OCCUPY WALL ST: WHITE, WEALTHY, AND WELL-EDUCATED

- John Sexton, Breitbart

A survey of Occupy Wall Street reveals the group was primarily made up of white, wealthy college graduates, many of whom had grad school degrees.

The survey was carried out by sociologists at the City University of New York. Their results are focused on what they call the "actively involved" or core members of the movement. What they learned about the demographics of this core group is summarized in this chart:

The blue bars represent residents of NY city in general. The tan bars include all members of OWS, both active and casual participants. Finally the orange bars are just the core members. So, for instance, the graph shows that 67 percent of NY residents are "people of color" and 33 percent are white. Among core OWS activists this is exactly reversed with 67 percent white and 33 percent people of color.

Looking at education, 34 percent of NY residents have a bachelor's degree or higher, but among core OWS activists the figure was 80 percent. Finally, just 24 percent of NY residents earn more than $100,000 a year, but 37 percent of OWS core activists earned above this level.

As for the political tilt of the movement, the survey finds exactly what anyone who watched the movement would expect. Among core activists, 57 percent identified with the Democratic party. Among those who voted, 86 percent had voted for Obama in 2008.

By contrast, just 0.8 percent expressed any affiliation with the Republican Party and only one percent of those who voted had cast their ballot for John McCain in 2008.

OWS was not a spontaneous, broad based movement with appeal to everyone in the country. It was a professionally organized yet unsustainable political tantrum carried out by white, well-off Democrats with high levels of education.

For original article go to: http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2013/01/30/OWS-White-Wealthy-and-Well-Educated

ROVE DECLARES WAR ON TEA PARTY

- Ben Shapiro, Breitbart

The battle for the heart and soul of the Republican Party has begun. On one side is the Tea Party. On the other side stand Karl Rove and his establishment team, posing as tacticians while quietly undermining conservatism.

Yesterday, the New York Times reported that the “biggest donors in the Republican Party” have joined forces with Karl Rove and Steven J. Law, president of American Crossroads, to create the Conservative Victory Project. The Times reports that this new group will dedicate itself to “recruit seasoned candidates and protect Senate incumbents from challenges by far-right conservatives and Tea Party enthusiasts who Republican leaders worry could complicate the party’s effort to win control of the Senate.” The group points to candidates like Christine O’Donnell in Delaware and Richard Mourdock in Indiana as examples of Tea Party primary picks going sideways in major Senatorial battles.

But it is American Crossroads and its ilk that have run the GOP into the ground. Spending millions of dollars on useless 30,000-ft. advertising campaigns during the last election cycle, training candidates to soften conservatism in order to appeal to “moderates,” blowing up the federal budget under George W. Bush as a bipartisan tactic – all of those strategies led the party to a disastrous defeat in 2012. The Tea Party, which may nominate losers from time to time, also brought the Republicans their historic 2010 Congressional victory. If Tea Party candidates lose, it’s because they weren’t good candidates; if GOP establishment candidates lose, it’s because they weren’t good conservatives. The choice for actual conservatives should be easy.

But it isn’t. The Bush insider team that helped lead to the rise of Barack Obama insists that they, and only they, know the path to victory. As the Times reports, Conservative Victory Project won’t merely protect incumbents – it will challenge sitting Congresspeople of the Tea Party variety, including six-term Iowa Republican Rep. Steve King, who may run for Senate. “We’re concerned about Steve King’s Todd Akin problem,” Law told the Times – with whom he seems far too friendly. “This is an example of candidate discipline and how it would play in a general election. All of the things he’s said are going to be hung around his neck.”

For more of the article go to: http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2013/02/03/Rove-declares-war-Tea-Party