The Tea Party is/was suppose to be about fiscal responsibility, which is what Romney/Ryan ran on. It was not supposed to be about social issues. The fact that the democrats, the media, and even some here on FR successfully hung the Tea Party on the necks of those like Akin, Murdoch, et al tells me the movement is over. This is sad because the Tea Party movement as initially established had a message that could have appealed to the Ron Paul crowd as well as a good chunk of the 18-24 contingent, but we blew it and Obama won those votes despite being the antithesis of what they stand for. Instead of fiscal issues, they voted on pot, gays, and free contraception. Time to dissolve the “Tea Party” and rebrand while ditching the social issues. They need to be addressed at the state and local levels and not the federal level anyway.
Many of us were afraid that the small-government Tea Party would be co-opted. I am still hopeful that it can be pulled back, but who knows.
Yeah, let's tell the evangelicals to get lost. That'll be a winning strategy, for sure,