Meet the new boss, same as the old boss

Coarse Cracked Corn has reported on it before... the tea party is fueled by the money and organizations who are the very antithesis of all the good common folks, angry and frustrated by the Bush recession, who turn out for their rallies and pump money in their coffers. The unseen elites of the tea party are largely funded by billionaires far right wing David and Charles Koch who love flying well below the national media radar. They have radar for something beyond celebrity scandal?

Now a new report, Tea Party Nationalism, documents how opportunist racist, white nationalist, and militias groups are working to control the supply of tea. Guess they don't care for black tea? This isn't to say that all tea party types are racist, in fact, the more formalized parts of the movement have made specific statements repudiating the racist signs and comments that sometimes spew forth at rallies. Individuals with clear ties to racist and xenophobic organizations/websites have been booted out. But, it is accurate to say that some hate groups see the Tea Party as a vehicle for a larger audience and greater credibility.

Equally subversive since the local Chamber of Commerce is seen as non-partisan in most communities, is the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's behind-the-scenes role in the Tea Party and the barrage of conservative ads attacking progressive candidates, 99.9% Democrats. Now the U.S. Chamber is made up of big business, big banks, big drug companies... the very groups that most in this populist revolt disdain. As Dana Milbank states in a Tea Party of populist posers:

There is genuine populist anger out there. But the angry have been deceived and exploited by posers who belong to the same class of "elites" and "insiders" that the Tea Party movement supposedly deplores. Americans who want to stick it to the man are instead sending money to the man. 

It is likely the Tea Party will enjoy electoral success this November. They won't have the numbers to run government, but they will probably run the Republican Party driving out the last few moderates as the GOP tilts farther right. Is that possible? When the reverse Robin Hood agenda of the Tea Party elites becomes clear, these good everyday populist folks will indeed have been fooled again. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.