General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: OWS has meant just as much - if not more- than the teabagger movement to politics... [View all]JackRiddler
(24,979 posts)So there's no surprise in their ability to elect "60-plus" people to Congress.
The Tea Party was embraced by the Republicans, because it was little more than a rebranding of the conservative wing in the wake of a disastrous 2008 election performance. It was financed by the usual Republican backers to the tune of more than a hundred million dollars, and lead by Republican politicians. It followed the model of Gingrich's "Contract With America" to stir up hysteria about a "socialist" president and deficits and use it to capture the House.
The question is, why did it even work? What lameness in the initial year of Obama allowed this disastrous shift in initiative back to the Republicans? How did the millions on the street for Obama turn into crickets, while thousands of Tea Partiers were treated as though they were millions?
And what's wrong with (most of) the Democrats? Why aren't they interested in organizing and supporting their own base, the way the Republicans did? Why do they push away calls for equality and social justice?
When the Democrats embrace and pander to OWS, and when OWS gets a hundred million dollars from rich sponsors overnight to throw around, then we can make your comparison.