Inside the Tea Party
Sarah Palin's and Glenn Beck's tweets and teary theatrics serve as valuable spiritual fodder, but in a decentralized movement that has been compared to a starfish, here are 10 movers and shakers you should know about, some in the public eye, some in the shadows.
Williams is not such a Tea Party mover and shaker these days, but he's remembered nonetheless for his involvement in what is arguably the Tea Party's biggest scandal. As chair of the Tea Party Express, Williams gained infamy in 2010 by writing a supposedly satirical letter praising slavery that was addressed to President Lincoln and written from the point of view of "the Colored people." (He has also described Obama as an "Indonesian Muslim turned welfare thug.") The slavery letter resulted in Williams's resignation as head of the Tea Party Express, and spotlighted the issue of racism among some members of the movement. Later in 2010, Williams agitated against the construction of the proposed Islamic center near Ground Zero.
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