The tea party isn’t just losing; it’s losing badly

[Covertibility]

The tea party isn’t just losing; it’s losing badly

Last night, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) decisively beat his tea party challenger by 24 percentage points. It's the latest big beat for the tea party, and further proof of a growing trend. While the tea party has been successful when pushing candidates to the right in open-seat Republican primaries, it hasn't had any luck kicking out GOP incumbents this year. And its candidates really haven't come close.

In Idaho on Tuesday, Rep. Mike Simpson easily beat his tea party opponent, Bryan Smith. Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, former chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, won 59 percent of the vote in his March primary. His closest challenger, Rep. Steve Stockman -- who vanished to Russia for part of the campaign -- won 19 percent of the vote. Dwayne Stovall, whose claim to fame is his "Turtle Soup" campaign ad, won 11 percent of the vote.

In Georgia, former secretary of state Karen Handel, endorsed by Sarah Palin, Ted Cruz and a handful of conservative organizations, did not make it into the Republican primary runoff. Reps. Phil Gingrey and Paul Broun, also tea party favorites, weren't even close to making the runoff.

Earlier in May, House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) beat his tea party challenger, J.D. Winteregg, by 59 percentage points.

On June 3, however, the tea party will have another chance to put an establishment politician out of work. Sen. Thad Cochran of Mississippi and his tea party opponent, Chris McDaniel, have been battling for months, and it's a far closer race than the incumbent primaries that have already been decided. Cochran, matching the Republican incumbents who have come before him, has the support of nearly everyone in the old party guard. McDaniel, matching the tea party challengers who have come before him, doesn't. But, he does have the endorsement and financial backing of the Club for Growth and a few other tea party groups. In Kansas, incumbent Pat Roberts is also facing opposition from the right.

In McConnell's victory speech Tuesday, he said of Bevin, “He made me a stronger candidate." That's one way to look at it -- McConnell has definitely had a chance to hone his arguments in advance of what could be a bracing race against Democratic candidate Alison Lundergan Grimes. There must be a cheaper way to take a refresher course in Campaigning 101, especially for a senator who has been in office for nearly 30 years. And there definitely should be a cheaper way for tea party Republicans to learn that running against Republican incumbents hasn't been working for them.

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Source --The tea party was an important factor in the 2010 elections, but there's evidence in the poll that their support may be waning. Today, just 15 percent of Americans say they are supporters of the tea party movement - the lowest since CBS News began asking about the tea party in February 2010.

The movement may be losing some of its core constituency -- Republicans. Thirty-two percent of self-identified Republicans now consider themselves supporters of the tea party - down 10 points from February and a decline of 23 points from July 2010, the summer before the Republican Party took control of the House of Representatives. The percentage of Republicans who identify as tea party supporters is now among the lowest in CBS News polls.

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How will the Teadiots explain the losses? Was Stupid taken out of the drinking water or something?

 

[Tsing Tao]

You have this fascination with the Tea Party. If I were you, I'd spend my energy figuring out how the hell to keep hold of Congress come November. That's your real problem.

 

[jem]

so in georgia we have conservatives win and that is a problem.
was anyone expecting boehner or mcconnell to lose?

it seems many republicans beat the tea party by joining it, except in name.
who claims to be a liberal obamacare loving republican?

 

[Ricter]

You have this fascination with the Tea Party. If I were you, I'd spend my energy figuring out how the hell to keep hold of Congress come November. That's your real problem.

Not much of a problem, really, though of course the dems would like it differently. No, we've been there before, we'll get through it. But, judging by the news, with a bit less crazy. ; )

 

[Tsing Tao]

Not much of a problem, really, though of course the dems would like it differently. No, we've been there before, we'll get through it. But, judging by the news, with a bit less crazy. ; )

I'm not sure you really get it, Ricter. The Tea Party, for all intents and purposes, has already done what it set out to do. Oh, sure, it'd be nice for them if all members of the house and senate were Tea Party individuals (not sure I'd like that, however, as the social views of the platform tend to irk me sometimes), but they've already influenced the party to be more conservative. Look at Paul or Cruz. Look how arguments about the NSA have caused individuals in the Tea Party to rally against individual privacy and freedoms - and these views are resonating to young folks that traditionally would have called themselves "liberals".

Covertibility cheers the "Tea Party Losing Badly", but is it? So McConnell defeated Bevin (which is the source of much of the cheering in the above article). What about the victories in Nebraska (big upset) and West Virginia primaries which went essentially unmentioned in the press? Those were very recent. Silence from the media.

It's nothing more than an effort to make Democrats feel better, particularly the more "rabid" ones on the left. But they're taken their eye off the ball, because the big problem (for them) is that congress is about to go GOP, and it's a GOP that is particularly hostile to the President, and one that will be energized to oppose him even more so than in 2010 when only one house was won.

Here's an interesting read for you:

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/05/15/big-wins-tuesday-re-energize-tea-party/

The Tea Party movement would like to make clear that reports of its death have been greatly exaggerated.

Victories this week by Tea Party-backed candidates in Nebraska and West Virginia Republican primaries are helping to reinvigorate the movement, which some had written off amid a difficult campaign season. But as its own members point out, whether the movement is winning primaries or not, it's hard to argue its small-government message has faded.

