This gathering of libertarians, conservatives, and others just plain fed up with business as usual in Washington has some prominent figureheads – Fox News broadcasters and political pot-stirrers Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck –and, is clearly having a major impact on the midterm elections — putting a significant number of more conventional Republicans as well as Democrats into a cold sweat as they look over their shoulders at tea-party backed candidates with a real possibility of winning. Some of these candidates should scare the hell out of most voters — these are not your average run-of-the-mill politicians, in fact, they’re worse.
Which tea-party-backed candidates do you think will be elected this fall, and why?
Which ones are most off center, maybe even off the far edge of ‘right?’
PrairiePopulistsAndProgressives.net 
When’s the last time something exciting happened in Delaware? The Republican Party, which has mostly embraced the Tea Party, is in a tough battle against the conservative movement in Delaware, where a popular GOP moderate, Rep. Mike Castle, is now falling behind insurgent Christine O’Donnell in polls of the Senate primary. Republican leaders say O’Donnell is unqualified—her political resume includes losing twice to then-Sen. Joe Biden, and she’s pulled in few campaign donations from inside her state. O’Donnell has a long list of past financial problems, including an IRS lien and a near-foreclosure. But O’Donnell does have the endorsement of Sarah Palin, as well as Jim DeMint and, of course, the Tea Party Express. She would very likely lose the general election against Democrat Chris Coons in November. GOP leaders are baffled that Tea Party activists would rather lose with a conservative Republican candidate than win with a more moderate one.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/12/AR2010091204306.html
“GOP leaders are baffled that Tea Party activists would rather lose with a conservative Republican candidate than win with a more moderate one.”
I don’t know why they are baffled. I can explain it to them. I understand completely what they are doing. The GOP is corrupt and doesn’t represent their values. They were used by George Bush and Co. and did not get their quid pro quo for turning out in two separate elections. They are looking to start a new party; one which more closely represents the platforms and values that they hold dear. They are not looking to tried and true politicians who will get elected only to line their own pockets. They are looking to ordinary folks that know about paying bills and living on a budget. They are hoping they can build concensus over time and get some of these folks into office. If they can, and the candidates are mavericky enough and make enough headlines, more people will jump on the bandwagon. They are building a party from the ground up. They are taking the longview.
It’s what the liberals in this country could be doing if they had any faith that it would ever fly.
But the Tea Party allowed itself to be hijacked by that corrupt GOP – in many instances.
I would have more respect for the Tea Partiers if they did break away completely – but I guess that Fox and Koch money was just too big of a temptation. So, in a way – they are just as corrupt as the GOP.
I also remember Ronald Reagan was the one that gave the Religious Right (Moral Majority back then) an open invitation to the GOP circus tent. And from that point on, these Religious Righties have been running the show.
Paula – do you think the average Tea Party person is also a Religious Rightie?
Personally, I think they are two different types of people.
These “ordinary folks that know about paying bills and living on a budget” will have the intelligence, education and experience it takes to be leaders? Seems they’re asking to run smack dab into the limitations of “The Peter Principle.”
The Tea Party wasn’t really hijacked so much as the GOP was so damaged as a brand, that they needed to rebrand. Hence, the birth of a new party.
Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.
In my comment above, I wasn’t saying that I agree with them, I was just saying that I understand where they are coming from. I DO think a lot of tea partiers believe this is genuine grass roots movement. They don’t believe that this was or is funded by the Koch brothers, or, if it was, that this necessarily means that it is an arm of the GOP. Their values lean closer to GOP than Dem, so if there are conservative “stars” to appear at their functions, they are going to be GOP. It’s really all about perception, isn’t it?
I don’t think all Tea Partiers are religious righties, BUT I bet you could wade through a crowd of them and you would never find any one that admits to being anything other than a Christian.
And, fnord, as far as it goes, I would myself be willing to vote for someone with absolutely no experience if he/she seemed half-way intelligent and I was convinced of his/her INTEGRITY. I don’t know how we are going to clean up the corrupted mess that is our government, but it won’t be with people who are already part of the system. And it may not even be possible to do it from inside the system.
