Tea Party Movement

A majority of Americans believe the Republican Party has become more conservative, but few say the shift is due to the "tea party" movement, according to a USA Today/Gallup poll released Thursday. The poll also found that three of every 10 Americans identified themselves as supporters of the movement, and 27% said they were opponents — results that were consistent with what Gallup found in four other polls this year. Taken before the latest tea-party movement victories in Republican primaries in Delaware and New York, but after successes in other states during the nominating season of this midterm election cycle, the latest poll tracks how Americans see the protest movement, which has energized Republicans while frightening established GOP leaders.

The California Democratic Party opposes Proposition 31 , a measure on the Nov. 6 ballot to change the way budgeting is done at the state level while reframing the relationship between Sacramento and local governments. The California Republican Party supports it. No surprise. Democrats run California and have a vested interest in retaining the status quo. In the game of politics, they're winning here. They have mastered the rules. They will resist efforts to change them.

Occupy Wall Street is not likely to have the kind of effect on Democratic politics that the "tea party" movement has had in the GOP, a leading Democratic strategist said Thursday.   Still, you can expect to hear Democrats focusing on some of the issues that have driven the nationwide gatherings, at least in Senate races in 2012. "Part of the reason I think the Occupy Wall Street movement is popular is because there is a general frustration with the growing income disparity in this country," Guy Cecil, the executive director of the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee, told reporters at a breakfast gathering hosted by the centrist think tank Third Way.  "This frustration exists far beyond just the folks that come out ... for Occupy Wall Street.

Many Republicans believe theirs is the party of Jesus Christ, but, in practice, they are the party of an atheist, Hollywood intellectual named Ayn Rand. After establishing a career as a screenwriter, Ayn Rand authored two novels, “The Fountainhead” and “Atlas Shrugged,” that are the intellectual bibles of libertarian conservatives, corporate executives and callow undergraduates. Among the many aspirational young conservatives inspired by Rand's philosophy was a kid named Paul D. Ryan . “The reason I got involved in public service, by and large, if I had to credit one thinker, one person, it would be Ayn Rand,” Ryan said in a 2005 speech.

A loosely organized protest planned this week over a proposed new mosque in Temecula whose organizers urged demonstrators to bring their dogs was sharply denounced by a Southern California Islamic organization Tuesday. Organizers of the rally, to be held outside the Islamic Center of Temecula Valley during prayers Friday, appear to be associated with a southwest Riverside County political group affiliated with the "tea party" movement. In anonymous e-mails and website postings, organizers encouraged protesters to bring their dogs — considered an insult to Muslims.

Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg has become the second-youngest person to be named Time magazine's Person of the Year. Zuckerberg announced the news Wednesday on ? where else? ? Facebook, the juggernaut social media website that has more than 500 million users worldwide. "Being named as Time Person of the Year is a real honor and recognition of how our little team is building something that hundreds of millions of people want to use to make the world more open and connected," Zuckerberg said on his Facebook fan page.

Slowly but surely, Mitt Romney is shoring up his right flank. His campaign announced Thursday that he's been endorsed by John Bolton, the former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations under President George W. Bush. Bolton, whose outspoken views on national security earned him fans among conservatives and critics elsewhere, briefly flirted with a presidential bid of his own. He also became strongly identified with the tea party movement as it rose to prominence in 2009 and 2010.

Many Republicans believe theirs is the party of Jesus Christ, but, in practice, they are the party of an atheist, Hollywood intellectual named Ayn Rand. After establishing a career as a screenwriter, Ayn Rand authored two novels, “The Fountainhead” and “Atlas Shrugged,” that are the intellectual bibles of libertarian conservatives, corporate executives and callow undergraduates. Among the many aspirational young conservatives inspired by Rand's philosophy was a kid named Paul D. Ryan . “The reason I got involved in public service, by and large, if I had to credit one thinker, one person, it would be Ayn Rand,” Ryan said in a 2005 speech.

Former U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman of Minnesota said he won't pursue the Republican National Committee chairmanship as long as Michael Steele wants to keep the job. Coleman told the St. Paul Pioneer Press on Friday that part of his decision is based on respect for Steele, despite criticism directed against the current chairman from within the party. Coleman said he doesn't think Steele has gotten enough credit for the work he's done bringing the "tea party" movement and the GOP together.

In Tuesday evening's presidential debate from New Hampshire, Mitt Romney defended the Wall Street bailouts - the No. 1 target of conservative and tea party rage. Romney said the bailouts had been mismanaged, but he supported the actions taken by the George W. Bush administration to “make sure you don't lose the country and you don't lose the financial system.” The debate, at Dartmouth College in Hanover, was sponsored by Bloomberg and the Washington Post. “We could have had a complete meltdown,” Romney said.

