Anti-Tea Party or Call to Action?

11 October 2011 |permalink | email article

The Occupy Wall Street movement in New York’s Zuccotti Park has been gathering strength since Sept.17, sprouting up around the country in major cities with no indication that it will soon fold its tents. Some reactions carry considerable weight, in contrast to Eric Canter’s fear about mobs, Newt Gingrich blaming the discord on the White House and Herman Cain’s rant that “to protest Wall Street and the bankers is basically saying you’re anti-capitalism.”

Nancy Pelosi: “I support the message to the establishment, whether it’s Wall Street or the political establishment, and the rest, that change has to happen, she told ABC News. “We cannot continue in a way this is not relevant to their lives. She added that the failure of TARP, commonly known as the bank bailout, to add liquidity to the Main Street marketplace is fueling Americans’ animosity toward Wall Street. She added that the capital would be available and Main Street would benefit from the resources that went largely to Wall Street. “That didn’t happen. People are angry.”

Chris Hedges in Truthdig: “The goal to people like Ketchup is very, very clear.  It can be articulated in one word – REBELLION. These protesters have not come to work within the system. They are not pleading with Congress for electoral reform. They know electoral politics is a farce and have found another way to be heard and exercise power. They have no faith, nor should they, in the political system or the two major political parties. …They know the economy serves the oligarchs, so they have formed their own communal system. This movement is an effort to take back our country.”

David Carr, New York Times columnist: He noted The Occupied Wall Street Journal, an instant broadsheet newspaper, had an initial press run of 50,000, with an extra 20,000 copies as money rolled in. “The rest of us in the media have had trouble catching up with The Occupied Wall Street Journal, in part because it refuses to live in a pigeon hole. … So, are they the anti-Tea Party, the old guard lefties in new clothing, or just disenfranchised Americans engaging in some new form of push back?”

Quotable

“I asked them all to move to the second floor whenever they were working. Because when they jump, I don’t want it to hurt. “– Roger Ailes, the Fox News chairman, boasting about the 15-year success of the network and Sean Hannity while chiding CNN and MSNBC. 

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