[95] In May, there were six more Tea Party events in Tennessee[96], New York,[97] Idaho,[98] Ohio,[99] Nevada,[100] and North Carolina.[101] During June, 2009 another dozen events were held in North Carolina,[102] California,[103] Rhode Island,[104] Texas,[105] Ohio,[106] Michigan,[107] Montana,[108] Florida,[109] New York,[110] and Washington[111] state. On June 29, 2009 in Nashville, Tennessee, four thousand people rallied against new emissions trading (cap and trade) energy and universal health care legislation in Congress.[112]
Now, were there elements of Ron Paul supporters involved? Sure, but it was and is a lot bigger than that. It began with the bailouts--a sense that our government didn't "get it" and didn't care. That is what gave life to the TEA Party.
Btw, newsflash: Juan Williams is a liberal! Williams, in your linked story, writes:
For example, I asked him about his stated concern that Israel will launch a unilateral military strike against Iran. He replied that Israel had become too dependent on U.S. military and foreign aid and that it should be responsible for its own security and sovereignty. In the past he has blasted the “neoconservatives” and their influence on U.S. foreign policy.
He has been adamantly opposed to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan since the beginning and has called for an immediate pullout of all U.S. troops. He rails against the American “empire” and argues that U.S. spending on a global military presence should be cut.
Paul’s thinking is also having an impact on conservative views about domestic policy.
Even when he called for legalization of marijuana, cocaine and heroin at the debate it did not elicit hooting but cheers from South Carolina’s famously right-wing Republicans.
I'd venture to say most TEA Party folks do not agree with Paul on Israel, Afghanistan, and drugs, at the very least. Additionally, Williams' comment that Paul is having a major impact on conservative views on domestic policy is rubbish. Conservatives have never been for "big government." That is why we chafed under Bush's "compassionate conservatism."
On the Koch Brothers, there's this:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/oc ... h-brothersOn the links to the religious right, freeman's link to a report about a study that showed that the Tea Party correlated highly with the religious right. I repeat for Brad, it's not just an 'op-ed', there's a study behind it that has been done.
The Koch brothers are conservative. They gave to conservative causes before there was a TEA Party.
Big deal. Soros invests far more in liberal causes--and owns/influences a number of media outfits.
When it comes to the TEA Party, you don't know what you're talking about.
And, the NYT article is an op-ed. The authors, I would wager, are as liberal as you are.
It is the meme of the MSM these days that the TEA Party is poisonous, it is unpopular, people really want consensus.
Uh-huh. I guess we'll see in 2012. Do people want more spending, bigger government and more dictatorship-like behavior? If so, they'll vote for Obama and the Democrats.
Don't hold your breath.
25 Aug 2011, 10:05 pm 
