A Growing "Tea Party" Movement?

The Weekly Standard: Opposition To The Foreclosure Bailout Rises

(Weekly Standard)  This story was written by Jonathan V. Last.

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Last May, the Wall Street Journal ran a front-page story about AngryRenter.com, a website which served as a rallying point for disgruntled souls opposed to a prospective Bush administration foreclosure bailout. AngryRenter.com had collected 44,500 signatures for a petition, but Journal reporter Michael Phillips discovered--by clicking on the site's "About Us" link--that it wasn't actually a people-powered uprising. Instead, AngryRenter was the product of FreedomWorks, a group run by Dick Armey and Steve Forbes.

Phillips spent several paragraphs detailing all the deluxe homes owned by Armey, Forbes, and others associated with FreedomWorks, making the point that only wealthy, cynical Republicans would object to helping those unfortunates caught in the maw of foreclosure.

But that was a long time ago. Before Lehman Brothers. Before TARP. Before the Detroit bailout and Obama's trillion dollar stimulus package. Now the new administration has put forward its Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan, a $275 billion scheme to save certain people from foreclosure, and a real opposition movement may be building.

With almost $2 trillion in emergency government spending doled out since October, Obama's Home Affordability measure can be considered small beer. And at the end of the day, it's as much about creating a backdoor bailout for the banks who hold the mortgages as it is about "saving" people's homes. But as a political matter, it's something else.

On the morning of February 19, CNBC reporter Rick Santelli ranted about the plan from the floor of the Chicago Board of Trade. "This is America!" Santelli cried on the air. "How many of you people want to pay for your neighbor's mortgage that has an extra bathroom and can't pay their bills?" The traders milling around started booing and then gathered closer as he continued. Before he was done, Santelli had called for a "Chicago tea party" to protest the bailout. During the next few hours, Santelli's rant led the Drudge Report, was replayed on all of the cable networks, and was seen more than a million times on YouTube.

Santelli-inspired websites quickly appeared attempting to organize tea parties. ChicagoTeaParty.com bills itself as the official home of Santelli's tea party. The site belongs to Zack Christenson, a Chicago radio producer. Christenson had bought the domain last August, thinking it might be a good name for a group. Within 12 hours of Santelli's rant, Christenson had retooled the site, and 4,000 people quickly signed up. On Facebook, dozens of Santelli groups formed, ranging from fan clubs to draft-president movements to tea party plans for Chicago, Texas, New York, and Los Angeles.

Anthony Astolfi bought the domain reTeaParty.com about 10 hours after Santelli's rant. Astolfi is a 24-year-old web designer and small-time political consultant who dabbled in the Ron Paul world last cycle. He thought the tea party idea had a chance to catch on and decided to organize them for July 4. Working with his roommate and a cousin, they finished building a website by midnight. Then they turned to promoting the project. They did Google searches for "Santelli" and left comments pointing to their new site on high-ranking result pages. They spent a couple hundred dollars on a small number of Google and YouTube ads and finally went to bed around 5 A.M. They awoke to 40,000 emails, their site having become a minor sensation. Astolfi says they now have 11,000 people a day coming to reTeaParty.com. Ten thousand people have signed up to get information on the tea parties, and 5,000 have "pledged" to attend one of so-far eight tea parties on July 4.

Two days after Santelli's tirade, John Shilling, an 18-year-old student in Hilton Head, South Carolina, launched a site called 92percentgroup.org. Its sole mission is to oppose the Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan. "We feel like 92 percent of the country has been paying their mortgage on time, and we've been a silent majority this whole time," Shilling says. "We're hoping to get enough people together to take a stand so we can send a message through action, not a petition." What action would that be? Shilling isn't sure, though he thinks withholding taxes or mortgage payments might work. In a way, the 92 Percent Group is instructive: It's run by an 18-year-old who doesn't have a mortgage and has yet to even decide what he wants to organize (or how to do it). Yet within 72 hours of launching the site, it received 150,000 visits.

There seems to be real bitterness about the idea of forcing people to subsidize the imprudent housing choices of their neighbors. That bitterness is on display on other websites, such as StopTheHousingBailout.com, which urges readers not to get stuck "paying for other people's greed & ignorance" and encourages them to lobby their congressmen.

Much of the opposition to the bailout, however, comes from people who are only tangentially interested in the politics of the matter. Beginning in 2005, hundreds of websites and blogs sprouted up warning about the housing bubble. At the time, these people were often viewed as doomsayers or cranks. Thoroughly vindicated, many of their sites are now de facto rallying points against Obama's plan, purely on grounds of economic prudence.

