Tea Party protests

A Tea Party protest in Hartford, Connecticut, one of 750 held nationally on April 15, 2009.

The Tea Party protests are a series of locally organized, nationally coordinated, protests across the United States in 2009. The events are in protest of big government, President Obama, the federal budget and, more specifically, the stimulus package, which the protesters perceive as examples of wasteful government spending and unnecessary government growth. They oppose the increase in the national debt as well. The protesters also objected to possible future tax increases, specifically taxes on capital gains, estate taxes, federal income taxes, and cigarette taxes. Thus far, protests have been held on April 15, 2009 to coincide with the annual U.S. deadline for submitting tax returns, known as Tax Day, over the weekend of July 4, 2009 to coincide with Independence Day, and on September 12, 2009.

The name "Tea Party" is a reference to the Boston Tea Party, and the protests have sought to evoke images, slogans, and themes from the American Revolution. The letters T, E, and A have been used by protesters to form the backronym "Taxed Enough Already."

Volunteers promoted Tax Day events on blogs, on Twitter, and on Facebook. Reaction to the Tea Parties included counter-protests expressing support for the Obama administration, and dismissive or mocking media coverage of both the events and its promoters, including the Fox News Channel.

History

Main article: List of Tea Party protests

A Tea Party protester holds a sign saying "Remember: Dissent is Patriotic" at a Nashville Tea Party on February 27, 2009.

An early example of organization in the form of "tea parties" was during the 2008 presidential campaign of Republican Congressman Ron Paul. Grassroots organizers of Paul's campaign organized through the website TeaParty07.com for gatherings throughout the United States to commemorate the 232nd anniversary of the Boston Tea Party as well as to further Paul's message. Participants threw boxes and barrels marked with such keywords as "Tyranny" and "No Taxation Without Representation" into Boston Harbor (and other bodies of water across the country). Paul himself tossed a barrel labeled "Iraq War" during a Tea Party in Freeport, Texas.

On January 27, 2009 radio talk-show host Rush Limbaugh criticized the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, commenting, "This 'porkulus' bill is designed to repair the Democratic Party's power losses from the 1990s forward, and to cement the party's majority power for decades." The term porkulus was coined as a combination of "pork" and "stimulus," in reference to pork barrel spending or earmarks, proving popular with conservative politicians and commentators, who began to unify in opposition against stimulus spending after the 2008 General Election.

On February 10, FreedomWorks activist Mary Rakovich, who is also a leader in the conservative advocacy group "America Coast 2 Coast", led a protest outside President Barack Obama's townhall meeting in Fort Myers, Florida, displaying a sign with an image of a pig and the statement “$650,000,000 for DTV coupons”. Interviewed by a local reporter, Rakovich explained that she "thinks the government is wasting way too much money helping people receive high definition TV signals" and that "Obama promotes socialism, although 'he doesn’t call it that'". Subsequently Rakovich was invited to appear in front of a national audience on Neil Cavuto's Fox News Channel program, Your World.

On February 16, the day before President Obama signed into law the stimulus bill, a blogger known as Liberty Belle called for and organized a "porkulus" protest in Seattle, Washington. A protest was held in Denver on February 17 and a protest in Mesa, Arizona on February 18 brought 500 protesters.

On February 19, 2009, in a broadcast from the floor of the Chicago Board of Trade, CNBC market commentator Rick Santelli, criticized the government plan to refinance mortgages as "promoting bad behavior", and raised the possibility of a "Chicago Tea Party". This is where the name "Tea Party" for these protests originated. In response to Santelli, websites such as ChicagoTeaParty.com, registered in August 2008 by Chicago radio producer Zack Christenson, were live within twelve hours. 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. Another event, the "Nationwide Chicago Tea Party", was held on February 27, 2009 with over 40 protests in various places throughout the nation.

April 15 Tax-day events

Tea Party protesters at the Louisville Tea Party 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. 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." . Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform, estimated that at least 268,000 attended in over 200 cities. 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 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." The largest event, in Atlanta, Georgia, drew an estimated 7,000 to 15,000 people. Some of the gatherings drew only dozens.

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. Approximately a thousand people had demonstrated, several waved placards saying "Stop Big Government" and "Taxation is Piracy".

