The Tea Party is composed of normal Americans wanting to reduce the Federal government. Why in hell is that extreme? To the whack radical left it sure is.
Normal is the new “extreme.”
Just part of the Alinsky model - marginalize your opposition.
That’s what accusations of “extreme” are, by definition; the margins are extreme.
I think the term “baseline budgeting” can start to give you a picture why it’s considered extreme. When reductions in the rate of growth are demonized as drastic, heartless cuts, that’s the tip of the iceberg of what kind of worldview you’re dealing with.