CNN: Tea party movement has anger, no dominant leaders

[Patsy Stone]

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/09/12/tea.party.express/index.html?iref=mpstoryview

That the tea party movement has no leader at this point is just fine with Wierzbicki. He says right now the movement is centered on a few key issues: taxes, expansion and distrust of Obama.

"If there was a leader there might be a divisive factor," he says.

In Wierzbicki's plan, the movement doesn't need a leader until after the 2010 election.

"From then to 2012 is probably the period of time when you'll find a big national leader that will emerge that the majority of the people in this movement will feel comfortable following," he says.

Right. Why rush into anything like concrete ideas or leadership when you can just keep stirring up the ignorance and anger?

[C_U_L8R]

1. They also don't have any ideas

What's their plan for healthcare? For anything?

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

4. What's their plan for healthcare?

Social Darwinism.

[starroute]

17. Survival of the fittest?

Sounds about right.

[Cha]

2. So they don't call glen bech a "dominate leader"?

He'll just have a good cry over that.

[onehandle]

3. Lunatics rarely step up to lead. nt

[divineorder]

5. Okay, I can see no dominant leader

But what about leaders, plural? Even in a "leaderless" group, there are people who are more active than most-organizers, spokespeople, advisors. If nothing else, speakers.

This is proof that this is astroturf. Anything self-organized would have those people-folks would need to come forward and work full-time on a project like this-folks that the speakers would be coordinating with for the program, crowd marshals, money people. Nobody came forward because they are nothing but cattle led by corporate interests who did all the organizing.

[Patsy Stone]

11. Right on!

:thumbsup:

[Nikki Stone1]

6. Their leadership is Freedomworks

and other astroturf organizations

[nadinbrzezinski]

9. +1

[BREMPRO]

15. Not many of them, it's just a small dick armey with misspelled signs and pitchforks

oops I misspelled army! They remind me of the angry town mobs on the Simpsons, just less diverse.

[ThoughtCriminal]

7. Even the segregationists had leaders

And what a pathetic pack that was: Thurmond, Wallace, Maddox...

[nadinbrzezinski]

8. hhmmm they do have a leader

and it's name is ASTROTURF

[LuvNewcastle]

10. Boo Hoo

They chose to sit idly by while Bush started two wars and handed out tax cuts, and now they wonder why our deficit is where it is. Higher taxes are on the way. It's time to pay the piper.

[kentuck]

12. Dick Armey is the leader...

It is an army of "dicks".

[Patsy Stone]

13. And lunatics:

"In Battle Creek, Michigan, a woman in her 60s says, 'I really don't want to be a guinea pig for the experiment they have with the population control.' In Canton, Ohio, a woman argues with an Obama supporter: 'He's going after our kids to try to indoctrinate them into a national defense army.'"

[progressivebydesign]

14. Danger Will Robinson. That's a recipe for disaster! Seriously, though.. SOMEONE is footing the bill

I've seen several PAID organizing positions for the Teabag movement. They're worded the same, and in various cities on Craigslist. They pay commission for signing people up to participate. I believe it will be some sort of faux citizens group funded by lobbyists... This is NOT a grassroots movement, someone is footing the bill. Follow the money.

[BREMPRO]

16. Here is one major funder I found: Richard Vigueire

From Houston Texas. Made fortune from direct mail advertising/marketing company, pioneered use of direct mail tactics for right wing political campaigns to counter what he perceived as a "liberal media bias". Fundraised billions for conservative causes. Launched website to support Ron Paul for president. Long associated with religious right,"moral majority" now rabid for libertarians. Runs seminars for tea baggers on tactics.


http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2338052/posts

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Viguerie


the only good thing I could find about him is that he's against capital punishment.

[starroute]

19. Virguerie has been associated with everything bad for 40 years

In the late 70's, he was connected with the rogue CIA guys of the "Enterprise," who operated out of his offices at Leesburg Pike. A few years later, he got into financial trouble and was bailed out by Reverend Moon.

He was also behind the founding of some of the fake seniors groups that have more recently been doing the bidding of the pharmaceutic industry -- though I'll grant that he was only interested in scamming little old ladies out of their Security Security checks and not in ripping off the federal government through Medicare D.

And that's only what comes to me offhand -- if I started actually checking my files, I'd be here all night.

[intheflow]

18. Rebels without a clue. n/t

[barbtries]

20. i thought

they had "no dominant leaders" because their "leaders" are lobbyists and corporations which have to stay in the background lest their presence give away the fact that this is no grass roots movement.