Libertarian Leanings

Is The Tea Party Still Alive?

I'll say!  Tea Party favorite Ted Cruz won the Texas Republican runoff for the U.S. Senate seat held by the retiring Kay Bailey Hutchinson, defeating GOP establishment candidate David Dewhurst.  Easily.  With 96% of the state's 7,957 precincts reporting Cruz was ahead 57% to 43%.  Cruz is heavily favored to defeat Democrat Paul Sadler, a former state representative, in November.

Mr. Cruz's win "is the biggest victory for the tea party to date," said Tom Jensen, director of Democratic firm Public Policy Polling. A May poll by the firm showed Mr. Dewhurst with a 17-point lead, but a July 29 poll of likely GOP voters found a complete reversal, with Mr. Cruz ahead by 10 points.

Mr. Dewhurst said he called Mr. Cruz to concede, according to the Associated Press.

Mr. Cruz, 41 years old, is a Harvard Law School graduate and the son of a Cuban immigrant father. He won the backing of Republican Sen. Jim DeMint of South Carolina and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. He favors allowing states to pass Arizona-style legislation targeting illegal immigration and has called for reducing income-tax rates and federal spending, including shuttering agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency.

Clearly, reports of the Tea Party's demise have been greatly exagerrated.  Just ask Senator Jim DeMint of South Carolina

"People keep asking, 'Is the tea party still alive?' " Mr. DeMint said Tuesday. "I saw it, and it was pretty alive in Texas."

Quietly waiting for November.

Tea Party Influence

As mentioned in my last post, Tea Party influence has gone largely unmentioned, so far, in mainstream coverage of Governor Scott Walker's tectonic victory in the Wisconsin Recall election.  In fact most of the headlines mentioning the Tea Party imply that the Tea Party is more beneficiary of the Wisconsin Recall outcome than a prime cause of it — Scott Walker Wisconsin Recall Win Boosts Tea Party Morale.

And here again we have yesterday's New York Times blog, The Caucus.

Q. What is the influence of “Tea Party” groups in Wisconsin? -Jeffrey C. Wilson, via Twitter

Tea Party groups have been visible across Wisconsin during the recall election of Gov. Scott Walker. For the last two years in the state, the rising Tea Party presence has helped invigorate the conservative movement in the state. The role of the groups was first evident in the 2010 elections when Senator Ron Johnson, Republican of Wisconsin, defeated Senator Russ Feingold, a Democrat.

Yet it’s difficult to measure the actual influence of these groups and their supporters. Are they new supporters? Or simply conservative activists who are attending a Tea Party rally instead of a local gathering sponsored by the Republican Party? A Tea Party rally in Racine over the weekend drew a large crowd, but it also featured several Republican establishment leaders, including Reince Priebus, chairman of the Republican National Committee, and Representative Paul D. Ryan of Wisconsin, chairman of the House Budget Committee.

Local Tea Party groups across the state have been extremely visible and have attracted voters who are deeply motivated by fiscal concerns. But many of these activists simply consider themselves good tried-and-true Republicans and would have been involved even before the Tea Party movement came alive. — JEFF ZELENY

Mainstream journalists are confused, in denial, or both.  But here's a clue from the Wall Street Journal:

The resounding failure by unions and Democrats to recall Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker on Tuesday is a significant moment for democratic self-government. It shows that an aroused electorate can defeat a furious and well-fed special interest that wants a permanent, monopoly claim on taxpayer wallets.

"Aroused electorate" equals "Tea Party."  Get used to it.

Sarah Comes To Manchester

I can't begin to tell you how thoroughly annoyed I am.  I missed Sarah Palin today.  It's my own fault.  She spoke for 35 minutes at the Veterans Memorial Park in Manchester, but I managed to arrange our comings and goings so as to completely miss her speech.  We had it on good authority — or so we thought — that Sarah was going get the last word so we wandered off to grab a bite to eat and wait for the grand finale. When we got back, walking through the crowd and wondering aloud at how small it was, someone said, "Oh yeah, the place emptied right out after Sarah left."  What?  She's already been and gone?  Ordinarily I'm not burning with desire to meet with celebrities and political dignitaries, and I didn't have any particular sense of urgency about getting to see Sarah.  But I have to confess, I was tremendously disappointed. But the big news is there is no news.  Though the crowd drowned her out at times chanting "Run, Sarah, run," Sarah is keeping her options open. ...Palin did not announce her candidacy, and instead focused on a critique of President Barack Obama in a speech reverential in its treatment of the tea party and dismissive of several of her opponents, of Washington and of politics as usual. The tea party icon took a swipe at Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who rearranged his campaign schedule to speak at two tea party events this week, and implied he is a reluctant convert to the activists' power and scope. "Now, we're seeing more and more folks realize the strength of this grass-roots movement," she said. "And they're wanting to be involved. I say right on. Better late than never – for some of these candidates especially. Okay?"

Here the full speech, courtesy of therightscoop.com and CNN.