Whatever happened to Occupy Wall Street? Are you folks still out there? Yes, the economy seems to be improving and thus the power of your message has been slightly blunted. But as a political force that could rally the nation on behalf of the 99%, who tend not to contribute huge sums to campaigns and so have less influence than their numbers deserve, you're still badly needed. In Los Angeles and nationwide, there are still sputtering signs that the Occupy movement hasn't disappeared.

As Brenda Mulberry stepped into the natural-food grocery in Cocoa Beach this week, she paused to tick off elements of her shopping list for a candidate in Tuesday's Florida primary. Electability was at the top, and for that reason she's backing Mitt Romney. Mulberry, 53, owns a small business manufacturing souvenir T-shirts, so she appreciates Romney's moneymaking skills and thinks critics should stop attacking him simply because he's rich. As for Newt Gingrich, Mulberry is certain the thrice-married former House speaker would lose in November.

Slowly but surely, Mitt Romney is shoring up his right flank. His campaign announced Thursday that he's been endorsed by John Bolton, the former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations under President George W. Bush. Bolton, whose outspoken views on national security earned him fans among conservatives and critics elsewhere, briefly flirted with a presidential bid of his own. He also became strongly identified with the tea party movement as it rose to prominence in 2009 and 2010.

Occupy Wall Street is not likely to have the kind of effect on Democratic politics that the "tea party" movement has had in the GOP, a leading Democratic strategist said Thursday.   Still, you can expect to hear Democrats focusing on some of the issues that have driven the nationwide gatherings, at least in Senate races in 2012. "Part of the reason I think the Occupy Wall Street movement is popular is because there is a general frustration with the growing income disparity in this country," Guy Cecil, the executive director of the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee, told reporters at a breakfast gathering hosted by the centrist think tank Third Way.  "This frustration exists far beyond just the folks that come out ... for Occupy Wall Street.

In Tuesday evening's presidential debate from New Hampshire, Mitt Romney defended the Wall Street bailouts - the No. 1 target of conservative and tea party rage. Romney said the bailouts had been mismanaged, but he supported the actions taken by the George W. Bush administration to “make sure you don't lose the country and you don't lose the financial system.” The debate, at Dartmouth College in Hanover, was sponsored by Bloomberg and the Washington Post. “We could have had a complete meltdown,” Romney said.

Those who think that the ongoing Occupy Wall Street movement is just a traffic annoyance with nowhere to go should remember that the same was said at one time about protest movements around the world throughout history, including the tea party movement in the United States. In the nation's capital, progressives on Monday kicked off their “Take Back the American Dream” conference at which the almost month-old Occupy Wall Street movement was one of the topics of discussion. Over the weekend, demonstrations of one sort or another were held in at least half a dozen cities, including New York, where 700 were arrested.

Arguing that President Obama’s leadership is imperiling the nation, Michele Bachmann declared Monday that she would run for the GOP nomination to challenge him. “My name is Michele Bachmann. I stand here in the midst of many friends and many family members to announce formally my candidacy for president of the United States,” she said, standing in front of the historic Snowden House, a charming Victorian brick home in the town where she was born. “I do so because I am so profoundly grateful for the blessings that I have received both from God and from this great country and not because of the position of this office, but because I am determined that every American deserves these blessings and that together, once again, we can secure that promise of the future for America," she said.

People may disagree about the value of the pending debt-ceiling compromise, but the one thing that seems to unite just about everyone, regardless of their political leanings, is that the recent negotiations were a low point in the political process, according to a poll released Monday by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press and the Washington Post. While the Washington political world seemed sharply divided in the partisan deadlock of democracy, the rest of the country found unity in seeing the misery.

As he campaigned in New Hampshire's North Country on Tuesday - Mitt Romney got a taste of the difficult balancing act that he will face over the next six months in New Hampshire. Within the same hour, he found himself defending the '"tea party",' which a voter had described as the “right wing fringe,” just moments after promising that if elected he would work “with good Democrats and good Republicans to get America on track.” While Romney's two chief rivals, Texas Gov. Rick Perry and Michele Bachmann, have shown strong appeal to "tea party" groups over the past few years, many of the voters who flock to Romney's events here in New Hampshire are of the more moderate sort.

Ron Paul, the libertarian wolf dressed in Republican clothing, blasted his fellow GOP presidential aspirants on Monday in a video that calls them the same kind of politicians as President Obama. Paul, who finished second in the Ames straw poll just 152 votes away from winner Rep. Michele Bachmann, has an ardent following in the GOP's libertarian wing and on the Web, where he has been a money-raising powerhouse. Despite his popularity in conservative and libertarian circles, he has had problems moving into the higher digits on the national scene though he has placed well in some polls.