Doug Schoen and Will Bunch conclude their debate with an exchange over whether or not the Tea Party will have a real impact in November’s elections—and the real reason for its political power.
Will Bunch, author of THE BACKLASH: Right-Wing Radicals, High-Def Hucksters, and Paranoid Politics in the Age of Obama, is a senior writer at the Philadelphia Daily News and a senior fellow at Media Matters for America. He is also the author of the recent Tear Down This Myth: The Right-Wing Distortion of the Reagan Legacy. His Daily News blog, Attytood, is one of the most successful political sites on the Web. A career journalist, Bunch shared a 1992 Pulitzer Prize for spot news reporting when he worked at New York Newsday. He lives in the Philadelphia suburbs.
Many people argue that the movement is an organic force, but Will Bunch argues that it was organized and inspired by Glenn Beck and others. Part Two in an ongoing debate with Doug Schoen—read the opening round here.
Is the Tea Party movement, which may swing the midterm elections this November, a powerful force strengthening into a third party, or is it a paranoid fringe whipped up by commentators like Fox News’ Glenn Beck? Will Bunch, author of The Backlash: Right-Wing Radicals, High-Def Hucksters, and Paranoid Politics in the Age of Obama, and Douglas E. Schoen, co-author with Scott Rasmussen of Mad as Hell: How the Tea Party Movement Is Fundamentally Remaking Our Two-Party System, debate the movement’s influence this week for The Daily Beast.