WASHINGTON -- As the Occupy protests have spread from Wall Street to Atlanta and elsewhere, Democrats are seeking to harness their energy while Republicans are downplaying their impact.
It’s a similar response -- with party roles reversed -- from the early days of the tea party movement, though in conversations with Georgia members of Congress this week, neither side enjoyed the comparison.
“The tea party represents basic American values where these people do not,” said Rep. Paul Broun, R-Athens.
“They represent the radical, progressive, socialist, communistic individuals of this country. It’s obvious they’ve been funded and been organized and mobilized by the radical left, where the tea party was a spontaneous grass-roots movement.”
Rep. Hank Johnson, D-DeKalb, countered: “I don’t think there’s any comparison. The tea party was organized by corporate interests. The Occupy Wall Street protests were organized by the people themselves.”
Both movements have legitimate claims to being organically grown, but they have been nurtured by pre-existing liberal and conservative interests. For example, former House Majority Leader Dick Armey’s FreedomWorks has provided support to the tea party, while former Obama administration adviser Van Jones’ Rebuild the Dream has backed Occupy.
This week, the Democratic Party dove in as well.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee circulated a petition in support of the Occupy movement, yet the protesters have not quite accepted the embrace.
Rep. John Lewis, D-Atlanta, a veteran of nonviolent protest during the civil rights movement, sought to address the gathering in Woodruff Park, but he was turned down. In a clip heavily circulated on YouTube, the protesters deemed it unfair for Lewis to go in front of other agenda items, though Lewis later told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that he had no hard feelings.
Johnson said he supports the movement and would address it if invited, but he acknowledged “at this point, I don’t think that they are interested in hearing from people in Congress.”
Georgia Republicans, while disagreeing with occupiers' hodgepodge of liberal grievances, mostly appreciated their right to demonstrate.
"The beauty of this country is that the citizens have the personal freedoms and the individual liberties to express themselves like that," said Rep. Austin Scott, R-Tifton.
Lawrenceville Republican Rep. Rob Woodall said he is even rooting for the occupiers to remain engaged, as they constitute a young demographic typically less interested in politics.
"I hope folks keep their passion," Woodall said. "I don’t want us to choose a direction for this nation because of apathy. I want us to choose a direction for this nation because of passion. I am working hard to develop that passion on the right, and I hope folks are working hard to develop that passion on the left, too."
Woodall said he did not expect the Occupy movement to become a political force, but he added that Democrats had been just as dismissive of the tea party in its early stages. That movement helped send a slew of Republican freshmen to Congress this year and even spawned the creation of tea party caucuses in the House and Senate.
The House caucus, which has been all but dormant with Chairwoman Michele Bachmann spending most of her time running for president, counts Georgians Broun, Phil Gingrey of Marietta, Tom Graves of Ranger, Tom Price of Roswell and Lynn Westmoreland of Coweta County among its charter members.
Westmoreland dismissed the idea of "living in a park for three weeks" leading to any remaking of the political system and chuckled at Democrats' quick embrace of the protesters.
"The president is the guy who’s doing the class warfare, and I think that's the reason the Democrats are loving this," he said. "... I don’t know if we’ll have an Occupy Wall Street caucus up here or not. They may start one."
If that is the case, Rep. David Scott, D-Atlanta, would expect it to be bipartisan. He said Occupy's assertion that the rich should pay more in taxes polls well.
"The tea party was more purposeful and narrowly focused on limited government, paying down the debt and that sort of thing," he said. "This right here deals with the practical everyday existence of people simply being able to get a job. ... So I think that this is broader than just a Democrat-Republican thing."
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