There's no doubt that women are good for the Tea Party. But is the Tea Party good for women?
There is no simple answer to that because the Tea Party is notably short on simple answers to anything. But much we do know: they have had a real impact on the Republican primaries -- including shockers from Delaware to New York to Alaska.
We also know that, contrary to the early image of a fraternity of angry white men, women are the heart of the movement. Thinking began to change with the March release of the Quinnipiac University poll that revealed that 55 percent of those identifying themselves as members of the Tea Party are female.
It is also now clear that women have a seat at the grownups' table. Writing in Slate, Hanna Rosin points out that, to the extent the movement has leaders, it is dominated by women. One example: of the eight Board members of the influential Tea Party Patriots, six are women.
Sara Palin, the movement's acknowledged alpha female, drew a fusillade of brickbats from traditional feminists when she said that "momma grizzlies" like those of the Tea party were the real feminists. When you strip the term down to the base metal of equality without excuses, she has a point. These are women rising up to confront a world they feel threatens their families. They are loud, determined, unafraid and -- politically speaking -- have great big teeth.
But will the results of that determination be ultimately good or bad for all women?
Unfortunately, good and bad, are hotly subjective when it comes to issues like choice, gay marriage and single parenthood.
Organizers studiously stayed away from such division. Reporting on last weekend's Washington D.C. Tea Party event for Politico, James Hohmann and Kenneth P. Vogel noted a determined lack of attention to social issues -- particularly those embraced by the Christian right.
They quote one Maine organizer for the Tea Party Patriots: "... there are a lot of people in this country who don't want religion in their politics."
Politics, certainly in this regard, is about getting elected. Whether the Tea Party women want religion in their government may be another question entirely.
The question becomes more interesting the deeper you dig into the statistics. A CBS News/New York Times poll created a snapshot of the Tea Party movement. Almost three-in-four said they were conservative and almost 40 percent said they were very conservative. Almost 40 percent call themselves evangelical.
Aggregate statistics don't neatly translate to individual intent. But it's fair to assume there aren't many coming out of this base who will champion issues like gay marriage, choice, and single parent families. Gay marriage and choice are clearly high on Sarah Palin's list of American evils. Single parent families get a pass for obvious reasons. But as Colleen Campbell quotes her speeches in a recent St. Louis Post-Dispatch editorial -- single mothers are "strong enough and smart enough" ... to "handle an unplanned pregnancy", while continuing to pursue education and a career. In other words: when the going gets tough, the tough keep the baby.
So my question to the women of the Tea Party is this. If you take back America from the forces of big government, big spending and big taxes, do you plan to share it with the teenage girl who is unprepared to raise a child, with the gay couple who want the simple right to marry, and with families who may not fit your own definitions?
FYI: I just read in my newspaper that the American citizens pay 100 MILLION a year to rebuild, paint, renew, build, fix-up all the Muslim Mosque in 27 countries in the Middle-East!! This is insane!! The Muslims should pay for their own Mosques, in every way!! Good Lord! Also, the Muslims want the American citizens to fund the building of the NYC Mosque at Ground Zero!! What the Hell? What Official ordered this? Obama? Bush? I want to know, can anyone reading this, tell me who this traitor is? Stop funding Muslims" Mosques anywhere. This is insane!
FYI: you can thank the bush admin for rebuilding those Mosques in the ME....what did you think "nation building" meant? That they'd put in a new YMCA?
And as far as the Community Center in NYC goes, It's a private building. i thought you guys didn't like people interfering with private ownership...now it's a problem because..why again? oh yeah, you don't like Muslims. And they are AMERICAN CITIZENS. You obviously do NOT support the US constitution if you think you have the right to interfere with private ownership.
Why is the TP movement so blatantly hypocritical?
Besides, I wouldn't want anyone quoting anything I've said eleven years ago. :)
Mmmm. A guy can dream, can't he?
