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Is the Tea Party finished being a political force

BMCM

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Tea party plans to abandon GOP stars

Tea party plans to abandon GOP stars.

Four years ago, the movement and its potent mix of anger and populism persuaded thousands of costumed and sign-waving conservatives to protest the ballooning deficit and President Obama's health care law. It swept a crop of no-compromise lawmakers into Congress and governor's offices and transformed political up-and-comers, including Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, into household names.

But as many tea party stars seek re-election next year and Rubio considers a 2016 presidential run, conservative activists are finding themselves at a crossroads. Many of their standard-bearers have embraced more moderate positions on bedrock issues such as immigration and health care, broadening their appeal in swing states but dampening grass-roots passion.

"It changes the playing field for us," said Tom Gaitens, former Florida director of FreedomWorks, a political action committee that has spent millions of dollars to help tea party candidates. "The most powerful thing we have as a movement is our feet and our vote."

If they don't vote for the GOP who will they vote for?
If they don't vote at all, isn't this just handing the elections to the Dems?
 
They never were a political force to be honest.
 
Tea party plans to abandon GOP stars

Tea party plans to abandon GOP stars.

Four years ago, the movement and its potent mix of anger and populism persuaded thousands of costumed and sign-waving conservatives to protest the ballooning deficit and President Obama's health care law. It swept a crop of no-compromise lawmakers into Congress and governor's offices and transformed political up-and-comers, including Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, into household names.

But as many tea party stars seek re-election next year and Rubio considers a 2016 presidential run, conservative activists are finding themselves at a crossroads. Many of their standard-bearers have embraced more moderate positions on bedrock issues such as immigration and health care, broadening their appeal in swing states but dampening grass-roots passion.

"It changes the playing field for us," said Tom Gaitens, former Florida director of FreedomWorks, a political action committee that has spent millions of dollars to help tea party candidates. "The most powerful thing we have as a movement is our feet and our vote."

If they don't vote for the GOP who will they vote for?
If they don't vote at all, isn't this just handing the elections to the Dems?

The Tea Party was a fad, started for profit as so many of these things are.

Despite everything, I think they did influence our politics. Sometimes extremism drives people toward the center where compromise can be found. So, in a way, the Tea Party is now obsolete. Gone, but not completely forgotten.
 
The Tea Party's influence is alive and well, for better or for decidedly worse. Their political naivety and gamesmanship has become a significant burden on the GOP. Also evident is their distinct hand in crafting party narratives in the past two election cycles. Their legitimacy and electability as a political entity however, is nonexistent outside the friendly confines of the Republican party.
 
It will represent the angry underbelly of the GOP, but it will gradually decrease in relevance, as they have proved they are willing to do during the primaries. They are anti-establishment people playing an establishment game, and are unwilling to just accept the notion of being the establishment. Just whine and complain about D.C, lobbyists, and special interests like children.
 
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First of all the tea party was 100% a sham!! They were the very same people who backed bush for 8 years ....funded by the very same people who funded bush organization during that era.
In fact ....it's the dam ...left-wing media who needs an opposition to feed on ....that made the tea party appeared as if it was a ground swell of ...new Americans who just suddenly popped up out of no-where.

So how did the republicans take the house in 2010 ...was it because the tea party were real......was it because the republican suddenly found millions of un-discovered voters........NO!!

It's because the dems took power in 2008 ....and systematically turned that power over to the minority republicans .......democrats were dejected ...and they stayed home!! What was Harry Reids very first act when Dems swept the election in 2008 ....he went to the mat to defend Joe Lieberman!!!

Dems took power and were afraid to take action against the banks who took down the economy .....democrats were dejected. They took full control of the system then ...and to date ....nothing has changed ....still the banks are in place doing the same very dam things they did to tear down the economy!! And Obama ...did nothing for many swept up in the housing bubble. Lets forget about those who fell behind on their mortgage ....today there are millions who have never missed a payment and the best they can hope for selling their house is to walk away and not owe the bank ....after 5, 10, 15 years of making payments!!

