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Congressional GOP's pandering to the tea party may haunt them in 2016
newsnet5.com ^ | 8/19/14 | Dick Meyer

Posted on 08/20/2014 5:41:46 AM PDT by cotton1706

WASHINGTON, D.C. - In a lackluster election year, the one story that seemed to offer decent drama was the "Tea Party versus the Republican Establishment" conflagration.

I am now inclined to think that wasn’t the big story and that the tea party didn’t lose. The tea party did do poorly in elections and is losing support in the electorate.

But the movement is gaining power in Congress anyway. And that is likely to hurt the Republican Party badly down the road. That's the story.

snip

There is one trend that legitimately scares incumbents: They are winning primaries by smaller margins than usual.

Political scientist Robert Boatright of Clark University has the historical data on margins in Senate GOP primaries:

snip

One out of every 10 Republicans has finished below 60 percent, the point at which things start looking truly dangerous. Both rates are actually higher than in 2012 or the "anti-incumbent year" of 2010.”

"There's no question that many members are much more concerned with their primaries than when I was first elected," Charlie Dent, a moderate Republican from Pennsylvania said to the National Journal."... And because too many of my colleagues are nervous about their primaries, it's interfering with their better judgment on governance issues. At times, I feel that too many of my colleagues are governing out of fear — or I should say, not governing out of fear."

snip

But tea party clout in Congress is growing. According to Elaine Kamarck of Brookings, “The absence of tools to enforce party discipline, the ubiquity of primary challengers to Republican incumbents and the early suggestion that incumbent margins are shrinking suggest that, in spite of tea party losses they are still having an enormous impact on their party and thus on the entire political system.”

(Excerpt) Read more at newsnet5.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: elections
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Interesting piece. You can almost feel the writer gritting his teeth, saying to himself "how are these people gaining power when we've thrown everything AND the kitchen sink at them??"
1 posted on 08/20/2014 5:41:46 AM PDT by cotton1706
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To: cotton1706

When did the GOP-e ever pander to the TEA Party?

They hate us more than the DIMS.


2 posted on 08/20/2014 5:43:19 AM PDT by Arm_Bears (Rope. Tree. Politician. Some assembly required.)
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To: cotton1706
Hey, I thought the Tea Party was dead, tot, muerte, etc.

Now we have a pointy head from the Brookings Institution saying we're having an enormous impact on the political system.

3 posted on 08/20/2014 5:46:17 AM PDT by Night Hides Not (Remember the Alamo! Remember Goliad! Remember Mississippi!)
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To: Arm_Bears

“When did the GOP-e ever pander to the TEA Party?”

They haven’t, but that’s the liberal intelligentsia’s view. The congressmen have been responding to the people constantly calling and emailing them, which is proper in a representative republic.

The writer and the intelligentsia are upset that the representatives in Congress are paying attention to the democracy (who they view as the rabble) and not the aristocracy (who they view as the wise and good).


4 posted on 08/20/2014 5:46:26 AM PDT by cotton1706 (ThisRepublic.net)
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To: Night Hides Not

“Now we have a pointy head from the Brookings Institution saying we’re having an enormous impact on the political system.”

Yup, we’re getting through! And they don’t know what to do or how to stop us!


5 posted on 08/20/2014 5:47:38 AM PDT by cotton1706 (ThisRepublic.net)
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To: cotton1706

the liberal anlysis

the TEA party!
It’s losing!
But it’s everywere!
It’s taking over the system!
Arrrgh!


6 posted on 08/20/2014 5:51:05 AM PDT by silverleaf (Age takes a toll: Please have exact change)
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To: cotton1706

The GOPe comes from the same areas, schools, and clubs as the DemE.

The TEA party candidates come from more Midwest, South, and West schools.

In other words, the worldview of the two groups is as different as between someone in New York and someone in west Texas or central Nebraska.

The nobility does not like the new class of people coming into their midst. If they can’t stop them at the ballot box, they will use legal attacks to do so.

Honestly the end game may be the limiting of the voting franchise. The elite of both sides will do what ever it takes to cling to power.


