The Conversation With A Florida Tea Partier That Should Scare Every Republican

[Valin]

Ricochet:

Ben Domenech

1/30/12

 

Last week, Mollie raised an interesting point about what a Mitt Romney nomination means for the Republican Party. In the comments, I shared my concern concerning the lean-Republican independents who make up much of the Tea Party, and who prior to 2009 were mostly inactive in politics beyond regularly voting.

The Tea Party is a collection of people who felt compelled to transition from citizens to activists in favor of limited government and fiscal restraint. Many sacrifice time away from family, work, and life in a desperate attempt to save the nation they love, from their perspective. My concern is that the Tea Party will recoil from supporting a Republican Party that is headed by John Boehner, Mitch McConnell, and Mitt Romney.

 

I spoke with one such Tea Partier, Rebecca from Florida, over the weekend. She's a retired detective turned young stay-at-home mom, who labels herself a "generic Tea Partier." What she had to say was fascinating and illuminating, and it should concern just about every smart Republican. She was gracious enough to let me publicize her thoughts here at Ricochet.

 

Here's what she had to share:

 

(Snip)

 

"Casting my vote for Marco Rubio in the primary and then again in the general gave me this amazing feeling of accomplishment," Rebecca said. "I felt like we had done it. First, when he beat Crist for the Republican nod. When he won the seat, I felt like I had finally been able to cast a vote for someone I *believed* in, instead of just choosing the least worst one."

 

"2010 was a real turning point for me. I watched the midterm election results as we won the House with some good, solid conservatives and I felt so proud and accomplished. I felt like we - the TEA Party, my mommy friends, ME - we had made a difference," Rebecca said. "We were helping to put our country back on the right path, and return to the ideals of our founders."

 

"Then came 2011," Rebecca says, and her mood clouds. "It felt like every time I turned around, John Boehner and Mitch McConnell were selling us out, hanging our Tea Party freshmen out to dry, and doing it for no apparent reason."

 

She's unsure why this is. "Are they idiots, or just the worst chess/poker players ever? Every time they have an opportunity to limit government, reduce taxes, etc. they blow it."

 

(Snip)

 

"So here I am, supporting Newt Gingrich," Rebecca says. "I'm not in love with Newt, but I trust him more to stay true to conservative ideals. The guy pushed Clinton right, for goodness sake. I only trust Mitt to stay true to himself."

 

So, Rebecca, about Mitt: why not Romney this time?

 

"I don't trust him, and I don't think he can win. He is utterly unaware of how offensive his disconnect with the average American is. He drops $10K bets like it's nothing. He thinks $342,000 isn't very much to make in a year," Rebecca said. "I don't begrudge him his wealth - he worked for it and earned it and that is admirable. But I hate his lack of awareness of how super-wealthy he is. His flip-flops are legendary."

 

"Oh, and he invented Obamacare."

 

"I see a Romney nomination causing Tea Partiers like me to tune out. We are already disheartened by the congressional leadership. Romney will be the final nail in the coffin. He is completely uninspiring, and is everything we have been working so hard to defeat within the GOP," Rebecca said. "Don't even get me started on that Bain Capital picture. Ugh. There is no way he can win. And I don't want to have to defend him while he tries."

 

(Snip)

 

The problem can be shown in these two photo from the article

 

 

&

 

 

And reading and looking at different right wing sites and listening to talk radio, I don't think the Leadership of the party has a clue, at how ticked off so many people are.

 

Now I'm a Gringrich guy, so people can chalk this up to sour grapes...whatever, but the party has a real problem, with a capital P and that rhymes with T and that stands for Tea Party.

 

 

 

[Valin]

From the Comments

 

Nobody's Perfect

 

Politicians only respond to two things: cash and the fear of losing their seats.

In 2010, pretty much every Republican who was vulnerable to a Tea Party primary opponent either lost to that opponent or made the right noises to soothe the pitchfork crowd. So the fear factor is now pretty much negligible.

That leaves cash. But the Tea Party doesn't have the cash to compete with the rent seekers with whom Republican politicians curry favor.

So naturally the Tea Party has lost its clout and it's back to business as usual.

 

 

all well and good

And then...

 

So it just might be that the only way for Tea Party principles to prevail is to destroy and replace the Republican party.

 

Off we go to nutterville

[Rokke]

What the Tea Party really lacks is a young, dynamic national leader. Someone to rally behind on a national level as a figurehead. Palin kind of fills that square, but for a multitude of reasons hasn't fully embraced the role. The fact that Gingrich has generated significant Tea Party support is an indicator of how desperate people are for a leader. He isn't exactly the obvious choice. When a solid leader does step forward, and the Tea Party can rally as a more cohesive national movement, dominos in Washington will start toppling quickly.

[Rheo]

What the Tea Party really lacks is a young, dynamic national leader. Someone to rally behind on a national level as a figurehead. Palin kind of fills that square, but for a multitude of reasons hasn't fully embraced the role. The fact that Gingrich has generated significant Tea Party support is an indicator of how desperate people are for a leader. He isn't exactly the obvious choice. When a solid leader does step forward, and the Tea Party can rally as a more cohesive national movement, dominos in Washington will start toppling quickly.

Rokke, you get my vote.

 

We can start now to scrub the net of those questionable pictures.

[Rokke]

What the Tea Party really lacks is a young, dynamic national leader. Someone to rally behind on a national level as a figurehead. Palin kind of fills that square, but for a multitude of reasons hasn't fully embraced the role. The fact that Gingrich has generated significant Tea Party support is an indicator of how desperate people are for a leader. He isn't exactly the obvious choice. When a solid leader does step forward, and the Tea Party can rally as a more cohesive national movement, dominos in Washington will start toppling quickly.

Rokke, you get my vote.

 

We can start now to scrub the net of those questionable pictures.

 

This is where I'm at as far as my passion for politics right now. Probably not quite ready for the national stage yet...

[Rheo]

We can work with it.

 

 

 

Damn, we are screwed.