And the strongest proof that the tea party is a farce ...is the fact that Obama handily won in 2012.

The facts are all over the place for a blind man to see ...we saw FAUX New and Rush Limbaugh push this FAUX grass root movement for months ....under the funding of corporate mega funders .....who were they really trying to fool!!


You saw my thread about the electoral college ....getting rid of that sham would free up the system ....such that Tea Party idiots don't mean much!!
 
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Since the tea party is demographically mostly a bunch of retirees who took the benefits of our system and now want to deprive everybody else of them, their influence will wan as they die off and are replaced by more educated voters who don't fall for Palinesque freakazoid demagoguery.

That said, the tea party has already done its work in totally alienating large swathes of the population from the GOP and shown Americans what the real face of conservatism is: knownothingism, xenophobia, paranoia and a truckling attitude toward their rich masters.
 
So, some dude in Cleveland is disappointed with Marco Rubio. Because of immigration. Although immigration - along with social issues - is not even supposed to be within the scope of tea parties' attention. Ay caramba.

I don't see how this is bad news for the tea party movement at large. Its biggest problem for years was infestation with opportunistic types dragging in their own agendas that had little to do with the libertarian core princioles. "Bachmannization". They are fading away? Good riddance.

At the same time, politicians promoted by the tea parties are practically defining the national discourse for months now - from Rand Paul and Justin Amash to Chirs Christie. And there's no reason to think that tea partiers in Kentucky, Michigan and New Jersey will be either less numerous or less enthusiastic in their support of these three, for example, the next time around.
 
It will represent the angry underbelly of the GOP, but it will gradually decrease in relevance, as they have proved they are willing to do during the primaries. They are anti-establishment people playing an establishment game, and are unwilling to just accept the notion of being the establishment. Just whine and complain about D.C, lobbyists, and special interests like children.

Your cynicism is only outdone by your poor analysis. I am sure the King George III and his various PMs felt the same way about those silly colonists that refused to play the establishment game. How did that turn out?
 
Well the TPs protested and backed laws about far more than debt and healthcare. Abortion, immigration, unions from civil servants to teachers, the 2nd A, nullification, birth control... they trotted out so many stalking horses it became difficult to keep all the planks in the TP party platform. throw in some racists and the movement seems unable to reach out of red state 'conservative' strongholds. The lost of senate seats even with strong campaigning seems to indicate a retrenchment of the TP movement at the federal level.

What must be terribly grating to the TP movement is they don't seem to be able to be more than a splinter group within the GOP and while they seem to hate the GOP as much as the Democrats they can't branch out on their own.

I think Cruz has made the political calculation that while the TP got him into the national limelight, it will not get him into the White House. He made be able to join the fractured factions within the GOP by mellowing his stance on some social issues while demi-goading welfare and healthcare, but it seems an uneasy truce rather than a real peace treaty.

it will be interesting...
 
Your cynicism is only outdone by your poor analysis. I am sure the King George III and his various PMs felt the same way about those silly colonists that refused to play the establishment game. How did that turn out?

And of course, Tea Partiers have such great sense of mission that they can only be outdone by the OWS in delusions of grandeur.
 
shrug...

If Tea Party activists allow themselves to be drawn away from their core beliefs and into the myriad other issues liberals like to flood national attention with...then they will deserve to lose influence. On the other hand, if they hold tight to their core beliefs and desires for smaller, less intrusive and less powerful central government...and if they don't allow themselves to be sidetracked by liberals and the liberal media into social issues...they could, again, be a potent force. One major problem they have is that the Democrats are trying real hard to avoid any high profile, hot button issues. The Republicans are doing much the same. The Tea Party needs something to rally around. Perhaps the Democrats will screw up like they did in 2009 and give the Tea Party something. Democrats have been known to shoot themselves in the foot before.
 
There will be some districts here and there where the Tea Party will be dominant, but as a whole it is no longer a major factor.
 
First of all the tea party was 100% a sham!! They were the very same people who backed bush for 8 years ....funded by the very same people who funded bush organization during that era.
In fact ....it's the dam ...left-wing media who needs an opposition to feed on ....that made the tea party appeared as if it was a ground swell of ...new Americans who just suddenly popped up out of no-where.

