Cristina Corbin of FOX News has spent a few weeks embedded with the Tea Party Express, and writes about how tea party leaders are cringing at what the movement is attracting.
But while organizers have held the tour as a way to stay front-and-center as a political force, the rallies have also attracted the kinds of mistruths, exaggerations and conspiracy theories that make Tea Party leaders cringe. Though the movement is still trying to shore up its credentials as a grassroots power that’s here to stay, the so-called “fringe” and its accompanying antics continue to give critics fodder.
A number of tea party revelers believe Obama is a socialist, a secret Muslim, and someone hell-bend on destroying America.
Some suggest Obama wants to keep Americans unemployed so that they become dependent on government-run programs. Lenin and Stalin have become catchwords to describe Obama in the speeches denouncing his policies.
Going further, swastikas, as well as pictures of Obama’s face next to Adolf Hitler’s, have appeared on signs at dozens of rallies blasting the president and the Democrat-controlled Congress.
Other Tea Party members continue to question the president’s citizenship
– a sign reading “Show Us Your Birth Certificate” popped up at a recent rally in Traverse City, Mich.
The tea party leaders disavow some of the more radical points of view, but the fringe is not isolated.
Ron Moore of Petoskey, Mich., said he stood firm in his belief that the Democrats’ goal was to implement “death panels” to decide who receives medical care and who does not.
“They’ve already started,” he said.
Of course, the leaders of the movement try to draw equivalency with what was going on when Bush was president.
Mark Williams, chairman of the Tea Party Express, said the imagery and rhetoric seen at the Tea Party rallies “pales in comparison” to the protests during the Bush presidency.
Oh? There was no concomitant movement to the tea partiers when Bush was president. There wasn’t a Cappuccino Party Express. There was no attempt to repeal everything Bush did. But America did speak out and elected Democrats to every branch of government as a response to the Bush presidency. That’s known as taxation with representation.
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