The radical right caught fire last year, as broad-based populist anger at political, demographic and economic changes in America ignited an explosion of new extremist groups and activism across the nation.
Hate groups stayed at record levels — almost 1,000 — despite the total collapse of the second largest neo-Nazi group in America. Furious anti-immigrant vigilante groups soared by nearly 80%, adding some 136 new groups during 2009. And, most remarkably of all, so-called "Patriot" groups — militias and other organizations that see the federal government as part of a plot to impose “one-world government” on liberty-loving Americans — came roaring back after years out of the limelight.
These "Patriot Groups" are described as such:
The Intelligence Project identified 512 "Patriot" groups that were active in 2009. Of these groups, 127 were militias, marked with an asterisk, and the remainder includes "common-law" courts, publishers, ministries and citizens' groups. Generally, Patriot groups define themselves as opposed to the "New World Order," engage in groundless conspiracy theorizing, or advocate or adhere to extreme antigovernment doctrines. Listing here does not imply that the groups themselves advocate or engage in violence or other criminal activities, or are racist. The list was compiled from field reports, Patriot publications, the Internet, law enforcement sources and news reports. Groups are identified by the city, county or region where they are located.
In just about every state, you're going to have two common denominators: The John Birch Society and The Oathkeepers. The later has already had a verifiable connection with the Tea Bagger movement.
It shouldn't be surprising then to note that since Obama took office there has been a massive jump in "patriot" groups.
But last year, as noted in the SPLC’s August report, "The Second Wave: Return of the Militias," a dramatic resurgence in the Patriot movement and its paramilitary wing, the militias, began. Now, the latest SPLC count finds that an astonishing 363 new Patriot groups appeared in 2009, with the totals going from 149 groups (including 42 militias) to 512 (127 of them militias) — a 244% jump.
But now, a new study is out that attempts to debunk all the information that has been put out about the Tea Baggers. And the way the study was conceived and compiled leaves me asking if this is in anyway reliable data.
Some members of the "tea party" have struck back at media bias against the grassroots political movement and critics who derisively dismiss the group as violent "hicks", opportunists, "teabaggers" or worse.
"We decided to learn what tea party leaders are up to in the old-fashioned way. We asked them. We met in person with leaders from 38 states, we collected survey data from 49 leaders," said Eric O'Keefe, chairman and CEO of the Chicago-based Sam Adams Alliance, a nonprofit group that espouses free-market principles.
The group on Tuesday released a survey of its findings that revealed that tea party activists are neither "political junkies or crusty right-wing extremists." Almost half the respondents had never been involved with politics prior to 2009.
The Sam Adams Alliance is described as such:
The Sam Adams Alliance (SAM) is a non-profit organization based in Chicago, Illinois. The group describes itself as "raising awareness of free-market principles and policies while building capacity in marketing and public relations for like-minded individuals and organizations."
That's right, they are a PR/Marketing firm for "like-minded" individuals. That's like having Rush Limbaugh grading how well Sean Hannity is doing on both radio and television, as the two are linked. This is true in that members of the Sam Adams Alliance participated in the Chicago Tea Bagger shoutfest and one of their leaders, Erick O'Keefe, sits on the http://www.citizensincharge.org/about-us/cicf-board-of-directors/eric-okeefe for the Club For Growth. And when one looks at the connections between CFG and the Tea Baggers, this study ( highlighted by Fox"Nation" ) holds up to scrutiny. I'm leaning towards "hell no".
Here's SPLC's Mark Potok discussing the report.
Full credit to David Neiwert at Crooks And Liars who's been on this story for over a year.
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