Anonymous Coward
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 Canada
07/10/2010 12:48 PM
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Report Copyright Violation | 170 left wing organizations, including the latino KKK, la Raza, is forming their own Tea Party like group [ link to www.washingtonpost.com] With 'One Nation,' liberal groups aim to match tea party's energy, influence
By Krissah Thompson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, July 9, 2010; 4:21 PM
If imitation is the highest form of flattery, the "tea party" movement must be honored.
In an effort to replicate the tea party's success, 170 liberal and civil rights groups are forming a coalition that they hope will match the movement's political energy and influence. They promise to "counter the tea party narrative" and help the progressive movement find its voice again after 18 months of floundering.
The large-scale attempt at liberal unity, dubbed "One Nation," will try to revive themes that energized the progressive grassroots two years ago. In a repurposing of Barack Obama's old campaign slogan, organizers are demanding "all the change" they voted for -- a poke at the White House.
But the liberal groups have long had a kind of sibling rivalry, jostling over competing agendas and seeking to influence some of the same lawmakers. In forming the coalition, the groups struggled to settle on a name. Even now, two of the major players disagree about who came up with the idea of holding a march this fall.
In this respect, at least, the liberal effort already resembles the fractious tea party movement. In February, some tea party groups skipped a long-planned gathering in Nashville in protest of alleged profiteering by convention organizers. Tea partiers have also argued about which candidates represent the movement.
Despite the friction among liberal groups, the effort behind "One Nation" was born of a certain necessity: At one of the first meetings, Deepak Bhargava, executive director of the Center for Community Change, said, "Raise your hand if you can push your part of the agenda all by yourself."
No hands shot up.
Indeed, a promised overhaul of immigration law is virtually dead this year. Legislation that labor unions say would make it easier for them to grow their membership are stalled in Congress. The jobless rate is 15.4 percent for blacks and 12.4 percent for Hispanics, compared with 8.6 percent for whites.
"Having been confronted with the specter of the tea party . . . we felt it urgent to organize the majority of this country, which voted in 2008 and has gone back to the couch," said Benjamin Jealous, president of the NAACP. "We've been split off in different directions."
The groups involved represent the core of the first-time voters who backed President Obama -- including the National Council of La Raza, NAACP, AFL-CIO, SEIU and the United States Student Association. (The effort is separate from the Democratic Party's plan to spend $50 million trying to reach those same voters.)
Their aha moment happened after the health-care overhaul passed this spring. Liberal groups, who focused their collective strength to push the bill against heavy resistance, felt relevant and effective for the first time in a long while. That health-care coalition -- composed of civil rights groups, student activists and labor leaders -- liked the winning feeling.
"In many ways, the bitter fight for health-care reform has painfully highlighted that we must go back to the grassroots organizing that won us the election in the first place," said George Gresham, president of 1199 SEIU United Healthcare Workers East. "We must reassert our strength as the social movement that ushered Obama into office." Read the rest at the link. |
Anonymous Coward
User ID: 800609
 United States
07/10/2010 12:58 PM
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Report Copyright Violation | Re: 170 left wing organizations, including the latino KKK, la Raza, is forming their own Tea Party like group good, now kommunists will be easier to keep track of. and closer to each other, the more they will fight. |
Anonymous Coward
User ID: 1010415
United States
07/10/2010 01:01 PM
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Report Copyright Violation | Re: 170 left wing organizations, including the latino KKK, la Raza, is forming their own Tea Party like group divide and conquer.sad. |
ProvenPatriot
User ID: 1031740
United States
07/10/2010 01:02 PM
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Report Copyright Violation | Re: 170 left wing organizations, including the latino KKK, la Raza, is forming their own Tea Party like group Weren't they just mocking the tea parties?
Well I guess if you can't beat em... |
Anonymous Coward
User ID: 925443
United States
07/10/2010 01:03 PM
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Report Copyright Violation | Re: 170 left wing organizations, including the latino KKK, la Raza, is forming their own Tea Party like group I would like to see the percentage of welfare recipients in this new tea party bs the original. |
Anonymous Coward
User ID: 1012543
United States
07/10/2010 01:03 PM
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Report Copyright Violation | Re: 170 left wing organizations, including the latino KKK, la Raza, is forming their own Tea Party like group I hope you like them being financed with our tax dollars. |
Anonymous Coward
User ID: 968016
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07/10/2010 01:13 PM
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Report Copyright Violation | Re: 170 left wing organizations, including the latino KKK, la Raza, is forming their own Tea Party like group |
Anonymous Coward
User ID: 1136915
 Italy
10/21/2010 01:05 AM
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Report Copyright Violation | Re: 170 left wing organizations, including the latino KKK, la Raza, is forming their own Tea Party like group |
Sofia
User ID: 1136940
United States
10/21/2010 01:18 AM
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Report Copyright Violation | Re: 170 left wing organizations, including the latino KKK, la Raza, is forming their own Tea Party like group :bling: |
Anonymous Coward
User ID: 1087014
United States
10/21/2010 01:19 AM
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Report Copyright Violation | Re: 170 left wing organizations, including the latino KKK, la Raza, is forming their own Tea Party like group And I'm sure that these groups will get full endorsment from DHS and the SPLC. |
