Dems Taking on the Tea Party, Again
Democratic National Committee chairman Tim Kaine will be accusing GOP leaders of being beholden to the Tea Party's agenda at a press conference this morning, mocking Republican plans to offer voters a legislative commitment modeled after the Contract with America.
As part of its initiative, the DNC is launching a website accusing Republicans of supporting a legislative blueprint in line with the Tea Party movement that includes repeal of the health care law and Wall Street reform, extending tax breaks, privatization of Social Security and the elimination of the Department of Education and the Department of Energy.
"The Tea Party is now an institutionalized part of the Republican party. They are one and the same," a DNC operative said, previewing Kaine's speech. "The positions espoused by the Tea Party is the governing platform of the Republican party. And as voters make their choice this fall it's important to understand what the Republican-Tea Party wants to do if elected."
The DNC's decision to take on the Tea Party is a throwback to the party's initial criticism of the movement last year, as it arrived on the political scene - derisively referring to them as "tea baggers" (remember Pelosi's Astroturf comments?). But as disaffected voters began protesting en masse against the administration's health care and stimulus proposals last year, the Tea Party registered favorable ratings - better than both major parties -- forcing Democratic leaders to tone down their public criticism of the activists.
As the Tea Party movement received more national attention and scrutiny, its influence has grown but its overall popularity has declined. A Washington Post/ABC News poll last month showed a 50 percent majority of respondents hold a negative view of the Tea Party with 36 percent viewing it favorably - a downward trend. But a new poll conducted by Democratic pollsters Stan Greenberg and James Carville found that about one-quarter of the electorate identifies with the movement and 94 percent say they plan to vote this year-- an awfully large swath of voters to alienate.
Indeed, the Democratic polling firm Public Policy Polling concluded Tea Party enthusiasts "could end up being the most important group of people at the polls this fall."
On the ground, Tea Party-backed Senate candidates Sharron Angle and Rand Paul upset the GOP establishment favorites in Nevada and Kentucky, but their unadulterated libertarian/conservative philosophy alienated independent voters, putting potential slam-dunk pickup opportunities within reach for Democrats. (It's clear NRSC chairman John Cornyn doesn't see the Tea Party and Republican party as the same.)
Democrats clearly figure the easiest way to disqualify Republican challengers is by connecting them to the more politically-unpopular views of the opposition. It's a sign that they need to rally their own base to have a fighting shot in this year's midterms, and have given up winning over disaffected independents who are as motivated as ever to show up at the polls.
I love the name Teapublican and use it to describe myself.
The Republicans need to clean house as much as clean up the Government and get rid of all the RINOs.
The GOP is just scraping for votes - if they were really aligned with the Tea Party movement, they wouldn't have put us so deeply into the red under W and wouldn't be so totally useless in congress under O. How about cutting my taxes instead of billionaires - sorry but I haven't see much evidence of anything nice "trickling down" in the last ten years - at least with Obamacare I might get *something* for my taxes, bad deal as it is. with the GOP cut and spenders, all I see is a sea of red ink.