Famous, or infamous, Tea Party-aligned lawmakers in Congress continue to play a strong role in the direction of the party. Polls of conservatives consistently show figures like Sens. Rand Paul, R-Ky., and Ted Cruz, R-Texas, as political favorites in a hypothetical 2016 race. And it is those figures who keep the Republican Party something of an evolving force -- Paul arguably made drones a bipartisan issue, and also filed a lawsuit this year against the administration over NSA surveillance, pushing the GOP to rethink the balance between security and privacy.

"Political pundits love to role-play as coroners, but they aren't very good at it," Tea Party Express Executive Director Taylor Budowich said after wins Tuesday night in Nebraska and West Virginia. "The mainstream media has been pushing the recycled 'Tea Party is Dead' headlines, but tonight's results show how again they've got it wrong. What these pundits don't understand is ... the broad appeal of the Tea Party's message of fiscal responsibility and economic growth."

In Nebraska, the primary victory by Republican Senate candidate Ben Sasse should help his party in November retain the open seat -- he is immediately considered the favorite for the seat held by retiring GOP Sen. Mike Johanns.

In West Virginia, former Maryland GOP chairman Alex Mooney won the Republican primary with spending help from such outside groups as the Madison Fund, the Senate Conservatives Fund and Tea Party Express.

The Tea Party is optimistic about winning both general election races -- with Mooney's 2nd Congressional District being a Republican stronghold and Sasse, a former Bush administration official, rebuffing the kind of fringe-candidate label that dogged some unsuccessful Tea Party candidates in 2012.

In addition, Tea Party leaders are touting the narrow victory Tuesday by Nebraska GOP Rep. Lee Terry for a House seat he is expected to keep and Florida businessman Curt Clawson's victory last month in a special election for the House seat left by Republican Trey Radel.

Still, it is becoming clear this year that the Tea Party will struggle to repeat its past record of ousting high-profile Republican incumbents in the primaries.

Hopes in the movement are fading that Kentucky businessman Matt Bevin will knock off Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell next Tuesday and that Mississippi state Sen. Chris McDaniel will upset U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran, first elected to Congress in 1973.

Also last week, its preferred candidate, libertarian-leaning physician Greg Brannon, lost to establishment candidate and state House speaker Thom Tillis in a North Carolina Senate primary.

That loss made Tuesday's victories all the more important as the primary season kicks into full swing.

More after link.

 

[Lucrum]

 

[Lucrum]

 

[gwb-trading]

 

[piezoe]

I don't no what the outcome of the midterm election will be of course, the consensus seems to be that the election will follow the usual pattern for midterm elections, with Republicans making some inroads but the divided legislative branch remaining.

I am quite sure of this however. Republican efforts to control both houses in the legislature are, in the the long run, doomed, not because they have taken in so many radical, and incompatible, splinter groups -- the jesus nazis, the right-to-lifers, the libertarians, etc. -- although that's unquestionably a contributor to the Party's schizophrenia, but because they openly advocate and pursue policies that ultimately have the effect of shrinking the size of their voting base and growing the size of the Democrats'. In the limit, the Republican voter base is a few percent of the population. This is the portion of the population that their policies cater to, though it isn't evident to many of their rank and file.

As long as the growing, increasingly impoverished and more restive remainder of the country is permitted to vote in Legislative branch races, the Republicans are, in the long run, doomed. That is, of course, assuming they continue to support policies that widen income inequality; thus decreasing their voter base.

I am only speaking of the democratically elected Legislative Branch of government here. It matters little whether a Democrat or Republican sits in the Oval Office. The non-democratically elected Chief Executive serves at the pleasure of the monied plutocrats, and by extension the Highest Courts will also continue to unduly reflect those same interests, as they have throughout the countries history, except for the hiatus from Roosevelt's court packing.

 

[jem]

first of all fuck you for your evil comment about jesus nazis. a fine example of your leftism at work.

secondly the consensus seems to be the Rs will take over.

third its the democrats policy of destroying the economy which is increasing the size of their base.
lowering taxes, eliminating the IRS and ecouraging private sector growth will increase the size of the tax paying base.

one side is sustainable the other side turns the country into venezuela.
its odd that you would be on that side.

I don't no what the outcome of the midterm election will be of course, the consensus seems to be that the election will follow the usual pattern for midterm elections, with Republicans making some inroads but the divided legislative branch remaining.

I am quite sure of this however. Republican efforts to control both houses in the legislature are, in the the long run, doomed, not because they have taken in so many radical, and incompatible, splinter groups -- the jesus nazis, the right-to-lifers, the libertarians, etc. -- although that's unquestionably a contributor to the Party's schizophrenia, but because they openly advocate and pursue policies that ultimately have the effect of shrinking the size of their voting base and growing the size of the Democrats'. In the limit, the Republican voter base is a few percent of the population. This is the portion of the population that their policies cater to, though it isn't evident to many of their rank and file.

As long as the growing, increasingly impoverished and more restive remainder of the country is permitted to vote in Legislative branch races, the Republicans are, in the long run, doomed. That is, of course, assuming they continue to support policies that widen income inequality; thus decreasing their voter base.

I am only speaking of the democratically elected Legislative Branch of government here. It matters little whether a Democrat or Republican sits in the Oval Office. The non-democratically elected Chief Executive serves at the pleasure of the monied plutocrats, and by extension the Highest Courts will also continue to unduly reflect those same interests, as they have throughout the countries history, except for the hiatus from Roosevelt's court packing.