The problem is the middle class is getting squeezed from both sides. They are paying for social services while receiving none. And paying for corporate bailouts while also receiving none of the benefits. I think the original tea party movement was purely about cutting government spending and taxes because the middle class got sick of footing the bill for everything. Then the tea party got hijacked by Fox News, the Koch brothers and religious wackos like Michelle Bachman who were pushing their own agendas.
I think you're giving them too much credit. The original tea party movement (IMO) was born out of being pissed off that Obama won in 2008 and nothing more.
Tea Party was a product of the 2010 mid-term electorate. Mid-term election turnouts tend to be low overall, and enthusiasm among the Tea Party folks (i.e. older white people) make them a higher portion of the electorate than they are during Presidential-year elections. So, the Tea Party may well come back in 2014 in force if the rest of us don't vote. The Democrats will need to try and drive voter turnouts in 2014 as hard as or harder than they've done in 2012.
^^^ This If the Tea Partiers were so angry about government spending, why were they in hiding when GWB put two wars on an already maxed-out credit card? The only reason the Tea Party came into existence was because Barack Obama was elected President in 2008.
It's hard to get people to care about mid terms. I don't think it was a lack of effort by democrats. Obama wasn't at the top of the ticket during the mid terms. Dems weren't going out to vote for him but old republicans felt like they could vote against him.
I don't think they are dead but their relevance is diminished. As another poster noted they are zealots and this election might just increase their zealotry but mainline Republicans are going to be much less willing to court them. Still in several states they will retain enough influence to play a role in primaries and local politics.
Tea Party was a short term solution to repubs long-term problem. Republicans shortsightedness forced themselves to go all-in. But the Tea Party were no pocket aces, far from it. I think republicans have been set back and it will take a good 6 to 10 years to get back to what they were immediately after 9-11.
Sorry, but I don't buy it. It was everything you mentioned, and more, and it was an improving economy. It was far from just the economy. This is the first time since FDR that a president has been elected with unemployment this high. That's using memory. Someone tell me if I'm wrong.
Klan may soon make a comeback: http://www.upi.com/blog/2012/11/07/...-by-Chancellor-Dan-Jones-VIDEO/4421352318759/
Ron Paul republicans and libertarians were angry at Bush, but did not get any press until financial crisis. Paul had a tea party fund raiser in 2007, so there was a small movement before the election. The bailouts happened and Obama got elected, then everyone jumped on board. Fox and the Koch brothers publicized and funded the movement and it went from a grass roots less government / less taxes movement into the abomination it is now.
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listening to some of the things that Lindsey Graham has said lately, the republican party is about to go through some changes, and hopefully evict the maniacs. I loved this quote from Graham: “If I hear anybody say it was because Romney wasn’t conservative enough I’m going to go nuts,” Graham said. “We’re not losing 95 percent of African-Americans and two-thirds of Hispanics and voters under 30 because we’re not being hard-ass enough.”
Pontificate as you will. However, I always found the vast majority of tea partiers to be rational folks who only wanted fiscal sanity from their representatives coupled with smaller government that sustained the personal freedoms granted by the Constitution. Roughly 75% of the people with whom I communicated either managed / owned businesses or were spouses of business owners. Unlike some, we cleaned our protest sites. We were cordial to police and certainly never defecated on their cars. There were no rapes or murders. Granted, there were protest signs that contained misspelled words (the horror!) So, liberals won. Okay. But don't denigrate a significant portion of Americans who voiced their protest and tried to make their country better. Personally, I think the country is stronger for it. You may disagree, but that's what the whole movement was about.
Sadly, I see the tea party losing it's way. They are leaning towards more immigration. They are selecting anchor babies like Rubio and Cruz in order to stay relevant. They have changed over the last 2 years. Rubio or Cruz will likely be the 2016 tea party frontrunner in the GOP primary.
