Tea party plans to abandon GOP stars

[onehandle]

Source: AP

MIAMI (AP) — This wasn't the revolution the tea party had in mind. 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. "They keep sticking their finger in the eyes of the guys who got them elected," said Ralph King, a co-founder of the Cleveland Tea Party Patriots. "A lot of people are feeling betrayed."

The tea party is a loosely knit web of activists, and some are hoping to rekindle the fire with 2014 primary challenges to wayward Republicans. But many more say they plan to sit out high-profile races in some important swing states next year, a move that GOP leaders fear could imperil the re-election prospects of former tea party luminaries, including the governors of Florida and Ohio. "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."

In the summer of 2009, tea party supporters stormed congressional town hall meetings, shouting down lawmakers who had voted for the bank bailout and the stimulus package. The movement's voice grew louder after Democrats passed the health care overhaul, and voters took their outrage to the polls in 2010. The tea party wave stunned Democrats and many moderate Republicans, sweeping the GOP into control of the House and changing the balance of power in many statehouses. But not long after some tea party stars took office, political analysts said, they were forced to adapt to a changing landscape, particularly in states Obama won in 2012, and to the realities of governing.


Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/tea-party-plans-abandon-gop-stars-083902786.html

[JoePhilly]

1. AstroTurf doesn't grow. nt

[Crow73]

8. You can't grow a

group that are dying off.

[JustAnotherGen]

2. Now I'm CONVINCED it was a Koch Brother's Press Release

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1251&pid=318452

The tea party is a loosely knit web of activists, and some are hoping to rekindle the fire with 2014 primary challenges to wayward Republicans. But many more say they plan to sit out high-profile races in some important swing states next year, a move that GOP leaders fear could imperil the re-election prospects of former tea party luminaries, including the governors of Florida and Ohio. "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."

So what kind of a game are they running? This is a political 'move' - maybe to make use take our eye off the ball? To psyche out Republicans who might be willing to compromise and DO THEIR JOB . . . at this point - they are paid to do nothing?

I don't believe they intend to abandon anyone they swept into the House or Senate. It's just a game to these people. They have no respect for the Federal Government and this 'press release' shows it . . . effin' game players.

[Gormy Cuss]

9. Yeah, the most powerful thing about the tea party 'movement' is that Koch seed money.

Got a lot of useful idiots to do their dirty work for them. The teabaggers in the streets didn't get those officials elected -- it was the deep pockets of the wealthy.

[BlueManFan]

3. They Are Finding Out that the Tea Party Turd Needs Some Polish

and once these asshats got an earful from their constituents who are suffering and hurting, Grover's plan on killing government isn't quite as good an idea as they thought when they bought those ridiculous tri-corner hats and hung teabags off their bonnets. Every night when I say my prayers I thank God for that idiot teabag Grandma with her "I'm Teabagging For Jesus" sign. A little Google search would have saved those clowns a lot of negative press about the whole teabagger issue. At least they didn't call themselves the "Santorums"... a frothy mix of lube and.....you remember!!!!!

[Turbineguy]

4. This will help the GOP.

They can jettison the crazy wing.

[niyad]

5. awwww, they feel "betrayed". me widdle heart just bweeeeds.

[Sunlei]

6. without the millions $$$$ the teabags are ready for the trash

none of them work free out of the goodness of their hearts.

[demwing]

7. Rick Scott is a "luminary" ?

He's the least popular Governor in the country, and he's a shining star?

This country is a dumb-assed mess, and we won't fix it till we identify the dumb-assed cause. I think the root cause is dumb-assedness.

How do you convince the dumb-asses that their dumb-assedness is the problem? How do we remove the dumb-assed politicians from office while we deal with the dumb-assed voters?

[jmowreader]

10. He was in 2010. All the tea party governors were.

Since then, they've all managed to piss off everyone including teabaggers.

The theme song of the tea party would be Queen''s I Want It All, if Freddy Mercury wouldn't have been one a dem dere homerseckshual gay faggit un-Amerukun furriners. But since they can't have it all, they're taking their inflatable Sarah Palin love dolls and going home.

[tabasco]

11. Will seek leaders more in line with their political philosophy

[BlueMTexpat]

12. My retired husband has been taking courses at a local

community college and has enrolled in a PoliSci course for this fall. One of the texts is entitled "The Tea Party and the Remaking of Republican Conservatism," a 2012, 2013 Oxford University Press book, co-authored by Theda Skocpol (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theda_Skocpol) and Vanessa Williamson (http://www.hks.harvard.edu/socialpol/students/students.htm.

This is a book that I believe all good Democrats - in fact, all Americans who want something better for our country than its current dysfunctionality and selfishness - should read, if for nothing other than warnings from the last two paragraphs (added after the 2012 election):

... Although the reelection of Barack Obama shields ObamaCare from repeal, efforts will still be made to cut Congressional funding and sabotage the implementation of the law in Republican-controlled states. Tea Party-prodded Republicans are likely to remain firm in opposition to most tax increases and look for major restructuring of Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. And they are sure to oppose legislative and regulatory steps to fight global warming.

A single electoral setback, in short, does not mean certain defeat for the priorities pushed by the Tea Party's ideologues, billionaires, and grassroots activists. In 2012, the national Republican Party may have suffered more than gained from Tea Party activism. But the after-effects of the 2009 and 2010 mobilizations live on, and the Republican party remains extreme in style and policy substance. The impact of the Tea Party will remain evident in American politics for years to come.

The italicization is mine.

We are in a long-term struggle for democracy, not merely an election to election cycle, where allegiances shift at the slightest disappointment (and I grant that some disappointments are harsher than others). The sooner that we acknowledge the long-term and understand that we should not be so easily distracted by the various scandals and disappointments du jour that create (and are precisely intended to create) discord, dissension and despair in our ranks but should rather seek to unify ourselves for the long-term onslaught that lies ahead, the better off we will all be - and so will our country. Otherwise, we may win certain battles. But we will surely lose the war.

[JustAnotherGen]

14. +1

The sooner that we acknowledge the long-term and understand that we should not be so easily distracted by the various scandals and disappointments du jour that create (and are precisely intended to create) discord, dissension and despair in our ranks but should rather seek to unify ourselves for the long-term onslaught that lies ahead, the better off we will all be - and so will our country. Otherwise, we may win certain battles. But we will surely lose the war.

[olddad56]

13. That is unfortunate, as they were hurting more than helping.

[marble falls]

15. Splitting the Teapublican vote. That's change I can live with!

[Mnpaul]

16. From the article:

The movement's top strategists acknowledge the tea party is quieter today, by design.

Six people showing up for their event was planned all along. Yeah right. They are no longer needed by the 1%. Without the 1% funding the events and busing them to it, they have nothing.