GRASSROOTS

Tea Party Was Driven by Big Tobacco and Billionaires, Gov't-Funded Study Claims

Do you buy it?

Feb 13, 2013 by Mary Noble

Senior Editor t

A new study has found that the Tea Party has deep roots, stretching back to the 1980s – and some of those roots are on the tobacco farm, not in the grass.

Liberal bloggers are portraying the research as evidence discrediting the Tea Party as a purely astroturf movement, but the story told by the study is more nuanced. As the study's authors put it, "the Tea Party has been influenced by decades of astroturfing."

As the researchers explain, "rather than being a purely grassroots movement that spontaneously developed in 2009, the Tea Party has developed over time, in part through decades of work by the tobacco industry and other corporate interests."

Starting in the 1980s, tobacco companies worked to create the appearance of broad opposition to tobacco control policies by attempting to create a grassroots smokers' rights movement. Simultaneously, they funded and worked through third-party groups, such as Citizens for a Sound Economy, the predecessor of AFP and FreedomWorks, to accomplish their economic and political agenda. There has been continuity of some key players, strategies and messages from these groups to Tea Party organisations.

The research was funded by the US government, via the the National Institute of Health.

Via DeSmogBlog and the British Medical Journal Group.

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?	Does this study damage the image of the Tea Party?

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Feb '13

Neo_NtheMatrix

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Lies...
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Feb '13

PoliticalSpice

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Makes sense to me, the tea party is proving itself toxic to the republican party.
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Feb '13

thatgirl

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@PoliticalSpice Not to mention, also toxic to the US.
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Feb '13

PoliticalSpice

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@thatgirl I wouldn't say that, if it weren't for them obama might not have been re-elected. Give credit where credit is due!
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Feb '13

thatgirl

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@PoliticalSpice You have a valid point.....
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Feb '13

formerrepub

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@PoliticalSpice correction, the republican party is the only one toxic to the republican party!
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Feb '13

Jack-Black

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Nope. because I dont trust the study.
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Feb '13

CPT_Ethanolic

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Would be a shame to let facts interfere with your opinions.
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Feb '13

Jack-Black

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@CPT_Ethanolic Just because some study claims it as fact does not make it a fact. I Bet you believe everything that is on the internet. Becareful of those french models.
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Feb '13

tomincali

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gov study, says alot whoever writes the check gets the answers they want.
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Feb '13

dances-weebles

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that must be why you need to use a seat belt in your car... results of a gov't study...

not only that, but what you're asserting proves that the federal gov't wants pot to be legal because a federally sponsored study showed that smoking pot has absolutely no effect on the lungs.
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Feb '13

harold_lloyd

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That is so silly. The auto industry hates most of the things they have to do, from seat belts to CAFE ratings.
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Feb '13

Ricura

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The Tea Partay is dead!
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Feb '13

ASISEEIT2

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Flash! The democrat party doesn't like the Tea Party nor its members....
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Feb '13

CPT_Ethanolic

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I voted for Obama and I love the tea party. They make the 24 hr news cycle like a 3-stooges marathon.
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Feb '13

fistv

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I trust even less that it came from a California University.
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Feb '13

thatgirl

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Since when is the National Institute of Health a university in Cali?
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Feb '13

fistv

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@thatgirl http://tobaccocontrol.bmj.com/content/early/2...
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Feb '13

thatgirl

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@fistv Sorry, but that has nothing to do with the NIH.
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Feb '13

thatgirl

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grrrrrrr.......
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Feb '13

thatgirl

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That has nothing to do with where the NIH is, or is not located.
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Feb '13

Zazziness

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They couldn't be more damaged in my opinion, so it doesn't hurt them any more in my eyes.
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Feb '13

thatgirl

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Why does this not surprise me in the slightest?
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Feb '13

DARSB

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None of this is particularly new. I doubt it'll have much effect on the Teapartistas seeing as how they occupy a faith-based paradigm that requires no evidence for its continued existence.
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Feb '13
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Feb '13
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Feb '13

Heavy-Fed

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@OhWiseOne The dude served his country by spreading anti-Marijuana propaganda to soldiers. All he does is suck up disinformation and crap it out everywhere he goes.
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Feb '13

DARSB

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@Heavy-Fed Exhibit A
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Feb '13

DARSB

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@OhWiseOne Exhibit B
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Feb '13

Heavy-Fed

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Great... our "Government" has investigated it's opposition... and found they were funded by big tobacco and billionaires... at least they were ALL American and did not accept funds from overseas sources to seek re-election!!!!!
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Feb '13

OhWiseOne

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Or allow invaders into our country to get more votes.
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Feb '13

frigginhell

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@OhWiseOne A strategy a party who got it's ass handed to it the last 2 elections in a row seem all to eager to embrace themselves. Obama had set record deportations. He'd deported more in his first 3 years than bush did in 8 mostly criminals. He still had broad appeal to illegals because he offered a more streamlined path to citizenship for their children at least. He also avoided villifying them to get the racist xenophobe vote. You'll wish that in 2 years time the GOP had as much restraint. Because you're about to see what "buying votes" is all about when they not only cave in on immigration reform, they go further than anything the democrats have offered so they can be seen as the pro-latino group. They're going to do more than conservatives try to paint liberals as doing for the hope of gaining a few points in the general election. It's not embracing change and a new demographic, it's pandering to keep in office. Besides, poorly educated cheap labor is an easy thing for them to justify at the end of the day to the people they really answer to. I'd say you'll look back in 5 years time and wish for Obama's handling on immigration to come back. You won't. You sound like you'll blame him regardless of who's actually doing what.
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Feb '13

OhWiseOne

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@frigginhell Blah, blah, blah. He got their votes because he supports amnesty. Period. Case closed.
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Feb '13

harold_lloyd

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How many people died while the tobacco lobby was working to suppress research?

