Mario Said:

Why are the tea party people referred to as populists?

We Answered:

Interesting question, TC. As I suspect you know already, the term "populist," has not retained the same meaning it once had. No one using that term is thinking about the original party or any of its ideals. Nowadays, it's mostly just the vague concept that follows here:
"populist |?p?pj?l?st| noun
a member or adherent of a political party seeking to represent the interests of ordinary people.
• a person who holds, or who is concerned with, the views of ordinary people."
<definition of original Populist Party snipped>
- American Oxford Dictionary

Seeing as literally anybody can go around claiming to be representing ordinary citizens' interests from any of political perspective, there are now small-p populists for the left, right and of course, populist-"independents" too. As a result, the term "populist" now has no meaning whatsoever.

Edward Said:

Can you tell me about the Tea Party?

We Answered:

The problem is that there is no one centralized Tea Party. That's why you get one group of Tea Partiers putting up billboards comparing President Obama to Hitler and Stalin, while other Tea Party groups condemn them for it.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_iowa_obama…

I think this is a good description:

"they pride themselves on staying "grass roots" with lots of different organizations carrying the tea party name. But nobody is truly accountable for the national movement.

That lack of accountability has its advantages. When you're not obligated to come up with solutions, you can spend more time complaining about the problems. However, it does leave your national image at the mercy of whoever happens to show up at your rallies and catch media eyes and microphones with the most outrageous protest signs or sound bites, some of which may be racially tinged."
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opini…

To me, the Tea Party is just a conglomeration of mainly white conservatives who are angry that they're not in charge anymore. And they also tend to be brainwashed by Fox News, as they constantly repeat the talking point that President Obama is a socialist, which isn't even remotely true.

The country is in bad shape and they're angry about it, and even though Republicans are mostly to blame, as conservatives, they don't want to blame Republicans, so instead they blame President Obama. Not coincidentally, that's exactly the message they get from Fox News - that Obama the socialist is to blame for our problems. It also amazes me how many Tea Party members say Obama is racist, which they undoubtedly got from Glenn Beck, which again confirms that they're just being brainwashed by Fox News.

In theory the Tea Party stands for small government and low taxes. They're basically libertarians, which is why they like politicians like Ron and Rand Paul. But that's just in theory. In reality they should just rename themselves the Glenn Beck Party.

Ramona Said:

Does the Tea Party bloc really believe they'll win more seats in 2 years if they choose to obstruct?

We Answered:

This Tea crowd basically wants immediate gratification and on demand. They're childish and berserk.They don't have any strategies, nor any sound reasoning behind their fractious claims. They operate solely on spurious GUT REACTIONS.

Leona Said:

Why do Dems convince themselves,if THEY continually define the TEA Party,ppl will be embarrassed away from it?

We Answered:

They view it as a threat to their big-government ideas and are trying, in any way possible, to get people against the movement.

Melvin Said:

What's your opinion of this definition of the Tea Party, from www.urbandictionary.com?

We Answered:

I thought the group was to help sexually frustrated young males with their manipulative girlfriends as in the Teased Enough Already Party.

Harold Said:

What type of movement do you define the Tea Party as?

We Answered:

Unprincipled populist conservatism.