Probably the tea-party backed candidate that perplexes me more than others is Sharron Angle. This was absolutely the year that Harry Reid was going to be UNelected, now he has a chance…
How does it make sense to nominate someone who is such a nut case they don’t have a good chance of winning in the general election??
I’m beginning to believe these tea partiers are exactly what they claim — plain ole Americans. And, they’re proving to be as ill informed as the majority of plain ole Americans!
I don’t think even the establishment GOP thought Sharron Angle would end up being their candidate.
If I remember correctly, the establishment GOP candidate was a woman named Lowden (sp?) and she went off the radar when she made that comment about bartering health care with chickens.
But sad to say, I knew what this Lowden woman was referring to because in the old days – people did pay their doctor in chickens, produce, pig or whatever they had.
Of course, that was back when doctors were considered a profession of healers and public servants and not some greedy corporation only interested in money – kinda like the preachers used to be.
I once said that the Tea party was like the angry villager going to storm the castle of the Monster.
They go this way and then someone shouts “THAT WAY!”.
So they took off in that direction till someone else shout “THAT WAY!”.
And off they go, not truly understanding what they are doing only that they are angry and want revenge.
LOL several of the Tea partiers agreed and took ownership of the description.
But totally missed the point of the analogy….
Such people and those they end up supporting is like taking the steering wheel of your car and driving.
2 Insurgents Could Hurt G.O.P. Chances for Senate Takeover
Tomorrow’s primaries in New York and six other states – the last of the 2010 cycle, save for Saturday’s primary in Hawaii and the runoff in Louisiana on Oct. 2 — originally looked as though they’d have little impact on the electoral landscape.
http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/09/13/2-insurgents-could-hurt-g-o-p-chances-for-senate-takeover/?partner=rss&emc=rss
If the original Tea Party had stuck to their goal of limited government, less taxes and throwing out long-term career politicians – I would have gladly joined them.
But please explain to me how Todd Tiarht was their featured speaker on their stage if they are against incumbents? Was Todd there to tell me NOT to vote for him – I don’t think so.
Our income tax rates today are the lowest in over fifty years. You have to go back to the Truman Administration to find lower income tax rates.
This is one of the reasons I can’t put confidence in this movement. They aren’t dealing in facts or reality, just raw emotion based on mass hysteria.
For sure–it is just like Sam Brownback. Brownback is all awash with the filth of Washington quid pro quoness-lobbyists, back-room dealings; everything the Tea Party professes to despise. However, he is in line with their values and he is Christy (as Bill Maher would say). So, there you go. All the filth magically washes away and we somehow have this great moral leader.
Look across the State line. You have none other than Roy “LoveMeSomeLobbyist” Blunt running a campaign where somehow he is some kind of Saint and Robyn Carnahan is the fithy pig rolling in Washington muck. Disregard the long line of facts that make Blunt the kind of scum that good conservatives are supposed to hate–pork barrel spending, voted for the bank bailout, etc. AND disregard the fact the Robyn Carnahan is a state politician and (assumably) has yet to mingle with the DC movers and shakers. He is not a Democrat, she is, therefore he must be worth voting for and she is of questionable moral character.
It’s just the problem with this country. The left does it, too. And, if someone on the left suggests NOT voting, or voting for someone not from the DEMs, they are given a tongue-lashing for not being realistic.
But if you know both parties are in the same pockets, how can you vote for either without supporting the corrupt status quo? It’s a conundrum.
Yeah Indy, just like Todd was for term limits before he was against them for himself!
One thing I was just discussing with my grown kids this past weekend was how our society has seemed to become so rude, hateful and greedy.
But it is more than that – I think it is all too common now that people don’t necessarily want what their neighbor has – they just don’t want their neighbor to have it.
I don’t really know what to call that type of person?
They are not really coveting, being greedy or being selfish because they really don’t want what their neighbor has.
