When other failed conservative movements saw that it was successful they glommed onto it and watered down the message.
Libertarians started yakking about lower taxes. Social conservatives started talking about ending abortion and gay marriage. Gone was the simple message of bringing our government back into line with reality.
The Tea Party had some effect in electing some candidates, but were they "good government" conservatives or were they libertarians and social conservatives who really didn't care about controlling immigration or the government debt?
And then some of them got bought by McConnell and that's all she wrote.
Does Taxed Enough Already mean anything to you?