Are the Tea Party Types the Birth of A New Breed of Racist Politics or the Death?
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DarcSkies
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...Are these racist/xenophobic tea party types the birth of a new breed of racism in our politics or a sign of the last gasp of a dying political art form?
Or is it just the awakening of a sleeping giant?
Or is it just the awakening of a sleeping giant?
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that last gasp thing, with a touch of that first new breed thing, and more like the awakening of a lazy bastard who will go back to sleep when the complexion of the president matches the house he lives in, dem or rep. so i say in 6 yrs they'll be little more than a memory.
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http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/15/us...cs/15poll.html
Poll Finds Tea Party Backers Wealthier and More Educated
By KATE ZERNIKE and MEGAN THEE-BRENAN
Published: April 14, 2010
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CloseLinkedinDiggFacebookMixxMySpaceYahoo! BuzzPermalink Tea Party supporters are wealthier and more well-educated than the general public, and are no more or less afraid of falling into a lower socioeconomic class, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll.
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Gretchen Ertl for The New York Times
Walter Maciel, center, of Tewskbury, Mass., at the Tea Party rally Wednesday on Boston Common.
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The 18 percent of Americans who identify themselves as Tea Party supporters tend to be Republican, white, male, married and older than 45.
They hold more conservative views on a range of issues than Republicans generally. They are also more likely to describe themselves as “very conservative” and President Obama as “very liberal.”
And while most Republicans say they are “dissatisfied” with Washington, Tea Party supporters are more likely to classify themselves as “angry.”
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.
Tea Party supporters’ fierce animosity toward Washington, and the president in particular, is rooted in deep pessimism about the direction of the country and the conviction that the policies of the Obama administration are disproportionately directed at helping the poor rather than the middle class or the rich.
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.
Asked what they are angry about, Tea Party supporters offered three main concerns: the recent health care overhaul, government spending and a feeling that their opinions are not represented in Washington.
“The only way they will stop the spending is to have a revolt on their hands,” Elwin Thrasher, a 66-year-old semiretired lawyer in Florida, said in an interview after the poll. “I’m sick and tired of them wasting money and doing what our founders never intended to be done with the federal government.”
They are far more pessimistic than Americans in general about the economy. 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. About 6 in 10 say “America’s best years are behind us” when it comes to the availability of good jobs for American workers.
Nearly 9 in 10 disapprove of the job Mr. Obama is doing over all, and about the same percentage fault his handling of major issues: health care, the economy and the federal budget deficit. Ninety-two percent believe Mr. Obama is moving the country toward socialism, an opinion shared by more than half of the general public.
“I just feel he’s getting away from what America is,” said Kathy Mayhugh, 67, a retired medical transcriber in Jacksonville. “He’s a socialist. And to tell you the truth, I think he’s a Muslim and trying to head us in that direction, I don’t care what he says. He’s been in office over a year and can’t find a church to go to. That doesn’t say much for him.”
The nationwide telephone poll was conducted April 5 through April 12 with 1,580 adults. For the purposes of analysis, Tea Party supporters were oversampled, for a total of 881, and then weighted to their proper proportion in the poll. The margin of sampling error is plus or minus three percentage points for all adults and for Tea Party supporters.
Of the 18 percent of Americans who identified themselves as supporters, 20 percent, or 4 percent of the general public, said they had given money or attended a Tea Party event, or both. These activists were more likely than supporters generally to describe themselves as very conservative and had more negative views about the economy and Mr. Obama. They were more angry with Washington and intense in their desires for a smaller federal government and deficit.
Tea Party supporters over all are more likely than the general public to say their personal financial situation is fairly good or very good. But 55 percent are concerned that someone in their household will be out of a job in the next year. And more than two-thirds say the recession has been difficult or caused hardship and major life changes. Like most Americans, they think the most pressing problems facing the country today are the economy and jobs.
