Will the Republican Leadership Face a Tea Party Rebellion?

[Elmore Furth]

Libertarians versus billionaires -- who will win? I'm betting the libertarians will cave.

The new Congress hasn't been seated yet but signs of a rift are already beginning to emerge between Republican leaders and Tea Party groups who were a driving force propelling many unknown candidates to victory last month.

From the tax cuts extension bill to the food safety legislation to Republican selections for key House committee leadership posts, Tea Party leaders have expressed outrage at what they perceive is a continuation of the same old Washington-style politics.

"In addition to the 'backroom deal' tax compromise, last week, through their appointments to chairmanships of the Energy and Commerce and the Appropriations committees, they sent a clear message that despite an electoral victory driven by the Tea Party movement and fueled by public disgust with incumbents, Washington is back to business as usual," Tea Party Patriots founders Jenny Beth Martin and Mark Meckler wrote in a scathing op-ed in Politico.

The Tea Party's discontent, however, hasn't gone unnoticed. As they were assailed on the tax cuts front, the GOP leadership quickly distanced themselves from the 1,924-page, $1.1 trillion omnibus spending bill filled with $8.3 billion worth of earmarks. Many Republicans initially supported the bill and were in fact responsible themselves for many of the earmarks, including the top two pork projects.




Will the Republican Leadership Face a Tea Party Rebellion?

[tanyev]

1. Tea Party got played.

Like a country fiddle.

[WhiteTara]

2. no, they're just a bunch of republicans

so they won't be trying for anything except their cut.

[RZM]

3. This should be put in context

The Tea Partiers that will soon sit in Congress aren't some sort of new political animal. People of all political persuasions have been campaigning on 'changing Washington' for generations. Even George W. Bush said he was going to 'change the tone in Washington.' Usually when people get there, they find it's not as easy as it looks. Perhaps most knew that already and were just saying what they knew people wanted to hear. 'Change' is such a hackneyed meme, yet it still seems to work, so it still gets used. This is just the latest chapter in a very old story.

[Mikeystyle]

4. Mid-terms 2010: "Rise of the crazies"

Somewhere in the bowels of Congress, the next Speaker of the House is pulled off his tanning bed by his assistant...

Igor: “Mr. Boehner, Mr. Boehner! They’ve become self-aware. They can sense their own power! Michelle Bachmann wants to run for a leadership position. She and her crazies won’t go back underground! They won’t self-hibernate until the next election!

Boehner: “Well, flood the asylum before they escape. They’ll make the entire party look like a bunch of lunatics!

Igor: It’s too late, my master! They’ve already escaped the asylum. We cut off their supply of tea, we tried flooding the halls of Congress with blasts of real information to scare them away—not talking points sir, REAL information, but they’re impervious to it. They’re bent on taking over the entire party—maybe even the world!

Boehner: We’re doomed!