Posted on 12/27/2010 9:27:17 AM PST by Zakeet
Time magazine's failure to choose the Tea Party as its Person or Persons of the Year surely reflects a desire that they will cease to be significant any day now. David Von Drehle's "runner-up" article in its Person of the Year issue concluded the Tea Party has already peaked and is well on its way to collapse: "The Tea Party is a hot brand, but there's no one in power to enforce the trademark. Now that the bailouts are history and Democratic hegemony is broken, what does it stand for? It's a sign of the incredible velocity of politics these days that the colossus of 2010, a movement not even two years old, is already facing an identity crisis."
Von Drehle tried to compare the Tea Party to Beatlemania -- which is a goofy analogy, considering they were rock's hottest band for six years. But he was wishing and hoping for a breakup:
In a sense, identifying with the Tea Party movement was like catching Beatlemania in the 1960s. People were drawn in for different reasons — the beat, the haircuts, the lyrics — and great gulfs of taste divided the John fans from the Paul fans, the George fans from the Ringo fans.Smashing success broke the Beatles apart. As 2010 closes, there is no bigger question in U.S. politics than whether the Tea Party will go the same way. The pressures on this already divided movement will be enormous. As long as the far-flung elements of the Tea Party were shoulder to shoulder against Obama, it was easy to keep them together. But now, the party that argued so effectively for smaller government is headed to Washington, where so many other waves have broken and receded. Having remade Congress and with a GOP presidential nomination up for grabs, the Tea Party is about to learn that rallying against its enemies is easier than choosing among its allies.
The most bizarre paragraph was this one:
Congress will have to decide whether to raise the federal debt ceiling. Increasing it would gall a lot of Tea Party voters, but the alternative would likely involve a government shutdown like the one that proved disastrous for Republicans in 1995. Will GOP leaders find a way to keep government going without alienating Tea Party factions? Can Tea Party deficit hawks avoid a collision with Tea Party tax cutters? Can the rock-ribbed Republicans who have joined the Tea Party movement keep peace with the pox-on-both-parties purists? Or will the most orthodox elements move in anger toward a third-party candidate? (How many times can Michael Bloomberg say no?)
How out of touch can Time magazine be? To think that the leader of New York City's nanny state could ever be a Tea Party darling?
The other very questionable concept is that a government shutdown in 1995 "proved disastrous for Republicans." Let's review the overall congressional election results in 1996: the Republicans lost eight seats in the House and picked up two seats in the Senate. How was that, then, "disastrous"? Yes, Bill Clinton was reelected in 1996, but would anyone want to place bets that Bob Dole was going to beat Clinton in 1996, if only Republicans had been more liberal?
“We’re still overrun with RINOs in the state legislature and calling our new governor a RINO would be a compliment.”
Agreed.
I predict Time will tell and Time Magazine will file BK 7.
I like Glen Beck but the kooky Mormonism he spews will ruin the Tea Party.
LOL, Beck does not lead the tea party, no one does.
Funny. I’ve had Mormons over and nothing got ruined. Must be a sad world you live in if someone from a different religion can ruin you.
my previous post...
They are beyond help, they do not have the capacity to be educated out of communism disguised as "liberalism and progressiveness." They can not or refuse to see the destructive nature of the communism disguised as "liberalism and progressiveness" they promote. The only way to preserve freedom for American Citizens in this Republic is suppression of the communist supporters.
What the supporters of communist "liberalism and progressiveness" will destroy is the very nation that gave them their freedom. They will complain and protest when opposed but preservation of this Republic will continue to give them their freedom to complain and protest against it.
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“Tea Party” can be accused of anything. “TEA Party” (Taxed Enough Already) gets the point across. Too bad it’s not written as an acronym with the explanation until at least TV and radio people on our side understand what it means.
That TIME cover is repugnant. They have no idea what is going on, the Tea Party is only getting stronger.
That’s got to be the dumbest analogy I’ve heard in a long time. Good grief, just plain dumb. TIME has come and gone.
Or not so silently. Marches, protests, door-to-door campaigning. . .
amen!
What’s a TIME Magazine? Sounds like something from the ‘80s.
What no one seems to understand is that the Tea Party is not a party...it’s a philosophy that joins like minded people who understand their Freedoms are being threatened. They love America and the potential and understand that freedom is the backbone that is necessary to unleash its potential. I’m sure I’m typical of a Tea Party member...I’m not a member but I think almost 100% like the so called activist that actually are a minority IMHO. Actually the crowning achievement of this boondoggle administration and dumbcrat backing is that it has brought out the ire of my kids who up until all of this happened could have cared less. Now they would support Donald Duck for President as opposed to obama..and that’s before we see 5.00 gas!
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