The blog FlippersInTrouble, for instance, gives exhaustive data on the losses being racked up by speculators in Sacramento, which won't help build sympathy for the beneficiaries of the bailout. HousingDoom.com, a site which began by looking at economic aspects of the bubble in 2006, is now saying, "What the market needs is more foreclosures." There is no obvious political pattern to the bubble bloggers. Some are freemarketeers. Others, such as those who run HousingPanic.com, are Democrats who see the bubble as one more failure of the Bush administration. Yet nearly all of the bubble sites, left, right, and center, are now lined up against the bailout.

But will they create a movement? Last weekend readers of TheHousingBubbleBlog.com went offline and met in Las Vegas for a get-together. There were only 24 of them, but they came from as far as New York and Washington for the chance to vent about the housing market, talk about the bailout plan, and take a bus tour of foreclosed properties and derelict construction sites. Ben Jones runs the site and put together the mini-convention. A few months ago, he says, he was asked to start a PAC to help organize a movement against the bailout. He declined because he believes the administration will do whatever it pleases, regardless of public pressure. "Whether or not there will be organized opposition, I can't say," Jones sighs. "But if there is, it won't make a difference."

He's probably right. Yet at the same time, it's easy to see the groups that might make up a real grassroots movement: the Ron Paul libertarians, renters, housing bubble obsessives, disillusioned Democrats, stat-head financial types, and, of course, rich, heartless Republicans. And then there is Santelli, who, if so inclined, might put himself forward the way Howard Jarvis did with his property tax revolt in California in 1978.
The question is whether or not these people can find each other and figure out a way to push back.

[Newk_Sr]

I am really surprised the CBS,NBC, CNBC, MSNBC, CNN will not report on the American US Citizens revolt on taxation. There are 10 states in our country who do not know how to curb spending and our own representatives are going hog wild with spending our country into oblivion. There is nothing better then to create a perfect storm where you have a country that is in debt far beyond its reach, a weak leader, cutting back on military, and submissive population believing the rest of the world countries just love us. All of the progressive journalist who are employed by CBS, NBC, CNBC, MSNBC, and CNN enjoy the good times. I hope all of the progressives out in happpy land give every penny you can beause if especially Hollywood progressives, because if we continue down the path we are going now we all will be together standing in the soup lines, and remembering how it was in past. I am ashamed at our educational system where 27% percent of the people don't even have a clue as to the difference between Capitalizm and Socialism. I'll be thinking of all you progressives on April 15th as we conservatives let the rest of those undecide people know what the US Constitution stands for, and what all of our soldiers in the past and present have given their lives to keep our nation free.

[carriemacnz]

Mainstream Media Surprise!
Poo poo or ignore Tea parties all day long if you like? BUT
MILLIONS (not hundreds or thousands) will protest GOVERNMENT SPENDING on April 15th. AND Again on July 4th.
More than 300 Tea Parties across the USA (in every state) are confirmed for April 15th.
Google: ?Nationwide Tax Day Tea Party? to get the REAL STORY!

[rsbmorgan]

"The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not." Thomas Jefferson

I think we are heading for Socialism

[rsbmorgan]

"The democracy will cease to exist
when you take away from those
who are willing to work and
give to those who would not."
Thomas Jefferson

[AngryDemocratRenter]

This is certainly not just an issue for neocons. It is an issue for RENTERS, and I suspect that renters are overwhelmingly Democrat. Not only are renters being asked to pay taxes to bail-out homeowners, but these taxes will have the economic effect of propping up the housing market and therefore RAISING OUR ALREADY UNAFFORDABLE RENTS and MAKING HOMEOWNERSHIP EVEN LESS ATTAINABLE. Renters are getting screwed twice over on this bail-out. Basically the HAVE-NOTS are being taxed to BENEFIT THE HAVES. It's in the interest of renters to see HOUSING PRICES GO DOWN, NOT UP. Why would any renter want to prop up the housing market?

I am so angry that I AM USING ALL-CAPS.

[jvaczy]

all i know is that i have worked 90 hrs a week 7 days to give my family what i can and all i see is a bunch of people trying to get away a lot less..now i can retire all i see are people trying to take away the little i have left???get off my butt

[patrioticobserver]

Apparently the media, like most in our government are either in a fog or totally out of touch with the tone of the times. The American people are scared and increasingly growing angry. Gun and ammunition sales are not hitting new records for nothing. Tea parties are already plannned for April throughout our country. Whether ignored and ridiculed by the media, this could become a hot and dangerous summer. America needs no more spending, no more waste, no more government, no more corruption, no more fear. What we do need is that which made America great...our values and our freedoms! Assuredly the April rallies will just be the beginning of what should and could be very possitive. However, if ignored, the voice of the people will be heard otherwise. Statemanship may have died in the hands of our representatives, but the faith of the fathers has not died in the heart of the American citizen.

