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Ted Cruz isn't the only Tea Party nut. There's plenty more of them
The Manchester Guardian ^ | October 25, 2013 | Ana Marie Cox

Posted on 10/30/2013 3:58:07 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet

It's instructive to remember that when the Tea Party first began to gather steam, the name referred to a "party" in the celebration sense – the Boston Tea Party, specifically: an event of planned chaos, a protest that masqueraded as an Indian attack. Over time, the name has lost its punny puckishness much as the movement has steadily shifted from a proudly anacharical – even populist – response and rebellion within the GOP to a smoothly functioning alternative to it.

The government shutdown proved that attempts by the GOP establishment to co-opt the Tea Party as a source of energy just created a network of political sleeper agents. With its own mechanism for drafting (and supporting) candidates, its own agenda, and its own media eco-system, the Tea Party is a third_party by almost any criteria but ballot affiliation–and leadership. The absence of any official organizational structure might be one reason the Tea Party has remained so lively despite a terrible national reputation and negligible policy achievements. When something goes wrong, those identified with the failure fade for a time and the attention of Tea Party-identified voters shifts smoothly to someone else. There's also no demand for positive policy victories or signature legislation: no one has to win a debate, just spoil the outcome.

Thus it's no surprise that Ted Cruz is the current face of the Tea Party: All his achievements are proudly in the negative, all his goals are set resolutely in the past. But the Tea Party's fickle and hive-like nature virtually demands that Cruz cycle out of the spotlight eventually. He will either fail to stop something from happening or, perhaps worse, accidently cause something to get done.

For when that happens: here's a look at some of the Tea Party's once and perhaps future leaders....

(Excerpt) Read more at theguardian.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Government; Philosophy; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: 113th; cruz; palin; teaparty; tedcruz
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
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21 posted on 10/30/2013 4:08:34 PM PDT by cripplecreek (REMEMBER THE RIVER RAISIN!)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

NJFatboy is a Tea Party guy?

Send this chica back to Puerto Rico, please!


22 posted on 10/30/2013 4:09:37 PM PDT by nascarnation (Frequently wrong but rarely in doubt....)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Almond Joy has nuts


23 posted on 10/30/2013 4:09:56 PM PDT by GeronL
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To: Regulator

LOL,

Just what I was thinking.

Brits just HATE upstarts.


24 posted on 10/30/2013 4:09:59 PM PDT by ConradofMontferrat ( According to mudslimz, my handle is a HATE CRIME. And I HOPE they don't like it.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Pass out the tea party hoodies, and carry a sign I am Ted Cruz, if I had a son he would look like that...and if I had a country it would look like this(and have a depiction of Christ on the throne by God..)


25 posted on 10/30/2013 4:10:00 PM PDT by aces
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To: ifinnegan
Why do you post garbage propaganda from the Guardian?

Agreed. Why do people here post so many of these types of stuff? A few maybe, but the focus should be on what's right about our side. If all the troops heard what were what the Nazis were saying, their morale would have been severely damaged. Same here.

26 posted on 10/30/2013 4:10:19 PM PDT by PapaNew
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

The Tea Party is not and never has been “anacharical”. The desire for a smaller, less intrusive government (especially at the federal level) is not anarchial — it’s constitutional.


27 posted on 10/30/2013 4:10:40 PM PDT by ConjunctionJunction
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To: IrishBrigade; ifinnegan

Everybody duck! Two Irishmen are about to argue. ;^)


28 posted on 10/30/2013 4:11:24 PM PDT by TigersEye (Stupid is a Progressive disease.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
PS, I Luv this picture.

Palin looks like the picture of delight, an American Joan of Arc, a happy warrior who Truly Believes

Cruz looks serene and sincere, another True Believer

Words can't describe what we all can see


29 posted on 10/30/2013 4:11:36 PM PDT by Regulator
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To: Regulator

Those veterans and others behind them look like you and me, as it were, do they not?


30 posted on 10/30/2013 4:13:14 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet (Ted Cruz/Sarah Palin 2016)
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To: doorgunner69
Shorter Wonkette: Butt-Sex Jokes Are Only Funny When Liberals Tell Them
31 posted on 10/30/2013 4:13:36 PM PDT by kiryandil (turning Americans into felons, one obnoxious drunk at a time (Zero Tolerance!!!))
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
The Tea Part is a little like Camelot - people obsessed with it apparently have a clear idea of what they're referring to but fail entirely to be able to communicate to anyone not so obsessed. This author has filled a grab bag with politicians who share a taste for smaller government with a certain populist appeal and refers to the bag as if it were something meaningful.

There is a widespread and increasingly strident - and desperate - attempt to marginalize small-government conservatives by framing them as some sort of radical splinter group. But Tea Party? Really? A group that the author is forced to admit has no national organization, no funding, no leadership, no platform, in fact nothing that would qualify it as a recognizable party at all?

Well, if it freaks establishment proggies out, count me in. We can work out the doctrinal details later.

32 posted on 10/30/2013 4:14:23 PM PDT by Billthedrill
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Another moron journalist that hasn’t a CLUE what the heartland is thinking right now.


33 posted on 10/30/2013 4:15:08 PM PDT by skeeter
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

This doofus doesn’t even know that it means “Taxed Enough Already”.


34 posted on 10/30/2013 4:17:50 PM PDT by mylife (Ted Cruz understands the law, and he does not fear the unlawful.)
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To: Hostage

Are you all three year olds? If you see a title that’s obviously controversial, by an author known to many as a sh*t-stirring b*tch, from a newspaper 10 places further left than anything we have here in the United States, do I really need to warn you that you probably won’t agree with her premise? I thought we were mostly adults here. When you see a “barf alert” or similar wording from me, you can pretty much rest assured that the article is going to make your blood boil. This is not such a piece. This is merely the Left letting you know who they fear by naming names. I reject 25 of these for every one that I post. Did you know that?


35 posted on 10/30/2013 4:19:48 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet (Ted Cruz/Sarah Palin 2016)
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To: IrishBrigade

“...just a wild guess on my part, but maybe he really wanted to get a discussion going...imagine that, on an open forum...”

She!! :)


36 posted on 10/30/2013 4:20:53 PM PDT by Sporke
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

“Sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you don’t....”

Damn centrists.


37 posted on 10/30/2013 4:21:00 PM PDT by ConservativeStatement ("World Peace 1.20.09.")
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To: TigersEye; IrishBrigade; ifinnegan

Huh? I’m an Austro-German.


38 posted on 10/30/2013 4:21:19 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet (Ted Cruz/Sarah Palin 2016)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

I personally think its a good idea to pay attention to what they say on the other side.


39 posted on 10/30/2013 4:21:38 PM PDT by cripplecreek (REMEMBER THE RIVER RAISIN!)
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To: ConjunctionJunction

Anacharical?! The intellectualoid libs try to sound smart, and they can’t even spell (unless they’re comparing the Tea Party to a common aquarium plant).

An`ach´a`ris

n. 1. (Bot.) A fresh-water weed of the frog’s-bit family (Hydrocharidaceæ), native to America. Transferred to England it became an obstruction to navigation. Called also waterweed and water thyme.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, published 1913 by C. & G. Merriam Co.


40 posted on 10/30/2013 4:21:47 PM PDT by rfp1234 (Impeach We Much!)
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