Tea Party leader rejects comparison to Occupy Wall Street protests

Tea Party leader Amy Kremer rejected comparisons between the Tea Party movement and the Occupy Wall Street protests on Friday, saying that the large-scale demonstrations would need to move beyond rallies if the goal was to achieve change.

Kremer, co-chair of Tea Party Express, one of the largest Tea Party organizations, said the Occupy Wall Street protesters needed to be “realistic” in their “ridiculous, absurd” demands. “Holding rallies doesn't do anything other than attract people to the movement,” she told The Guardian. "The question is what do you do then? How do [they] direct all that support and energy towards action, towards influencing legislation?"

Some have suggested that the protests, which started in New York City and now in their third week have spread across the country, are a “liberal Tea Party.” The movement calls itself “leaderless resistance” demonstrating against the unfairness of the privileged “one percent” represented by Wall Street.

Vice President Joe Biden likened the two movements to each other Thursday in a speech to the Washington Ideas Forum. Speaking about the Wall Street protests, he said the “core” of the protest was that “the bargain has been breached. The core is the American people do not think the system is fair, or on the level,” he said. “There’s a lot in common with the Tea Party.”

But Kremer rejected the idea that the two movements, both characterized by large rallies of people protesting economically-related problems and demanding change, had anything in common.

Kremer said that the Occupy Wall Street demonstrations were like “a kid having a temper tantrum because their parents won't buy them the whole ice-cream store.”

Kremer added, "This isn't Wall Street's fault. It's Washington's fault – and that's where they should focus their efforts.”

Many Democrats have endorsed the protest movement, and President Obama said Thursday that he sympathized with the “broad-based frustration about how our financial system works.”

But several Republicans have warned that President Obama and other Democrats are “inflaming the public” and stoking the protesters’ fervor.

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) described protesters as a mob in a speech Friday. Sens. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) separately warned that the protests could become violent. Paul compared demonstrators to a “Paris mob” on Fox Business. Hatch called the protests “alarming” and warned there could be riots, according to comments reported by the Salt Lake Tribune.

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