The populist charade

[IndianaGreen]

The populist charade

The claim that the Tea Party protests represent a grassroots movement is a fraud--but it's the Democrats' policies of the last year that allowed the right to posture as populists.

April 21, 2010

GUN-TOTING right-wing extremists and the Republican Party politicians who pander to them are getting away with masquerading as "populists"--thanks both to a media that laps up the ranting of the Tea Party crowd, and to pro-business Democratic policies that have hurt working people.

On April 14, it was more of the same from Sarah Palin as she spoke to an adoring crowd of several thousand Tea Partiers assembled in Boston to protest the Obama administration. "Is this what Obama's 'change' is all about?" Palin asked, before delivering her by-now signature line as the crowd roared: "I want to tell them, 'Nah, we'll keep clinging to our guns and our Constitution and our religion, and you can keep the 'change.'"

Of course, guns, religion and the Constitution aren't the only things Palin is clinging to these days. According to media reports, she's made $12 million in personal income since quitting her job as governor of Alaska.

The rally in Boston was one of several tea party events around the country on April 14-15 to coincide with Tax Day. Among those speaking alongside Palin in Boston was Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann, who may be best known these days for having urged her constituents to refuse to fill out the 2010 Census because it was a federal government plot. (Until, that is, it became clear that an incomplete census could cost Minnesota a congressional seat, most likely hers--then, she was suddenly pro-census.)

http://socialistworker.org/2010/04/21/the-populist-charade

[Andronex]

1. True, the Tea Party movement is a fraud...

but it is a fraud that serves the interest of both republican and democratic party, one has only to look at the prominence given to anything regarding the "teabaggers" at DU, we feed off it because we have nothing to offer, only another political party dedicated to the interest of the banking and corporate elite.