Tea Party Crazies Angry at G.O.P. Leaders

There is some entertainment factor in watching the GOP leadership now have to contend with two Frankenstein monsters that it helped create by putting what was perceived as a short term tactical advantage ahead of any sound long term strategy. Opportunism can sometimes come back to bite one in the ass big time. The Christian Right wing of the GOP was bad enough and has often driven away moderates and independents. Now, the Tea Party seems poised to become the second self-inflicted monster that will drive rational and sentient voters away from the GOP. Does the GOP really need more Christine O'Donnells in future elections cycles? Personally, I think not. But craven cynicism by party leaders has set the stage for ongoing headaches as the Fruit Loops crowd tries to dictate to the party mainstream what is important and what is not. Poll after poll shows that Sarah Palin has a huge negative perception with voters at large, yet she looks relatively sane compared to some of the Tea Party loons. The New York Times looks at the unrest amongst the Tea Party crowd. Here are some highlights:
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As Tea Party politicians prepare to take their seats when the 112th Congress convenes this week, they are already taking issue with Republicans for failing to hold the line against the flurry of legislation enacted in the waning weeks of Democratic control of the House of Representatives and for not giving some candidates backed by Tea Party groups powerful leadership positions.
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“Do I think that they’ve recognized what happened on Election Day? I would say decisively no,” said Mark Meckler, a co-founder of Tea Party Patriots, which sent its members an alert last month urging them to call their representatives to urge them to “stop now and go home!!”
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“We sent them a message that we expect them to go home and come back newly constituted and do something different,” Mr. Meckler said. “For them to legislate when they’ve collectively lost their mandate just shows the arrogance of the ruling elite. I can’t imagine being repudiated in the way they were and then coming back and saying ‘Now that we’ve been repudiated, let’s go pass some legislation.’ ”
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“The Republicans, frankly, have been a disaster,” Mr. Meckler said. “They stood strong on some things, but the only reason they stood strong is because we stood behind them with a big stick.”
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Tea Party leaders scoffed at the Republicans’ greatest victory from the lame-duck session — the extension of the Bush tax cuts as part of a compromise with the White House. Instead, Tea Party leaders complained that Republicans had abandoned a push for a full repeal of the estate tax.
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Despite its victories in November — more than 40 candidates supported by the Tea Party were elected to the House and Senate — the Tea Party lost battles for important leadership positions. . . . . Incoming Tea Party lawmakers said they would push for drastic cuts to federal agencies whose functions they believe would be better handled at the state level, like the Department of Education.
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While a full repeal of the estate tax would help behind the scenes backers of the Tea Party like the Koch brothers, most of the rank and file sheeple backing the Tea Party at the ballot box would receive ZERO benefit from such a repeal. But knowledge of actual facts and consequences seems to be mutually exclusive with rank and file membership in the Tea Party ranks. Instead untruths and demagoguery win the day. I hope the GOP pays dearly for encouraging this embrace of ignorance.