The Tea Party movement's Chicago roots and beyond

In its June edition, Newsmax Magazine takes a look at the Tea Party movement its past, present, and its impact on the November elections, which Newsmax believes will be substantial.

The movement was not created by the Republican National Committee or Rush Limbaugh, but it was inspired by a February 19, 2009 on-air rant by Chicago-based CNBC reporter Rick Santelli.

For starters, he decried the Obama administration’s plan to modify mortgages. Bailing people out of mortgages they couldn't afford in the first place just promoted more "bad behavior," he said.

Behind him on the exchange floor, staffers began cheering. Santelli asked whether they wanted to help pay their neighbors' mortgages. In response, they booed like angry fans at a ballgame.

Then Santelli uttered the words that will live on in infamy, or honor, depending on your point of view.

"We're thinking of having a Chicago tea party in July," he said. "All you capitalists that want to show up to Lake Michigan, I'm going to start organizing."

Other took heed and held over 50 tea parties eight days later. They were called Nationwide Chicago Tea Parties. Not everything that comes out of Chicago is tainted by Obama or Blago.

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Pitchfork populism at the Chicago Tea Party

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