Tea Partyers Not Keen About GOP Presidential Field

NPR ^ | Dec 18, 2012 | AP

[Jim Robinson]

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — Just a year ago, tea party activists came roaring out of the congressional elections eager to shape the looming race for the White House.

Things have not gone as planned.

Turned off by Mitt Romney's style and evolution on several important issues, they have bounced from one candidate to another in hopes of finding a formidable alternative to the former Massachusetts governor to focus their enthusiasm.

After a series of disappointments — Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann, Texas Gov. Rick Perry, and businessman Herman Cain among them — the anti-establishment movement has settled, for now, on a favorite: former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, even though he has spent more than three decades in Washington politics.

With the Iowa caucuses on Jan. 3 and tea party support fractured at best, some activists worry that the passion that defined the movement 13 months ago may become lost in the selection of the next president.

Infighting among conservative groups, a growing sense of pragmatism, and glaring weaknesses among the candidates have forced some tea party leaders to acknowledge their limits and shift their attention to Congress.

"I wish that we had coalesced behind one candidate earlier on. It's not because of the tea party movement, it's because there hasn't been that candidate out there so far that has stirred the passion — the fire in the belly," said Amy Kremer, president of the Tea Party Express. "Everybody wants to focus on presidential politics. I think we need to be focused on the Senate. That's where we really, really need to be engaged."

Lacking a presidential contender to rally behind, Kremer's organization and others have begun eyeing congressional elections that could shift the balance of power on Capitol Hill next fall regardless of the presidential race winner.

[yup2394871293]

In the case of voting for the next Republican nominee, they almost certainly are.

[yup2394871293]

From your link:

For his part, when Franklin Delano Roosevelt found the Supreme Court consistently throwing out New Deal legislation, he attempted to pack the Court with additional Supreme Court justices. While Roosevelt ultimately lost the battle in Congress, the assault had so intimidated the conservative justices that they shifted their opinions dramatically to accommodate the views of the vast majority of the American people as expressed in their votes for president and Congress. Roosevelt lost the battle but won the war.

Roosevelt was wrong, and so is Newt Gingrich.

[yup2394871293]

Which constitution are you talking about? The federal constitution or the constitutions of the states in question?