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Loading...Is The Tea Party Back?
Supporters of President Obama’s health care reform law have been celebrating the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold the individual mandate, the legislation’s core, since the decision came down last week. But this political victory could have at least one unintended consequence: the Tea Party, which has mostly lain dormant since the 2010 midterm elections, could very well use the decision as a rallying cry.
It isn’t surprising that the Tea Party would react so strongly against the Supreme Court’s support for Obamacare. After all, the movement was born out of opposition to the Affordable Care Act. Polling data from the Public Religion Research Institute shows that before the ruling came down, Tea Party members were more supportive of the Supreme Court overturning the health care reform law than any other political group, including Republicans.
Rep. Michele Bachmann, a Tea Party darling, was outside the Supreme Court after the decision came down, telling assembled activists that the fight was just beginning. Some Tea Party leaders have already announced their intention to focus more intensely on the 2012 race, with the goal of winning the Senate for the Republicans.
And according to Talking Points Memo, Tea Party organizers planned a large series of activities for Independence Day, with a focus on local protests. Reporter Evan McMorris-Santoro writes,
The tea party and its corporate backers say they want to leverage their base to identify voters and activate a get-out-the-vote army in the fall. The Supreme Court’s decision made that process much easier, tea partiers say.
During the Republican primary, one Tea Party candidate after the other (remember Herman Cain?) was defeated by Mitt Romney, who has always had an uncomfortable relationship with the Tea Party, partially because of his own version of the health care reform that is essentially the same as Obamacare. But now, it seems like Tea Party activists are refocusing their energy on state-level races. And although they may not do as much work to launch Mitt Romney to the White House, the prospect of a Republican-controlled Senate is equally — if not more — disturbing.
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Read more: affordable care act, health, health care reform, health policy, ObamaCare, president obama, scotus, tea party
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Recent Comments from Causes
she did the right thing Good on her. Psychologists and Dogooders are always saying you can't smack kids…
Noted & voted to honor war veterans.
The numbers here are encouraging...I only hope they continue to rise.
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84 comments
+ add your ownThat's a great point Don, Pennywise the Clown from Stephan King's "It" would be the perfect mascot for fox news. Their new motto could be "Everything floats down here."
Yes, Kevin, they are pathetic clowns. Awful clowns like in Stephen King's It.
No one should interview with Fox "News". Every word on Fox is designed to misinform and mislead the viewing audience. And it works admirably. Fox "News" propaganda is effectively destroying the nation.
Thank you Paul, it is always refreshing to hear a completely insane rant from the right wing bubble. "The liberal biased media didn't vett Obama and now we have a socialist, muslim, marxist, Kenyan president, waaaah" Oh my god, you clowns are just pathetic.
Since their inception every focus of the Tea Party has been carefully crafted by the Koch Brother's think tank Freedom Works. The Tea Party has never had an original idea.
The Tea Party faux outrage during the health care reform debate was created because Freedom Works was protecting the interests of the insurance industry and the pharmaceutical industry.
Tea Party outrage over "big government" is because the big corporations know they will replace government as the main control in the nation if they can effectively throttle or manage government and legislation. In general, the smaller the government the less representation the people will have.
I know the Tea Party members are probably well meaning but misguided people. They obviously do not recognize the destructive nature of their "platform".
Right Paul, funding doesn't mean control. Just because you control the purse strings doesn't mean you control the money. Do you even listen to the crap you write?
As far as your other challenge...who cares? I am not even sure what you are blabbering about on your "corruption, collusion, deficit" rant and don't really care. The Koch Brothers and their ilk "own" the tea-party lock, stock, and barrel. Sorry that the truth hurts.
The Tea Party would disappear overnight if not for the corporate money propping them up. They exist only to protect the corporate position anyway. But individual Tea Party members might not be aware of this. They are so far removed from reality.
I was unaware they had ever gone away.
I emigrated from the States to Canada in the 70s because of policies like National Health Care & the lack of involvement in imperialist foreign wars, and I've never been sorry; though the Harper government is trying to "Americanize" us, they haven't made as much headway as they'd like, & I hope we can keep it that way. I used to get angry when I read American political news; now I just feel sorry for a once-great nation that is busy digging its own grave.
Thanks for that Luvenia, you are so right. Between all the rich Republican lawmakers, Karl Rove, and the Koch brothers, among many others, they are on their way to ruining this Country for the once great middle class. Some people just don't understand what is happening and what life will be like if they succeed. Karl Rove, Newt Gingrich and Dick Cheney began this slippery slope when they lied to get George W. elected, and the right wing Supreme Court helped them by, for the first time in our history, anointing W as President. The rest is history.
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