What does “racist” mean? — Ed
It began with Apr. 15 Tax Day protests as thousands rallied in a number of cities across the country.
It continued on into the summer with raucous town hall meetings andgun-toting anti-Barack Obama demonstrators, and appeared to reach itsapex with a Sep. 12 march on Washington, which drew nearly 100,000participants.
Now, however, some in the so-called Tea Party movement are turningtheir attention toward becoming a force during the 2010 congressionalelections.
Several reports on the Sep. 12 event noted it was a nearly all-whitecrowd and some demonstrators carried an assortment of “homemade”anti-Obama posters, declaring that “The Anti-Christ Is Living in theWhite House”, and calling the president an “Oppressive BloodsuckingArrogant Muslim Alien”.
Despite the fact that it doesn’t have a clear identity, and seriousquestions about the movement’s character remain to be answered, the TeaParty movement has been one of the most intriguing politicaldevelopments of the past year.
Is it a grassroots movement, or has it been organised and funded byWashington-based conservative groups? Could it be both? Is it mainlyconcerned with economic issues (government spending, taxes, deficits)or are the Christian Right’s traditional social issues (abortion,same-sex marriage) of interest to tea partiers?
Are there several — possibly competing — ideological tendencies within the movement?