Since Rand Paul declared that his victory was a victory for the Tea Party... do the Tea Partiers also embrace him as one of their leaders, or at least an emblem?
I ask because this comes full circle from the argument over whether Ron Paul and the lie-bertarians founded the tea parties.....
Well, most of the Kentucky Tea Party already has. And did so for most of the campaign.
Does that mean that Rand Paul is a "leader" or an "emblem" of the Tea Party in your State? I don't know why he would be. From what I can tell, the Tea Party movement seems to be more about local involvement in local races. Rand Paul is a great representative of the Tea Party movement in Kentucky. But I imagine that there's different Tea Party movers-and-shakers your State.
I ask because this comes full circle from the argument over whether Ron Paul and the lie-bertarians founded the tea parties....
Did Elvis invent Rock & Roll? Bill Haley and Chuck Berry and Johnny Cash fans might beg to differ.
Ultimately, you've had a number of people (Ron Paul and Rick Santelli have been amongst the biggest names, but hardly the only ones) with some similar ideas doing some similar things around the same time.
But in Rand Paul's case, I don't care who "invented" the Tea Party idea (as if it was any one guy; even Ron Paul himself didn't come up with the idea for his first Tea Party Anniversary Money Bomb, rather his supporters did); I just want to see Rand Paul leading the Tea Party Republicans, Independents, Libertarians et al to victory over Democrat Jack Conway, "Kentucky's most liberal statewide candidate in recent memory" (WaPo -- yes, even the Washington Post considers Conway to be "the most liberal").