Many have lost their homes. Millions have lost their jobs. Countless numbers have lost the very life savings and investments that were to provide for their elder years. Families across the land are already fearful of where their next meal will come from. Companies, large and small, are going out of business every day. As a nation, we are already close to financial ruin as we spend ever more while counting on more debt and more credit to save us. Meanwhile, we ever turn to our new savior to provide. Why do I have images of past demigods who allowed countless millions to perish as long as the new social programs grew and central power flourished? In Rome, the Christians were the source of socities problems. In Germany, Hitler chose to blame the Jews. In Russia, it was the Bourgeoisie versus the Proletariats. History shows us the evils of propaganda and the news media when used to selectively target one group while promoting the new ideal. Today, it is the ?rich? and the successful businesses that have become the new group that play the role of the enemy of the government of the people. Are we that easily betrayed? Will the new social goal of total income redistribution be allowed to destroy the very basis for the generation of jobs and, ironically, the holy taxes that feed the rapidly growing monster? Who will then pay the ever-rising taxes that are the key to assuring the principle of from each according to his abilities?to each according to his needs? YOU, the now greatly diminished util of the state. You produce. The state will distribute.
Of course, the schools, the youth corps, the divine church of the new redeemer, and the news media will support the rightness of it all as a new, ever more progressive legion of properly educated ?American Youth? serve to weed out those who might differ. Sound farfetched? It has happened repeatedly and, for those with eyes to see, and ears to hear, it is already beginning here. Is anyone really listening, or is our apathy, laziness, and ignorance that pervasive. I think not! A sleeping lion has awakened and in a few short weeks we have already begun t o net the consequence of unbridled democracy wherein the masses have replaced their opiate of religion with faith in the government. It all sounds so good that it MUST be good!
Our country has already over the past several years devolved to the point that years of greed and self interest have brought us to where we are today, just as surely as even the simplest understanding of the many events that led to the Declaration of Independence finally led to the requirement of the people to respond with this:
?whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security?And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor. ?
Today?s need is not one requiring the overthrow of the foundation of the United States government, it is one of fulfilling our requirement as a citizen patriot people to return our government to that Constitutional rule which was its vary basis. Towards this goal we must all pledge our lives, liberty, fortunes, and our sacred honor.

[markangeloo]

During the great "fifties" or glory days
which everyone seems to refiect on going back ,
the president Eishenhower had tax rates
on the rich at 91 %.
Buck up elephants !!
Know your republican history.

[tbuckl]

Instead of throwing tea overboard I would like us to see us throw government agents from all branches of Government into shark infested water.

[ioweign]

Maher: The thing is that endless variety only exists because Americans pay taxes to a government which maintains roads, irrigates fields, over sees the electrical grid and everything else but enables the modern American supermarket to carry forty seven varieties of frozen breakfast pastries.

Of course it's easy to tear government down. Ronald Reagan used to say the nine most terrifying words in the English language were "I'm from the government and I'm here to help". But that was before "I'm Sarah Palin, now show me the launch codes".

You know the stimulus package was attacked as typical tax and spend, you know like repairing bridges is left wing stuff. Ooh there the liberals go again. Always wanting to get across the river.

Folks, the people are the government. The first responders who put out your fires. That's your government. The ranger who shoos pedophiles out of the bathroom. The postman who delivers your porn. I mean how stupid is it when people say "Oh yeah that's all we need. The federal government telling Detroit how to make cars, or Wells Fargo how to run a bank. You want them to look like the Post Office?"

Yeah. Actually. You mean..you mean the place that takes a note in my hand in L.A. on Monday and gives it to my sister in Jersey on Wednesday for forty two cents? Well let me be the first to say I would be thrilled if America's health care system was anywhere near as functional as the Post Office.

The truth is, recent years have made me much more wary of government doing the opposite. Of stepping aside and letting unregulated private enterprise run things it is plainly too greedy to trust with, like Wall Street, like rebuilding Iraq. Like the way Republicans always frame the health care debate by saying health care decisions should be made by doctors and patients, not government bureaucrats. Leaving out the fact that health decisions aren't made by doctors, patients or bureaucrats. They're made by insurance companies.

