Liberals Organizing a Tea Party of Their Own

Former 'green energy' czar has founded progressive movement

(NEWSER) - Once vilified as a 9/11 conspiracy theorist who called Republicans "***holes," Van Jones is back with a new grass-roots movement, Politico reports. Ousted from his White House post as "green energy" czar 2 years ago, Jones has helped found the American Dream Movement, a coalition of hundreds of progressive organizations that are uniting to oppose conservative economic and social policies. Jones' inspiration? The "open-source brand" of the Tea Party, he says. More»

Progressives must bring us back to the center: EJ Dionne

(NEWSER) - Ever since President Obama got elected, the right has controlled the media conversation. We’ve gotten a picture of a president much further left than he really is, which has hurt progressives and moderates, writes EJ Dionne in the Washington Post : “The political center doesn’t stand a chance unless there is a fair fight between the right and the left." So it’s time for progressives to unite with a Tea Party of their own. More»

A clear message is more effective than 'Occupying' Wall Street

(NEWSER) - The Tea Party may get all the press, but progressives are pretty angry, too, these days—and frustrated that President Obama doesn’t ever seem to share their anger. Thankfully “they now have senatorial candidate Elizabeth Warren,” writes Joanna Weiss in the Boston Globe . In the much-ballyhooed rant that went viral last week, “Warren injects just the right amount of conversationalism and sarcasm.” Afterward, one liberal site gushed, “THAT is how it is done. THAT is how you fight back hard.” More»

'We outnumber them' in hypothetical war, says blogger

(NEWSER) - Liberals may talk tough, but if there were a war between left and right, “they cannot win,” says Andrew Breitbart: “We outnumber them in this country, and we have the guns,” the conservative blogger told Tea Partiers. After the crowd laughed, he said, “I’m not kidding,” Mediaite reports. “They talk a mean game, but they will not cross that line because they know what they’re dealing with,” Breitbart noted at an event in Lexington, Mass. More»

Left vs. right debate includes some charged rhetoric

(NEWSER) - Today's big left-right debate falls under the Tea-Partiers-are-terrorists meme, and two of the more buzzed-about columns hit the main points:

• Joe Nocera, New York Times : He blames the debt ceiling mess on the "jihad" waged by Tea Partiers willing to ruin the country. And they're still not happy with the deal despite all the cuts, he complains. "For now, the Tea Party Republicans can put aside their suicide vests. But rest assured: They’ll have them on again soon enough. After all, they’ve gotten so much encouragement."