Yesterday, FrumForum asked protesters at the Tea Party whether they supported the Republican Party. The answers were surprising: the vast majority of protesters had no connection to the Republican Party. In fact, the message they sent was that they were just as liable to support the GOP as they were to oppose it.
Marge Adelsberg from Wolborg, Pennsylvania told FrumForum: “I’m completely against what the Democrats and some Republicans are trying to do. I didn’t support McCain in 2008 – I’m an independent.”
Similarly, a Tea Partier from Frederick County, Maryland eschewed party labels: “I’m an American Patriot. It doesn’t matter if I’m a Republican or Democrat. I’m not registered as a Republican. The Republican Party has problems.”
Interestingly, FrumForum even ran into some Democrats at the Bachmann rally, including one who was attending his first Tea Party: “If I were to be anything, I’d be a Democrat,” one protester said, “I believe in life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness… I’ve been to the march for life twice, but I’ve never been to a tea party rally.”
An art director for an ad agency in New York City told FrumForum that he had voted for Obama in 2008, but has become disillusioned with runaway spending: “I’m actually someone who voted for Obama, but I just did not vote for his economics. That’s why I’m here today – to show solidarity [with] the people.”
There was also a religious aspect to the protest. One tea partier from Washington, D.C. holding a sign reading “Say No to Same Sex Marriage” told FrumForum: “I’m basically a conservative, and even more than that I consider myself a Christocrat – a Christian…I have no attachment to either party.”
“I vote for the best man – Democrat or Republican,” added a female senior citizen from Arlington, Virginia.
Other protesters identified with the American Conservative Party. “I’m actually an independent, but after this year, I’m leaning more towards [the] Conservative [Party]… I never paid much attention to politics until this year. I look at the values of the Conservative party, and they’re my values, so I’m going with those.”
Two protesters from Newark, Ohio emphasized that they been Republicans all their lives, but weren’t any more. “The Republicans need to stop spending money like a bunch of drunks… [and] vote no on everything from now on. This nation was built on conservative values, and that’s what [Republicans] have to go back to.”
Many have connected the Tea Party movement to the Republican Party, and while many protestors denied membership in the party, some agreed that the GOP had the most in common with them: “I’m not a registered Republican, but 95% of the time I’m going to vote Republican,” admitted a protester from Calvert County, Maryland.
Click here for more photos from the Tea Party rally.
8 responses so far
1 franco 2 // Nov 6, 2009 at 6:48 am
This was good reporting and it certainly rings true. These people (and I am one of them) feel the GOP is out of touch. It is now a shell of its former self for several reasons, but mostly because they have turned down the elite road and forsaken the populist road. The GOP elites, the country clubbers, the status quo go-along-to get-alongers, the squishy wimps without spine party leaders EXPECT regular folks to be beholden to them. They have been the recipients of votes because the Democrats have been so far left, but then have done nothing with the clear ideological and rational arguments. They accept the premise of Democrats and then try to debate and legislate on those terms. This is a losing strategy for any agenda.
This was exemplified by McCain and the nomination/selection of him. His attitude was, they HAVE to vote for me, they have nowhere else to turn. He even said something like that. Then he realized he needed them to win, that they were not automaticly going to turn out, and lurched for Palin, for better or worse. This mirrors the NY23 situation. Select the squish and watch disaster unfold.
Now that Frum Forum types are beginning to understand that these people are truly independent and not hostages for the GOP they may start making better decisions on candidate selection and be a bit less arrogant. We’ll see.
2 Independent // Nov 6, 2009 at 7:53 am
david, this could be an instructive moment for some on the left, the democrats and even the trolls who come out here and incite, inflame and irritate. i’ve never been to a tea party rally or a townhall meeting but i identify with those who the media feature at those events.
as independents, we are fiercely non-partisan and will shake off anyone’s accusation that we’re republicans or democrats like a terrier with a rat in its mouth. historically, we’re more yankee in spirit than redneck –which, i think, is how a lot of left-leaning democrats would like to portray us.
so if i was to attend this kind of event, i’d tell you i’m independent and beholding to no party, no candidate, no ideology. why is that such a hard thing for those on the left to comprehend?
3 ottovbvs // Nov 6, 2009 at 9:10 am
…….yeah they were all democrats taking a day off………..these were the mild signs surely…..why no picture of the concentration camp banner healthcare banner?……or how about the one about Obama being in the pay of the Rothchilds (sic)
4 mdjoey // Nov 6, 2009 at 10:52 am
people are out there protesting today, so their children aren’t in unemployment lines tomorrow. A plan that spends money we don’t have to give a few people services for free at the expense of the ever-dwindlng number of people earning a decent income won’t work over time.
Remember, our President started his career suing banks in chicago cause they didn’t give people mortgages, though the banks clearly knew those people would not be able to repay the loans. End result, multiplied on a national scale, is the mortgage crisis that brought the once-powerful banking system down.
The chicago politicians want nothing less for healthcare. Give people ‘all you can eat’ and let ‘the rich’ pay for it. If they don’t have enough cash, take it out of doctors, hospitals, seniors, or just pile the debt on to our childrens accounts.
People were there to protest their impending loss of freedom. Party affiliation was not the issue
5 MI-GOPer // Nov 6, 2009 at 11:21 am
AutomaticBS claims: “they were all democrats taking a day off” right on the heel of someone with some perspective, some insight, some informed opinion explaining that the protesters aren’t GOPers or Democrats… they’re independents.
But for automaticBS’s narrative, that doesn’t fit. He’d rather avoid the facts, once again, and play with the red meat on his PETA-free plate. Liberals? They are the very essence of duplicity and reality avoidance. You never disappoint, automaticBS.
6 JohnMcC // Nov 6, 2009 at 1:36 pm
Wow, imagine the naivete of someone who has just now discovered that Repubs represent the country-club elites and wealthiest of Americans. And apparently the buses that brought part of this crowd to Washington were paid for by the Koch brothers–heirs of an oil fortune that made them among the 10 richest people in the US. We live in interesting times.
7 Kanzeon // Nov 6, 2009 at 2:47 pm
Most whack-jobs are “independents,” on the right and the left.
The green party members and socialists dislike the Democratic party. The tea parties are largely made up of the disaffected base of the Republican party, as well as libertarians and some from the La Rouche movement, the Constitution Party, etc. They are simply to radical to fit into the current political dialogue, and anything but “independent” or “non-partisan.”
The independents who aren’t whack-jobs either lean to one party or the other or are politically uninformed. The number of true independents – people are likely to vote for either party – hasn’t changed for thirty years.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Independent_voter
I fail to understand the deference the media shows so-called independent voters.
8 Tim Mak » Tea Partiers: We’re Not Republican // Nov 6, 2009 at 11:43 pm
[...] FrumForum interviews Tea Partiers at the Bachmann Tea Party on Capitol Hill. Surprisingly, we find that the vast majority of protesters are not Republican. In fact, they’re just as likely to oppose the Republican Party as they are to support it. Find the article and videos of the interview here. [...]
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