7 posted on 08/20/2014 5:52:33 AM PDT by redgolum ("God is dead" -- Nietzsche. "Nietzsche is dead" -- God.)
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To: cotton1706
Very first sentence:

"...the one story that seemed to offer decent drama..."

A further understanding of the leftist worldview: The elites frame it in terms of "drama", rather than, you know, a fight for the very soul of this Nation.

It's childish.

8 posted on 08/20/2014 5:52:34 AM PDT by T-Bone Texan
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FR Needs Donors To Survive

Please Donate!

9 posted on 08/20/2014 5:52:49 AM PDT by DJ MacWoW (The Fed Gov is not one ring to rule them all)
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To: silverleaf

“the liberal anlysis

the TEA party!
It’s losing!
But it’s everywere!
It’s taking over the system!
Arrrgh!”

I know, isn’t it beautiful! As frustrating as the losses this year have been, we are, in fact, advancing.


10 posted on 08/20/2014 5:56:37 AM PDT by cotton1706 (ThisRepublic.net)
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To: Night Hides Not

As it has been said many times, when you are over the target you get the most flack.


11 posted on 08/20/2014 5:59:11 AM PDT by Mouton (The insurrection laws perpetuate what we have for a government now.)
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To: cotton1706

I suspect that with the growth of ISIS from the seeds US policy planted, the turmoil created by liberal rhetoric in Ferguson, and the hordes of Central Americans overwhelming schools and communities, there are millions more Americans “mad as hell”. Constitutional conservatives are the only voice of reason that remains. I’d imagine conservatives will do quite well in November.


12 posted on 08/20/2014 6:05:11 AM PDT by grania
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To: cotton1706

How, exactly, does one “pander” to the Tea Party? Does a Congressman say he’s going to cut spending so we are living within our means? Does he say that we are going to cut back entitlements that are unsustainble and are going to bankrupt our children? Is that what “pandering” means? If it is, we are completed “F”-ed as a country.


13 posted on 08/20/2014 6:06:33 AM PDT by Opinionated Blowhard ("When the people find they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic.")
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To: cotton1706

“...that incumbent margins are shrinking suggest that, in spite of tea party losses they are still having an enormous impact on their party and thus on the entire political system.”

Yet, this ‘writer’ says the Tea party is doing poorly in elections.

he is having a difficult time making up a scenario.

His theme, his central point, is that Boehner and his group, and Cantor and Thad Cochran et al, are promoting the tea party and ignoring the electorate , who are rejecting the tea party, and the tea party would go away if it weren’t for it’s supporters within congress.

Soe news outlet pays this guy for this? I wouldn’t allow this kind of illogical tripe past my desk in a ninth grade composition class.


14 posted on 08/20/2014 6:07:24 AM PDT by stanne
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To: cotton1706
They hate the Tea Party because liberals are terrified of t's.


15 posted on 08/20/2014 6:10:38 AM PDT by clearcarbon
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To: cotton1706

What delusional world is this “ reporter” talking about? Articles like this make me suspect pot must already be legal where the piece was written.


16 posted on 08/20/2014 6:19:13 AM PDT by Boomer One
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To: Boomer One
Articles like this make me suspect pot must already be legal where the piece was written.

Whether legal or illegal, pot is always readily available. And it shows in this reporter's babblings.

17 posted on 08/20/2014 6:24:21 AM PDT by Night Hides Not (Remember the Alamo! Remember Goliad! Remember Mississippi!)
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To: cotton1706
Then, maybe not.

If I were a lib I wouldn't count on maybes, mights and could bes.

vaudine

18 posted on 08/20/2014 6:26:23 AM PDT by vaudine
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To: cotton1706

Typical GOPe RomneyBOT:
"Support RomneyCARE. Support open borders. Support our Master."

19 posted on 08/20/2014 6:53:03 AM PDT by Diogenesis (The EXEMPT Congress is complicit in the absence of impeachment)
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To: cotton1706

Losing the race doesn’t mean the message hasn’t been delivered.....It has!!!


20 posted on 08/20/2014 7:01:17 AM PDT by ontap
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