Tea Partiers: Mad at Dems and GOP
Yesterday, FrumForum asked protesters at the Tea Party whether they supported the Republican Party. The answers were surprising: the vast majority of protesters had no connection to the Republican Party. In fact, the message they sent was that they were just as liable to support the GOP as they were to oppose it.
httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sG6MlcORBu4
Marge Adelsberg from Wolborg, Pennsylvania told FrumForum: “I’m completely against what the Democrats and some Republicans are trying to do. I didn’t support McCain in 2008 – I’m an independent.”
Similarly, a Tea Partier from Frederick County, Maryland eschewed party labels: “I’m an American Patriot. It doesn’t matter if I’m a Republican or Democrat. I’m not registered as a Republican. The Republican Party has problems.”
Interestingly, FrumForum even ran into some Democrats at the Bachmann rally, including one who was attending his first Tea Party: “If I were to be anything, I’d be a Democrat,” one protester said, “I believe in life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness... I’ve been to the march for life twice, but I’ve never been to a tea party rally.”
An art director for an ad agency in New York City told FrumForum that he had voted for Obama in 2008, but has become disillusioned with runaway spending: “I’m actually someone who voted for Obama, but I just did not vote for his economics. That’s why I’m here today – to show solidarity [with] the people.”
There was also a religious aspect to the protest. One tea partier from Washington, D.C. holding a sign reading "Say No to Same Sex Marriage" told FrumForum: “I’m basically a conservative, and even more than that I consider myself a Christocrat – a Christian...I have no attachment to either party.”
“I vote for the best man – Democrat or Republican,” added a female senior citizen from Arlington, Virginia.
Other protesters identified with the American Conservative Party. “I’m actually an independent, but after this year, I’m leaning more towards [the] Conservative [Party]... I never paid much attention to politics until this year. I look at the values of the Conservative party, and they’re my values, so I’m going with those.”
Two protesters from Newark, Ohio emphasized that they been Republicans all their lives, but weren’t any more. “The Republicans need to stop spending money like a bunch of drunks... [and] vote no on everything from now on. This nation was built on conservative values, and that’s what [Republicans] have to go back to.”
Many have connected the Tea Party movement to the Republican Party, and while many protestors denied membership in the party, some agreed that the GOP had the most in common with them: “I’m not a registered Republican, but 95% of the time I’m going to vote Republican,” admitted a protester from Calvert County, Maryland.
Click here for more photos from the Tea Party rally.
