{"id":1554,"date":"2010-02-07T23:36:00","date_gmt":"2010-02-08T07:36:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=1554"},"modified":"2010-02-07T23:36:00","modified_gmt":"2010-02-08T07:36:00","slug":"the-gop-morphs-into-the-gotea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=1554","title":{"rendered":"The G.O.P. Morphs Into The G.O.Tea"},"content":{"rendered":"

The National Tea Party Convention is over, but the battle for the soul of the so-called “movement”<\/em> continues. Sarah Palin set the tone at her keynote speech<\/a> to close the affair:<\/p>\n

“The Republican Party would be really smart to start trying to absorb as much of the Tea Party movement as possible because this is the future of our country. The Tea Party movement is the future of politics.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"SarahThe “future of politics”<\/em> is typical Palin hyperbole. Clearly she doesn’t understand what she’s saying. This is a woman who just got through mocking President Obama for using a TelePrompter, while she has crib notes<\/a> written on her hand for a Q and A to follow her speech; A woman who told her adoring audience not to be afraid of being God-fearing; A woman who told Chris Wallace<\/a> that Obama could ace his reelection if he were to “play the war card”<\/em> by attacking Iran. This is the same woman who thinks it would be smart for the GOP to absorb the Tea Baggers.<\/p>\n

On that measure she is not alone. Despite protestations from ostensibly neutral players, leading figures in both the Tea Party and the Republican Party believe that they are made for each other. This contradicts those who say that Tea Baggers are non-partisan and are angry with both parties equally. The truth is that the Baggers were always more closely aligned with Republicans and the evidence is their own words:<\/p>\n

John Boehner, House Minority Leader:<\/strong> There really is no difference between what Republicans believe in and what the tea party activists believe in.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Michael Steele, Republican Party Chairman:<\/strong> It’s important for our party to appreciate and understand that so we can move toward it, and embrace it.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Mark Skoda, Tea Party Leader:<\/strong> This movement is beginning to mature … not as a third party but a force to be reckoned with in the traditional party structure.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Carl Cameron, Fox News:<\/strong> They plan to establish separate spin off political action committees to fund raise for candidates who back Tea Party goals and the official Republican National Committee platform.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Newt Gingrich, Former GOP House Speaker:<\/strong> If the Republican Party offers a positive alternative in a way that Tea Party activists and independents join them, the tide could turn.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

At this point it is inescapable that the Tea Party is a functional subsidiary of the GOP. Much of it’s original organizing muscle was provided by establishment Republican operatives like Dick Armey’s FreedomWorks and GOP PR firm Russo Marsh & Rogers. And now heavy-hitter Republicans like Palin are gripping the Baggers in a polar bear hug. All of this needs to be remembered when lazy or dishonest members of the press try to pretend that partisanship isn’t playing a part in this phony movement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The National Tea Party Convention is over, but the battle for the soul of the so-called “movement” continues. Sarah Palin set the tone at her keynote speech to close the affair: “The Republican Party would be really smart to start trying to absorb as much of the Tea Party movement as possible because this is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1,8],"tags":[406,286,514,568,301,381,534],"class_list":["post-1554","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","category-propaganda","tag-carl-cameron","tag-john-boehner","tag-michael-steele","tag-newt-gingrich","tag-republicans","tag-sarah-palin","tag-tea-party"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4Ijg-p4","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1619,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=1619","url_meta":{"origin":1554,"position":0},"title":"Sinking Fast: Sarah Palin And The Tea Bag Sag","author":"Mark NC","date":"4\/14\/2010","format":false,"excerpt":"In a new CNN\/Opinion Research poll, the ephemeral nature of the Tea Party movement is once again revealed. When asked for their opinion of Tea Parties, respondents were decidedly unenthusiastic. \u00a0AprilJanuary Strongly Support12%15% Moderately Support15%20% Moderately Oppose6%8% Strongly Oppose21%11% Don't Know Enough45%45% While the total numbers for support and opposition\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Election"","block_context":{"text":"Election","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=152"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1527,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=1527","url_meta":{"origin":1554,"position":1},"title":"Sarah Palin Unites America In Opposition To Sarah Palin","author":"Mark NC","date":"1\/19\/2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Despite the drooling fanaticism of Tea Baggers and Glenn Beck disciples, America's best known quitter, Sarah Palin, is not as well loved as she thought she was. A new poll by CBS shows her support as a presidential candidate to be nearly non-existent. \"Specifically, 71 percent say they do not\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Election"","block_context":{"text":"Election","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=152"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":11916,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=11916","url_meta":{"origin":1554,"position":2},"title":"Republican Party Officially Re-Christened Tea Party: Sarah Palin Named Chair","author":"Mark NC","date":"4\/1\/2014","format":false,"excerpt":"In the past five years since Rick Santelli, a correspondent for CNBC, led a bevy of options traders on an anti-government rant, the Tea Party has gained enormous influence over conservative politics and particularly the Republican Party. Despite their small numbers, Tea Party Republicans have dominated the GOP in Congress\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Graphix"","block_context":{"text":"Graphix","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=3"},"img":{"alt_text":"Republican Tea Party","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/gop-tea-party-signs.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/gop-tea-party-signs.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/gop-tea-party-signs.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":9575,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=9575","url_meta":{"origin":1554,"position":3},"title":"Run Sarah, Run: Tea Party Trying To Draft Sarah Palin For Alaska Senate","author":"Mark NC","date":"5\/1\/2013","format":false,"excerpt":"This is the best news I've heard all year: Tea Party group hopes to draft Sarah Palin for Senate run in Alaska. Where do I donate? Bringing back Palin to the campaign trail would be more fun than a barrel of Teabaggers. Her barely comprehensible English, her moronic mistakes, her\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1553,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=1553","url_meta":{"origin":1554,"position":4},"title":"The Tea Baggers Ball: Prom Night With Palin","author":"Mark NC","date":"2\/6\/2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Icantstandit-Icantstandit-Icantstandit. Sarah's almost here. OMG! Tonight's the night that the Queen Tea Bagger, Sarah Palin, addresses the hive. News reports have indicated a high level of anticipation with some Baggers saying that they only came to see Palin and didn't care about Tea. I'm a little skeptical because the convention's\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1540,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=1540","url_meta":{"origin":1554,"position":5},"title":"Bachmann, Blackburn Out Of Tea Party Conference. Is Palin Next?","author":"Mark NC","date":"1\/28\/2010","format":false,"excerpt":"The upcoming Tea Party National Conference has been reeling from reports of infighting amongst the rival Tea Bagger groups. Much of the controversy concerns the convention's steep ($549.00) entry fee and allegations of financial improprieties on the part of the organizers. The convention has already lost a number of sponsors.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1554","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1554"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1554\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1554"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1554"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1554"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}