Anger reigns in ‘grass-roots’ movement that is becoming a caricature of itself
Saturday, March 27, 2010 | 2:05 a.m.
... Figuring out what the Tea Party movement stands for can be difficult because there are so many different groups, and they don’t all agree with one another. There’s lots of empty talk in Tea Party circles about patriotism, the Founding Fathers and liberty. But there is a dearth of ideas. Health care? Too much government involvement. (Never mind that the private sector hasn’t done the job.) Immigration? Not enough government involvement in terms of enforcement. The economy? Too much government involvement, particularly that bailout. The government apparently should have let the economy melt down ...
In Nevada the fight has been nasty as 20 self-proclaimed Tea Party groups came out in opposition to the Tea Party of Nevada, which is registered as a minor political party in the state and has a candidate ready to run against Reid. The 20 groups say the Tea Party of Nevada is not a real grass-roots conservative group. (Some even see a conspiracy and absurdly say Reid is behind the Tea Party of Nevada. In this fantasy, Reid uses a puppet conservative third-party candidate to split votes with a Republican challenger, giving him the victory.) There has since been a legal challenge to try to get the Tea Party of Nevada’s candidate, Jon Scott Ashjian, off the ballot.
Ashjian, in return, blasted the Tea Party Express, which did not invite him to its rallies, for being a puppet of the Republican Party, which he said has “failed conservatives time and time again" ...
At some point, the American public will grow weary of the emptiness of the movement. Anger burns hot, but it burns out. This weekend the stump speeches might brew up a good Tea Party, but they won’t provide the ideas and leadership Nevada and the country need.
http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2010/mar/27/tempest-tea-party/
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