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Has the Tea Party’s Power Peaked?
Time ^ | 08/23/2011 | Adam Sorensen

Posted on 08/23/2011 12:05:34 PM PDT by SeekAndFind

Host to one of the purest strains of conservatism in the nation (ranked only behind Mississippi and Wyoming by Gallup), Utah is the perfect Tea Party test tube. Its primary system, which relies on a nominating convention where party delegates get a say before candidates go to a popular vote, distills the purest form of activist sentiment.

The state was the site of the first Republican incumbent defeat in 2010, when the brewsters toppled three-term Senator Bob Bennett, a watershed moment in an election cycle that saw not only Mike Lee claim victory over the establishment, but Rand Paul, Sharron Angle, Christine O’Donnell, Carl Paladino, Ken Buck and Joe Miller as well. Utah was ground zero for the whole thing. But on Monday, something surprising happened.

Jason Chaffetz, the Tea-infused two-term Rep. who won his seat in Congress in 2008 by running to the right of incumbent Chris Cannon (endorsed by no less than George W. Bush himself) and who championed the conservative Cut, Cap & Balance fantasy budget, announced he will not challenge veteran Republican Senator Orrin Hatch in a primary next year.

Citing a desire to avoid a “multimillion-dollar bloodbath,” Chaffetz broke widely held expectations with his decision not to pursue Hatch. While it’s true that the 77-year-old entrenched Senator has spent the better part of a year scrambling right — he seemed to take note of Bennett’s downfall — and filling a formidable campaign warchest, the nominating convention would have given Chaffetz a decent shot at taking down his opponent without ever facing voters. Chaffetz’s decision to pass on a Senate run may be a leading indicator that the Tea Party’s most powerful tool isn’t as sharp as it once was.

(Excerpt) Read more at swampland.time.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: teaparty
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To: SeekAndFind

Nope. Do they think if they say it enough it will be true.


21 posted on 08/23/2011 12:30:04 PM PDT by Edyie
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To: SeekAndFind

Nooooooooo! They have just begun to fight. Buckle your seatbelts, socialists, it’s going to be a bumpy ride!


22 posted on 08/23/2011 12:35:13 PM PDT by Bitsy (!)
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To: SeekAndFind

NOPE!!! I have my posters, and my straw hat with tea bags stapled all over it...where there are tea parties, there I am!!!

And YES I would love for Maxine Waters to show me to HELL, since that is where SHE is from!!!


23 posted on 08/23/2011 12:40:42 PM PDT by HarleyLady27 (How's that change treatin ya now?)
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To: Jim Robinson; All

Peaked? Peaked they say???

Oh baby, just wait and see when Gov. Palin announces she’s running and they will only think that DC area had a 5.9 earthquake today...Peaked indeed


24 posted on 08/23/2011 12:45:35 PM PDT by el_texicano (Extremism in the face of tyranny is no fault, Moderation in the face of evil, no virtue.)
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To: SeekAndFind

The Tea Party isn’t even going at half speed yet.

The liberals are crying, but wait until the elections are right around the corner. They will get a surprise.


25 posted on 08/23/2011 12:54:56 PM PDT by Venturer
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To: SeekAndFind

.

It seems the Establishment Media has fallen into the fatal trap of believing their own propaganda

To start with, neither of the polls cited sampled likely voters. They merely polled adults. Polls of this nature almost always follow what ever the headline of the day. People polled in this fashion almost always respond with whatever the last news they heard. It not a serious polling methodology but the Media pollsters loves to use this amateur polling technique because the results will usually reflect what ever is their story line du jour.

In addition both polls cited have a well documented history of vastly over sampling Democrats which serious skew their results to the Left.

Finally, what they are very careful to cover up in this “reporting: is these “news” stories is everyone in politics numbers went significantly down during the Debt debacle.

So if these bad number suggest the “tea party is finished” then the equally bad numbers for the Establishment of BOTH parties indicates they are finished as well. That is much much worse news for the politicians since they have to actually persuade people to vote for them while the Tea Party can always just change it’s name to undo the “brand damage” they supposedly have suffered.

So, as usual, it an attempt by the Junk Media to make what they wish to be true, true by manufacturing polling data to fit their preconceived opinions.


26 posted on 08/23/2011 12:56:07 PM PDT by MNJohnnie (Giving more money to DC to fix the Debt is like giving free drugs to addicts think it will cure them)
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To: SeekAndFind
tea party
27 posted on 08/23/2011 12:58:04 PM PDT by baddog 219
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To: ontap
A lot of Rhinos are surging to the right because of the tea party

Right, like McCain did in the last election. Talking is not doing. Even many "Tea Party" candidates who were elected last year, proved a disappointment when it came to actually voting in the House.

Talk is cheap. RINOs don't change so easily. I believe we are being deceived, just like always, by the weak, effete, Republican elite. No one is "surging to the right". Two of the top three candidates are not conservatives. So far, the Tea Party has accomplished nothing. Pathetic 2011 "budget", nothing. Embarrassing debt limit bill, nothing. Illegal war in Libya, nothing. I hope this doesn't hold and that actual conservative action will eventually happen, but I'm not holding my breath.

28 posted on 08/23/2011 1:07:39 PM PDT by Prokopton
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To: SeekAndFind

YES. The Tea Party’s power has most definitely piqued the progressives in this administration, in Congress and the MSM. They are doing everything in their power to make it appear like a “fringe” element that need not be taken seriously.


29 posted on 08/23/2011 1:11:32 PM PDT by DrC
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To: SeekAndFind

www.teapartyofamerica.org

September 3rd, they will know the Tea Party is far from peaked.


30 posted on 08/23/2011 1:23:38 PM PDT by Waywardson (Carry on! Nothing equals the splendor!)
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To: SeekAndFind

Oh yes, it is completely finished. Write it off. Done for. Kaput. Gone. No more. Finito. Fuggedaboudit. Through. Zip.


31 posted on 08/23/2011 1:27:57 PM PDT by Recovering_Democrat
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To: SeekAndFind

TIME’s up.
(Have they got 25 pages in this week’s edition ?)


32 posted on 08/23/2011 1:28:27 PM PDT by Eric in the Ozarks (Eh ?)
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To: SeekAndFind

Why hasn’t TIME folded yet?

It’s Marxist rag with readership that falls every year.

Die, TIME, die.


33 posted on 08/23/2011 1:59:56 PM PDT by wac3rd (Somewhere in Hell, Ted Kennedy snickers....)
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To: SeekAndFind
"Has the Tea Party’s Power Peaked?"

Ummm............no.

34 posted on 08/23/2011 2:48:05 PM PDT by redhead (I will vote for Sarah Palin, even if I have to write her in. —)
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To: SeekAndFind

No


35 posted on 08/23/2011 2:51:45 PM PDT by ThePatriotsFlag (.)
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