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US protesters brew Žtea partyŽ tax revolt
[Mail and Globe] Critics of President Barack Obama's handling of the economy are planning nationwide "tea parties" on Wednesday -- and not for the sake of polite conversation. Coast-to-coast demonstrations against Obama's big-spending economic stimulus package are promised for the day that is also the deadline for filing federal income tax returns. Whether Republicans -- in disarray since losing the presidential election last year -- can deliver is open to question. Pro-Republican organisers say they are plugging into widespread popular anger at Democrat-led Washington. An even bigger claim is that the catchy "tea party" idea and heavy use of internet tools such as Facebook, YouTube and blogs signals a historic first attempt by Republicans to rival Obama's renowned e-network. "Conservatives may be catching up with their liberal counterparts in building a web-driven, grassroots campaign to push their agenda," the conservative Fox News television network said on its website. Skeptics point to Republican disunity in the wake of last year's electoral defeats and pan the protests as a skillful fake. "The tea parties don't represent a spontaneous outpouring of public sentiment. They're AstroTurf [fake grass roots] events, manufactured by the usual suspects," liberal economist and Nobel Prize winner Paul Krugman said on Monday. The protests are named after the 1773 Boston Tea Party in which disgruntled Americans rebelled against British colonial taxes, an iconic moment in the path to US independence. Posted by: Fred 2009-04-15 |
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