CNN Online has published [3] a story titled an "angry electorate helps sustain tea party," ignoring the clear evidence the "movement" is only sustained by thinly-veiled religious zeal and wealthy funders like the Koch brothers.

Perhaps in an effort to avoid accusations of liberal bias, CNN Online parrots Tea Party [4] spin, concluding the article by quoting a GOP strategist who states "The tea party is an organic movement that was largely created by people who were frustrated by Washington. ... There's not much you can do about something that's genuine, something that grew organically." On the contrary, the tea party has been funded [5] since its inception by the billionaire Koch brothers and other wealthy ideologues, and its events and gatherings have been orchestrated [6] by corporate lobbyists.

Koch-funded Christian Right

Studies [7] show that most people who now identify with the Tea Party were already highly partisan Republicans and identified with the religious right before the "movement" began. In the August 2010 New Yorker article [5] lifting the veil on Tea Party funding, conservative economist Bruce Bartlett [8] explained that "the problem for the Kochs has been trying to create a movement," and that they are "trying to shape and control and channel the populist uprising into their own policies." Tea Party handlers, then, harness the religious zeal of its members, allege they are motivated by Ayn Rand-inspired economic populism, and run candidates like Michele Bachmann [9] who play down [10] their extreme social conservatism in favor of an economic platform. And news outlets like CNN apparently continue to take the "grassroots movement" at face value.

Clearly Partisan Agenda

Matt Kibbe [11], longtime Republican operative and president of tea party group FreedomWorks [12], told CNN "we're not a protest movement anymore; we've morphed into something else. We're a get-out-the-vote machine. We're organizing at the community level."

Recently released recordings [13] from the Koch brothers' donor retreat in June, though, demonstrate that Tea Party events have always been aimed at electing Republicans. As Think Progress notes [14], Koch Industries executive and lobbyist Kevin Gentry described being "on the road" in 2010 for the Koch-funded "Americans for Prosperity's last minute kind of get out the vote tours," which he said was "a Tea Party AFP event designed to help in the Congressional races." The specific "get out the vote" event Gentry referenced was in Congressman Paul Ryan [15]'s district.

CNN is co-sponsoring a GOP presidential debate with the Tea Party Express [16] tonight (which Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting discusses here [17]).