Posted on 08/13/2011 5:58:58 PM PDT by LibertarianInExile
I have yet to see anyone post a serious discussion, or heck, even a mention of the victory the Tea Party landed in this straw poll. Bachmann and Paul, the two candidates with strong support from Tea Party types, both vocal supporters of the Tea Party themselves, together took nearly 60% of the votes, and were twenty points up on the closest other challengers. Heck, the next closest candidate couldn't even break 15%!
Yet the only discussion I've seen now on FR and TV is about individual candidates and what the impact will be on their presence in the race. I say, who cares about the horse race? I don't care about what Herman and Newt will do next nearly as much as I care about what impact the Tea Party will have in future primary locales, because it was clearly HUGE in Iowa. Will New Hampshire and South Carolina, the next two primary locations, continue this Tea Party dominance? Or is New Hampshire's Tea Party too weak in light of the liberal Yankee exodus to that state? Is South Carolina's typical conservative more interested in what Pat Robertson's saying lately than buzz from the latest Tea Party meetup?
The millions of dollars other more "RNC-approved" and big-donor supported candidates will have to toss around in future primaries, and the connected MSM/RNC perception of their "electability," simply didn't matter to Iowans. Adherence to Tea Party principles sure did.
I haven’t used the term tea party but the political landscape has changed dramatically since 08.
The tea party win has been mentioned on Huckabee now and on the previous program on FNC.
Good point. This was a victory day for the Tea Party and a bad day for Republican establishment candidates. But don’t expect to hear that from the liberal media.
And the Tea Party write-in Perry beat out several including Romney who were actually on the ballot and in the debates.
Despite the media's endless attempts to create the illusion of Paul being some sort of tea party godfather he's not. Just because his supporters share some (slim) common ground with the rest of us does not make him a tea party candidate.
Puttin Ron Paul and “Tea Party” in the same sentence is one of the greatest deceptions ever delivered on today’s political map. There is NO way that someone can be a believer in the principles of the Tea Party AND an isolationist, that thinks America would be better off pulling out of the global arena defensively. No member of the Tea Party would ever blame America for 9/11.
If Rand Paul is smart, he better realize people don’t have short memories. He made those stupid lunatic foreign policy comments just like his father when he was running for the Senate. Sure, he’s all in goods now that the economy is the issue, but should we have another global event that warrants our intervention, I bet you he’ll side with Reid.
I heard one of the pundits declare that its too early to talk about who is a first tier candidate and who is a second tier candidate. LOL
Ron Paul is a flake. His Paulbots are extremely good at winning straw polls by bussing people in and other techniques of that kind.
I’d say it is a good showing for Bachman. I think Sarah Palin, who was not running, is far more qualified than Bachman is, but her victory does indeed indicate that the RINOs lost control of this one.
The problem is, this is supposedly an important vote. But having a straw poll in the middle of August is just plain stupid. No one is paying attention. After Labor Day would make more sense. Doing it now is damaging to the best candidates, as we saw last time around.
>>>Puttin Ron Paul and “Tea Party” in the same sentence is one of the greatest deceptions ever delivered on today’s political map.
Amen.
Ron Paul would sit idly by while Iran nukes Israel off the map.
I would not put any stock in this as an indicator at all. This is a straw poll where candidates can bring people from out of state to participate. Roach Paul is famous for bringing his crowds to events this and the result at this time is really meaningless. When it is primary election time with delegates at stake is when the game really begins. The South Carolina primary will be the first bell weather indicator.
That you personally don’t like Paul or his politics doesn’t mean he and his supporters are somehow isolated from the grass roots and Tea Party. It’s pretty obvious now he’s a got a lot of vocal support at the ground level, unlike some of the lead RINOs, and a lot of that support is in the Tea Party ranks, whether you like it or not. If Paul’s supporters in the Tea Party, or his support of the Tea Party, aren’t recognized by your local movement or the Iowan movement, they’re both doing pretty well connecting elsewhere. Either way, seems to me that grass roots conservative activists were far more influential than anyone could have hoped given the relative lack of mention they’ve gotten in the press lately.
What’s funny is that, unlike you, I don’t recall the MSM spouting about how Paul was part of the Tea Party movement. I just know it from experience. So it must be that you follow the MSM a lot more closely.
Your Right:)
“Ron Paul is a flake. His Paulbots are extremely good at winning straw polls by bussing people in and other techniques of that kind. I’d say it is a good showing for Bachman.”
But evidently a less than 2 point difference makes Paul’s organization and vote total irrelevant. /sarc I am no Paulbot, but I’d say that winning straw polls is important evidence of politically activist supporters, and future success, instead of being so dismissive. Of course, if he can’t translate that to primaries, it matters, and he’ll be out in a month.
No, putting this down as only a good showing for Bachmann, especially simply to slight Paul (flake or not) is silly. The Tea Party/grass roots’ turnout was overwhelming. That has got to scare the hell out of our RNC and MSM overlords.
But I do disagree with you somewhat about Palin. Palin’s made a lot of speeches. So has Bachmann. From what I can see, Bachmann’s been there on the national front since she was elected. What’s Palin been doing besides busing around and shooting reality TV? Working hard for the cause is more than making money, and that’s all Palin’s done lately that I can see. I’m sure Bachmann could make a better buck as a tax attorney, but she’s out there taking shots for conservatives every day, while Sarah is now the media’s favorite Republican and does what for the cause, exactly? The MSM sure doesn’t hang out waiting for Pawlenty to say something before he gets on a $#@!$! bus.
Ron Paul supporters were in on the ground floor here in Vermont of the early 2009 Tea party rallies before there was a Tea Party movement. While it is not accurate that they started the movement, it is equally inaccurate to ignore the role they had in getting it going.
While we certainly aren’t liked by the powers that be, and they try and marginalize us, this straw [oll is pretty meaningless. Will check back in after the Iowa Caucus and see where we are.
It is still WAY WAY WAY too early.
“Ron Paul would sit idly by while Iran nukes Israel off the map.”
Just out of curiosity, what would you do, right now, to PREVENT that from happening? Would you have the U.S. commit to a ground war in Iran to stop them from getting nukes? Because that’s the only thing to stop Iran from getting the bomb, short of preemptively leaving Iran glowing (and even that latter option might not work).
Heck, we could have stopped the Cold War had we preemptively nuked Russia or extorted them into capitulation with nukes. With the U.S. as the only superpower with that ability, they would have had no option but to fold. Would you have been for that then?
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