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- iHaveNet.com: Politics
by Clarence Page
Leaders of the tea party movement reacted angrily to the
Lesson: It's easier to appreciate an idea after you've decided that it was your idea in the first place.
Williams offense came in a satirical jab he posted on his blog, aimed at Ben Jealous, president of the organization formally known as the
"Dear Mr. Lincoln," he began. "We Coloreds have taken a vote and decided that we don't cotton to that whole emancipation thing. Freedom means having to work for real, think for ourselves, and take consequences along with the rewards. That is just far too much to ask of us Colored People and we demand that it stop...!"
Lesson: If you care about your public image, do not fill your spokesman position with a nutty political talk show host.
This internal tea party schism should be interesting. Tea Party Express has some muscle behind it. Its well-attended national bus tours feature big names like Sarah Palin, Ann Coulter and "Joe the Plumber" Wurzelbacher -- and raise big money for conservative candidates.
The Wilson schism illustrates what Matthew Continetti, associate editor of the conservative Weekly Standard, characterized in a recent cover story as "The Two Faces of the
Santelli probably ignited the tea party movement from the floor of the
Despite striking differences between Santelli and Beck, who embodies the insane TV anchor Howard "Mad as Hell" Beale in the movie "Network," the two men easily represent what Continetti calls "the dual nature of conservative populism."
Unlike Beck's crowd, Santelli did not call Obama a "socialist" or challenge the president's legitimacy or patriotism. He even wrote a month after his on-air rant that "I hope that the president and the final stimulus plan succeed" because "I love my country." He may not get his own radio talk show with sensible talk like that, but he captures the best of this country's optimistic, even-handed spirit.
It's not hard to imagine Santelli's conservatism as "easily integrated into a conservative Republican party" as Ronald Reagan's in the 1980s, Continetti writes, "with an affirmative agenda of spending cuts, low taxes, entitlement reform and free trade." Maybe not. But in the meantime, the
Warning the right of "the twin temptations of intellectualism and exuberance" in the scholarly
Thinking conservatives understand. With so much at stake, then, the tea party movement should quietly thank the
Available at Amazon.com:
The Disappearing Center: Engaged Citizens, Polarization, and American Democracy
The Virtues of Mendacity: On Lying in Politics
Bush on the Home Front: Domestic Policy Triumphs and Setbacks
The Political Fix: Changing the Game of American Democracy, from the Grassroots to the White House
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