So how did the republicans take the house in 2010 ...was it because the tea party were real......was it because the republican suddenly found millions of un-discovered voters........NO!!

It's because the dems took power in 2008 ....and systematically turned that power over to the minority republicans .......democrats were dejected ...and they stayed home!! What was Harry Reids very first act when Dems swept the election in 2008 ....he went to the mat to defend Joe Lieberman!!!

Dems took power and were afraid to take action against the banks who took down the economy .....democrats were dejected. They took full control of the system then ...and to date ....nothing has changed ....still the banks are in place doing the same very dam things they did to tear down the economy!! And Obama ...did nothing for many swept up in the housing bubble. Lets forget about those who fell behind on their mortgage ....today there are millions who have never missed a payment and the best they can hope for selling their house is to walk away and not owe the bank ....after 5, 10, 15 years of making payments!!

And the strongest proof that the tea party is a farce ...is the fact that Obama handily won in 2012.

The facts are all over the place for a blind man to see ...we saw FAUX New and Rush Limbaugh push this FAUX grass root movement for months ....under the funding of corporate mega funders .....who were they really trying to fool!!


You saw my thread about the electoral college ....getting rid of that sham would free up the system ....such that Tea Party idiots don't mean much!!

Well, your first and second sentence prove you have absolutely no knowledge of what you think you speak...most of us were sick of the fact that Bush would not use his veto pen to quash all that drunken democrat spending that the Republicans were following...so we didn't come out in force during the mid terms and the Republicans took a tumble...

I won't disagree about the dims losing steam, was not in that party and have no real knowledge, like you don't of the tea parties [plural], so I would take your word for it except for being so wrong about all the other stuff you are saying...

I do know about what they would and would not do with regards to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, where they had the back of all those scoundrels and let that catalyst light the powder keg that blew up our economy... all initiated by the CRA started under Carter and expanded under Clinton with assistance of those slugs working with ACORN.... thank you Andrew [RIP], James and Hannah...

WHY DID DEMOCRATS TRY TO COVER UP FANNIE MAE FREDDIE MAC SCAM - MUST SEE! - YouTube

Subprime Disaster - President Clinton Takes Credit for Community Reinvestment Act Loans - YouTube


The reason [just hold on there, how much do we ] Owe bama won is because the mainstream media is in the tank... and our largest segment of voters are wishy-washy independents easily influenced by that media. Story over.
 
Tea party plans to abandon GOP stars

Tea party plans to abandon GOP stars.

Four years ago, the movement and its potent mix of anger and populism persuaded thousands of costumed and sign-waving conservatives to protest the ballooning deficit and President Obama's health care law. It swept a crop of no-compromise lawmakers into Congress and governor's offices and transformed political up-and-comers, including Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, into household names.

But as many tea party stars seek re-election next year and Rubio considers a 2016 presidential run, conservative activists are finding themselves at a crossroads. Many of their standard-bearers have embraced more moderate positions on bedrock issues such as immigration and health care, broadening their appeal in swing states but dampening grass-roots passion.

"It changes the playing field for us," said Tom Gaitens, former Florida director of FreedomWorks, a political action committee that has spent millions of dollars to help tea party candidates. "The most powerful thing we have as a movement is our feet and our vote."

If they don't vote for the GOP who will they vote for?
If they don't vote at all, isn't this just handing the elections to the Dems?
I owe the Tea Party so much I don't know where to begin. Of course I nearly always vote for Democrats.
 
Well, your first and second sentence prove you have absolutely no knowledge of what you think you speak...most of us were sick of the fact that Bush would not use his veto pen to quash all that drunken democrat spending that the Republicans were following...so we didn't come out in force during the mid terms and the Republicans took a tumble...

I won't disagree about the dims losing steam, was not in that party and have no real knowledge, like you don't of the tea parties [plural], so I would take your word for it except for being so wrong about all the other stuff you are saying...

