How the Tea Party is Killing the Republican Party

[Oddball]

Right...Ted Cruz and Jeff Flake got elected, and Michelle Bachmann was re-elected in MINNESOTA, because the TEA Party is losing its influence.

 

[Staidhup]

Possibly one has this backward, it's the progressive compassionate conservative wing of the GOP that is killing the party. In fact the day of the blue blood eastern liberal conservative is over.

 

[nodoginnafight]

Possibly one has this backward, it's the progressive compassionate conservative wing of the GOP that is killing the party. In fact the day of the blue blood eastern liberal conservative is over.

I guess you didn't read much of the previous posts in this thread. So I'll briefly recap.
At the absolute zenith of the "conservative revolution" (1984 Reagan v Mondale) self-identified conservative voters made up 36% of the electorate. In 2012 they made up 35% of the electorate.

So the idea that there are additional votes to be garnered by going "more conservative" defies logic and the numbers.

The 41 % of the voters who describe themselves as moderates - well the GOP lost that group by 15 points. A logical place to start looking for more votes is there.

Option number two is to take your principled stand and sell it a whole lot better. Screaming "murderer" at a young lady walking into an abortion clinic, bombing an abortion clinic, telling Latinos that we don't want you here, telling women you don't believe they deserve equal pay for equal work, telling gays they are unnatural and repugnant, telling the middle class that you are OK with them paying a higher effective tax rate than the very wealthy, .... well - that ain't gonna do it.

 

[Oddball]

Possibly one has this backward, it's the progressive compassionate conservative wing of the GOP that is killing the party. In fact the day of the blue blood eastern liberal conservative is over.

I guess you didn't read much of the previous posts in this thread. So I'll briefly recap.
At the absolute zenith of the "conservative revolution" (1984 Reagan v Mondale) self-identified conservative voters made up 36% of the electorate. In 2012 they made up 35% of the electorate.

So the idea that there are additional votes to be garnered by going "more conservative" defies logic and the numbers.

Do you have any figures as to the breakdown of percentages of those who stay home?

Betcha don't.

 

[nodoginnafight]

Possibly one has this backward, it's the progressive compassionate conservative wing of the GOP that is killing the party. In fact the day of the blue blood eastern liberal conservative is over.

I guess you didn't read much of the previous posts in this thread. So I'll briefly recap.
At the absolute zenith of the "conservative revolution" (1984 Reagan v Mondale) self-identified conservative voters made up 36% of the electorate. In 2012 they made up 35% of the electorate.

So the idea that there are additional votes to be garnered by going "more conservative" defies logic and the numbers.

Do you have any figures as to the breakdown of percentages of those who stay home?

Betcha don't.

In fact I do. You just look at years in which turnout was higher, then compare the breakdown of self-identifying moderates, conservatives, and liberals.

Just like I have been doing.

Now if you want to look at the breakdown of people who NEVER show up to vote, so that you can claim that people who NEVER show up to vote WOULD vote a certain way ... well knock yourself out chasing that "NEVER show up to vote crowd."

 

[Oddball]

"Turnout" means they showed up at the polls.

You cannot have numbers from people who abstained, by the very nature of the way your information is collected.

 

[nodoginnafight]

Following up on the idea that "more to the right" would equal "more votes" for the GOP.
Let's consider 1968.
The most right wing candidate who ever ran for president in my lifetime - George Wallace
He got nine million votes. He lost by 22 million votes.

You can pipe dream about "no one knows for certain what would happen" ....

But we do know. Been there, done that.

 

[Oddball]

George Wallace is irrelevant.

Your assumptions are based upon the fantasy known as the "conventional wisdom", that has passed for reasoned and rational thought since at least the day I have been paying attention....If they were valid an any way, you could 'splain how it is that Ted Cruz and Jeff Flake won, while Murdock and Akin lost, while Romney won all four of those states.

Couldn't possibly be that republicans in general, and Tea Party types in particular, won't support total embarrassments, could it?

 

[Photonic]

It was all giggles and grins when those funny tri-corner hat wearing, misspelled sign carrying, long form loving zealots were yelling and screaming about Obama.

The GOP and Fox news lifted them up as if they were Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, and Paul Revere reincarnated. Fox lied and inflated their numbers at rallies. Scotty Rassmussen lied and said 123% of Americans agree with them.

