Free Republic

Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), a darling of the Tea Party crowd, credited that movement with blocking Democratic health care reform efforts and predicted the conservative activists behind the movement could ultimately thwart the passage of that bill and others.. "The only reason we don't have national health care right now is you - is the people outside of Washington," DeMint told a gathering of Tea Party activists gathered Wednesday night in Washington for the premiere of a documentary about the movement. "I think we do have a shot at stopping this thing," he said of the health care reform bill...

Kaine: Tea parties 'savaging the GOP' By: Andy Barr December 3, 2009 03:58 PM EST Democratic National Committee Chairman Tim Kaine said Thursday that the tea party movement is “savaging” the Republican Party and is already proving “corrosive” in key GOP primaries. Speaking at the 11th annual American Democracy Conference hosted by the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics and POLITICO, Kaine argued that while the “headwind” may be against Democrats heading into 2010, divisions within the GOP will prove deadly to the Republican brand. “The tea party movement is savaging the GOP,” he said. “It is something that we...