Is the Tea Party Destroying the Republican Party?

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   Ralph Deedsposted 10 years ago

   Is the Tea Party Destroying the Republican Party?
   
   Former U.S. Sen. Bob Bennett believes the tea party is destroying the Republican Party.
   
   The ex-Utah lawmaker, a victim of tea party politics when he lost his seat in 2010 to Mike Lee, gave his candid assessment to a conference of the Assoc.of Amer Editorial Cartoonists in Salt Lake City.
   
   "We're a center-right nation. The further politicians move away from the center, the more alienating their party becomes," Bennett said.
   
   He compared the damage of the tea party on the Republican Party to what happened to the Democratic Party in the 1970s as a result of the so-called McGovernites.

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   Mitch Alanposted 10 years ago

   I am thankful for any group that puts the focus on the Constitution, free-markets, smaller federal government, lower taxes and border security. While the two major parties fight back and forth about how to best run programs that are ruining the country, how best to "rule" We the People and how to further their own carriers and line their own pockets, We the People are being pushed out with the Constitution. Both parties, the Dems and Repubs, are way off course as a whole. I hope that the Tea Party and others like them can make changes to the Republican Party or supplant it with a viable 3rd party. If Bob Bennet, or others, are more concerned about saving a Party, rather than a nation, then their service is long over due for an end.

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   d.williamposted 10 years ago

   A resounding ''yes'' to your question. 
   Although the GOP has taken a sharp turn towards protecting Corporate America at the expense of the average citizen, they have allowed this radical group to infiltrate and all but destroy any credibility that they had remaining.  It is quite sad in a way. 
   The perfect government situation would be to have both powers (dems and reps) on an equal par with the capability, and the sensibility, to find common grounds for the best interest of the people, not the parties or their benefactors.
   Because of the radical influences of the tea party there can be no common grounds found between the parties until they purge these fanatics from their party. And also oust them from control in the individual states that they have marauded, or commandeered - and are driving into the ground.

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      Mitch Alanposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Both parties are part of the problem, including corporatism. Capitalism is a good thing, but what both parties have added to, is the growing power and scope of the government and corporatism.

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   junksellerposted 10 years ago

   I think this has been extremely obvious for a while now. Elections are won in the middle 30-40%, not on the fringes, yet the messaging coming from the GOP, and conservatives in general, is dominated by the far right.
   
   When you take a very popular politician like Christie, and he doesn't really have a chance in his own party simply for not properly spitting on Obama, you should know you have a problem.
   
   I don't know why it happened, but I suspect that the Tea Party traded purity of vision for energy, and unfortunately for them, the energy happens to be from people drinking the wacky sauce, and the Tea Party hasn't had the leadership to temper that energy into a useful tool. Instead they've used that energy to ride intellectual powerhouses like Bachmann and Palin to the front of the fray.
   
   The two other responders so far provide useful examples. If the Tea Party was Mitch Alan, they'd be much better off. While I don't agree with him, he at least presents a reasoned reply based upon an actionable set of principles. Unfortunately, the Tea Party is much more like Attikos, spewing out name-calling and allusions to some sort of alleged grand battle of good vs. evil.
   
   And it is odd. Odd because there is no way anyone of sound mind can't determine which of those two messaging tactics will have greater traction, yet the face of the Tea Party (and the GOP) continues to be the crazy dude who has chuggled far too much hooch from the cuckoo for coca puffs still.
   
   I would highly recommend everyone take a look at the Growth and Opportunity Project's report that was put out after the last election by the Republican National Committee. http://growthopp.gop.com/default.aspx
   
   It is essentially a "what the heck went wrong" report, but one of the things they specifically identify is their problem with messaging. Here is one excerpt:
   
   "The Republican Party needs to stop talking to itself. We have become expert in how to provide ideological reinforcement to like-minded people, but devastatingly we have lost the ability to be persuasive with, or welcoming to, those who do not agree with us on every issue."
   
   Seems obvious to me that to win a popularity contest, you have to actually be popular.

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   Larry Wallposted 10 years ago

   The Tea Party is not destroying the Republican Party. However, as we found when Ross Perot ran against George H.W. Bush, a third party usually takes votes away from the third party. I know Bush would had won the popular vote, if all of Perot's vote had gone to him, I have never checked the Electoral College vote.
   