But while most Americans blame the Bush administration or Wall Street for the current state of the American economy, the greatest number of Tea Party supporters blame Congress.
They do not want a third party and say they usually or almost always vote Republican. The percentage holding a favorable opinion of former President George W. Bush, at 57 percent, almost exactly matches the percentage in the general public that holds an unfavorable view of him.
Dee Close, a 47-year-old homemaker in Memphis, said she was worried about a “drift” in the country. “Over the last three or four years, I’ve realized how immense that drift has been away from what made this country great,” Ms. Close said.
Yet while the Tea Party supporters are more conservative than Republicans on some social issues, they do not want to focus on those issues: about 8 in 10 say that they are more concerned with economic issues, as is the general public.
When talking about the Tea Party movement, the largest number of respondents said that the movement’s goal should be reducing the size of government, more than cutting the budget deficit or lowering taxes.
And nearly three-quarters of those who favor smaller government said they would prefer it even if it meant spending on domestic programs would be cut.
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.
Others could not explain the contradiction.
“That’s a conundrum, isn’t it?” asked Jodine White, 62, of Rocklin, Calif. “I don’t know what to say. Maybe I don’t want smaller government. I guess I want smaller government and my Social Security.” She added, “I didn’t look at it from the perspective of losing things I need. I think I’ve changed my mind.”
Marjorie Connelly, Dalia Sussman and Marina Stefan contributed reporting. -
its over: 2012! wrote: »They're here, to stay. They are the gatekeepers for the We Want Our Country Back! crowd;
about 100-million strong, of America's racist afraid to disturb the status quo...so they let tea-partyers speak for them.
I'd say it's very generous of you to suggest that only 1/3rd of Americans are bigots. -
...Are these racist/xenophobic tea party types the birth of a new breed of racism in our politics or a sign of the last gasp of a dying political art form?
Or is it just the awakening of a sleeping giant?
New breed.. Same plan new tactics -
its over: 2012! wrote: »They're here, to stay. They are the gatekeepers for the We Want Our Country Back! crowd;
about 100-million strong, of America's racist afraid to disturb the status quo...so they let tea-partyers speak for them.
Highly doubts they're a million strong. I shoulda took a pic of this dude I saw downtown earlier today.
Some Tea party cat, lookin' like his late 60's, had all this ? with Jusus and Sarah Palin on it. LoL Big cowboy hat on, plus all these American flags, and glitter and trinkets and ? .
SMH People just walked past this dude like he didn't even exist. -
Standard group of idiots with a mob mentality. "We want our country back"... from who... oh thats right the black guy.
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It's the last stand for that particular class of whites who remember the "glory" days of America. The last 50 years have changed to quickly for them. First you had civil rights, then feminist movement, ? rights, mass immigration of non whites, non Christian religions, and now throw in a black president. The indigenous population (obviously whites aren't indigenous to America but you get it) will always be resistant to change when they believe it's transforming their culture. Most these tea party types and their ideals are going to die out soon because they're old as it is. Most babies born in the USA are non white and the younger generation of minorities will take over and represent a totally different America. To avoid some ? up ? happening though, minorities are going to have to emphasize education and knowledge more than they're doing now, particularly in the black and Hispanic communities, or America will never be the so called greatest country again.
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let's face it. pres. barack obama's presidential run, and election, blew the door open and finally exposed the hidden racism wit white folks
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white people like me wrote: »It's the last stand for that particular class of whites who remember the "glory" days of America. The last 50 years have changed to quickly for them. First you had civil rights, then feminist movement, ? rights, mass immigration of non whites, non Christian religions, and now throw in a black president. The indigenous population (obviously whites aren't indigenous to America but you get it) will always be resistant to change when they believe it's transforming their culture. Most these tea party types and their ideals are going to die out soon because they're old as it is. Most babies born in the USA are non white and the younger generation of minorities will take over and represent a totally different America. To avoid some ? up ? happening though, minorities are going to have to emphasize education and knowledge more than they're doing now, particularly in the black and Hispanic communities, or America will never be the so called greatest country again.