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. A CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey in March found that 62% said that they approved how Obama is handling tax policy. An April USA Today/Gallup found that a majority of Americans favor the expansion of government economic intervention, at least for now.

Independence Day and other Post-April 15 Tea Parties

After April 15, 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 White Plains, New York, Jackson, Tennessee, and Monroe, Washington. In May, there were six more Tea Party events in Tennessee, New York, Idaho, Ohio, Nevada, and North Carolina. During June, another dozen events were held in North Carolina, California, Rhode Island, Texas, Ohio, Michigan, Montana, Florida, New York, and Washington 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.

A number of Tea Party protests were held the weekend of July 4, 2009, coinciding with American Independence Day.

On July 17, there were additional Tea Party protests around the nation organized by a group called Tea Party Patriots, this time against President Obama's proposed health care reform bill that they labeled socialized medicine.

Taxpayer March on Washington

Protesters walking towards the United States Capitol during the Taxpayer March on Washington.

Main article: Taxpayer March on Washington

On September 12, 2009, Tea Party protests were held in various cities around the nation. In Washington, D.C., Tea Party protests gathered to march from Freedom Plaza to the United States Capitol. Estimates of the number of attendees varied, from "tens of thousands" to "in excess of 75,000". A rally organizer asserted that one local ABC News station had reported attendance of over one million, but he retracted the statement after ABC News denied making any such report.

The march is the largest conservative protest ever held in Washington, D.C., as well as the largest demonstration against President Obama's administration to date.

Positions and goals

According to USA Today, most protesters have the overall goal of pressuring the United States Congress and state governments to "reject government spending as a way out of the recession" and to "build an anti-spending coalition around regular taxpayers". Aside from spending by the Obama administration, the paper stated that organizers were not pleased by former president George W. Bush's performance on spending, either. Demonstrators opposed federal support for the ailing automobile industry as well. Support for the Federal Reserve Transparency Act of 2009 is also an issue raised in the Tea Parties.

The Economist has written that "[t]he biggest cause of anger is Mr Obama’s willingness to bail out everyone with a tin cup... People who have borrowed prudently and lived within their means are livid that they are being asked to bail out neighbours who splurged on McMansions and giant televisions." It also stated that some protesters merely preached to the converted while others had messages that could resonate among the public.

Protest organizer and co-creator of dontGo Eric Odom has argued that "This is a protest that has been in government the last few years...Bush himself was guilty of socialist policies." He also said of the Republican Party that "It’s obvious they’re trying to ride on the brand that we created... It’s somewhat insulting." His group has turned down a request from Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele to speak at its Chicago protest. After the denial, the Republican National Committee released a statement saying that "They're just having a little fun."

Dan Gerstein, a former Democratic Party political advisor, argued in Forbes that the protests could have tapped into real feelings of disillusionment by American moderates but the protesters had too many incoherent messages being put forth. Bridgett Wagner of The Heritage Foundation, a think tank, has compared the protests to the tax revolts of the 1970s and 1980s, which included the successful Proposition 13 in California that capped property taxes. Jeremi Suri, a history professor at the University of Wisconsin, viewed them as "not dissimilar from what we had in 2003 with the anti-war protests, where a lot of people were uncomfortable with the war, but also uncomfortable with the anti-war position, recognizing there are terrorists out there."

Disruption tactics

The New York Times reported on August 8, 2009 that organizations opposed to the health care reform legislation were urging opponents to be disruptive. It noted that the Tea Party Patriots web site circulated a memo instructing them to "Pack the hall. Yell out and challenge the Rep’s statements early. Get him off his prepared script and agenda. Stand up and shout and sit right back down." The memo continued, "The Rep [representative] should be made to feel that a majority, and if not, a significant portion of at least the audience, opposes the socialist agenda of Washington." According to FreedomWorks spokesman Adam Brandon, FreedomWorks is a "coalition partner" of TeaPartyPatriots.org, but does not fund the site in any way.

Some Tea party organizers have stated that they look to Saul Alinsky's Rules for Radicals for inspiration. Protesters have also appropriated left-wing imagery; the logo for the 9/12 March on Washington featured a design that was intended to resemble those used by pro-labor, anti-war, and black power movements of the 1960's. In addition, the slogan "Keep Your Laws Off My Body", usually associated with pro-choice activists, has been been seen on signs at tea parties and has also been used by Representative Michele Bachmann (R-MN).

