Seems to me that the tea party has been co-opted into the GOP.
I hope the purge is true and is happening.
Hey, the RINO's are free to form there own moderate party if they want. But I would prefer that the RINOS' buck and support the Conservatives, RINO's have no place to go.
>> The Tea Party purist police - with their rigid ideological orthodoxy - presume to know who’s a “true” conservative.
We have plenty of those right here on FR.
It seems to me that the Tea Party is doing its job. Good for them.
The article doesn't state it but I bet that “regional transportation” could be solved though private means with a single penny of tax money.
So Mr. Jackson likes liberals. If he doesn’t quit the Tea Party, I hope they throw him out.
The Georgia Republican party is full of RINOs. The current governor and previous governor were at one time a Democrat.
The author sounds miffed that the Tea Party’s messin’ with the GOP establishment’s fun and games.
God bless the Sons of Liberty !
Mark
“They demand acquiescence to their agenda and intimidate Republican officeholders adhere to it or face a primary challenge.”
OH NOES!!!!! This is SERIES and HUGH!!!! We can’t have congress-critters thinking that they might have to ACTUALLY represent those who hired them!!!
The author says this like it's a bad thing. I think it's a good thing.
I disagree, in that the Republicans effort to co-opt the Tea Party is grabbing a fistful of water. The Tea Party are individuals, not a group of chattel that can be bought or sold.
I’ll likewise add that this is *demonstrated* by individuals in the Tea Party attacking just about every Republican contender. And I’ll put this down to “Holding their feet to the fire”.
The individuals in the Tea Party have been burned too many times FOR DECADES, to trust the Republican party AT ALL, when it comes to carrying out the Tea Party agenda.
Because the Republican party WILL NOT carry out the Tea Party agenda. Only INDIVIDUAL Republicans may try to do so.
And the Tea Party agenda, by the way, IS NOT a fixed set of goals, but an overall *philosophy* of how government is *supposed* to be run.
And *this* is what the Republicans find most objectionable about the Tea Party. They loathe having “core values” in which they can’t haggle and deal make with their political opponents. They much prefer hugs and kisses with the liberals, and at best inertia, NOT opposition to the liberal agenda.
Remember the Contract With America? It was extremely popular for a few, simple reasons:
1) It presented clear, concise goals.
2) It did not waffle, or place reservations on these goals.
3) It was realistic, promising only a vote, not a win.
4) It was objective, so that those who signed on either kept their promise, or cheated and broke their promise.
And even at the time, many Republicans refused to sign on, because they hated every aspect of the honesty found in the document.
So what is the Tea Party doing right now?
Self appointed “leaders” can bloviate all they want, because they control nothing. They cannot muster a vote *for* a candidate. But they *can* persuade other Tea Party members to *not* support a candidate.
And this is an important, even vital thing to do.
The individuals within the Tea Party know that our nation has been about brought to ruin by liberal Democrats and liberal Republicans, and that there is NO crystal clear, unimpeachable voice for conservatism in ANY of the current crop of candidates.
So yes, the best the Tea Party can do right now is refuse to accept the Republican parties’ *default* RINO candidate instead of a conservative. Truthfully the RINOs would prefer a liberal Democrat as president to a Republican conservative, which shows you how godforsaken they are.
And the RINOs perpetual message is horribly wrong. They keep insisting that a conservative candidate *cannot ever* win, so all candidates *must* be “big tent” liberals or moderates.
But they are dead wrong in this. Each and every time a real conservative runs for office, unless they are downright crazy, they win, against both liberal Republicans and liberal Democrats.
America WANTS conservatives in political office, from state legislators all the way up to the office of the presidency. And only the RINOs, and their “Beltway bandits”, truly stand in the way of this happening.
And, of course, Republican liberals pretending to be conservatives, who get nominated to be the Republican candidate for president.
We’ve had to endure the failure of Bob Dole, selected for us, and the utter turkey John McCain, selected for us, so NO MORE.
Either candidates promise to embrace the Tea Party philosophy as part of their core values, or the heck with them. The time for pragmatism, “crossing the aisle”, wheeling and dealing with scoundrels, and bending the knee for disreputable lobbyists is OVER.