The Tea Party Vs. Occupy......

[Kevin]

Let's be honest for all the press both of these groups get both on here and in RL, the Tea Party and Occupy Wall Street are basically two groups representing the extreme's of the American political spectrum in many ways.

To begin with the first post-2008 mass political movement the Tea Party is basically the religious right in another form. For ex. seeing many of the people who are active in the Tea Party where I live are religious fanatic's who want to follow the constitution(leaving out the part about separation between church and state) or extreme types who believe the government shouldn't be involved in anything whether it be education or even the enforcement of the law or courts. Additionally, the main reason I garner from Tea Party supporter's on why they actually dislike Mitt Romney is not because "he flip flops" but because he is a Mormon who supported abortion, gun control, and gay right's in the past. This is pretty accurate I think, at least among their supporter's.

While Occupy is just as bad IMO, it's clear from looking at their leadership and rank and file member's that most of them range from far left anti-capitalist's like Communist's, hardcore Socialist's, Anarchists  etc to LaRoucher's, 9/11 Truther's, conspiracy theorist's obsessed with the Bilderburg's, Trilateral Commission, and other like minded elements. Besides most of the Occupier's I've met are ether punks or homeless anyways.

Does anyone think this is an accurate assessment I got here?

I think it also show's how seriously f**ked the political environment in this country is.

[Username MechaRFK]

Occupy Wall Street deserves much better treatment then the above post. It's one of the better political movements in the country as of right now.

[Korwinist]

Occupy Wall Street deserves much better treatment then the above post. It's one of the better political movements in the country as of right now.

They're all a bunch of racist astroturfers

[white trash heroes]

Yeah, not as nice as Chile's government amirite?

[memphis]

Worth pointing out that the things the Occupy people are concerned with have a basis in reality. Wealth inequality has greatly expanded, largely because of government policy. The intersection of organized money and politics is a major problem with the way our government is run. On the other side, the Tea Party is concerned with Obama's birth certificate and death panels. It's kind of a shame that everybody in the media wants to be so fair and neutral and equate the two. There's really no comparison.

[I Can't Get That Sound You Make, Out Of My Head]

At least OWS looks at real issues.

[greenforest32]

The 'Tea Party' isn't a real group, they're the same theocratic fiscal and social conservative Republicans we all know being astroturfed as a new legitimate grassroots movement by the plutocrats and their corporate-owned media.

http://www.gallup.com/poll/141098/tea-party-supporters-overlap-republican-base.aspx

[Californian Tony]

At least OWS looks at real issues.

Exactly. OWS people are people who perceive the fundamental injustice of our modern societies and translate it into an incoherent outburst of rage. They are understandable, even though don't really help solving the problem. The teabaggers on the other hand are the pure product of a despicable reactionary propaganda with no connection to real life. They believe they are fighting against the establishment when, in fact, they are its useful idiots.

[Communists For McCain]

At least OWS looks at real issues.

Exactly. OWS people are people who perceive the fundamental injustice of our modern societies and translate it into an incoherent outburst of rage. They are understandable, even though don't really help solving the problem. The teabaggers on the other hand are the pure product of a despicable reactionary propaganda with no connection to real life. They believe they are fighting against the establishment when, in fact, they are its useful idiots.

That and the OWS isn't merely a far left movement.  In fact there are more than a few conservatives I know who are part of the movement because they believe that OWS is an anti-partisan movement protesting political corruption.  To those who watch Faux News it probably seems like a bunch of communists and anti-capitalists or what not, but to those who actually research it there is a genuine anger within the movement.
Too bad OWS is too damn incoherent to really resonate with people.

[Progressive Realist]

False equivalencies ftl.

[TXMichael]

The tea party at the beginning was very different than what the tea party became. Initially I heard people angry over the bail outs.  However very early on the Tea Party had it's control taken over by conservative leaders.  Fox News told it's listeners to "go tea bag the White House".  Former Republican D.C. leaders who formed groups like FreedomWorks.  Billionaires poured millions into the Tea Party.  The Tea Party, like the Republican Party, was a very top down movement.  Showing up at a tea party event had the feeling you were expected to "learn your place, shut your face".  The hatred of the President is at the forefront of the Tea Party movement.

Occupy on the other hand was a grass roots movement.  When talking to occupy protesters it is clear that more than one issue brought them together.  That's why it was difficult for people to attack Occupy at the beginning because the issues talked about by Occupy weren't bumper sticker slogans.  The only thing that is close to resembling a slogan is "We are the 99%" and unlike the Tea Party that is not a policy position.  The Tea Party talked about being "Taxed enough already" and used that as a war cry to have their taxes lowered.  Occupy talked about the true economic problems in our country.


Although there are two very interesting similarities between Occupy and Tea Party.  One is that both appeared to be very middle class.  The tea party as the middle aged middle class folk and Occupy as the people who were children in the 90s who were in the middle class.  Both also wanted shine light on economic injustice.  The tea party wanted to blame D.C. and Occupy Wall Street wants to expose the collusion that occurs between D.C. and Wall Street with respects to legislation that only benefits a select few.

[Indy Prez]

They're all a bunch of racist astroturfers

in A. It's all BS.

[InsaneTrollLogic]

Occupy Wall Street deserves much better treatment then the above post. It's one of the better political movements in the country as of right now.

They're all a bunch of racist astroturfers

So, is the TEA Party basically the Ku Klux Klan of the 2010s?

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

The tea party is basically an extension of the Republican party. The Occupy movement is not an extension of the Democratic party.

[CelticHoosier1993]

I think Occupy and The Tea Party both tap into a growing frustration among average Americans. Bailouts and corporate welfare continue, while the state still claims we don't have enough money when it comes to things like providing care for 9/11 first responders. There is a problem, and both movements have different solutions. I think Occupy has positively changed the political discourse. I go to every Occupy I can, and enjoy conversing with other people there.

[General White]

Occupy Wall Street deserves much better treatment then the above post. It's one of the better political movements in the country as of right now.

I agree.

[I'm JewCon in name only.]

Tea Party > Occupy

[Yelnoc]

Occupy > Tea Party

[TJ in Wisco]

Both seem to bring out the worst in conservatism and liberalism as Americans know it. Both are angry protest movements with a certain degree of intellectual vapidness. I tend to prefer the Tea Party to Occupy simply becuase I at least agree with many of its members on some issues, but I don't particularly like either movement. Both seem to jump the shark way too often.

[Zach Vega]

Tea Party > The socialist parts of Occupy

[Gass3268]

The socialist parts of Occupy >>> the racist bigots parts (about 99%) of the Tea Party

[TXMichael]

Both seem to bring out the worst in conservatism and liberalism as Americans know it. Both are angry protest movements with a certain degree of intellectual vapidness. I tend to prefer the Tea Party to Occupy simply becuase I at least agree with many of its members on some issues, but I don't particularly like either movement. Both seem to jump the shark way too often.

Both also demonstrate the passion of the base of the two movements, which is at least part of why they occasionally "bring out the worst" because passion can easily turn into anger when used improperly

[a Person]

The socialist parts of Occupy >>> the racist bigots parts (about 99%) of the Tea Party

My estimate is more like 30-40%

[InsaneTrollLogic]

What was it figured? 40% of voters are Occupiers and 33% are Tea Baggers? I would go with about 60% of baggers being racists and 35% of Occupiers being socialists.  That would give us a racist population of 19.8% and a "socilist" population of  14%. That would make about 70% of liberals socialists, provided that all socialists are "liberals" and about 60% of conservatives as racists.  So, there you go. Something to think about as you think of these movements.

[Bandit3 the Worker]

The Occupy movement is growing fast.