Updated April 11, 2010
Tea Party Rallies Remain a Cauldron for Conspiracy Theories
By Cristina Corbin
- FOXNews.com
The Tea Party Express has toured state after state trying to kick up a lost debate about constitutional rights and cast doubt on the legality of the recently passed health care overhaul, all with an eye toward the 2010 elections. But while organizers have held the tour as a way to stay front-and-center as a political force, the rallies have also attracted the kinds of mistruths, exaggerations and conspiracy theories that make Tea Party leaders cringe. PETOSKEY, Mich. -- The Tea Party Express has toured state after state trying to kick up a lost debate about constitutional rights and cast doubt on the legality of the recently passed health care overhaul, all with an eye toward the 2010 elections.
But while organizers have held the tour as a way to stay front-and-center as a political force, the rallies have also attracted the kinds of mistruths, exaggerations and conspiracy theories that make Tea Party leaders cringe. Though the movement is still trying to shore up its credentials as a grassroots power that's here to stay, the so-called "fringe" and its accompanying antics continue to give critics fodder.
"Obama, to me, is a socialist. He's a Muslim and all he wants to do is bankrupt us and run us into the ground," Ken Schwalbach of Escanaba, Mich., said at a rally on Friday.
Though Obama is a Christian -- and his Christian faith was a focal point of debate during the campaign-era controversy over his former pastor Jeremiah Wright -- the allegations that the president is a secret Muslim persist years later.
The charge of socialism has been a common theme at Tea Party gatherings -- but some activists have gone beyond merely portraying Obama as a European-style, big-government liberal.
more...
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/04/11/tea-party-rallies-cauldron-conspiracy-theories/
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