It doesn't make me feel any better that these obstructionists were citizens..

It makes me sick.
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Feb '13

Heavy-Fed

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@harold_lloyd First off, why do you SOOOOO believe that "Government funded" research??? They LIE to us CONSTANTLY!!! Yet... YOU... so eagerly gobble up what they say as fact just because they said it was government funded research!!! Tell me... when HAVE they told us the truth about ANYTHING??????
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Feb '13

Dan_Tien

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Haven't the Democratic and Republican parties also "developed over time, in part through decades of work by the tobacco industry and other corporate interests"?
- B5 • Vote Up r1 Reply
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Feb '13

FollowTheMoney

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Yep, good point. Big money has made both the power parties what they are today.
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Feb '13

zeke

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You know, no one is being forced to drink the KOOL-AID!
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Feb '13

harold_lloyd

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But they're standing around the pot, asking for straws...
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Feb '13

OhWiseOne

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Who funds Media Matters? NAACP? La Raza? Southern Poverty Law Center? I know who. Do you?
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Feb '13

Fitz

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I think the tea party is less caustic than either of the two major parties. They have proven time and again how corrupt they are.
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Feb '13

Jean

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No it does not damage the Tea Party as much as both the Democrat and Republican party are hoping it will.......people in local communities know who their Tea Party members are and what they stand for. They also know the "politics" of both the Democrat and the Republican party. Both parties are broken! Both parties are about having a party at the taxpayers expense....the only time they know the voters is when they need their vote or their tax money....other than that they just party on. The Tea Party is a threat or they wouldn't be trying to paint them black.
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Feb '13

MongoAPillager

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don't forget puppy eater's and children haters,bunch of half-wits,all party's have big money support,it's called playing the field,just like the dems are supported by wall street and big business
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Feb '13

jessejaymes

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I fail to understand how much of anything could make the Tea Baggers any more despicable and worthless than they make themselves look?
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Feb '13

Tralee

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LOL - must be a slow news day, is ANOTHER left leaning article about the legitimacy of the Tea Party even news anymore? Jeeze, they have been trying to disenfranchise it since it began and even tried to get a "tea party" of there own, but in a typical liberal screw up, the created the "Occupy" movement. Full of entitlement seeking youngsters and the usual hangers on just looking for a good source of drugs and alcohol and sex and a big party.
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Feb '13

OhWiseOne

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Look at a Tea Party rally and then look at a Occupy rally. Which is your vision for America?
- B1 • Vote Up r5 Replies
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Feb '13

Denizen_Kate

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Must I choose either of these?
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Feb '13

OhWiseOne

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@Denizen_Kate No. No you don't. I was going to offer you another vision but the mods wouldn't let me post it.
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Feb '13

Zazziness

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@OhWiseOne That's OK. We all know what Stormfront proposes is an ideal society and no one's interested in it.
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Feb '13

OhWiseOne

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@Zazziness Do you have a Stormfront fetish? You seem to go there quite often.
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Feb '13

Zazziness

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@OhWiseOne Nope. I just recognize their philosophy and you overflow with it.
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Feb '13

AlexMIA

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A "government funded study", I'm buying the findings about as much as I'm buying the study.
- B5 • Vote Up r6 Replies
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Feb '13

Knightkore

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Yeah....that part of it is the kicker....maybe if it was an independent study....
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Feb '13

AlexMIA

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@Knightmare I'd still question independant studies, government can still conceal itself pretty well behind those too.
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Feb '13

Knightkore

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@AlexMIA That's true....
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Feb '13

NTBFW

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Liberals can get away with any kind of story as long as they preface it with "studies show".
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Feb '13

harold_lloyd

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Do you think everyone is lying to you? Who do you trust?
I'd be willing to bet that there is plenty of documentation to bolster the conclusion.

Is there anything that would make you accept this as true, anything at all, ever?
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Feb '13

jessejaymes

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I would ask all the redneck right (which is about 90% of Tea Party) why it is that you don't start your own real party instead of carpetbagging on the GOP?
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Feb '13

harold_lloyd

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They are in the process of doing that. The Republican party isn't ideologically pure enough.
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Feb '13

Calfkiller

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Carpet bagging the RINO party? They are the Republican party. The rest of the GOP needs to get back to their values and stop trying to compete with the Democrats for votes. You lay out your values and set an example and people will come to you. You start groveling for votes from the left's base and you have what we have today. A group of hangers on that lost their values in the 90's and keep having to try and reinvent themselves everytime they lose another election. The Republican party today is not much different from the Democrat party. Granted they aren't as bad as the libs, compared to the Democrats they aren't that much different. They collect taxes and they spend them. One likes Chicken the other likes Pork.
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Does this study damage the image of the Tea Party?

Does this study damage the image of the Tea Party?