Former S.F. Mayor "Slick" Willie Brown warns Dems: Teabaggers might be 2nd Coming Of Saint Ronnie

[Amerigo Vespucci]

Oct. 5, 2010, 7:26 p.m. EDT · Recommend (2) · Post:
Reagan revolution in tea party, warns Willie Brown
Populist movement poses challenge to Democrats, but not this year

By Jonathan Burton, MarketWatch

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — The tea-party movement will become the face of the Republican Party, according to Willie Brown, the former mayor of San Francisco who also was the longtime speaker of the California State Assembly.

The veteran Democrat, who now is a political adviser and a columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle, offered his views about the tea-party movement’s chances in the U.S. midterm elections, the acrimonious California governor’s race and how Barack Obama can save his presidency.

“The tea party offers quality, interesting, attractive candidates who seem to be credentialed enough to be believable in Republican primaries,” Brown said in a wide-ranging interview at his downtown San Francisco office last week.
Willie Brown warns of tea-party threat

The tea-party movement will become the GOP's new face, according to Willie Brown, the former mayor of San Francisco who also was the longtime speaker of California's State Assembly. The political veteran handicaps the midterm elections and the Golden State's governor's race, and talks about how Barack Obama can save his presidency.

The movement, he added, “will be the face ultimately of the Republican Party — and that may translate into good success.”

“I’m warning Democrats that you’ve got to be really careful. If the tea party really does capture the Republican operation, it will be suddenly what Reagan did. He took the Republican minority and added it to the disgruntled and disenchanted Democrats, particularly with the Southern strategy, and turned that into 12 years of Republican … presidencies.”

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/reagan-revolution-in-tea-party-warns-willie-brown-2010-10-05

[marmar]

1. 'The tea party offers quality, interesting, attractive candidates'

I think Hizzoner's hat is on too tight.

[Amerigo Vespucci]

3. Mr. Brown was seen by some, back in his glory days, as a bit of a fop and a clown

I'll never understand why politicians of Brown's ilk decided to become "spokesmen" and "strategists" in their twilight years.

[elleng]

2. Sure, if they had a leader and if they were a party. Neither apply,

tho their 'suppliers,' Armey and his cohorts, will milk them for all they can.

[ljm2002]

4. While I disagree with his characterization...

...of Tea Party candidates as being "quality, interesting, attractive candidates", I totally agree that this development has the potential to strip voters away from Democrats in the long run.

The way I see it, the Democratic party gave up on its populist base a long time ago. They opted for the Third Way, i.e. sellout to the corporations so they could get campaign funds and cushy jobs when out of government.

The predictable end result is a disaffected middle class and an even more disaffected working class. Couple that with dismal job numbers, and no prospect for that to change anytime soon, and you have a very volatile political situation.

Personally I don't see sweeping change in this midterm election -- it looks like we'll win some and lose some, but not like 1994, at least right now. But watch out in 2012 if the party hasn't figured out a way to appeal to the masses.

Sad to see the missed opportunities. A radical overhaul of health care might have had some impact. A public jobs program, with the government taking its role as hirer-of-last-resort, and the resultant visible improvements in our infrastructure etc., could have helped a lot.

But no. It has to be more of the same, with some improvements but not enough to have a visible impact on most of us. Now, whenever health care premiums go up, it will be blamed on the HCR bill. Never mind that they were going up before; people will rightly ask, but why did we struggle to pass a bill that does NOTHING to curb the rate hikes?

So I think Willie Brown is quite correct to warn the party. In the long run, we could lose a lot of voters who don't see any tangible improvements to their lives. Sure, they may be uninformed, and they may vote against their best interests. But where can they go to truly vote FOR their best interests? I'm not seeing that either party has shown they have the best interests of the masses at heart.

One final note. It is not a good political argument to claim that our candidates are "less worse" than the other side's candidates. That is a losing proposition, but that's where we are right now IMO.