*gives standing ovation* -
Well.....both.
It's the last gasp for that generation of elderly old white people that still secretly hate MLK for integrating the buses. Whites will be a minority majority in a few decades and Republicans will pay dearly for their anti-latino nonsense. Legalization and ? rights are clearly on the rise. Abortion ain't going nowhere. They know they're ? on these issues in the long term and it scares the ? outta them.
BUT
What's new about it is the "Okay, WHITES USED TO BE RACIST....but that ended w/ the civil rights movement and now Blacks are the racist oppressors" race narrative. This had been lurking in right wing circles for a while, but with Obama (specifically the Rev. Wright fiasco...that was the flashpoint) it blew up in the Conservative mainstream. The Islamophobia is also relatively new: remember, Bush was ALWAYS calling Islam a Religion of Peace, having Imams pray at 9/11 memorials, talking about winning "hearts and minds" of moderate Muslims etc. Now without Bush leading them, there's no-one stopping them from hating ALL Muslims. -
BLacks are having more of the abortions so its not THEM thats ? long term on that issue lolSwiffness! wrote: »Well.....both.
It's the last gasp for that generation of elderly old white people that still secretly hate MLK for integrating the buses. Whites will be a minority majority in a few decades and Republicans will pay dearly for their anti-latino nonsense. Legalization and ? rights are clearly on the rise. Abortion ain't going nowhere. They know they're ? on these issues in the long term and it scares the ? outta them.
BUT
What's new about it is the "Okay, WHITES USED TO BE RACIST....but that ended w/ the civil rights movement and now Blacks are the racist oppressors" race narrative. This had been lurking in right wing circles for a while, but with Obama (specifically the Rev. Wright fiasco...that was the flashpoint) it blew up in the Conservative mainstream. The Islamophobia is also relatively new: remember, Bush was ALWAYS calling Islam a Religion of Peace, having Imams pray at 9/11 memorials, talking about winning "hearts and minds" of moderate Muslims etc. Now without Bush leading them, there's no-one stopping them from hating ALL Muslims.
And I think the Islamaphobia is because a lot of those idiots think Obama is a Muslim and is secretly on Al Quidas side. -
A new breed that's here to stay......until a white guy comes back into office, than they will quiet down a bit.
Remember how quiet these people were when Bush was spending a TRILLION dollars in Iraq and created tax cuts that ADDED BILLIONS to the deficit.........
LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! -
white people like me wrote: »It's the last stand for that particular class of whites who remember the "glory" days of America. The last 50 years have changed to quickly for them. First you had civil rights, then feminist movement, ? rights, mass immigration of non whites, non Christian religions, and now throw in a black president. The indigenous population (obviously whites aren't indigenous to America but you get it) will always be resistant to change when they believe it's transforming their culture. Most these tea party types and their ideals are going to die out soon because they're old as it is. Most babies born in the USA are non white and the younger generation of minorities will take over and represent a totally different America. To avoid some ? up ? happening though, minorities are going to have to emphasize education and knowledge more than they're doing now, particularly in the black and Hispanic communities, or America will never be the so called greatest country again.
You're wrong. Their lives always sucked, this is just their way of blaming it on someone else. -
I can't take those tea party ? serious at all, they just all seem to have that racist mob mentality. If they want change that's fine, but the hate and lies they spread in their rallies isn't gonna change America for the better.