Insurance companies. Which are a lot like hospital gowns. Chances are your arse isn't covered.

[spiritwalk]

DON'T TREAD ON ME, OBAMA!!!
Posted by ___One_American___

Do you really think that waving the flag is going to change anything?

Get a flag, an armband and salute until your arm falls off. Patriotism has never and will never effect the economy because the people with the power to effect it know no borders outside of the boardroom.

John Wayne lied to you. Get over it .

[___One_American___]

Obama and the Democrats are trying desperately to drag America down the path to destruction.

You need not look any farther than to European countries to see what a screwed-up mess Socialism can make of a nation, their productivity, and their standard of living.

This "Tea Party" is really the start of a mass revolt against Socialism - and April 15th will be the beginning of the end of Obama and the Democrats.

DON'T TREAD ON ME, OBAMA!!!

[spiritwalk]

Non-Sequitur and the rest of you bi-partisan meatheads on both sides... you really must pay attention. This isn't about Dem. or Rep. Everyone here is so quick to point fingers and toss the insults if you don't agree with someone's post. How about some intelligent dialog instead of the gradeschool namecalling. Sheesh...
Posted by thinkaboutit13
...................................................
Intelligent dialogue and blog posts are mutually exclusive terms.

What you witness here is the common human response to being trapped in a situation in which people have no control. Rather than face and accept the hopelessness of the situation they turn on each other.

These people bought into the Suze Ormans of the worls that told them they could have a financial plan and succeed when in truth their plan was nothing more than an illusion. There 401ks amounted to no more than one chip in the big casino and the real players dont even bother with chips.

PEOPLE do not accept and probably will never accept that in the finacial scheme they are impotent and powerless and under the control of fprces that they will never be able to understand let alone be a part of. Their postings are of no more import than spray paint on a subway car.

All the sytem wants of them is to keep fighting each other over the Soylent Green.

[thinkaboutit13]

Non-Sequitur and the rest of you bi-partisan meatheads on both sides... you really must pay attention. This isn't about Dem. or Rep. Everyone here is so quick to point fingers and toss the insults if you don't agree with someone's post. How about some intelligent dialog instead of the gradeschool namecalling. Sheesh...

I pay my mortgage, and I have less than $200.00/month after the rest of my bills are paid. I save SOMETHING every month. I'm not behind on anything and I don't own a big screen TV. I don't qualify for any special programs because I've always had a job and I make just enough to stay ahead of the wolves. No one will, nor should they care about my situation cause I've been responsible for the debt that I CHOSE TO ACRUE. I don't want anyone to bail me out. I can be proud of the fact that I don't collect welfare, foodstamps, cheat on my taxes, etc. It's difficult, but anything worth having is worth working for...isn't it? Maybe it's just easier to stick your hand out.... I'ts not a democratic nor a republican position to expect others to maintain their finances properly.

I don't give a rip if Bush, Obama or flippin Harry Truman was in office when our country initiated the crisis that it's in now. Politics is politics and no matter which side of the isle you hail from, your party is culpable.

The solution isn't to bail everyone out that asks for it. Remember Continental Airlines? Went bankrupt 3 times and is now stronger than ever. Thinkaboutit...Learn.

[johnbrown888]

"a real opposition movement may be building. "


Or, it may just be another front for Dick Armeydildo and other Neocon scum. Rupert Murdock and *** Nooze may be putting up the money. The Limburgers (and they do smell!) are just dittoing their fat, impotent Dear Leader's talkiong points.

It's as phoney as the Raygun $3 bill.

[jessejames2112]

article: "John Shilling, an 18-year-old student in Hilton Head, South Carolina, launched a site called 92percentgroup.org. Its sole mission is to oppose the Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan. "We feel like 92 percent of the country has been paying their mortgage on time, and we've been a silent majority this whole time," "

Shilling isn't arrogant. Not one little bit ; )

The other 8% constitute over 5 million people, whom Shilling has no trouble throwing out of their homes for delinquent payment. I believe that many if not most of these people were caught up in the radical sales pitches that went on a few years ago to sell homes to anyone and everyone. And the reason these sales pitches didn't catch Shilling is because he was 12 years old at the time.

If we're going to bail banks out of a self-made mess, can we spend 1/20th the amount we're spending on banks to bail out homeowners from a mess THE BANKS MADE??? What's with this 'socialism for the rich only' thing?