   Third parties usually weaken one of the two major parties, but never gain enough strength to have a significant impact on most elections.

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      Ralph Deedsposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      True. Nader had the same effect on Gore candidacy, assuring the election of Bush. But, the Tea Party is causing the GOP to paint itself into an ever-smaller corner, alienating minorities, gays, young people and women who support their right to choose

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      junksellerposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      It isn't just the presidency. They have a lot of members in Congress. As large as the progressive caucus actually and have definitely had an impact on other election levels.

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   bplusbobposted 10 years ago

   I would tend to believe it is likely, and I also think an English view might be more objective about our political dysfunction than we are.
   
   Here is a link to an article today's The Guardian, titled "Just how low can the Republican party go?" It certainly justifies asking Mr. Deed's question above.
   
   http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree … -continues
   
   The comments are very interesting also.

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      d.williamposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      excellent link. all should read it, but unfortunately those who need 2 never will - and if they do they will blindly deny it as truth.

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      junksellerposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      "...inhumane and cruel..." summed it up nicely I thought.

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      bplusbobposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      The conclusion is worth noting too I think:
      
      "This is not meant as an indictment of all Republicans because it's very likely that many rank and file Republicans don't share these predispositions (though clearly some do). Rather it's an indictment of

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      Chuckposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Interesting, but the Guardian has a left wing view.  See this article published on the day former Prime Minister Thatcher died http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2013 … d-to-mourn  Mrs Thatcher's & Tea Party had same vie

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      bplusbobposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Granted, The Guardian does have a left leaning, but frankly, I don't think an article about Margaret Thatcher has any bearing on the question at hand.

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   Credence2posted 10 years ago

   Yes, if the Tea Party is the adament group that consider compromise surrender.
   
   Those representing them in Congress are obstructionists and will still fly the colors on a sinking ship, the GOP. The mainstream GOP must move to the center and at least compromise with the left or lose the scrap of constituency that remains on its side.  So the party remains stubborn and will subsequently pay the price for its lack of vision....

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   Chuckposted 10 years ago

   It should be noted that the Tea Party is a grassroots, conservative political movement most of whose members are conservative Republicans or Independents. 
   
   Tea Party groups have sprung up all over the nation, but these groups, while sharing a common political philosophy that favors individual freedom and small government – ideals enshrined in the Constitution – are not a unified group in the sense that they are organized and controlled by a central source.
   In most cases the groups have formed spontaneously with leaders emerging from their ranks. 
   
   There is no question that the Republican Party has some problems.  But the Tea Party is not one of them.  If anything, the Tea Party offers a solution to the Republican Party’s lack of enough voters to win elections. 
   
   The Republican party’s main problem is that it is basically a lite version of the Democratic party. 
   
   The last President to actually reduce the size of the Federal government was Calvin Coolidge in the 1920s. 
   
   President Ronald Reagan succeeded in slowing down the rate of growth of the government but it was still larger, in terms of what it spent and the number of people it employed, when he left that when he came into office. 
   
   In the January 12, 2013 issue of Barron’s, an article titled “Why It’s Not Romney’s Inauguration” by J.T. Young presented data from exit polling in the 2012 election that showed that when asked about the state of the economy, 23% said it was excellent or good while 77% said it was not so good or poor
   The article pointed out that the 23% who felt that the economy was good to excellent, represented a bloc of voters supporting President Obama that was equal to the combined Black and Hispanic vote that the President received.  If Romney had convinced just 5% of the 23% who felt the economy was good that it really was not good he would have won.  However, instead campaigning about how President Obama’s policies have resulted in the worst economic depression since the Great Depression of the 1930s, Romney’s campaign was focused on explaining how the failing Romney Care in Massachusetts was superior to ObamaCare.
   
   Rather than destroying the Republican Party, the Tea Party movement is probably the party’s best hope for winning future elections.
   
   Progressives on the left recognize the Tea Party movement as a real threat to the continuation of the welfare state that they have been building over the past century.

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      Ralph Deedsposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Statistics indicate the Tea Party is painting the GOP into an ever smaller corner by alienating minorities, women, the LGBT community and young people.http://ralphdeeds.hubpages.com/hub/The-Tea-Party-Syndrome-Do-you-have-it

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