I've followed them both.
The Occupiers on Wall Street…and the Tea Partiers, well, on lots of streets.
And I think I’ve sorted this out.
The Occupiers have had it with profiteers.
The Tea Partiers have had it with politicians.
The Occupiers say the rich should pay more in taxes.
The Tea Partiers have had it, period, with taxes.
The Occupiers say capitalism is dying because Wall Street’s hogging all the money.
The Tea Partiers say capitalism is dying because Washington is spending all the money.
The Occupiers say we're in deep because we had to rescue bankers.
The tea Partiers say we're in deep because we didn't have the money "to" rescue bankers.
So the bankers aren't returning the favor, and occupiers are stunned.
But our government told 'em to cool it on risky lending, so Tea Partiers aren't surprised.
Occupiers say it's the system that's keeping the little guy down.
Tea Partiers say it's the spending that's keeping everyone down.
Occupiers say it's up to government now to fix things…
Tea Partiers say it's the government that's got us in a fix…just doing things.
Occupiers say capitalism is dying.
Tea Partiers say the way Washington’s going, it's all but dead.
Occupiers say they're frustrated as hell and not gonna take it anymore.
Tea Partiers say they're frustrated as hell and not gonna take it anymore.
Critics of the Occupiers say they're anti-Semitic, even though the overwhelming majority of the ‘Occupy-Wall Streeters’ I’ve met are not.
Critics of the Tea Partiers say they're racist, even though the overwhelming majority of Tea Partiers I’ve met are not.
So the media focuses on some dopey kids who can't string a sentence together and say all these Occupiers are clueless.
Just like it zeroes in on some mis-spelled protest signs and insists all these Tea Partiers are witless.
In every crowd, there are some doozies.
And yes, both occupiers and Tea Partiers have their occasional dummies.
Just like society. Just like…us.
But behind the rhetoric of each is a familiar lament that oddly unites both.
They're angry.
Occupiers at a government they say should do more.
Tea Partiers at a government they say should do less.
The Occupiers are the new kids on the protest block and feeling their oats.
The Tea Partiers have been at this a while and have already fielded their candidates.
The president likes the Occupiers.
Doesn't much care for the Tea Partiers.
Republicans don't flip over the Occupiers.
Still rally round the Tea Partiers.
But I think it would be a mistake for either party to claim one group of protesters for its own.
After all, Tea Partiers turned on those who weren't fiscally conservative enough.
Occupiers are already turning on those who aren't fiscally liberal enough.
But beyond rubbing each other's noses in the ground…I can report after visiting each, albeit with mixed results, at least "this" common ground.
They aren't happy with the way things are going.
And woe to the politician who cavalierly dismisses what each side is saying.
History proves that those who ignore protesters as idiots with signs…
End up proving bigger idiots themselves because they didn't see the signs.
Because...our country hasn't failed us.
After decades of reckless spending and pie-in-the-sky promises neither party could keep.
Both the occupiers "and" the Tea Partiers are saying...our leaders have.
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