Probably because they wouldn’t be caught dead going anywhere near one, academics frequently misunderstand the nature of TEA parties, then go public with their conclusions as though they were revealed truth.
“The TEA Party has done very well with the politics of anger,” Professor Manuel Pastor said recently at the Center for American Progress. “It is a much older white demographic worried about losing their country.”
Pastor directs the Program for Environmental and Regional Equity at the University of Southern California. Perhaps he missed the 14-year-old girl obscenely shouted down by “a much older white demographic” with a union label in Wisconsin.
Malcolm A. Kline is the Executive Director of Accuracy in Academia.
If you would like to comment on this article, e-mail mal.kline@academia.org
