Were they duped or did they know what they were doing???
Dont know yet.
One small thought leads me to many others: Enough of them caved.
Like I said, I think this is bigger than we can imagine:
Were enough of them threatened in the right way to make them cave?
Or, were those who caved just posing in order to infiltrate the Tea Party?
I realize this sounds all cloak, dagger and tinfoil hat, but I am really considering out-of-the box possibilities.
In IL, I think it's called "combine politics". Both parties work to screw the taxpayers. The media helps them.