That would not be a country I would like to live in , if this happens., Its totally irresponsible and favors only the rich and greedy to further get richer and more powerful all at the expense of our health, the planet, and our livelihoods.and the future of our children! That's not what democracy was supposed to be about!
I don't judge young women who keep their babies, in fact I would and have done as much as humanly possible to keep their children. I'm a huge proponent of easily accessible birth control and think we should do more to provide it and proper sex education to teenagers.
I believe that ALL marriage should be in the form of a civil union, at least in legal terms. That means hetero sexual marriage too. If you want to get married in a church, there are those who would be happy to marry a homosexual couple. The state shouldn't define marriage. End of story.
I'm willing to live and let live with a variety of family structures. A lesbian couple I know are the best parents imaginable.
The Tea Party is primarily about issues of taxation and government control over monetary assets. To assume that we're all a group of uneducated stepford wives with no lives and a shopping addiction is incredibly shallow. I support women. I'm a fiscal conservative. I'm also pro-life in most cases. These things aren't mutually exclusive.
Then where were you between 2000 and 2008 when George W Bush was president?
So where is this hostility towards people of hues that are not white coming from? Especially since president Obama has been calling the shots?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/andy-ostroy/the-tea-party-movement-is_b_538750.html
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/07/20/politics/main6694191.shtml
http://www.newsweek.com/2010/04/25/are-tea-partiers-racist.html
http://www.google.com/images?q=tea+party+racism&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=univ&ei=TFCXTKPbBoP58Ab8_PScDA&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=9&ved=0CE8QsAQwCA&biw=1600&bih=767
http://www.clydefitchreport.com/2010/07/tea-party-racism-corruption-steeping-to-the-bad-side/
http://thinkprogress.org/2010/07/14/tea-party-racism/
White Supremacists.
"What do they want?"
White Supremacy.
If white women do not disassociate themselves from these freaks, then I forsee a further division of the feminist movement along color lines.
Because I will not support these women who revealed themselves in the Hillary campaign as PUMAs.
And I'll support ONLY women of color.
They are not, nor ever will be Feminists.
They consider Planned Parenthood an evil place , when its the only institution that helps the poor and teens that have no where else to turn to. We should have more Planned Parenthoods all over the country, as they serve a very vital service to the community.
People who protest in front of their clinics should be arrested and fined , as they are disrupting the only help these people are offered! I dont see any churches offering check ups and free birth control and medications and , yes, necessary abortions. and sex education!
If there are still some brains left in this country, she will not win. Maybe she does not realize how humiliated she can get by sticking her neck out where she clearly does not belong. Its amazing to me , that she does not have the common sence to realize herself that she is not presidential material...not even close! My guess is : She will drop out early once she gets smothered and criticized and cannot take the heat.
The Tea Party is fake-feminist and fake-grassroots.
But the women in this group are almost all of one mind, and with the initiation of O'Donnell, now of almost the exact same look, and that is not what the woman's movement is all about.
As both a man, and a feminist (which anybody who really cares about society as a whole should care about the rights and treatment of half the population) I see these women, through a propaganda strategy of “perception management” attempting to exploit the women's movement, in order to drive it backwards.
You can't say one thing out of one side of your mouth then have Medina County Republican Party in Medina, OH (rallying for a male opponent) claim as one of it's goals '‘Let’s take Betty Sutton out of the House and put her back in the kitchen.’'
You can't claim that you are pro women and consistently fight against woman's rights
You can't claim that you are pro women and only use the air-brained, moronic, gussied up ones as puppets for your bidding
You can't claim that you are pro women and continually push an outdated "family values" system designed to suppress them even further.
And fanned.
Try thinking.
Why do you think Faux News needed to run the False ACORN story (tape was deemed "heavily edited" by CA AG)
Why do you think Faux News needed to run the fake end edited video of Sherry Sherrod?
They count on their viewers to be uninformed and intellectually lazy.