Tax-Day 'Tea Parties' Test Aversion to Obama Spending

(NEWSER) - Want to get in on the fun and excitement of the anti-Obama Taxpayer Tea Party? Here’s how, writes Marc Cooper in the Los Angeles Times: “Go to a hobby store. Buy a scale model of a UN One-World-Government Black Helicopter and a tube of glue. Toss the model kit. Sniff the entire tube of glue. You’re all set for the party.” More»

(NEWSER) - Evaluations of the effectiveness of yesterday’s anti-tax “tea parties” are split predictably down partisan lines, Chris Cillizza writes for the Washington Post. Republicans touted the protests, which brought out tens of thousands and garnered major media coverage, as a success. “I think something is going on out there,” said South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford. Newt Gingrich likened the populist demonstrations to Ross Perot’s 1992 campaign. More»

The real, centuries-old conflict is between urban elites and small towners

(NEWSER) - It's a mistake to see the growing backlash against President Obama through the prism of race, David Brooks writes in the New York Times. The anti-Obama movement springs not from racism, but from the long American tradition of popular distrust of the urban elite, argues Brooks. He notes mostly white anti-government protesters happily mingled with people from an African-American event in the capital last weekend. More»

(NEWSER) - When the tea party protesters converged on Washington, one leader, radio demagogue Mark Williams, repeatedly described them as “working stiffs” who felt left out. It’s no wonder they’re angry, writes Timothy Egan for the New York Times, because it’s been a lost decade for “working stiffs.” In 2008 the poverty rate hit an 11-year high and the median household income fell to $50,303, less than it was 10 years earlier. More»

(NEWSER) - President Obama directed his most direct criticism yet at anti-tax “tea partiers” today at a town hall event marking his first 100 days in office, Politico reports. Though studiously vague, Obama conceded that people watching “certain news channels on which I'm not very popular” might “see folks waving tea bags around. Let me just remind them that I am happy to have a serious conversation,” he said. More»