Responses

Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich speaking at the April 15, 2009 New York City Tea Party.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich's political activist group American Solutions supports the protests, saying on its website that they are "our chance to communicate our anger and opposition to the irresponsible policies of politicians in Washington who have failed to solve problems." Gingrich spoke at the New York City protest on April 15.

Texas governor Rick Perry attended a Tea Party rally in Austin, Texas. He has also discussed the protests on YouTube. Perry fielded a question at the rally about Texas secession, answering:

"There's a lot of different scenarios. We've got a great union. There's absolutely no reason to dissolve it. But if Washington continues to thumb their nose at the American people, you know, who knows what might come out of that? But Texas is a very unique place, and we're a pretty independent lot to boot."

The Tea Parties also drew the praise of other elected officials. Congressman Tom Price (R-GA) said the protests showed that "this land is still owned by the people." Congressman Jeb Hensarling (R-TX) called the Tea Party movement "helpful" and "genuine."

Talk show host Leslie Marshall has remarked, in reference to the original Boston Tea Party, that "You have to look at our history. The reason these people revolted is they didn't want to pay taxes that were not presented by elected officials... Last time I checked, Obama's not taxing you to death — he is spending to stimulate the economy and he is an elected official." Political commentator Bob Cesca commented that "your neighbor's mortgage is your problem. Just watch your property values plummet as soon as there's just one foreclosure on your block." Historian Bruce Bartlett, a former U.S. Treasury Department official in the Bush administration, argued in Forbes magazine that higher taxes may not be as bad as they seem, writing that "Higher taxes may pay for services that people value and thus are not as burdensome as they might appear at first glance."

Protesters at the Philadelphia Tea Party on April 18, 2009.

Rick Santelli has said, "I think that this tea party phenomenon is steeped in American culture and steeped in American notion to get involved with what’s going on with our government. I haven’t organized. I’m going to have to work to pay my taxes, so I’m not going to be able to get away today. But, I have to tell you — I’m pretty proud of this." Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee said that the events were "mostly an honest spontaneous effort...to express their outrage at government hubris".

On April 19, Senior White House Advisor David Axelrod was asked about the tea party protests. He said "I think any time that you have severe economic conditions, there is always an element of disaffection that can mutate into something that’s unhealthy." and "The thing that bewilders me is this President just cut taxes for ninety five percent of the American people. So I think the tea bags should be directed elsewhere, because he certainly understands the burden that people face." On August 22, numerous Tea Party protests were organized around the nation to express opposition to current legislative proposals that would expand the role of the federal government in health care.

Reaction from President Obama

On April 29, 2009, Obama commented on the Tea Party protests publicly during a townhall meeting in Arnold, Missouri, saying: "So, you know, when you see — those of you who are watching certain news channels on which I'm not very popular and you see folks waving tea bags around, let me just remind them that I am happy to have a serious conversation about how we are going to cut our health care costs down over the long term, how we're going to stabilize Social Security. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) and I are working diligently to do basically a thorough audit of federal spending. But let's not play games and pretend that the reason is because of the Recovery Act, because that's just a fraction of the overall problem that we've got. We are going to have to tighten our belts, but we're going to have to do it in an intelligent way. And we've got to make sure that the people who are helped are working American families, and we're not suddenly saying that the way to do this is to eliminate programs that help ordinary people and give more tax cuts to the wealthy. We tried that formula for eight years, and it did not work, and I don't intend to go back to it."

Astroturfing allegations

Allegations of "astroturfing" appeared in a Playboy article in March 2009. The article was removed after libel claims, but no legal action materialized. The authors repeated and elaborated the allegations elsewhere.

