Posted on 04/01/2010 11:32:59 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Like many influential causes before it, the "tea party" movement appeared on the scene uninvited by the political establishment. Democrats in the White House and in Congress recognize it for what it is -- a spontaneous and pointed response to the Obama agenda -- but some Republican leaders still aren't sure what to make of it, as tea partiers have risen on their own and stirred up trouble in GOP primaries.
Sometimes in politics it's easier to recognize foes than friends, and this may be why Democrats have been quicker to figure out the movement's potential. They know that in November's midterm elections, Republicans will gain mightily from a growing discontent with the administration, which has disappointed the independent voters who made the difference for Barack Obama in 2008.
A close look at the tea party membership will find many of those independents who went for Obama but now regret it. After sweeping into power, Democrats assumed they had redrawn the political map forever, and they took this as a mandate to remake the federal government forever. To the surprise of millions of their supporters, they plowed ahead with federal control over health care and new spending financed by a decade of trillion-dollar deficits. Along the way, they have tried to brush off the Republican congressional minority as little more than spectators to one-party rule.
But across America, millions of people decided not to be silent. Prompted only by their convictions, they united against the unjustifiable expansion of federal power. So successful is the tea party movement that there is speculation it might launch a political party. Though nearly three-quarters of tea party supporters identify themselves as Republicans, according to a recent Quinnipiac University poll, 40 percent of them are open to voting for a third-party candidate of their own.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Hate to be this way, and as much as I respect Quayle...he’s a non-entity today.
Too, there is no third party considered, unless it’s by miscreants. The TEA Party is a movement...not a party, and he should know that before he suggests it’s more than that.
Retired?"
I'm sure you know the answer to your own meaningless question. What does that have to do with anything? Are you claiming to be a current high-level elected official? There have only been 40-something Vice Presidents of the United States, and Mr. Quayle is one of those. Or do you buy-in to the media meme that Mr. Quayle is a simpleton and a fool?
You believe this?
poTEAto
Hate to break it to you Dan, but it was your then boss, Bush 41, that cost the Republican Party the White House. There would have never been a Perot candidacy if Bush had not dropped the ball, i.e. "Read my lips!"
You said Dan Quayle was a United States Senator and Vice President and then asked what have I done that compares?
I ask you, what did Quayle do besides get elected?
I respect him but why should take advice from someone who didn't win the election?
Having worked in the Reagan White House, I can tell you that EVERYBODY keeps very busy, and I’m sure Vice President Quayle did his fair share of the work in the first Bush administration. Do you realize that the Vice President chairs the National Security Council and has many other duties, depending on what the President tasks him with? It’s not all ship commissionings, funerals and all that.
I don’t care if he ever won an election, or not.
He’s yesterday’s news, and obviously doesn’t understand the TEA Party movement...or not, and he is one of the Republican “elite.”
If he’s the latter, he doesn’t deserve my attention, and will get no more of it.
Ummm, he did win the 1988 election, hence his title...
Well, I’m glad to hear Mr. Quayle kept busy after being elected...
lol...
That's what I was thinking.......
Huh?
He is neither. That person occupies The White House as we speak. But looking to Dan Quayle for advise at this point in time hardly seems wise.
Pretty pathetic huh?
Seems everyone wants to jump on the tea party band wagon...Now Quayle? lol....
You have me there. Or maybe not. George Bush Sr. and Dan blew the next election. Eight years of Clinton was the result. That worked out well. And now we have Obama as the result of another RINO. How is that working out?
BUMP what you said.
There’s not a doubt in my mind that the scumbag Democrats will attempt a stealth takeover of the tea party movement (with the purpose of trying to turn it into a new “third party”) with the unwitting help of some of its self-proclaimed “leaders”.
So Dan Quayle brought about Ross Perot? Hmmm, interesting theory...
The TP doesn't need a leader in the form of a person; "Persons" have almost without exception disappointed when money and the imagined priveleges of power have been showered upon them or have otherwise tempted them. And THAT, my FRiends, is the root of the left's current power. This is why the "free lunch" crowd has taken as their leaders NOT politicians who have any admirable qualities; but politicians who will shamelessly offer goodies, who will bludgeon the opposition, who will pander to the basest "get whitey" instincts of a self-identified victim class. The law of the jungle appeals to this class of voter. That they are bamboozled by false promises and flim flam should be no surprise, frankly. Lacking an improvement in education level on their part and lacking a willingness to competitively pander on our part, there is no chance we will appeal to that class of voter. Ever. It's a lost cause. We know this. We know the poor will always be with us. It's just a question of whether the poor believes its' best chances lie with those who will punish the evil rich by confiscating and redistributing their perceived wealth, or with those who wish to provide them with real opportunity, not utopian nonsense peddled as opportunity. Today, the drones still believe that government is their best hope. That they will learn the foolishness of their illusions is scant comfort to those who know the lessons of history prove that giving up our unique freedoms and the uniqueness of the US itself will be a one-way street.
The TP's leader is the Constitution itself. And that is its beauty. It is nearly perfect as it is. It need not run a candidate, indeed it would be suicidal to do so and I am OVERJOYED that one has not emerged. My greatest hope is that one WILL NOT. It is, IMO, the very manifestation of the "silent majority", as it was once called. It needs no leader. If it does not pervert itself over time, it is ultimately the "party" of the individual. It is the non-party of the mob. It is an amorphous agglomeration of individuals who, hopefully, will realize that their power lies not in trying to convince a non-listening elite of anything at all except that they are being watched.
And amorphous is good. Because there's nobody to bribe or extort. THAT is the greatest frustration of the left. And THAT is a powerful argument. That is what the left hates about the TP. There's nobody to dig up dirt on. That doesn't mean they don't try, as we see. These are probes. Unless we allow them, they go nowhere. Who gives a crap if drones call us "racist"? We can't be frozen and ridiculed a la Alinsky if we don't care. Get used to it. Be not defined by what you resist.
It is, at the end of the day simply a "Constitutional Consciousness". Hopefully, it will simply vote its awareness. We know that elections in the US are in the main won by margins in the under-5% range. The TP needs to know that it is potentially the most powerful party there is...by a LONG shot. Because all it really has to do is to acquire about 10% of real voters and it will be able to swing ANY election. Simple as that.
Did it ever occur to you we are being played for suckers by both sides? It is only a matter of degree.
Please cite one of VP Quayle’s contributions to the National Security Counsel, other than sitting in a big chair and listening to the adults. Perhaps you are refering to his lead seat at the National Space Counsel?
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