Senior Republican slams Wall Street protests

One of the most senior Republicans in Congress Eric Cantor has condemned the Occupy Wall Street protesters – just as top Democrats appear to be rallying to their side.

Mr Cantor, the House minority leader, told a group of religious conservatives in Washington that he was “increasingly concerned” about the “growing mobs”, who were intent on dividing the country.

Swipe at Obama?

And he appeared to take a swipe at President Obama, who said last night that the protesters were “giving voice to a more broad based frustration about how our financial system works”. Or perhaps it was his House opposite number Nancy Peolosi, who was slightly more forthcoming – declaring “God bless them for their spontaneity”.

I for one am increasingly concerned about the growing mobs occupying Wall Street. Eric Cantor

Whatever, Mr Cantor clearly wasn’t impressed, telling a largely silent crowd at the Values Voters summit: “Believe it or not, some in this town have actually condoned the pitting of Americans against Americans”. This, after he accused the White House of an “assault on many of our nation’s bedrock principles”. That old un-American thing, again.

Of course Mr Cantor took a slightly different tack two years ago when he spoke at the same gathering about the Tea Party movement. He described them as “fighting on the fighting lines of what we know is a battle for our democracy.” But perspective, it seems, is everything.

Echoes of the Tea Party?

But as the somewhat inchoate Occupy Wall Street protests spread across the United States, with rallies from Houston and Los Angeles to Philadelphia and New Jersey, there are many keen to draw parallels with the rapid rise of that other populist, grassroots movement. Joe Biden, for one, who told the Washington Ideas Forum last night that there was “a lot in common with the Tea Party.” Both sides, he said, were disgusted with what they saw as a blatantly unfair financial system, prepared to bail out the rich guys and let everyone else shoulder the burden.

God bless them for their spontaneity. Nancy Pelosi

If the Tea Party isn’t exactly flattered by the comparison, describing the Wall Street demonstrators as “just unhappy people who don’t know what they want”, at least the self-styled ’99 per cent’ have attracted their fair share of celebrity supporters, from Mark Ruffalo to Yoko Ono. Capital NY spoke to Gossip Girl actor Penn Badgley who joined the throng earlier this week, admitting “it’s absurd that celebrity power is what it is, but, like, use any tool you have, you know?”.

Meanwhile, everyone from cartoonists to advertisers have had some fun with it, like Village Voice’s Wall Street Monopoly Board, or New York Magazine’s photo gallery getting top PR and advertising execs to rate the protest signs and slogans for their catchy-ness.

All of which is exactly the kind of cool that President Obama could do with on his side – hence the attempt to find his “inner populist”, as one pundit described it. The labour unions are already on side: the left are ever hopeful. A leaderless, messageless movement, with a myriad of causes jostling for attention – shaping the political course of a nation? Stranger things have happened. But the Occupy Wall Street movement still has a way to go. Don’t get carried away just yet.

Felicity Spector writes on US politics for Channel 4 News. Follow her on Twitter @felicityspector