The Tea Party Is Still Basically the Religious Right

[babylonsister]

http://www.prospect.org/csnc/blogs/tapped_archive?month=02&year=2011&base_name=the_tea_party_is_still_basical

The Tea Party Is Still Basically the Religious Right
By Jamelle Bouie | Posted 02/24/2011 at 01:37 PM




A new survey from the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life sheds further light on the religious views of the Tea Party. In short, they're more evangelical and more socially conservative than your average American:

A new analysis by the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life finds that Tea Party supporters tend to have conservative opinions not just about economic matters, but also about social issues such as abortion and same-sex marriage. In addition, they are much more likely than registered voters as a whole to say that their religion is the most important factor in determining their opinions on these social issues.2 And they draw disproportionate support from the ranks of white evangelical Protestants.

This is completely in tune with other polling on the subject. As I've written before, there isn't much to distinguish the Tea Party from social conservatives, or more broadly, the religious right. Both groups hold nearly identical views on abortion, gay rights, and other social issues. Tea Party Republicans may have campaigned on tax cuts and small government, but they are just as occupied with restricting reproductive health, and sticking it to gay people. Which is to say this: Liberals have been shocked by the recent rash of radical legislation against abortion, but we should expect more as the 112th Congress drags on. With a divided government, Republican leaders don't have much to deliver to their constituents, and in the absence of actual policies, symbolic laws to (effectively) outlaw abortion are good red meat for the base.

[WilliamPitt]

1. Still?

Always was, always will be.

[BrklynLiberal]

2. Yep. No doubting that fact......

If it smells like dog poop, looks like dog poop, and even tastes like dog poop....pretty obvious what it is.

[Andy823]

3. Yep,

They just added a few more racists and crazies, but the vast majority are still the religious right! With the backing of right wing money, and the nuts that are willing to dress up in crazy costumes, they have gotten more attention!

[dkofos]

4. Just a rebranding of idiots.

Didn't fool us, we could tell by your signs.

[Vincardog]

5. Hands up everyone surprised by this little known fact. No hands?

[Kennah]

6. Tea Party is to SA, just as GOP neocon leadership is to Nazi leadership

[logosoco]

7. Well, sure. I recognized them from the 80s.

edited to add: they are a lot crazier now.

[Zoeisright]

8. Yep, the bigoted Religious Right.

Or the Religious Wrong, as I call them. Or a bunch of nosy old assholes who don't have enough problems of their own so they go around butting into private lives.

[RKP5637]

9. Consistent butts! n/t

[SoCalDem]

10. Religious Right/Moral Majority, with a dash of Racist assholes,

a soupçon of gun-worshipers and a smidgen of anti-intellectuals.. The perfect storm:(

[tanyev]

11. By their bad spelling shall ye recognize them.

[BlueJazz]

12. I...and those reading this post ...can think back and remember SEVERAL..

...interviews with Tea-Buggers on TV and radio.
Almost without fail the interviewee would say something like:

"Oh We're not Democrat or Republican...We have a mind and points of our own"
"We don't care for the agenda of either party"

LIARS!

[Tesha]

13. It's just a coincidence, I tell ya, that the policies and tactics they espouse...

...all come straight from the Right-Wing Republican
playbook, just a coincidence!

Tesha