Voters Tuesday sent a strong message to the once-formidable tea party: We don’t like you and we don’t want you representing us in Congress.
Tea party candidates lost big in Senate primaries in Kentucky and Georgia as GOP voters rallied behind “establishment” party candidates who stand a better chance of running strong against Democratic candidates in the fall and, possibly, giving the party of the elephant control of the Senate.
In Kentucky, where the tea party hoped to knock off long-time nemesis and Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell, their candidate Matt Bevin didn’t even come close as McConnell racked up 60 percent of the vote.
Georgia faces a runoff between two candidates who led voting in a crowded primary — neither representing or endorsed by the tea party.
Voters turned off the political extremism. The tea party pot turned cold.
Tea party officials, of course, attempted the spin the losses Tuesday night, claiming candidates who won — including McConnell — now embrace their rigid right-wing positions.
“Everybody runs like a tea party candidate now,” Freedom Works president Matt Kibbe told The Washington Post.
Others disagree.
“The establishment is ponying up resources and Republicans are generally starting to get behind some people who would like to see their government work,” says former GOP congressman Steven C. LaTourette, now head of the centrist Main Street Partnership. “Tuesday should be a wake-up call.”
The trend in Kentucky and Georgia played out in other states Tuesday. Right-wing candidates in Oregon fell to pediatric neurosurgeon Monica Wehby, a centrist who talked about consensus and building coalitions. In Idaho, Congressman Mike Simpson beat tea party-backed Bryan Smith.
Turn out the lights. The tea party appears to be over.
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Copyright © 2014 Capitol Hill Blue
9 thoughts on “Turn out the lights. The tea party is over”
Many times over the years I haven’t been able to shake the image of the Mad Hatter from Lewis Carroll’s classic, “Alice in Wonderland” whenever I think about the tea party, because in the novel the Mad Hatter is imprisoned in a time freeze where it’s 6 PM, and he’s forever at a tea party. Just as the Mad Hatter recited “…unanswerable riddles…and… nonsensical poetry…”, I look askance at the tea party and its advocates. Are they foisting some impractical and draconian drivel upon the voters? I’m grateful we’re not stuck with the obnoxious pressure and influence of the tea party and that instead it appears on the wane. Just as Alice was able to escape from the Mad Hatter’s tea party, it looks like voters and maybe the Republican establishment can too.
Please follow this link and point out the “impractical and draconian drivel” that is being foisted upon you. You guys call me delusional but y’all are having fantasy visions of story books that have more to do with a Greateful Dead concert flashback from your younger years and nothing to do with the political segment of the population that describes itself as “tea party supporters.”
It’s important to note that the “establishment” views adherence to the Constitution as political extremism. It’s a strange world we live in when the Bill of RIghts is considered a rabid right-wing position. The Unitary Executive takes it one step further and advises law enforcement via it’s Fusion Centers that those supporting and defending the Constitution are potential terrorists that should be detained and questioned based on their political beliefs.
Have a great Memorial Day!
[woody188 quote] “It’s a strange world we live in when the Bill of RIghts [sic] is considered a rabid right-wing position.”
By whom? You spit out sh!t that you appear to believe is true and all you do is make it clear to most of us that you really are delusional.
Woody is right on.
Indeed, or, as former US Congressman Ron Paul noted not too long ago: “Truth has now become treason in an empire of lies.”
But, then again, I suppose he, too, would be labelled “delusional” in your book as well.
Well then, it’s clear you both are delusional.
I think it’s safe to say, Mr. Cravener, that woody188 believes that adherence to the Bill of Rights is a rabid right-wing postion. I believe he also holds such a position. It’s also a part of rabid right-wing positions to believe that, beyond a reasonable doubt, your position is correct and everyone else’s are to be mocked, denigrated, and otherwise insulted.
That he cannot see what the rest of us can is not really our problem – We all care. Some of us, however, do not foam at the mouth and run about it.
J.
No, I don’t believe adherence to the Bill of Rights is a rabid right-wing position. I believe it is a required position based on universal human rights and common law that all political office holders, law enforcement, and military personnel swear to uphold and defend. That we have a political process for changing the Constitution via amendments. That attempting to subvert the Constitution via directives and secret laws and memos is treason.
You aren’t really suggesting treason is OK, are you Jon?
Is that what the rest of you see?
That it’s OK to surrender your rights for a false sense of security and a global government?
Because if you don’t believe in the Constitution, you aren’t American!
And I’ve just lost all respect I might have had for you Jon. Partially because I don’t see you as a fellow American anymore, as you don’t believe in our Constitution, and partially because I’ve always been respectful in our debates and you now claim I run about foamy at the mouth.
Indeed, Jon your counsel is no longer sought.
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