Former President Bill Clinton is no Tea Partier, but he understands where the movement's frustration is coming from. Moreover, he's not sure that demonizing the Tea Party is going to win Democrats any elections in November. "I'm not sure [the Tea Party] is going to be a good thing for Democrats," Clinton told CBS' Bob Schieffer on "Face The Nation" yesterday. "I think that, first of all, the Tea Party insurrection, if you will, that you see in these primaries reflects the feeling of a lot of Americans that they're getting the shaft...there's a general revolt against bigness that, in the case of the Republicans is always directed more against the government than the private sector. It's totally understandable."

That said, Clinton made it clear he wasn't lobbying for a speaking spot at the next Glenn Beck rally. The whole Tea Party movement still concerns him. "The thing that bothers me about the Tea Party movement is two things...according to the profiles and studies that have been done, it's being bankrolled by the people who want to weaken the government so there can be even more unaccounted for private concentration of power...and the second thing that bothers me is that it's hard to know where they stand on these specific issues. Do they want to repeal the financial oversight bill? Do they want to repeal rather than reform the health care thing? Do they really want to repeal the student loan reform bill?...I don't know where they stand, but I get why they're popular."

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Ray Gustini