Speaking of polls...

[MisterCreosote]

Opposition to the Tea Party has risen significantly ... especially in districts represented by a member of the Tea Party Caucus:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/30/us/politics/tea-party-support-falls-even-in-strongholds-survey-finds.html?_r=1&smid=fb-share

I've said before that, while I agree with a lot of what the Tea Party stands for, their philosophy would not be conducive to actually governing right now. It appears more people agree since they took the House. What worries me is that, as Tea Party support falls, it drags down the entire GOP with it, illustrating that to a vast majority of people, Tea Party = Republican Party, which is not really the case.

 

[waterytart]

The problem, MC, is that as long as the Tea Party is able to hold the party as a whole hostage, it is the Republican Party.

Until Boehner et al. are ready to say, "Fine. Hold your breath until your face turns blue.", there is no other Republican party with any power.

 

[Bob Cook]

Yes, exactly. Which is why the reasonable wing of the party needs to take it back, and take it back quick.

It's too late. The "reasonable wing" was in tatters after the bludgeoning in 2008, and the Tea Party stepped in to fill the void -- not just with candidates, but with money (hello, Koch brothers!). Any electoral success Republicans have had has been nearly wholly dependent on the Tea Party. The only way the Tea Party goes away is if it gets destroyed at the polls -- more than once.

 

[old_tony]

Yes, exactly. Which is why the reasonable wing of the party needs to take it back, and take it back quick.

The Tea Party wing IS the reasonable wing of the party.

 

[Uncle.Ruckus]

I propose a motion that old_tony be made spokesman for the SportsJournalists.com Republican Party.

 

[Mizzougrad96]

If the Tea Party is so powerful, how come the two most moderate of the republican presidential candidates are leading most polls?

 

[Uncle.Ruckus]

Newt is a moderate? Holy ****ing ****, how far to the right has the GOP gone?

 

[BrianGriffin]

The Tea Party reminds me of the old P.J. O'Rourke line: "The Republicans are the party that says government doesn't work and then they get elected and prove it."

They complained about how incompetent government was, then they got elected and proved it.

 

[PCLoadLetter]

If the Tea Party is so powerful, how come the two most moderate of the republican presidential candidates are leading most polls?

Note too that the biggest declines in TP support are coming from areas that elected Tea Partiers little more than a year ago.

At the start of this year's legislative term in Arizona, the state senate president gleefully announced that it was the "Tea Party legislature!"

Earlier this month he became the first senate president kicked out of office through a recall in US history.