And Republicans giggled over their brandy and cigars. (or in the case of the sourthern GOP, over their Pabst Blue Ribbon and Pall Malls).

Now that they've radicalized your party to the point that you lost the White House, you lost seats in the Senate, and you lost seats in the House of Representatives, the damage is clear. But if you moderate your stances back into line with mainstream America - they'll scream "RINO" and go after you hard in your primary.

See what happens when your number one goal is not to govern well and wisely but to try to beat the hyper-partisan drum with any stick you can find?

Still grinning?

The Tea Party served its purpose and will be an interesting historical footnote in four years. They were a tool invented by Fox News to bring down the Obama administration at all costs

it didn't work

Technically the Tea Party was started by Ron Paul, but his idea was radically different from the people that hijacked the name.

 

[nodoginnafight]

It was all giggles and grins when those funny tri-corner hat wearing, misspelled sign carrying, long form loving zealots were yelling and screaming about Obama.

The GOP and Fox news lifted them up as if they were Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, and Paul Revere reincarnated. Fox lied and inflated their numbers at rallies. Scotty Rassmussen lied and said 123% of Americans agree with them.

And Republicans giggled over their brandy and cigars. (or in the case of the sourthern GOP, over their Pabst Blue Ribbon and Pall Malls).

Now that they've radicalized your party to the point that you lost the White House, you lost seats in the Senate, and you lost seats in the House of Representatives, the damage is clear. But if you moderate your stances back into line with mainstream America - they'll scream "RINO" and go after you hard in your primary.

See what happens when your number one goal is not to govern well and wisely but to try to beat the hyper-partisan drum with any stick you can find?

Still grinning?

The Tea Party served its purpose and will be an interesting historical footnote in four years. They were a tool invented by Fox News to bring down the Obama administration at all costs

it didn't work

Technically the Tea Party was started by Ron Paul, but his idea was radically different from the people that hijacked the name.

No matter who created the Tea Party or for what purpose, those who vowed to put governing aside for a time in order to devote their full attention to defeating Obama in the next election empowered those people in the hopes that they could make the outrageous and offensive accusations to humiliate Obama without any of the mud slinging back onto them.

Now that little monster they created is biting them in the butt.

I don't feel sorry for them a bit. But I do want a GOP that is a viable alternative. We NEED a viable second (and even third) party. We do not need to just hand over the entire government to one party.

 

[Photonic]

The Tea Party served its purpose and will be an interesting historical footnote in four years. They were a tool invented by Fox News to bring down the Obama administration at all costs

it didn't work

Technically the Tea Party was started by Ron Paul, but his idea was radically different from the people that hijacked the name.

No matter who created the Tea Party or for what purpose, those who vowed to put governing aside for a time in order to devote their full attention to defeating Obama in the next election empowered those people in the hopes that they could make the outrageous and offensive accusations to humiliate Obama without any of the mud slinging back onto them.

Now that little monster they created is biting them in the butt.

I don't feel sorry for them a bit. But I do want a GOP that is a viable alternative. We NEED a viable second (and even third) party. We do not need to just hand over the entire government to one party.

I was honestly planning to vote for a moderate republican candidate this year, but wow. I really couldn't in good conscience vote for a party who basically tramples the moderates of their own party.

 

[nodoginnafight]

Technically the Tea Party was started by Ron Paul, but his idea was radically different from the people that hijacked the name.

No matter who created the Tea Party or for what purpose, those who vowed to put governing aside for a time in order to devote their full attention to defeating Obama in the next election empowered those people in the hopes that they could make the outrageous and offensive accusations to humiliate Obama without any of the mud slinging back onto them.

Now that little monster they created is biting them in the butt.

I don't feel sorry for them a bit. But I do want a GOP that is a viable alternative. We NEED a viable second (and even third) party. We do not need to just hand over the entire government to one party.

I was honestly planning to vote for a moderate republican candidate this year, but wow. I really couldn't in good conscience vote for a party who basically tramples the moderates of their own party.

I KNOW - ME TOO! I would have LOVED to have had a viable option.

 

[Oddball]

I was honestly planning to vote for a moderate republican candidate this year, but wow. I really couldn't in good conscience vote for a party who basically tramples the moderates of their own party.

What...Romney wasn't squishy and "moderate" enough for ya?

You lolberals are a hoot!

