The Decline of the Tea Party

[Ptarmigan]

The Decline of the Tea Party
http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/11/05/the-decline-of-the-tea-party/

There is an apocryphal story about the origins of neoconservatism in the 1960s. Some liberal professors at Harvard were sympathetic to the New Left and such radical groups as Students for a Democratic Society. But one day one of these professors heard the radicals suggest burning down the Harvard library as an act of protest, and the professor suddenly realized that he had nothing in common with them at all. He organized some other professors into a vigil to protect the library at all cost.

Today, the problem isn’t the New Left, but the radical right, which has dominated American politics at least since the rise of the Tea Party movement in 2009 following the election of Barack Obama. It’s too soon to say for sure, but recent events suggest that some of those previously supporting the Tea Party have had their Harvard library moment. There are signs of a pushback among the wealthy, conservative elites and the business community that may see the political pendulum begin to swing back toward the middle.

No one particular event seems to have created this moment. The government shutdown is one, the impending Republican loss in the Virginia governor’s race is another, and so is the dawning recognition that the right-wing war on the poor and glorification of profits and wealth may have gone too far.

Bruce Bartlett wrote it. He is an Old Guard Republican.

[Dori]

The Tea Party isn't dead.  Just about every conservative board I've visited could be classified "Tea Party" but they aren't.  I'm not a member, have never been to a TP meeting or rally, yet I think and vote just like they do.

[Freeper]

The Tea Party isn't dead.  Just about every conservative board I've visited could be classified "Tea Party" but they aren't.  I'm not a member, have never been to a TP meeting or rally, yet I think and vote just like they do.

If it was dead they wouldn't be talking about it all the time. Leftists tell each other the Tea Party is dead to make themselves feel better.

[txradioguy]

If it was dead they wouldn't be talking about it all the time. Leftists tell each other the Tea Party is dead to make themselves feel better.

And now it appears the establishment GOP types are saying the same thing to justify their betrayal of the base.

[Bad Dog]

The Tea Party isn't dead.  Just about every conservative board I've visited could be classified "Tea Party" but they aren't.  I'm not a member, have never been to a TP meeting or rally, yet I think and vote just like they do.

This is their ( progressives, rinos & press)  problem.  The first true grassroots movement.  They have no idea how to fight it.

[wasp69]

More whistling past the graveyard.

[Lacarnut]

And now it appears the establishment GOP types are saying the same thing to justify their betrayal of the base.

What irks me to no end is these high and mighty GOP elites expects conservatives to support and vote for RINO's but when the shoe is on the other foot they turn their backs on us. I have had it with these sanctimonious bastards in the GOP/RNC. So, I will withhold my support if the Repubs put up another candidate like Romney or fat boy for Prez. Two can play that game.

[thundley4]

The MSM likes to show polls that highlight the decline of the TEA Party. I have a theory that those polls aren't really true.

They are showing that people don't want to associate with the poor image that the MSM has given the TEA Party, but their politics still coincide greatly with the TEA Party.  Those people will still vote for the conservative in a race.

[SaintLouieWoman]

The Tea Party isn't dead.  Just about every conservative board I've visited could be classified "Tea Party" but they aren't.  I'm not a member, have never been to a TP meeting or rally, yet I think and vote just like they do.

Same here. I was at a silly neighborhood HOA meeting and a woman I truly dislike, a total busybody, started talking about another neighbor. She hissed "he's one of those tea partiers." I smiled at her and said "so am I". She backed off. She probably spread it all over the neigborhood, but don't care.

[98ZJUSMC]

Same here. I was at a silly neighborhood HOA meeting and a woman I truly dislike, a total busybody, started talking about another neighbor. She hissed "he's one of those tea partiers." I smiled at her and said "so am I". She backed off. She probably spread it all over the neigborhood, but don't care.

I would have paid to have seen the look on her face. 

[DefiantSix]

(Cue creepy zombie movie usic here)

I think the RINO wing of the GOP is about to discover how undead the TEA Party wing is.

One thing I think this election cycle showed, is that the TEA Party cannot and shouldn't rely on financial support from the GOP for their campaigns. It was understood by the more astute ones earlier, but this election, and watching what the party did to Cuccinelli in the gubernatorial race should take TEA Party campaigns like FreedomWorks and Defund the GOP from the shadows of obscurity and into the full limelight of the 2014 mid-term season.

I seriously believe that if those alternative funding organizations take off like I think they will, before 2014 is over we're going to see a bunch of the RINOs jumping ship to the Democrat party as funding for the likes of them dries up, polling on their primarys stack up against them, and "those damned TEA Party whackos" don't dry up and go away.

[Purple Sage]

From http://www.opensecrets.org/parties/

Note the Dem's Debt column.    
   

	Total Raised	Total Spent	Cash on Hand	Debts
Democratic Party	$250,779,535	$176,199,276	$47,971,368	$26,826,609
Republican Party	$171,256,290	$152,670,107	$43,559,097	$1,713,333
Democratic National Cmte	$48,923,151	$48,024,230	$5,858,165	$17,450,506
Republican National Cmte	$61,002,366	$55,191,923	$12,030,328	$0
Democratic Congressional Campaign Cmte	$58,187,714	$38,102,987	$21,572,948	$0
National Republican Congressional Cmte	$47,852,152	$33,700,961	$15,685,802	$0
Democratic Senatorial Campaign Cmte	$38,637,623	$30,416,076	$10,031,506	$7,500,000
National Republican Senatorial Cmte	$25,665,556	$25,628,339	$3,418,005	$0

[Dori]

Same here. I was at a silly neighborhood HOA meeting and a woman I truly dislike, a total busybody, started talking about another neighbor. She hissed "he's one of those tea partiers." I smiled at her and said "so am I". She backed off. She probably spread it all over the neigborhood, but don't care.

  

Thank goodness my neighbors are conservatives.  At least the one's I know who talk about politics. 

[Chris_]

From http://www.opensecrets.org/parties/

Note the Dem's Debt column.    
   

	Total Raised	Total Spent	Cash on Hand	Debts
Democratic Party	$250,779,535	$176,199,276	$47,971,368	$26,826,609
Republican Party	$171,256,290	$152,670,107	$43,559,097	$1,713,333
Democratic National Cmte	$48,923,151	$48,024,230	$5,858,165	$17,450,506
Republican National Cmte	$61,002,366	$55,191,923	$12,030,328	$0
Democratic Congressional Campaign Cmte	$58,187,714	$38,102,987	$21,572,948	$0
National Republican Congressional Cmte	$47,852,152	$33,700,961	$15,685,802	$0
Democratic Senatorial Campaign Cmte	$38,637,623	$30,416,076	$10,031,506	$7,500,000
National Republican Senatorial Cmte	$25,665,556	$25,628,339	$3,418,005	$0

They campaign just like they govern.

Just ask all the cities Obama visits that go into the red to cover for him.

[Purple Sage]

They disgust me.

[jctejas]

it still puzzles me why I should vote for a republican who acts like a democrat.  No one can say the tea party acts like democrats.

jctejas