International View of The Tea Party

How do these countries see the Tea Party Movement in the United States?

From the report by Elizabeth Dickinson, Joshua E Keating - October 26 2010

China

Pakistan

Germany

France

Spain and the Spanish speaking World

Different countries have varying responses to the growth of the Tea Party Movement depending on the relationship they have with the United States.

China see the movement as leading to a US -China conflict - "polarising groundswell" and sees it as the "US's inability to find political solutions" "to economic recovery." China Daily states, "China's greatest danger is that US policymakers face economic and national security crises they cannot solve."

Pakistan media describe the Tea Party as being synonomous with anti-Islam backlashes, particularly over the Ground Zero mosque issue and the proposed burning of the Quran in Florida. They call Glenn Beck a rabble rouser and equate the actions and ideals of the movement as equating with America's treatment of Black Americans and Native Americans, in the past.

Germany. The German media write that for the first time since the Depression in the 1930s, questions are being raised about the success of the American model. They note Beck's warnings of socialism and his allusions to Hitler and Stalin and perceive fears of European style socialism as a threat to their privileged positions. The more success Obama has (with healthcare reforms), they suggest, the angrier the protests will become.

France. The French media observe that the Tea Party wish to be left alone and to live as they did before there was opposition to Uncle Sam. Calling them typically white and 'ok' financially, Le Monde commented that their rallies feed rumours of Obama's secret Muslim faith and supposed lack of a US birth certificate.

Spain and the Spanish -Speaking World

Argentinian press see Delaware's Christine O'Donnell as uneducated and having a controvercial past, so much so that they couldn't imagine how she could be capable of unseating the Republican incumbent. The Spanish media were alarmed and El Pais remarked that they didn't know if they felt "profound horror or more profound pity." O'Donnell was subsequently unsuccessful in the election.

Back in America, HuffPost's Howard Fineman appeared on the Today show after the election. He said that the Tea Party's success might mean trouble for the Republican leaders. "The story now" he said "is going to be whether the Republican leadership.....Can take the power of the Tea Party without having the tea party drive them off a cliff."

Jill Glazier