Im sure the 92% group is against the bank bailouts as well. Most of the GOP was except for Bush and McCain. Also Shilling the kid doesn't run the group his dad does, this article is misleading. Alright so arrogant? You call an 18 year old arrogant because he wants equality of treatment? All men are created equal i thought, but you obviously don't believe so. Did you ever stop in think of the benefits that foreclosure presents? It forces oh wait, THE BANKS to take a hit on the sale, and allows people to buy a house that they can actually AFFORD. See you are stuck in this magical fantasy land where everything that feels good is good. Ubrew12 sit down and think for a second instead of just feeling. Why are we in this mess? People bought homes they couldn't afford. In 5 years when the government pulls their support out, we will be right back where we started. It's not the people's fault who bought the homes, but it is their responsibility, not yours, not mine. See I think you're just in a hissy mood cause an 18 year old knows more than you. Maybe you should listen to him.

[elz523]

noloyalist-well, one reason to criticize the chosen one is because since he's been in office the stock market has tanked, he's tripled the deficit, he's signed off on a bill filled with pork, etc,etc. Guess that could be the reason, dontcha think!
In his droning campaign speeches he swore no more pork, he swore he would read every bill line for line and veto any pork.,he swore that any bill would be posted for at least 5 days for all to read-HE LIED!!! And don't give us "the emergency" cr*p cause your messiah didn't sign that pork filled bill for 4 days after it was passed.
SO, that's why.
Posted by janem4 at 6:57 AM : Mar 7, 2009

Who says he is a messiah? Only the Republican who wish he was one of them. He is a President and is doing what he has to do to lead the country. The bill you mentioned with pork in it should not have been presented to him. Should he now spend all his and the Congress' time working on last years business or moving forward. I expect the budget bills passed next year, that are his budget bills will not have the pork that these had. Let's get moving forward.

The amazing thing is that any Republican would have the gall to complain about pork when they have Bush and the Republican Congress from 200 to 2006 record to stand on. That won't be used to justify a poor Democratic record on pork should it materialize, but it should certainly serve to silence the self-serving and hypocritical Republican on this omnibus bill 7 weeks into Obama's presidency.

[spiritwalk]

I can see from all the ?comrade Obama? and ?neocon? snipping that you haven?t gotten it yet. Hasn?t the Bernie Madoff plea deal talk sunken in yet?

It?s all a big money game and you aint a player!

Madoff has been smiling all through this because he knew that he wasn?t going to be touched. The corporate execs took the bailout money and did what they wanted because they knew they weren?t going to be touched.

Somebody gets appointed to a cabinet post and they owe a few thousand in back taxes and they have to slink off in shame. Madoff steals billions and he doesn?t even flinch when he gets caught. Banks get billions in bailouts and literally take the money and party and they don?t flinch either.

Still don?t get it?

You are the peasants and the politicians are the Sheriff of Nottingham. You think that if you form up your little band of rebels in Sherwood forward and fight the evil sheriff that you are going to get some where. Meanwhile the Lords of Finance and the Barons of Bailouts take all the money and just let you peons fight it out.

Keep trumpeting Obama and his vision. Keep thinking Rush Limbaugh is going to do something that brings change his way. That?s exactly what the big guys want you to do.

Have your little dream that you have some power. That?s all it is, a dream.

Remember those original ?Tea Party? people in colonial Massachusetts? They were ?outraged? over the policy of King George III in his ?Stamp Act?. They got the people to go out and fight a war in order to stop the government from requiring the purchase of ?stamps? to make documents legal. As soon the British were gone and Massachusetts became a ?state? the first thing those ?rebels? did was to start requiring the purchase of ?stamps? to make a deed legal and it still goes on today.

Its all a game and you aint a player, you just have to hand your money over to the real players to gamble with. When they lose you have to come up with more and when they win you?.have to come up with more.

Now do you get it?

[markangeloo]

Eye of the needle rich man.
When did the republican party stop being christian ???

[caldwellptr]

This may be slightly off topic - When did affordable housing stop being built? I don't need a bailout; I have no mortgage. I can afford $400 to $500 a month, in rent or a mortgage. It takes me 5 working days out of a month of 20 working days to earn that. When I lived in NYC it took me 10 or 11 days to make enough to pay rent. It was a depressing struggle. There are no new houses out there being built in my price range. The only market that is served by new housing is the luxury market. And the cast off housing by the luxury market is out of my range. The housing that I have looked at, rental or for purchase, in my price range is very, very bad. Poor maintainence, very bad neighborhoods - a lot of it should be condemned. You should be able to move into the house you purchase, not spend to bring it up to code, or install windows because some are missing.

Bailout the folks who overreached on their mortgage? Try finding them affordable housing.