http://www.omaha.com/article/20100328/NEWS01/703289879#tea-party-is-serving-noticePublished Sunday March 28, 2010
By Robynn Tysver
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER
Over the past six months, a fiery group of about two dozen Omahans has met once a week to publicly protest health care legislation.
Many were new to the world of politics. Many were elderly. Many say they were called to action by last year's tea party rallies protesting federal spending and the nation's mounting debt.
The protesters, carrying placards, gathered every Tuesday outside U.S. Sen. Ben Nelson's office near 76th and Pacific Streets.
“We're shocked things have gotten so far out of whack,” said Patrick Bonnett, 38, a financial consultant from Omaha.
Defining the tea party movement
In a recent Bloomberg poll of 1,002 American adults, 26 percent identified themselves as tea party backers. A closer look at them:
• 40 percent are age 55 and over, compared with 32 percent of all poll respondents.
• 22 percent are under age 35
• 79 percent are white
• 61 percent are men
• 44 percent identified themselves as “born-again” Christians, compared with 33 percent of all respondents.
A look at some of their views:
• They disdain both the Republican and Democratic Parties, 90 percent saying both parties “behave badly.”
• 96 percent said government spending is out of control, versus 69 percent of other respondents.
• 86 percent said taxes are too high, compared with 57 percent of the others.
• 90 percent said the country is on the wrong track and almost the same number doubt that Washington can find solutions.
• More than 90 percent said the United States is moving more toward socialism than capitalism, the federal government is trying to control too many aspects of private life, and more decisions should be made at the state level.
• Still, 70 percent want a federal government that fosters job creation.
Source: Conducted by Selzer & Co. Inc. of Des Moines March 19-22, based on interviews with 1,002 Americans age 18 or older. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.
Although not as vocal or visible as their counterparts in other parts of the country, activists in the tea party movement have been making their voices heard across Nebraska and Iowa. They packed town hall meetings for returning members of Congress and mounted letter-writing and telephone campaigns.
Along the way, they have become a force to be reckoned with or another political base to be wooed by Republican politicians.
Nebraska U.S. Rep. Lee Terry, who faces a challenger from within the tea party ranks, frequently courts these activists and shows up at their seminars and meetings.
FULL story and photo at link.
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
