Post by thedirtman on May 26, 2013 19:21:42 GMT -5
Leaders of the Tea Party movement hope outrage over the Internal Revenue Service’s targeting of conservative groups will rekindle grass-roots activism. In downtown Denver, a woman defended her poster to a passer-by.
DANA ROMANOFF FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES
They are getting the band back together.
In the well-burnished legend of its founding, the Tea Party movement sprang to life at grass-roots rallies, a spontaneous protest against government overreaching that grew and grew until it stunned Democrats and many moderate Republicans in the 2010 midterm elections.
On Tuesday, rallies across the country to protest the Internal Revenue Service’s targeting of Tea Party groups seeking tax-exempt status recalled those glory days, drawing colorful crowds in three-cornered hats, with members singing patriotic songs and waving provocative signs like “Fire the Liars” and “I.R.S.S.” — the last two letters drawn like the lightning bolts of the Nazi SS.
Leaders of the Tea Party movement hope outrage over the I.R.S. inquiry will rekindle grass-roots activism that in many places went dormant after big Republican electoral defeats of November 2012. They aim to link the current scandal to other government programs they consider overweening — principally the rollout of the health care overhaul law — and generate a Republican wave in the 2014 midterm elections reminiscent of 2010’s.
But the first step in that process, Tuesday’s rallies, suggested that future electoral success is far from inevitable. Many who showed up seemed to be old hands in the movement rather than fresh blood. Of a dozen protesters interviewed at one of the largest events, outside the Cincinnati I.R.S. office, which drew hundreds, 11 people said they were already active in Tea Party groups.
The demographic was similar at a smaller rally in Phoenix, where Harry Mathews described himself as a kind of itinerant activist visiting school board meetings and the like. “I get in my car and think, ‘Where am I going to today?’ ” he said.
There, the relaxed mood of the crowd of about 40 contrasted with the vehemence of at least one chant: “Waterboard Obama! Waterboard Hillary!”
The rallies were organized by the Tea Party Patriots, a national umbrella organization that distributed talking points for participants and even sample Twitter messages, like “IRS scandals illustrate why America needs the tea party!”
Continued at link:
wap.nytimes.com/2013/05/22/us/politics/for-tea-party-groups-shades-of-2010.html
