Did Ron Paul 2008 Empower Tea Party 2009 and Forward?

[anaconda]

"Tea Party" events seem to explode with April tax day in 2009 and the term "Tea Party" thereafter has stuck as a force in the electorate as well as a contingency in the legislatures. I was wondering to what extent, if any, the unprecedented energy from the Ron Paul 2007-2008 campaign paved the way for this and gave those participants sufficient optimism to act. It is well known that Ron Paul turned down membership in Michele Bachmann's "Tea Party Caucus." So the cross sectional overlap is a matter for analysis.

[spudea]

Short answer is yes.

The wiki page on the tea party movement cites the origin as the Ron Paul 07-08 campaign.

[PaulConventionWV]

Tea Party Money Bomb, anyone? I'm actually quite surprised that this is not more readily recognized as the entire source of the term "Tea Party." It should be common sense that Ron Paul's campaign was the sole reason such a label exists. Perhaps it's a good thing, though, since labels are not what Ron Paul stands for.

[phill4paul]

Yep. And then it was co-opted. As all national movements are.

[scm]

http://www.bizpacreview.com/2013/08/...ook-over-82222