Tea Party

A Kinder, Gentler (Or At Least More Self-Aware) Tea Party Movement

Evan McMorris-Santoro | April 12, 2010, 10:58AM

Tea Party function-goers

The battle for health care reform brought out both the best and the worst in the tea party movement, according to activists. On the plus side, the conservative insurgency showed it could dominate the political dialogue and influence decision-making on both sides of the aisle. Activists say that shows tea partiers are becoming wiser and more seasoned politically.

But the health care debate also exposed rifts and deep vulnerabilities with in the tea party movement that could stop its path toward mainstream acceptance. Violent rhetoric and racial overtones in protests spilled over into actual death threats, property damage and the hurling of slurs. Whether or not the suspects in those incidents are actually tea partiers, movement leaders seem worried that they play into progressive arguments that the tea parties are just a new wrapping on right-wing extremism.

Now, with the movement's annual Tax Day Tea Party approaching, tea parties are actively trying to show that the sterotypes aren't true -- one more aware of the limelight shining on it.

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