Morgan Freeman the actor had some rather disparaging things to say about the Tea Party, accusing it of being a racist motivated bunch. Herman Cain the African American Republican candidate who's attempting to win the Republican nomination so he can unseat Obama basically came to the defense of the Tea Party in an interview on Fox News.
NEIL CAVUTO: Morgan Freeman, the actor, has been very critical of Tea Parties,and said that what they’re doing is racist based, and going after and unseating Obama has at its underpinnings racism. I’m paraphrasing here, but what do you make of that argument?
HERMAN CAIN: Well, first of all, I doubt if Morgan Freeman, with all due respect, who is a great actor, has he ever been to a Tea Party? Most of the people that are criticizing the Tea Parties, Neil,about having a racist element, they have never been to a Tea Party.
CAVUTO: But wait a minute, wait a minute. He has played, wait, wait,wait. He has played a President of the United States.
CAIN: Oh. Great, yeah, in a movie. This is real life out here on the campaign trail, man. This is not a movie.
CAVUTO: So, are you offended by that?
CAIN: No, I’m not offended by it. I just, I just think that it is sad that they’re so
short-sighted in really understanding what the whole Tea Party citizen movement is all about. I’m not offended by it, because it doesn’t slow down my momentum. It doesn’t slow down the reaction that I get from people. They know that I bring my message from the heart and the head, and they’re responding to it. So, name calling is something that’s going to continue in this because they don’t know how to stop this movement. And this movement is making a big difference in politics, because a lot of the traditional Democrats are moving to the center or moving over to vote for conservatives. They’re taking another look at a Herman Cain.
What's interesting about the Tea Party is it's anything but a party. It's a movement. Disparate Individuals brought together by their frustration over growing, intrusive government actions - the signature one being Obamacare. By and large the movement is made up of middle class, patriotic, God fearing, working folks who don't like government encroaching on their freedoms.
The left and Hollywood is apoplectic because it threatens to derail their liberal agenda. Suggestions of racism, absent evidence, reveals what I think many liberal elite think about the average American.There's a strain of racism lurking not too far beneath the surface.
Herman Cain makes a good point; Morgan Freeman has probably had zero personal exposure to people involved with the Tea Party.
Politico has put out with interesting polls on the views of Washington elites and the rest of the country. Not surprisingly Washington elites are way out of touch with the rest of the country.
As Gary Bauer notes below the mindset of these elites is also decidedly liberal.
The popular insider media outlet Politico recently conducted two polls to measure the attitudes of most Americans compared to those of Washington’s beltway elites. It found that 49% of Washington elites felt the country was on the right track, and 44% of Washington elites felt the economy was on the right track. But folks outside of Washington felt very differently: 61% of the general population felt America was on the wrong track, and 65% felt the economy was on the wrong track. Here are some other interesting findings:
- 68% of Washington elites said the Tea Party was a fad that would fade over time, while only 26% of the general population agreed with that statement.
- 64% of Americans outside of Washington felt that government ethics is a very important issue, while 49% of D.C. elites felt the same – a difference of 15 points.
- There was a 16-point gap on taxes, with 53% of Main Street Americans believing that the issue of taxes is very important, compared to just 37% of D.C. elites.
- There was a 17-point gap on immigration – 53% of Main Street Americans felt immigration was a very important issue, while only 36% of Washington elites shared that view.
- The biggest gap came on the importance of family values. While 62% of Main Street Americans considered family values to be a very important issue, only 23% of D.C. elites felt the same way.
Politically, there is a yawning gap between Washington and the rest of the country. When asked about the 2010 congressional elections, Washington elites overwhelmingly favored Democrats – 53%-to-26%, while Americans outside of Washington were evenly divided. Looking ahead to 2012, D.C. elites supported Barack Obama 56%-to-28%, while the rest of America favored a Republican candidate by five points.
The problem with Washington is that politicians and policy makers live and work in such a cloistered environment that groupthink quickly sets in. Most watch the same TV shows, read the same newspapers and attend the same cocktail parties. When they hear the same opinions over and over again, they make the mistake of assuming that everyone shares that view.
