Comments like this invite a challenge.
First, the Tea Party brought tremendous energy, money and candidates to the Republican Party, helping push Republicans across the finish line in many close elections.
Second, in some cases, the Tea Party may have messed things up. For example. Delaware. But, who’s to say a Congressman who couldn’t defeat an upstart in the Republican primary was going to represent the party well in the general?
The NET was a big plus for the Republicans.
Anybody who dismisses the Tea Party’s importance to the Republican coalition is saying they should just send in their money to us, and vote for us, because we are, according to their perspective, only half as bad as the Democrats.
Real political leaders keep all the members of the coalition happy, or as many as possible. They don’t trash the other members of the coalition.
It should also be pointed out that the tea party played a big part in electing Scott Brown knowing full well that he was extremely flawed by tea party standards.
It was a rational and calculated decision on the part of tea partiers.