Posted on 02/06/2012 12:49:33 PM PST by rightwingintelligentsia
It was the great wildcard going into the 2012 election cycle. Republican Party insiders openly worried the Tea Party might knock off the establishment presidential candidate, just as it knocked out establishment picks in the chaotic 2010 congressional races. Party heavyweights wondered whom the upstart movement would get behind and whether Mitt Romney could even get through the early states, given the once-raging Tea Party elements in Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina.
But after months of wondering how the Tea Party would change the primary game, leaders inside the movement admit they never came in off the sidelines. For the Tea Party movement, the 2012 presidential primaries have been a bust.
“The Tea Party movement is dead. It’s gone,” says Chris Littleton, the cofounder of the Ohio Liberty Council, a statewide coalition of Tea Party groups in Ohio. “I think largely the Tea Party is irrelevant in the primaries. They aren’t passionate about any of the candidates, and if they are passionate, they’re for Ron Paul.”
(Excerpt) Read more at thedailybeast.com ...
The “granddaddy” of Obamacare? Hell no.....
50% of voters who call themselves “Tea Partiers” voted for Romney in Nevada. Self-described Tea Partiers don’t equal conservatives. At least we kind of know what it means to be a “conservative” voter. Then again, who knows anymore what any of these definitions mean. You need a leader or like-minded leaders in a movement for the movement to be defined.
Tea Party was a dumb name anyway.
Good for you, your self-rightousness will be a boon to Obama.
WHO’S UP FOR A TEA PARTY MARCH ON GOP HEADQUARTERS?- Why not? It’s been awhile since the Tea Party marched on anything.
The media/entertainment propaganda offensive to marginalize and eventually exclude from the discussion the “tea party” has been very successful, and it will be repeated, in spades, until it stops working.
Tea party people are mostly kind, gentle folk who want their neighbors to think well of them.
People like that cannot halt, much less defeat, Bolsheviks.
Next time we need to deploy tougher forces.
I’m in Mississippi, it won’t matter.
The Tea Party has been splitting its vote among many “anyone but Obama”’s...
I for one am kind of glad the liberals think it is dead.
They will be very surprised on election day.
I don't know if it's dead but it sure fizzled under a one-name umbrella. There were way too many factions in the movement. Some belligerent,aggressive and mean-spirited as in the Herman Cain crowd; some persistent and omnipresent as in the Ron Paul army; some obnoxious and accusing as in the Michele Bachman team. Some Tea Party people who supported Rick Perry were beaten to a pulp and became defensive. They believed Tea Party favorite, Sarah Palin would step up to the plate for Perry. Instead, she led the whoppin’ with her crony capitalism statement. Santorum is just now getting his. I don't think Gingrich will survive another month. We have Libertarian talk show hosts (Billy Cunningham, Neil Bortz,etc. and Wayne Allyn Root who can't even field a viable candidate in a Libertarian Party, telling us every day that our Republican Party candidates are unelectable. Who asked the creeps? And then there's Rush. My twenty year love affair with him won't let me speak out against him more than once a week. I've already done it this week. The Tea Party should never have been called the Tea Party. It should have gotten serious instead of allowing itself to become a caricature. Besides, it was infiltrated. It's still infiltrated to make sure it doesn't rise again unified. It won't because most of them hate Romney....not because of his policy but because he's a Mormon. May as well just say it.
The libs are giggling.
so far obamacare still stands.
"WHO’S UP FOR A TEA PARTY MARCH ON GOP HEADQUARTERS?"
"Tea Party was a dumb name anyway."
"I’m in Mississippi, it won’t matter."
All kind of comments, but did you read this well-down in the article?
"At the state and local levels, Tea Parties remain highly engaged in ballot initiatives and Senate races and congressional contests. The Ohio movement won a victory in a “health-care freedom” bill in the 2011 elections. Other Tea Parties around the country say they’re focused on statewide efforts against public employee unions or health-care mandates."
The very best thing to happen has been happening. So called Tea Party folks could do no better than that! Those who want to really make a difference need to do that where they can do so at the least cost, nearest where they live.
They need to show up at their local GOP district and county meetings, find out how they can help, learn the ropes, learn how to get to state conventions - AND FIGHT THE RINOS they find infesting the lowest levels of the GOP. Replace them with Constitutional supporters - real conservatives.
If you do that - you're real Tea Party. Just demonstrating at some event doesn't cut the mustard. Show up, become a voting member at the lowest levels of the GOP - help take the whole enchilada away from the RINO's. Then you'll be real EFFECTIVE Tea Party.
The original Tea Partiers showed up at demonstrations... and a lot of them went home afterward, thinking they had done their part. Others stayed long enough to find out what to do next - that would really help.
Many of those are in-the-battle now - where they can do the most good - guarding the gates to politics where they can be most effective, wielding there votes. They get to vote monthly, at their district and county level - keeping the clowns out of power where they can.
Would that FReepers would join the battle where they best could!
should have read it before hitting post...
Tea Party Dead?......LMAO!!!
Not in Ohio.
“”wielding there votes.” SHB wielding their votes.
should have read it before hitting post...”
I know what you’re saying and I see that kind of involvement every day. We’re recalling a belligerent mayor who had the gall to overturn the legitimate vote of the people because he and a few city council members didn’t think it was fair. They don’t call themselves Tea Party anymore but they’re taking the government back at the grassroots level. There was too much going on in this primary season for anyone to get a meaningful message out.
As a nation and as a people we did not get into this sorry state overnight it took years . We who are supporters of the TEA party need to keep working to light brush fires of Liberty in the minds of our fellow citizens .
It will take time & make no mistake there are members of the Republican party elites as well as members of the party of Slavery,Socialism & Sodomy that will do what ever they can to smear us but if we keep up with a insurgency for the ideas set down in the Constitution we will be victorious .
That is what terrifies the likes of Van Jones & Speaker Boehner ,hell Van Jones a communist feces stirrer has even admitted as much !
So do not be disheartened keep the faith & most importantly keep striving to light those brush fires of liberty because that is how we will win .
Hell not even 20 years ago who would have thought that we would have something like concealed carry in 49 of 50 states & a Supreme Court ruling that the 2nd Amendment pertains to the citizens. So keep the faith & keep being an insurgent for LIBERTY!!!
WOW - good on you! You’re doing the best thing we ‘citizens’ can do - guarding the gates and keeping the bums out!
Temper Tantrums are counter productive hell just look at the Occupy schmucks for proof of that . We did not get in this mess overnight & we will not get out of it overnight either .
Keep the faith keep inspiring & teaching your fellow country man the ideas set forth in the Constitution & the ideas of Liberty & self government were you ae your own master as opposed to calling a host of petty officials masser as in yes masseh ,no masseh ,oh thank you kindly massah.
Yes it will be long & tiresome even tedious at times but in the end if we truly believe in what we are saying here we will win in the end & it will be worth it.
The country is already screwed . We are working to make it unscrewed . It will take time & hard work to undo the deliberate destruction of our country & to reverse the intentional miseducation of several generations about just what the ideas that were the bedrock of this nation actually were .
Study them yourself & then teach them to others .This is what scare the communists/fascist in the party of Slavery,Socialism & Sodomy . The communist agitator Van Jones has even admitted as much .
KEEP THE FAITH ,KEEP AGITATING FOR THE CAUSE OF LIBERTY IN THE END WE WILL WIN .
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.