How Occupy Wall Street Boosts the Tea Party

Tired of everyone saying Occupy Wall Street and the Tea Party are basically the same thing? Point this out: the bank protests are actually keeping the Tea Party in the headlines. Mother Jones’s Stephanie Mencimer writes that though Tea Partiers hate the comparison—leaders have even released a statement painting themselves as the upstanding, “adult” alternative to the Occupy ruffians—they seem to be “pleased to be in demand again.” They’ve kept a low profile lately; their 2012 challenge candidates aren’t taking off, and their teach-the-Constitution-in-schools campaign flopped. “Given all that, OWS seems like the best thing that's happened to the Tea Party movement in a long time. Tea Partiers can only hope the occupation lasts a while longer, generating more trash—and trash talk.”