On April 9, 2009, the blog Think Progress claimed that most of the 2009 protests were conservative lobbyist-created "astroturf" projects and not spontaneous grassroots protests. Instead, Think Progress contended, the protests were nationally coordinated and organized by Americans for Prosperity and FreedomWorks. The story was picked up in a New York Times op-ed column by economist Paul Krugman, writing that "the tea parties don't represent a spontaneous outpouring of public sentiment. They're AstroTurf (fake grass roots) events, manufactured by the usual suspects. In particular, a key role is being played by FreedomWorks, an organization run by Richard Armey." On April 15, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi agreed, saying "it's not really a grassroots movement. It's astroturf by some of the wealthiest people in America to keep the focus on tax cuts for the rich instead of for the great middle class." On the same day, MSNBC host Rachel Maddow commented, saying that "corporate-funded PR shops and lobbying groups have done a lot of the organizing and promotion for these events. That's controversial because it's astroturfing. It's disguising a formal top-down organized paid for things as if it's some spontaneous grassroots event."

Participants vehemently deny the astroturfing charge. According to Atlantic Monthly, the three main groups that provide guidance and organization for the protests FreedomWorks, dontGO, and Americans for Prosperity state that the demonstrations are an organic movement. Professor and lawyer Glenn Reynolds, best known as author of the Instapundit political blog, argued in The New York Post that: "These aren't the usual semiprofessional protesters who attend antiwar and pro-union marches. These are people with real jobs; most have never attended a protest march before. They represent a kind of energy that our politics hasn't seen lately, and an influx of new activists." Tim Phillips, head of Americans for Prosperity, has remarked that the Republican Party is "too disorganized and unsure of itself to pull this off."

Media coverage

According to US News and World Report, the nature of the coverage of the protests has become part of the story. The protests have been derided by commentators such as Rachel Maddow, Keith Olbermann, David Shuster, talk show host Leslie Marshall, Bob Cesca, economist Paul Krugman, Andrew Sullivan, public policy advocacy group MoveOn.org, and Thomas Frank. Conversely, the protests attracted support from and been promoted by commentators such as Sean Hannity, Michelle Malkin, Glenn Beck, and Glenn Reynolds, former House Majority Leader Dick Armey, rock guitarist and political activist Ted Nugent, country musician John Rich, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, and syndicated radio host Neal Boortz.

At an April 15 protest, CNN correspondent Susan Roesgen questioned several protesters and then suggested that that event was "anti-government", "anti-CNN", and "promoted by the right-wing conservative Fox News". After then hearing shouted obscenities, she concluded, "and since I can't really hear much more and I think this is not really family viewing, I'll toss it back to you, Kyra." Roesgen was criticized by the Media Research Center's news blog, Boston Herald columnist Michael Graham, and a KXMB-TV op-ed. Roesgen was praised by Daily Kos editor Jed Lewison, who asked "When will CNN fight back?" and George Washington University professor of media, Frank Sesno, who defended Roesgen for not letting statements go unchallenged. In response to the incident, a Fox News spokesperson remarked that, "Judging by their lack of ratings, everyone seems to be anti-CNN", while a CNN spokesperson said, "She was doing her job, and called it like she saw it."

Media Research Center, a conservative media watchdog organization, argued that television networks CNN and MSNBC provided biased coverage of the tea parties. The MRC pointed to "juvenile jokes" about protesters made by Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow. It also argued that the networks paid little attention to the protests overall, which the MRC's vice president called "journalism by censorship". Fox News commentator Bill O'Reilly dismissed accusations of promotion by saying the network promoted coverage of the event which he felt was newsworthy while other networks ignored it. James Rainey of the Los Angeles Times also said MSNBC's hits on the tea parties may have paled compared to Fox's relentless support, but Olbermann, Maddow and Matthews were hardly subtle in rooting for the gatherings to bomb. The Augusta Chronicle editorial staff described CNN and MSNBC's coverage as "disgusting", "profane", "reprehensible", and "sickening." Howard Kurtz has said that, "These [FOX] hosts said little or nothing about the huge deficits run up by President Bush, but Barack Obama's budget and tax plans have driven them to tea. On the other hand, CNN and MSNBC may have dropped the ball by all but ignoring the protests."

Media Matters for America, a self-described progressive media watchdog organization, argued that the Fox News Network actively promoted the tea parties and encouraged viewers to get involved with them instead of neutrally covering them. The group pointed to several examples, including an episode of Glenn Beck's show in which an on-air graphic referred to some of the protests as "FNC Tax Day Tea Parties". Media Matters president, Eric Burns, wrote an open letter to Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace asking him to "publicly address recent actions by Fox News personalities that unambiguously cross the line separating news and legitimate commentary from political activism and demagoguery." Media Matters pointed out that Fox News "aired at least 107 commercial promotions for their coverage of the tea party protests" in the ten days leading up to the April 15 protests.