It is just a feeling that they are superior and will ususally use their religion, their money, their standing in the community as weapons. And like I said – it is really not about things – it is about the power to stop someone else from getting something.
That is what I see within the Tea Party – it is that feeling that they want control and cloaking it in patriotic song/dance/costume and waving that Bible.
“But it is more than that – I think it is all too common now that people don’t necessarily want what their neighbor has – they just don’t want their neighbor to have it.
I don’t really know what to call that type of person”
Uh, a conservative wingut?
heheh. HAHAHAH!
“But it is more than that – I think it is all too common now that people don’t necessarily want what their neighbor has – they just don’t want their neighbor to have it.
I don’t really know what to call that type of person?”
I call them the dog in the manger (or so I was taught as a child).
http://www.umass.edu/aesop/content.php?n=5&i=1
Interest-Group Spending Drives G.O.P. Lead in Ads
Outside groups supporting Republican candidates in House and Senate races across the country have been swamping their Democratic-leaning counterparts on television since early August as the midterm election season has begun heating up.
Driving the disparity in the ad wars has been an array of Republican-oriented organizations that are set up so that they can accept donations of unlimited size from individuals and corporations without having to disclose them. The situation raises the possibility that a relatively small cadre of deep-pocketed donors, unknown to the general public, is shaping the battle for Congress in the early going.
The yawning gap in independent interest group spending is alarming some Democratic officials, who argue that it amounts to an effort on the part of super-wealthy Republican donors, as well as corporate interests, newly emboldened by regulatory changes, to buy the election.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/14/us/politics/14money.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
“The yawning gap in independent interest group spending is alarming some Democratic officials, who argue that it amounts to an effort on the part of super-wealthy Republican donors, as well as corporate interests, newly emboldened by regulatory changes, to buy the election.”
Ha! That’s rich! (Pardon the pun!)
Buying the election–is that supposed to be something new?
Is buying the election any worse than having your brother be the governor in the state where it just so happens the vote recount is taking place in order install yourself as president?
Just asking…
The Tea Party wasn’t really hijacked so much as the GOP was so damaged as a brand, that they needed to rebrand. Hence, the birth of a new party.
Meet the new boss, same as the old boss
—
Paula – you may be right about this. I guess the GOP had to make it appear there is a new group running the GOP when in fact, it is the same old crap?
Hard to say. When you consider what an utter nutbar Jesse Kelly is, it makes me think breathtaking stupidity has become the norm:
http://www.tucsonweekly.com/TheRange/archives/2010/09/02/cd8-poll-tight-race-between-giffords-and-kelly .
It makes me think of when Tiahrt ran against Glickman in 1994.
Only this is supposed to be a moderate district.
I guess all those Oro Valley retirees are so cranky, they’re willing to screw themselves out of what’s left of their Social Security and Medicare.
Ironic, since they were the very ones who convinced Giffords to vote for TARP.
I guess they want what they want, until they want something else.
P.S. Not exactly an unbiased look at Kelly (it’s from Gifford’s campaign), but I would be interested to see if he denies any of it:
http://www.tucsonweekly.com/TheRange/archives/2010/08/25/cd-team-giffords-says-jesse-kelly-is-an-ideologue-with-no-interest-in-governing
“I guess they want what they want, until they want something else.:
Aint it the truth, Zippy. Aint it the DAMN truth!
Not only is breathtakingly stupid the new norm for candidates, the level of ignorance and lack of ability to connect the dots is breathtakingly stupid among voters too.
I blame fux news.
Faux news certainly deserves alot of the blame but let’s not forget the GOP leaders who think they are far more superior and the Religious Righties who give them carte blanche to do whatever they want just because the claim to be such good Christians.
I find this sadly appropriate.
Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity;
and I’m not sure about the universe.
— Albert Einstein
Can’t argue with Einstein, can you? Oh, wait…isn’t he one of those pointy-headed, intellectual, scientist types?
He must be a liberal, and therefore wrong.
HA!