- Joined
- Jul 29, 2009
- Messages
- 34,478
- Reaction score
- 17,282
- Location
- Southwestern U.S.
- Gender
- Male
- Political Leaning
- Conservative
Tea Party’s already won
By A.B. Stoddard - 09/15/10 05:56 PM ET
Even before Christine O’Donnell handily defeated Rep. Mike Castle (R-Del.) in an epic upset Tuesday night, the Tea Parties, all of them, had already won. No matter what happens in the midterm elections on Nov. 2, the Tea Party has moved the Democrats to the right and the Republicans even more so, and President Obama’s agenda is dead.
Anger from disaffected conservatives who sat quietly through eight years of the surplus-to-deficit presidency of George W. Bush bubbled up immediately after Obama took office. All it took was the unprecedented $787 billion stimulus package, and before Obama could mark his first 100 days in office, a movement was born. Some of the already angry yet newly active were libertarian supporters of Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas), and almost all of them were fuming over the Troubled Asset Relief Program of 2008, the bipartisan bailout of Wall Street that Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) voted for and that his running mate, then-Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R), supported.
What debuted in nationwide protests on April 15, 2009, has taken less than 18 months to become the current driving force in American politics. The Tea Party insurgency will not only cost Democrats dozens of seats in Congress, and likely their majority — it will define the coming GOP presidential nominating process, determine the direction of the GOP for years to come and threaten any remaining plans Obama has for sweeping reforms of education, energy policy or our immigration system.
Can you just lump your stuff into one thread because you made like three in the same section in the past two days.
In effect, Democrats now can counter the GOP’s attempt to nationalize the election around the unpopular policies of the administration and Congress by pointing to such figures as O’Donnell, Nevada’s Sharron Angle and Kentucky’s Rand Paul and asking voters if that’s the Republican Party they want to return to power.
“They are beginning to resemble the bar scene from Star Wars,” said Democratic strategist Peter Fenn in POLITICO’s Arena, referring to the GOP candidates this year. “They are purging the conservative voices in their party who have any sort of pragmatic perspective and substituting true kooks.”
It’s not just in the Senate contests, which typically draw the most attention in the Washington-based political press corps, where out-of-the-political-mainstream candidates are capturing the GOP nod.
New York Republicans bypassed establishment favorite and former Rep. Rick Lazio Tuesday night to nominate Carl Paladino, a Buffalo businessman who has proposed turning prisons into dormitories for welfare recipients and been caught forwarding racist email jokes, as their gubernatorial candidate.
Democrats quickly lumped Paladino with other GOP gubernatorial candidates carrying significant baggage.
“Republicans are so eager to tear their own party apart that they nominated another Tea Party candidate who should be disqualified from holding public office, like Rick Scott in Florida and Dan Maes in Colorado,” said Democratic Governors Association Executive Director Nathan Daschle.
At a practical level, the party’s nomination of candidates such as O’Donnell, Angle, Paul has served to put races in play that, in a climate this favorable to Republicans, never should have been competitive.
But the Delaware results, in particular, were a shock to Republicans who were previously able to find some plausible explanation for why one of their incumbents or top candidates had taken a loss. Castle, unlike Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Robert Bennett, went after O’Donnell aggressively, exposed some damning information about what Rove called her “checkered background,” and hadn’t been the target of notable dissent within the state party.
But voters shrugged their shoulders.
“People didn’t’ care,” lamented one GOP strategist involved in the race, referring to the reaction to reams of oppo research on O’Donnell.
That GOP primary voters would go ahead and nominate such a risky candidate has establishment Republicans worrying about who, if anybody, is now in charge of a traditionally top-down party.
If nothing else, the 8 primary election defeats suffered by NRSC-favored candidates this year indicates the lack of a unified command structure within the GOP now. It has, in effect, become an uncontrolled and ungoverned party in which the powers that be in Washington are mere bystanders.
“Where are the adults?” one strategist wondered.
Davis put it bluntly: “The Republican establishment has no cache right now.”
Those regular Republicans lashed out Tuesday night at the man they view as largely responsible for credentialing so many of the tea party hopefuls this year, Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.)
“It speaks volumes that in Jim DeMint’s world, the ‘principles of freedom’ are more important than a candidate who pays their taxes, is honest with voters and who isn’t a complete fraud,” said a senior GOP aide. “Senator DeMint may be patting himself on the back tonight but many Republicans look forward to post-November 2nd when he has to explain why he helped the Democrats retain the majority for yet another two years.”