 

[Stephanie]

blaa blaa blaa, and we thought it was Fox and Rush..

you see there folks, they know it all

cute wet dream though

 

[martinjlm]

Possibly one has this backward, it's the progressive compassionate conservative wing of the GOP that is killing the party. In fact the day of the blue blood eastern liberal conservative is over.

I guess you didn't read much of the previous posts in this thread. So I'll briefly recap.
At the absolute zenith of the "conservative revolution" (1984 Reagan v Mondale) self-identified conservative voters made up 36% of the electorate. In 2012 they made up 35% of the electorate.

So the idea that there are additional votes to be garnered by going "more conservative" defies logic and the numbers.

Do you have any figures as to the breakdown of percentages of those who stay home?

Betcha don't.

Ahhh, but I seem to remember somebody who DID report such a breakdown. Was confident enough in it to describe it as FACT. Now, who might that have been.........

10 million fewer voters showed up at the polls this time around, compared to '08....Including a whopping 8 million fewer for your Boiking.

Amazing how myopic nincompoops like you just brush past that little fact, too.

 

[nodoginnafight]

I guess you didn't read much of the previous posts in this thread. So I'll briefly recap.
At the absolute zenith of the "conservative revolution" (1984 Reagan v Mondale) self-identified conservative voters made up 36% of the electorate. In 2012 they made up 35% of the electorate.

So the idea that there are additional votes to be garnered by going "more conservative" defies logic and the numbers.

Do you have any figures as to the breakdown of percentages of those who stay home?

Betcha don't.

Ahhh, but I seem to remember somebody who DID report such a breakdown. Was confident enough in it to describe it as FACT. Now, who might that have been.........

10 million fewer voters showed up at the polls this time around, compared to '08....Including a whopping 8 million fewer for your Boiking.

Amazing how myopic nincompoops like you just brush past that little fact, too.

ewwww he shoots .... he SCORES.

The numbers give a pretty strong indication of who stayed at home but I guess I should have checked with the wizard of oddball before actually reporting those numbers.

 

[Oddball]

That is an actual and verifiable statistical breakdown of those who didn't show up, not any kind of explanation as to reasons for why they didn't, which the lolberals like the OP (who clearly does have several dogs in the fight) are trying to fabricate out of whole cloth.

And wouldn't you just be dipped that it's the same tripe they tell republicans every time they lose, as though they're honestly interested in seeing them win.

But thanks for playing, boys.

 

[PratchettFan]

The fact that the Tea Party gets you Nanny Staters so twisted tells me they are onto something.. and I will continue to donate.

Anybody with an ounce of sense knows this shit going on in DC cannot continue. It isn't rocket science... 2 - 4 still equals -2.

The "shit" going on in DC is the same "shit" that has been going on in DC since the Constitution was ratified. Welcome to republican democracy. If you put in power people who want power then you shouldn't be surprised at the results.

 

[PratchettFan]

Technically the Tea Party was started by Ron Paul, but his idea was radically different from the people that hijacked the name.

No matter who created the Tea Party or for what purpose, those who vowed to put governing aside for a time in order to devote their full attention to defeating Obama in the next election empowered those people in the hopes that they could make the outrageous and offensive accusations to humiliate Obama without any of the mud slinging back onto them.

Now that little monster they created is biting them in the butt.

I don't feel sorry for them a bit. But I do want a GOP that is a viable alternative. We NEED a viable second (and even third) party. We do not need to just hand over the entire government to one party.

I was honestly planning to vote for a moderate republican candidate this year, but wow. I really couldn't in good conscience vote for a party who basically tramples the moderates of their own party.

Yes. I voted for McCain last time around. Frankly, I never did figure out what Romney stood for since half the time his staff had to come back and explain that what he said was not what he meant. The Republican party needs to come back to a rational position. Perhaps this will jolt them back to reality, though with all of the idiotic excuses I am hearing now I am not all that hopeful.

 

[Stephanie]

Maybe it didn't start out that way, but the tea party is a bought and paid for adjunct of the GOP no less so than the Young Republicans.

Those whose number one priority was to make sure Obama was a one-term president figured out very quickly that they could use these people - who they viewed as "useful idiots" - to sling their long-form, muslim, communist mud without any of the backlash coming back to haunt them.

But, it IS coming back to haunt them.

you should look in a mirror and see who is being used and a useful idiot..