I do know about what they would and would not do with regards to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, where they had the back of all those scoundrels and let that catalyst light the powder keg that blew up our economy... all initiated by the CRA started under Carter and expanded under Clinton with assistance of those slugs working with ACORN.... thank you Andrew [RIP], James and Hannah...

WHY DID DEMOCRATS TRY TO COVER UP FANNIE MAE FREDDIE MAC SCAM - MUST SEE! - YouTube

Subprime Disaster - President Clinton Takes Credit for Community Reinvestment Act Loans - YouTube


The reason [just hold on there, how much do we ] Owe bama won is because the mainstream media is in the tank... and our largest segment of voters are wishy-washy independents easily influenced by that media. Story over.

It's like a compendium of discredited tea party memes, in one neatly wrapped package, and using dimwitted Palinesque puns! You even worked in ACORN despite it being totally exonerated and the rightwing forgeries exposed!

A tour de force of teabaggery.
 
And of course, Tea Partiers have such great sense of mission that they can only be outdone by the OWS in delusions of grandeur.

Remind me, how many OWS candidates got elected? How many OWS are potential presidential candidates, again, exactly, huh? Might wanna check your broadcast spreader for overfill there, sir, that's quite a load of fertilizer you are trying to put out.
 
It's like a compendium of discredited tea party memes, in one neatly wrapped package, and using dimwitted Palinesque puns! You even worked in ACORN despite it being totally exonerated and the rightwing forgeries exposed!

A tour de force of teabaggery
.




Thirty years from now if you bring up the Tea Party in a conversation, few people will know what you are talking about.
 
It's like a compendium of discredited tea party memes, in one neatly wrapped package, and using dimwitted Palinesque puns! You even worked in ACORN despite it being totally exonerated and the rightwing forgeries exposed!

A tour de force of teabaggery.

Dude, we have been through this all before, you haven't many ideas that are actually factual about history... but go ahead, lets see your evidence. ACORN TOTALLY EXONONERATED?????????.....WOW.... that lost are ya... a map with an arrow pointing out with a big RED star where you are would probably help. Only in the mainstream media and in the rather smoky rooms that the dims inhabit while watching MSLSD and jon-boy stewart can you get such stellar political analysis.

Show me the evidence.

BTW, since you insist on using the term, you are aware that teabagging, as you utilize the term, almost exclusively occurs on your side of the aisle, correct? Nasty term, but you just gotta use it dont ya?
 
Tea party is just getting started.

Yeah, I'm sure it will thrash around and harm the lives of hundred of thousands of hard working Americans as it shills for the Koch Brothers. Dying wounded animals act like that.
 
Thirty years from now if you bring up the Tea Party in a conversation, few people will know what you are talking about.

I bet the British said the same thing about the original Tea Party
 
Dude, we have been through this all before, you haven't many ideas that are actually factual about history... but go ahead, lets see your evidence. ACORN TOTALLY EXONONERATED?????????.....WOW.... that lost are ya... a map with an arrow pointing out with a big RED star where you are would probably help. Only in the mainstream media and in the rather smoky rooms that the dims inhabit while watching MSLSD and jon-boy stewart can you get such stellar political analysis.

Show me the evidence.

BTW, since you insist on using the term, you are aware that teabagging, as you utilize the term, almost exclusively occurs on your side of the aisle, correct? Nasty term, but you just gotta use it dont ya?

Jesus. He's not aware that the felonious O'Keefe and his faked footage has been exposed.

BWHHAHAHHAHAHH!

This is rich. ACORN and a total ignorance of O'Keefe's criminal actions. Perfect teabaggery!
 
Thirty years from now if you bring up the Tea Party in a conversation, few people will know what you are talking about.

It's part of the Knownothing Parties that have periodically emerged from the dark underbelly of American prejudice and paranoia and ignorance, like a pimple. Tea partiers are so ignorant, they don't even know their own ugly political pedigree.
 
I bet the British said the same thing about the original Tea Party

Your sham Koch Funded establishment have more in common with Vladimir Putin than you have with any real patriotic American.
You people should pack up and follow Ed Snowden!!
 
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