Firing back, DeMint spokesman Matt Hoskins said: "Based on the number of Republicans DeMint has helped get elected this year, I would say he's done quite a bit to elect a majority. Perhaps the real reason some Washington insiders are upset is that these Republicans actually have principles.”
Even more striking than the staff sniping, though, was the unmistakable tension on Fox News Tuesday night between Rove and conservative talk show host Sean Hannity – two of the most influential players in the conservative movement.
The competing views about the meaning of the O’Donnell victory– either a lost opportunity to reclaim the Senate or a warning shot directed at moderate Republicans – was on vivid display.
“I found her quite impressive and more importantly, she is a solid conservative,” Hannity said.
“It does conservatives little good to support candidates who, while they may be conservative in their public statements, do not evince the characteristics of rectitude, truthfulness and sincerity and character the voters are looking for,” Rove shot back.
The opposition, meanwhile, could only marvel at their fortune in an otherwise dismal year.
“Democrats now must be favored to hold the Senate,” said former Democratic Texas Rep. Martin Frost in POLITICO’s Arena. “The reality that the inmates are now clearly in charge of the GOP asylum could even have a carry over effect and help Democratic House candidates.”
It's just too bad it took the radical policies of the Obama administration and democrats on capitol hill to wake up America. If they would have done this 30 years ago, we might not be in this mess today.
Tea Party
Meh they might take the house but not the senate.
If I was the Tea Party leadership, although one doesn't exist, or a member of the Tea Party I'd be worried about excluding too many people. Not to generalize but many, not all, Tea Partiers are too willing to exclude rather than compromise and can be very passionate, to put it politely, about their beliefs. If they exclude too much, or aren't willing to work with others enough, they may find themselves a permanent minority, although still a noisy one.
And not that im entirely innocent of this either, but Tea Partiers seem to demand a strict adherence and a violent rejection of those unwilling or unable to exist in that narrow band of beliefs and political values that are acceptable
First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win.
oh my gosh? the republican elite aren't in charge of their own party any more? democrat elites are facing electoral loss to relative political newcomers? gosh, i guess that means we will be bereft of their awesome leadership that we've been enjoying for the last few years?
OP Article said:Anger from disaffected conservatives who sat quietly through eight years of the surplus-to-deficit presidency of George W. Bush bubbled up immediately after Obama took office.
It amazes me that people actually believe the Tea Party candidates are any different than any other politicians. They are just telling the people what they want to hear. Just like all the rest.
The Tea Party rhetoric reminds me of all that "Hope and Change" BS of the last presidential race.That may well be true, and if it is, there will be hell to pay in the 2012 congressional elections. My belief is, these Tea Party people are serious about what they expect out of members of congress, and if they don't deliver, they will bounce them out on their asses next time around.
In other words, I don't think the Tea Party folks are playing around, nor do I see them as some flash in the pan political movement.
The Tea Party rhetoric reminds me of all that "Hope and Change" BS of the last presidential race.
Well, the "hope & change" garbage, was baseless media generated hype that is already dead and buried. If the media would have done their job and reported what the man actually stood for, our president would be John McCain right now.
On the other hand, the Tea Party movement has risen not because of the main stream media, but in spite of them. The liberal left and their ever faithful media have relentlessly attacked and marginalized the Tea Party people and the candidates they've supported since day one, yet they continue to grow stronger every day.
You are of course entitled to your opinion, but comparing the shallow and phony Hope & Change crap, to the beliefs, principals and determination of the Tea Party people, is misguided and foolish in my opinion... Only time will tell though.
What you seem to ignore is that many of the attacks against the tea party are from republicans, not the media or liberals.
As for Obama, he turned out to be pretty much what the media portrayed him to be before the election. The Hope and change was his campaign theme, not the medias.
Soul-searching time: a GOP torn - POLITICO.com Print View
~snip
This is so sad that so many are so confused.
The Tea Party rhetoric reminds me of all that "Hope and Change" BS of the last presidential race.
Great so aside whining about how horrible the Tea Party is... got alternatives to offer?
Hmm?
Attacks on the tea party efforts/agenda from Republicans are minimal. And they are typically from those in the GOP that are just consumed with seat counts and "probability" for winning party majority.
The Democrats and the left constitute the bulk of the efforts to ridicule/diminish the positions and credibility of the tea party members. In itself, the attacks are probably smart politics. Because the tea party has grassroots momentum and is a genuine threat to a number of Democratically held offices.
.
We use cookies and similar technologies for the following purposes:
Do you accept cookies and these technologies?
We use cookies and similar technologies for the following purposes:
Do you accept cookies and these technologies?