Politico.com today has a couple of interesting odds and ends directly and indirectly related to the tea party movement. The first item, at least it seems to me, pertains to the previous polls we've seen reporting that large percentrages of tea partiers and conservatives in general actually believe that Obama is not legitimately the president because he was born in another country (the "birthers"). I think 2010 republican candidates know full well about such polls, and therefore they won't give you a straight answer if you ask them whether they believe Obama is legitimately the president.The latest example of this rather cowardly refusal to answer that question comes from Sharron Angle, the republican senatorial candidate in Nevada running against dem and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid for Reid's seat this fall (first link at bottom). And realize that I'm giving Angle and other repubs the benefit of the doubt when I merely call them cowardly, since the alternative is that they actually believe that Obama is not legitimately the president and want to avoid the question for that reason (as opposed to merely desiring to avoid alienating the birthers).
The second item today centers on the republican that conservatives and tea partiers everywhere love to hate -- Senator Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.). Graham tells the New York Times this week (second link at bottom): "The problem with the tea party, I think, is it’s just unsustainable because they can never come up with a coherent vision for governing the country. It will die out." Graham also tells the Times that the tea party movement has driven the repub party too far to the right, such that even "Ronald Reagan would have a hard time getting elected as a Republican today." Ouch. (I think I'd avoid checking that e-mail and voice mail any time soon if I was the Senator).
As to Graham's claim that the tea party movement will "die out," I think that may just be wishful thinking on his part, at least on the short term. I think that as long as we have total far left control of the presidency and the entire Congress -- as we've had since the start of 2009 -- you're going to see Obama & The Dems running amok and doing their loony left-wing thing, with an energized tea party movement still out there in response. Funny how extremists only fan the flames of other extremists on the other side.
And that, frankly, is a damn shame. I'm on record previously in this space about the tea party. This is basically and fundamentally a conservative movement and is predominantly composed of and fueled by staunch conservatives. Graham is absolutely right about the tea party driving the republican party to the right. I think any movement that serves to drive these two BS parties any farther to the left or to the right is not a positive movement since it means that Independents (40% of the country and the deciders of elections) are represented by no one to an even greater extent than is already the case. So Senator, you say the tea party is going to die out? Fine with me, but I just don't see that occurring any time soon. And you know, Senator, you really should consider turning Independent.
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0710/39315.html
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0710/39286.html
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