This attempt by some Paul supporters to attach themselves like barnacles to the Tea Party movement is a bunch of hooey.
Ron Paul is the same Libertarian he was in 2008. I'd agree his son Rand is Tea Party, but he's put quite a bit of distance between himself and the old man - most notably on foreign policy and defense (Ron Paul's most glaring weaknesses).
If you can find video of people at tea party rallies talking about how we need more war and that the Federal Government needs to be involved in marijuana laws, I’d like to see it.
Silly and you know it. The topic of most Tea Party rallies has mostly been on spending issues, but that certainly doesn't mean most Tea Party folks want to legalize heroin or bail on friends like Israel. Any sympathy Ron Paul may get from some well known Tea Party supporting conservatives, who sometimes give him a pass on his kooky views because they often agree with some of his economic positions, would turn to outright hostility were they to believe Ron Paul was a serious candidate.
If you actually believe all these traditional, conservative Americans who've banded together to create the Tea Party movement want to legalize drugs and prostitution, abandon allies like Israel, ignore the threats posed by Iran and other Islamic extremists, etc, you are kidding yourself. Ron Paul's base of support is a very organized, active group of college kids. These "youths" are not Tea Party, they are social libertarians - and when Ron Paul does not win the Republican nomination more than half of them will likely vote for Obama. The ones who really know what Paul stands for will simply vote Libertarian.
The tea party is said by Bachmann herself to include Democrats, Independents and Republicans.
The tea party, as you rightly say, is focused more on “spending issues.” However, you should note that even more than spending, is a focus on the constitution. The tea party believes in limiting the power of the federal government to what that Constitution provides. Not everything is Commerce.
Commerce and effects on Commerce are different things. The Supreme Court got that one wrong. It’s not just that the goverment spends too much money, it’s that the federal government does things it shouldn’t be doing.
On the drug issue, the proper tea party answer is “where in the Constitution does it say you can have a War on Drugs?”
On foreign policy, tea party is silent.
If you’re arguing that you think that Ron Paul’s Foreign Policy positions are unpopular with most tea partiers, you might be right. It only means that Ron Paul’s Foreign Policy positions are the minority view.
If the central theme of the tea party is that the federal government must be kept within Constitutional bounds, one could argue that less military activity is the more tea party idea.
Another way to describe it is that the tea party is split on foreign policy issues, or that foreign policy issues aren’t addressed at all by tea party.
Ron Paul is in agreement with the tea party’s message.