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its NOT just white people either
oh please
maybe some uncle toms and the 37 remaining non-cuban latino republicansSeriously if these so-called moderate Muslims cannot take a firm stand
I HATE when you ? push this line of ? . You ? concede the obvious "okay, not ALL muslims are Osama" point but immediately go "so why haven't the muslims destroyed al qaeda yet, HUH HUH HUH THATS RIGHT THEY WONT"
like, HELLO, Al Qaeda types OBVIOUSLY ain't gonna be purged from Islam OVERNIGHT. The Moderate Muslims WILL win but it will take DECADES if not CENTURIES. Not fast enough for you? Well TOO ? BAD ? . The Protestant Reformation caused 120 YEARS OF WAR before that was (more or less) settled. And you expect this epic conflict within Islam to be settled 9 years after 9/11? ? YOU.its NOT just white people either
oh please
maybe some uncle toms and the 37 remaining non-cuban latino republicansjust what the hell are they gonna do when the next radical Muslim tries to blow-up
.......THEY'RE GONNA DIE, just like the dozens of innocent Muslims who DIED on 9/11, just like the THOUSANDS of innocent Muslim men, women, and children who were decapitated, tortured to death, burned to death, and blown up in marketplaces in Iraq. Remember that? Do you shitwits have any clue how much carnage Muslims suffered at the hands of Al Qaeda monsters like Abu Al Zarqawi? NO BECAUSE ALL THOSE FUNNY TALKIN BROWN FOLK LOOK THE SAME TO YO CRACKA HALF-PARALYZED ASSSO-CALLED moderate Muslims will not and cannot do anything to stop it
How the ? are they supposed to stop an Al Qaeda attack on the U.S? Are they the police? Are they the FBI? Are they one of the 800,000+ people with Top Secret clearance or one of the 1,200+ gov't organizations producing over 50,000+ intelligence reports every year? NO, ITS NOT THEIR JOB TO STOP TERROR ATTACKS, HOW BOUT WE LET OUR BLOATED BIG BROTHER SPY SYSTEM DO THATbut his heritage & actions speak for themselves
Translation: HIS DADDY'S A SAND N!GGER N!GGER (even tho, um, Barack Sr. was an Atheist)Our own Constitution will be our enemy and the downfall of this country.
Oh so we hate the constitution now because we lost a Presidential election huh? And here I thought you PATRIOTS reached over your pale beer guts to beat your tiny white ? while staring at the Constitution and moaning Thomas Jefferson's name. PAUSE -
you know, the argument i was hearing today was that Republicans have alienated Latino voters before and managed to win them back (or at least enough of them to not make it such a drain) before, so it would be possible to do so again. and this might be true.Swiffness! wrote: »Whites will be a minority majority in a few decades and Republicans will pay dearly for their anti-latino nonsense.
serious entry on the "things you all should miss about George W. Bush" listSwiffness! wrote: »remember, Bush was ALWAYS calling Islam a Religion of Peace, having Imams pray at 9/11 memorials, talking about winning "hearts and minds" of moderate Muslims etc. Now without Bush leading them, there's no-one stopping them from hating ALL Muslims.
i think this point is valid. it's really not just a white dude thing.-and its NOT just white people either so let's be real about it. -
...Are these racist/xenophobic tea party types the birth of a new breed of racism in our politics or a sign of the last gasp of a dying political art form?
Or is it just the awakening of a sleeping giant?
They have to be a new breed since we've never had a Black president before that they can attack for his "Socialist" policies, when in reality they are using these so-called Socialist policies as a false cover to say all the ignorant racist ? they wanted to say but couldn't without looking like straight up racists, which is what they were in the first place. They're not racist at all so long as everything is going their way :-) -
Iheart~Cali wrote: »They have to be a new breed since we've never had a Black president before that they can attack for his "Socialist" policies, when in reality they are using these so-called Socialist policies as a false cover to say all the ignorant racist ? they wanted to say but couldn't without looking like straight up racists, which is what they were in the first place. They're not racist at all so long as everything is going their way :-)
That's not really new except for the fact that the black guy they hate is the President. You had more overt racism during the civil rights movement, but also plenty of people opposing Civil Rights for their "strong principled commitment to states rights". Same thing as the Tea Partier who says "I'm no racist, I'm just opposed to the president because he's a socialist"
