A Poll Arising Debate

Much has been made of this CBS News/NY Times poll that shows Tea Party supporters are older, white, conservative, and have more money and are more educated than your average American.  That's about right, as a matter of fact.  Most conservatives as a whole fit those categories and it's not suprising at all that Tea Party supporters are in fact conservative.

Here's what is surprising:

Their responses are like the general public’s in many ways. Most describe the amount they paid in taxes this year as “fair.” Most send their children to public schools. A plurality do not think Sarah Palin is qualified to be president, and, despite their push for smaller government, they think that Social Security and Medicare are worth the cost to taxpayers. They actually are just as likely as Americans as a whole to have returned their census forms, though some conservative leaders have urged a boycott. 

They're not angry about paying too much in taxes, and they don't particularly like Sarah Palin, and they support Social Security and Medicare.  That kind of flies in the face with everything we're being told about the Tea Party by the right wing noise machine, that Tea Party supporters are there because they are overtaxed, want to cut federal spending including SS and Medicare, and that Sarah Palin represents them.

On the other hand, when it comes to their views on social class and race, they are exactly what you expect.

Tea Party supporters’ fierce animosity toward Washington, and the president in particular, is rooted in deep pessimism about the direction of the country and the conviction that the policies of the Obama administration are disproportionately directed at helping the poor rather than the middle class or the rich.

The overwhelming majority of supporters say Mr. Obama does not share the values most Americans live by and that he does not understand the problems of people like themselves. More than half say the policies of the administration favor the poor, and 25 percent think that the administration favors blacks over whites — compared with 11 percent of the general public.

They are more likely than the general public, and Republicans, to say that too much has been made of the problems facing black people.

Asked what they are angry about, Tea Party supporters offered three main concerns: the recent health care overhaul, government spending and a feeling that their opinions are not represented in Washington. 

But remember, racial animosity has nothing to do with the Tea Party movement.  All the racists are liberal plants who have infiltrated the ranks.  And what's actually even more hysterical:  white conservative educated and wealthy Baby Boomers in 2010 are complaining they don't feel their opinions are represented in Washington!

Have you guys taken a look at the demographic make-up of the United States Senate, maybe?  Oh wait, they're looking at the Oval Office.  My bad.  We just haven't had enough older white guys in the position, I guess.

The reality behind the Tea Party movement is simple.  "I got mine, and I'm sure as hell not letting a black President give it away to poor black people.  Screw you."

Digby has more.

Here's the corker:

Regardless of your overall opinion, do you think the views of the people in the tea party movement generally reflect the views of most Americans? 84% of the self-identified teabaggers said yes. Only 25% of the general public agreed.

Of course the people with the money, getting the SS checks and the Medicare represent the entire country.  They say they do, and so does the Village and the Republican party.

Billmon over at Big Orange has even more.

Considering the administration spent the better part of its first year in power shoveling money into the Aid for Dependent Wall Street Banks program it inherited from the Bush Administration, or rebuilding public infrastructure that primarily benefits suburban commuters and long-distance truckers, or promoting middle-class tax cuts, or pushing Congress to enact an elaborate and very generous system of subsidies for working-class and middle-class people who can't afford (or like to pretend they can't afford) health insurance, you'd think Obama would get a small break here. God only knows what the teabaggers would be saying about him if he really did try to do something big and expensive specifically to help those people.

Whatever it is, I'm going to go out on a limb here and predict that it would include some fairly generous helpings of the "N" word.

Post-racial era my black ass.  These guys don't hate the GOP.  They are the GOP.  What they hate are Democrats, minorities, Barack Obama, and any Republican who "enables" them by not shutting down the government with those hated enemies in charge.