On the brighter side.  Though I missed the chance to hear Sarah speak in person, I did get to meet up with a couple of well known bloggers — bloggers more serious than I, I must confess.  Stacy McCain came up from Maryland. My rough eyeball estimate was about 800 people. There were lots of chants of “Run, Sarah, run!” BTW, this photo nearly got me the bum’s rush from security. I went up the stair backstage to get the photo and was then, um, asked by security to leave the backstage area. Hazards of the trade. But the point is — I got the photo. Follow the link above to see Stacy's photos. Stacy was staying with Da Tech Guy, Peter Ingemi.  Da Tech Guy does a radio show out of Worcester on WCRN 830AM every Saturday morning.  I've been on it a couple of times and it's great fun. The Palin fans were convinced that she IS running but are not sure when she will be announcing. The initial crowd was small but as we got closer to the start of the program there was crowd burst that filled up the park rather quickly. Much to my surprise the Governor was put on early in the program... Surprised me, too.  Damn.  Follow the link above to see Pete's photos. Still shots courtesy of SarahPAC are here. Stacy and Peter rode up together from Leominster, Massachusetts to hang out with Dan Collins of the Conservative Commune. Thanks to the generous contributions of Stacy McCain, CJ Norris, Jim Jamitis, and Sissy Willis, I’m off to hang with Stacy, Da Techguy, Jay Tea of Wizbang, and possibly American Glob in Manchester, where Sarah Palin’s going to be addressing another TEA Party crowd, possibly in another drizzle. It turned out not to be a drizzle, and in fact the weather was pretty good.  The Tea Party is alive and well, and though all may not be right with the world, I'm optimistic that things will be much better in about a year and a half.  In the meantime I'll say a prayer that my younger daughter taught me.  It's appropriate as I look a year and a half down the road, and it was a prayer that might have been helpful today "Dear Lord, grant me patience, and if you would, be quick about it."

Stacy, Dan, and Pete in Manchester, New Hampshire.

The Tipping Point Has Arrived

Jeffrey Lord measures The Nation's Pulse and finds,

America -- and the eternally Big Government, tax and spend ideas of the American Left -- will never be seen the same way again. Which is precisely why the Left is writhing and foaming as this goes to Internet print. 

The Tea Party is the new Hush Puppy. They are, to use a Gladwell example, Paul Revere. The message has been delivered with maximum impact. The revolution is here.

The Tea Party has pushed America to a tipping point.  And that's a very good thing.

My My How Far We've Come

From Astroturf, April 15, 2009:

This morning on San Francisco’s KTUV News, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) explained that today’s tea party protests are not by any means an organic grassroots movement. Rather, she said, they are a deliberate astroturf campaign organized by two well-funded right-wing think tanks intent on obstructing the Obama agenda:

PELOSI: What they want is a continuation of the failed economic policies of President George Bush which got us in the situation we are in now. What we want is a new direction. … This [tea party] initiative is funded by the high end — we call call it astroturf, it’s not really a grassroots movement. It’s astroturf by some of the wealthiest people in America to keep the focus on tax cuts for the rich instead of for the great middle class.

To Washington, August 1, 2011:

While the details of the debt-ceiling deal remain fuzzy, this much is clear: Barack Obama may be president, but the Tea Party is now running Washington.

What is clear from Nancy Pelosi's explanation in 2009 and from Peter Beinart's today, both are utterly clueless about the Tea Party.  Beinart continues:

But it’s not just the absence of a mass left-wing movement that explains last night’s deal. It’s the end of the war on terror. From 9/11 until George W. Bush left office, the war on terror defined the Republican Party. That meant massive increases in defense and homeland-security spending, but it also meant increases in domestic spending—such as the 2004 prescription-drug bill—aimed at ensuring that Bush got reelected so he could perpetuate the war on terror. In that way, war-on-terror politics resembled Cold War politics, in which the right’s desire for guns and the left’s desire for butter usually combined to ensure that all forms of government spending went up.

The Tea Party, by contrast, is a post–war-on-terror phenomenon.

Oh really?

Bill Whittle On The Problem Of Elitism

Bill Whittle Explains The Concept Of Wealth Creation

Heresy At The Times

In a column that dispels several other popular Tea Party myths, New York Times columnist Russ Douthat writes that the Tea Party isn't really racist, either.

Elkins, a former CATO Institute intern, was examining the liberal conceit that Tea Party marches are rife with racism and conspiracy theorizing. Last week, The Washington Post reported on her findings: just 5 percent of the 250 signs referenced Barack Obama’s race or religion, and 1 percent brought up his birth certificate. The majority focused on bailouts, deficits and spending — exactly the issues the Tea Partiers claim inspired their movement in the first place.

The Tea Party, not racist?  And this from the New York Times, no less.  I wonder if his editors plan to burn him at the stake or hang him for such a radical break from orthodoxy.

Sturbridge Tea Party

Dr. Colin Blake was the keynote speaker and star at the Sturbridge Tea Party this past Saturday.  An excerpt of his  address was posted on YouTube.  He's well worth the listen.

I have audio of the whole thing that I will post later on.

Proof of Tea Party Racism?

Last night on The Factor Bill O'Reilly offered Professor Marc Lamont Hill the opportunity to show us his proof of Tea Party racism. 

Last week, when Professor Marc Lamont Hill accused the tea party of being "racist," The Factor challenged him to provide evidence. Hill returned to the No Spin Zone and attempted to back up his assertion. "Point number one," Hill said, "is the pervasive presence of racist signs and buttons at tea party rallies. You consistently see signs of Obama looking like a monkey and signs using dirty language. The tea party does little to stop or discourage that. There is also a scientific study showing that tea party members are more likely to have negative racial attitudes."

I was a little annoyed with O'Reilly because he wasn't very quick to challenge Lamont on his accusation that there was "the pervasive presence of racist signs."  I've been to a couple of these things and there weren't any racist signs that I could see, but O'Reilly just listened and played a video of a massive Tea Party gathering.  Then I noticed I wasn't seeing any racist signs.

It dawned on me.  Oh I get it.  He's letting the video speak for itself.  Very smart.  You gotta hand it to O'Reilly. 

Then it dawned on me again.  Oh I get it.  According to the Marc Lamont Hills of world, people oppose the stimulus, the bailouts and the government takeover of health care only because they are secretly rabid racists.  That means those Tea Party signs that say "No Socialized Medicine" and "No More Bailouts" are really racist attacks.  And they're all over the place.  They're pretty clever out there in left field.