Quote:
Originally Posted by Buster
The Democrat Party and media are in for a huge surprise and wakeup call in November if they don't stop thinking of the "Tea Party" movement as a political strategy.
It's made up on regular, everyday, working and voting Americans that are sick of where the country is going, the lies and spending...and just the general mindset of those in power right now. They're not being paid and bussed in like a lot of liberal protesters, they're not just Republicans, just Conservatives, or just of any single mindset. They're just pissed-off voters who are ready to throw all of the bums out. They're brought together by frustration over not being heard, not a particular goal or something in common with one another. This is why they're going to affect these elections...they don't want their own party or candidate to win, they just want America to return to what it's supposed to be.
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Buster, I don't know exactly what America is supposed to return to and what the Tea Party's solution to that is, but that's another discussion I guess.
As far as Dems being surprised, I highly doubt that as most predictions say that we'll either lose the House or come very close. I would say if Dems hold onto to both the House and the Senate, which is entirely possible because of the Tea Party candidates ousting reliable Republicans candidates who would have faired very well in the general,
that would be the surprise of the day. I whole heartedly believe the media are secretly rooting for the Tea Party as that would be a significant narrative and signal a shift in American politics. I also take issue with the notion that Republicans, which is what the Tea Party is like it or not, are hard working 'Americans' and Democrats aren't. See it's this very fractured logic that will cause them to only appeal to a shrinking electorate.
If you look at the elections so far, prior to last two primaries incumbents are still winning more races and overall Dems are still stacking up pretty favorably. But don't take my word for it, look at the the special elections that have taken place since Obama has been in office. Even in reliably red districts, Dems are doing pretty darn good.
Is there a lot of angry sentiment out there towards this Administration, absolutely. But the Tea Party and the Republican party are going to have to come with a better slogan than "we want our country back", because that dog ain't going to hunt my friend. We've seen at least three national Tea Party candidates go up in flames recently: Sharon Angle, Rand Paul, and last night J.D. Hayword got trounced --trounced-- by old man McCain. My take is this whole movement/phenomenon is good for cable ratings, but unless you're putting together a message built on center/right or center/left policies, it's going to be an uphill battle in a general election.
If they can't harness this anger and frustration, as legitimate as it may be, it will all be for naught. And come November a lot of people will look at the results, not the rhetoric to see how effective the Tea Party really is...was.