On April 12, Howard Kurtz said on CNN, "Fox News gets on board in a big way with this week's tea party protests" and "The folks at Fox News ... are firmly in favor of tea parties." On April 15, he said, "I don't think I've ever seen a news network throw its weight behind a protest like we are seeing in the past few weeks with FOX and these tea parties." Political commentator Rachel Maddow said, "The unofficial Republican Party media outlet, Fox News Channel, has explicitly endorsed these events." Political commentator Keith Olbermann said, "Despite claiming neutrality on those policies and the teabag movement itself, FOX has whipped up excitement for the parties, recruiting viewers to come out, guaranteeing huge outdoor gatherings, spilling into the streets, choking off traffic with all their teabagging." On April 14, ABC World News described the protests as "[c]heered on by Fox News and talk radio".

Satirists Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert both joked about the tea parties on their respective April 15 comedy show airings. Both of them poked fun at what they saw as ironies and hypocritical logic from the protests; for example, they mocked protesters for buying a million bags of tea to protest wasteful spending. Both comedy segments mocked the Fox News promotion of the events.

"Teabagging"

Origins

A protester's sign at the April 15, 2009 Hartford, Connecticut Tea Party reads: "Teabag Washington? They have way too many NUTS Already!"

In February, David Weigel of The Washington Independent photographed a protester holding a sign that read "Tea Bag the Liberal Dems Before They Tea Bag You." The verb "tea bag" is used by others including Fox News Reporter Griff Jenkins and reteaparty.com where it is used self-referentially. Salon.com, however, pointed out that "teabagging" has long had another meaning.

The double meaning of the phrase drew criticism and mockery from MSNBC's David Shuster who on April 13, accused the protesters of "going nuts for it" and "whip[ping] out the festivities"; wanting to "give President Obama a strong tongue-lashing and lick government spending." He argued that "the people who came up with it are a familiar circle of Republicans including former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former House Majority Leader Dick Armey, both of whom have firm support from right wing financiers and lobbyists." and that "the Fox News Channel, including Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity, both are looking forward to an up close and personal taste of teabagging themselves." He concluded, saying that "If you are planning simultaneous teabagging all around the country, you're going to need a Dick Armey." On April 13, 14, and 15, MSNBC's Rachel Maddow made similar remarks. On April 14 and 15, MSNBC's Keith Olbermann made remarks in the same vein, and on April 15, CNN's Anderson Cooper said "It's hard to talk when you're teabagging."

Response

Fox News responded by calling the remarks "frat house humor" and accusing MSNBC's David Shuster of weaving "a tapestry of Animal House humor." Fox News further compared MSNBC's Rachel Maddow and Air America's Ana Marie Cox to Beavis and Butt-head. Max Pappas, Public Policy Vice President of national organizer FreedomWorks, called the comments a "shame." Jeff Poor, writing for right-wing media watchdog NewsBusters, labeled the teabagging references as "dirty", "juvenile", and "low brow." Media Research Center President Brent Bozell wrote that CNN and MSNBC had put on an "utterly embarrassing and crude display." He accused them of "vulgar attack-journalism", "lowly crassness", "slimy, smarmy attacks", and "sleaze-riddled condemnation". Political commentator Joe Scarborough said "I'm not going to mention names of people on networks that made sexual jokes, childish sexual jokes." Correspondent Paul Chesser wrote in The American Spectator that "Empty-suited Anderson Cooper fulfilled dreams of one-day fitting in with dreamboat Keith Olbermann on MSNBC, as he cracked gay-themed "teabagger" jokes about the events."

On May 19, CNN's Anderson Cooper spoke at UCLA and was asked about his teabagging comment on April 15. Cooper replied calling his choice of words "stupid, silly" and that he regretted making the comment. "If people took offense to that and felt that I was disparaging their legitimate right to protest, and what they were doing, then that is something I truly regret, because I don't believe in doing that," he said. He also commented, "[h]aving this discussion just takes away from the real story."

See also

• 9-12 Project