Is the Tea Party fad over

[BonMallari]

seems like the Tea Party has been shooting blanks....I knew they didnt have the infrastructure,funding or game plan for the long haul...seems to me that a lot of "their candidates" are getting beat ..in the beginning their premise and platform had some merit, but I think they were too extreme even for conservatives like me, and the candidates were so quick to wrap themselves in the Tea Party flag, when in reality they had no substance

[dnf777]

What's funny, is that it started as a group that was tired with politics as usual. I think many folks from BOTH sides of the aisle could find common ground with that premise. Had they focused on campaign finance reform and lobbyist reform in a bi-partisan approach, I think they had a truly viable party.

They seemed to have a strong libertarian flavor for a while, but it turned out to be more right-wing anti-Obama in disguise. (which is fine, but there's already the republican party, which was fractured by the tea-party) As it morphed into a mostly anti-Obama movement, without its own direction and solutions, it seemed to lose steam. They got some really wacko spokespersons that didn't help.

[BonMallari]

What's funny, is that it started as a group that was tired with politics as usual. I think many folks from BOTH sides of the aisle could find common ground with that premise. Had they focused on campaign finance reform and lobbyist reform in a bi-partisan approach, I think they had a truly viable party.

They seemed to have a strong libertarian flavor for a while, but it turned out to be more right-wing anti-Obama in disguise. (which is fine, but there's already the republican party, which was fractured by the tea-party) As it morphed into a mostly anti-Obama movement, without its own direction and solutions, it seemed to lose steam. They got some really wacko spokespersons that didn't help.

major understatement....

[gman0046]

The Tea Party candidate just beat the incumbent for the senate in Alaska. Where have they shot blanks?

[BonMallari]

The Tea Party candidate just beat the incumbent for the senate in Alaska. Where have they shot blanks?

dont celebrate too quickly not all the ballots have been counted up there...Miller has a 2,000 vote lead over Murkowski with some 7,600 absentee ballots that wont be counted till August 31st

the Tea Party got Sharron Angle nominated in Nevada to go against Harry Reid...and as much as I hate Dingy Harry, she opens her mouth and says some really stupid comments..we had a chance to knock Reid out and they went the extreme right candidate,instead of two choices that were only slightly right of center and both polled to beat Reid by double digits

[gman0046]

Bon Mallari, again I ask where have they shot blanks?

[BonMallari]

Bon Mallari, again I ask where have they shot blanks?

the Tea Party seems to choose the extreme candidate (at least for my tastes)..they have "appeared" to hitch their wagon to the Sarah Palin camp and IMHO thats a loosing strategy..Her candidates have a already lost a couple of races throughout the country...they seem to be real quiet now mainly because they spent most of their $$$ and werent as organized as they wanted you to believe...takes a lot of infrastructure to play ball with the big boys

[gman0046]

Can you tell us where Palins candidates lost?

[Hew]

Had they focused on campaign finance reform and lobbyist reform in a bi-partisan approach, I think they had a truly viable party. That's what you think the Tea Party stood/stands for? Lobbyist and finance reform? Really?

They seemed to have a strong libertarian flavor for a while, but it turned out to be more right-wing anti-Obama in disguise. Yeah, I must say that I was as shocked as you that the Tea Party folks would be anti-Obama. Afterall, it had to be purely coincidental that the Tea Party started at the same time Obama was sinking government tentacles into huge aspects of our lives.

I couldn't even type as many eyerolls as are warranted so I won't even bother.

[Hew]

As for the tea party "shooting blanks"....that's a relatively unshared opinion from the analysis I've read. What I read is that there were mixed results. That a Tea Party-backed candidate couldn't beat an incumbent senator who two years ago won his party's nomination for president contributes to the "shooting blanks" perception then I'd have to agree with Rodney Dangerfield..."Tough crowd, tough crowd."

As for Palin...her endorsements were hardly rubber stamped for Tea Party candidates. She had a mix of Tea Party and traditional GOP'ers (like McCain). According to ABC, her endorsed candidates won 20 out of 30 races yesterday. Not exactly a waning influence.