Lighten up, Frances.
B'sides...you libs have to get on the same page. Your hero, Debbie Blabbermouth Schmuck, says the Tea Party has "swallowed" the establishment...now YOU say the Tea Party is destroyed....heh heh heh....
Posted on 05/21/2014 6:12:30 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Extremes are called that for a reason. They are ideas that are on the far edges of reasonableness, and they are – rightly – destined to be tempered and reined in by more moderate ideas. That's what has just happened to the political party that holds sway in my home state.
Elections across the nation Tuesday showed that voters have rejected Tea Party extremism, with all of its concentration on hating President Obama and its suggestion that anyone who disagrees is less than patriotic.
These voters -- Republicans in states like Kentucky, Georgia and Idaho -- are definitely not tree-hugging, pot-smoking liberals. They're conservatives who want their party returned to them.
For them, it's not a matter of ideology; it's a matter of political survival. And as Alabama's own George Wallace noted so many times, political viability is the first and most necessary goal of every elected or would-be elected official.
Just as Wallace did more than 50 years ago, in recent years some Republicans in my state have run campaigns based on rhetoric that they had to know was downright silly. (Consider the current Public Service Commission candidate who's promising to "fight Obama," as though that's the job of a PSC member.)
In a race to the bottom, candidates have vied to hate Obama more, love guns best and pander most effectively to people who could be swayed by negative platitudes. That's a disservice and a distraction to the voters, not to mention an unworkable strategy for government and politics.
Last year's election of Baldwin County's own Bradley Byrne to Congress was a bellwether of how far some extremists are willing to go. When Byrne -- no wild-eyed liberal -- beat a conservative political consultant turned patriot/candidate, signs sprang up all over south Alabama.
Emblazoned with the "Don't Tread on Me" serpent and the words "Boycott Byrne," the signs were the height of the curious, self-destructive urges of some Tea Party Republicans. Byrne isn't a brand of soft drink to be boycotted; he's a U.S. representative from their own party.
Instead of indulging in unrealistic fantasies about what government ought to be, Tea Partiers would be better off not overplaying their hands and instead working in the political system that has gotten them all of this attention in the first place.
It's fitting that some branches of the Tea Party have adopted the serpent as their logo. Like the original rebellious founders of our nation, they mean to convey a message that says, "If you tread on what I see as my rights, you'll regret it." But the effective message in today's political climate is very different.
Everybody who's ever taken a walk in the woods knows snakes can bite. They also know that if you leave snakes alone, they'll usually slither away without harm.
Only a snake-chunking preacher with misplaced courage and a working refrigerator will try to handle a poisonous snake. He knows that when the serpent warms up and wakes up, it'll bite.
The Tea Party serpent has surely bitten the Republican Party.
Now the voters – and the Republican Party – have apparently learned that lesson. Political analysts say that nationwide, only 15 percent of voters favor the Tea Party today. That was reflected in Tuesday's primary results.
The flirtation with extremism has proven a big mistake for the Republican Party, just as Democrats' flirtation with extremism (remember their sojourn in the wilderness in the 1980s and the impact of the left-wing MoveOn.org in the late 1990s?) was a big mistake for them.
The voters' message – for those with ears to hear it -- is clear: Lead with reason, and with enough courage to turn away the false invective. The extremist elements of the Tea Party are a serpent the Republicans -- and the nation -- can do without.
^^^^^
Frances Coleman is a freelance writer living in Baldwin County. Email her at fcoleman1953@gmail.com and "like" her on Facebook at www.facebook.com/prfrances.
'nuf said.
Yep.
We win battles, we lose battles, but the war isn’t lost despite what the GOPe and the Socialist Left want us to believe.
We need to respell this pos ‘free lancer’s’ first name,..Francis...the talking Mule. Except she is brainlessly ignorant of all that goes on in politics...as I said, a leftist pos!
“Wasn’t it your GOPe insiders saying they wanted to “crush” the Tea Party “
GOPe is out to remove democrats incumbents, win open seats and reelect Gop incumbents.
From what I can tell, there is a large teaparty faction that wants to defeat gop incumbents, does not care about open seats and wants democrats to defeat gop incumbents.
I am with gope, which side are you on.
Well, it sounds nice as a sound bite, but your opening statement has little in the way of reality to back it up...
The owner of this forum has let his distaste for the GOPe be known. I guess you could always logout and go elsewhere.
Human nature and history is a fascinating study. In that history we find that most men prefer slavery than the risk of liberty.
Our Founders noted that truth in the Declaration - that mankind is apt to suffer evil while evil is sufferable, than right themselves and throw off the chains to which they have become accustomed.
If this people will not do what is necessary now to secure their future at the ballot box, how can we rest in faith that the cartridge box will prevent what masses are willing to settle for? The majority have grown accustomed to their chains.
I have a discernment that the willingness to use a handgun against an army, will happen only when enough are behind wire and gates that they realize they have nothing left to lose, then all they may have left is to burn in the camps and lament what could have been.
I think that admission says everything Conservatives need to know about you.
You're with the Ruling Class Statists and the MarxoFascists they help covertly with our tax money while pretending to be on 'our side'.
You stand with those who declared war on Conservatives.
So we're not on your side. We're on the side of Conservative principles, liberty and the Constitution. You self-admittedly are not.
Oh noes!
The voters are seeing the Tea Party for what is: redundant - now that the Tea Party has most of those in “the establishment” talking about the same things as they do - lower taxes, smaller government, less regulation, and on and on.....
The TEA PARTY is what the MSM has made them out to be!!!! The TEA PARTY is nothing more than AMERICAN CITIZENS that are demanding
SMALLER government, plain and simple the MSM in this country are nothing more than a bunch of commies with the power of the press
unfortunately!!!!
Take your brain dead tantrum over to France’s house. You both deserve each other. You are the problem and offer no solution. Idiot.
Yes, reelecting the same guys who put us in this mess isn’t destructive!
small govt, fiscal responsibility, and lower taxes are ‘extreme’?!
these people are on freakin crack
Not going into massive, generational debt is “extremist”?
You haven’t been paying attention - the GOPe wants to JOIN the democrats, the Teaparty are the ones that want to defeat them.
WHAT checks and balances? If they were truly providing checks and balances, I’d vote GOP, but they’re not - so I won’t.
The only way we can clean house is for the GOP to fail completely. Better they fail, then keep pretending to be conservative while jumping in bed with the dems at every opportunity.
What in the world did Boehner and Mitch “check and balance” the last 5 years???
It is illegal to ban cock-fighting at the federal level, which is what Mitch voted for.
Of course, it's perfectly legal for the State of Kentucky to ban cock-fighting, which it has, and, to my knowledge, it's a law Matt Bevin supports.
This contemptible lady moron is a text-book example of the low-information voter!
That said, if you want to primary a Minority Leader, it's best not to speak at cock-fighting rallies! LOL!
Moron. Got a link for that?
Lighten up, Frances.
B'sides...you libs have to get on the same page. Your hero, Debbie Blabbermouth Schmuck, says the Tea Party has "swallowed" the establishment...now YOU say the Tea Party is destroyed....heh heh heh....
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