UNCORK THE CHARDONNAY
I had to read the New York Times (Nov. 29) story about the dramatic decline in Tea Party support twice before it's impact fully took hold. The Pew Research Center study revealed that support for Republicans in strongly pro-Tea Party districts is now about the same as for Democrats. The Times summarized the finding by noting, “The survey suggests the Tea Party may be dragging down the Republican party. . .”
What this tells us would have been all but unthinkable a month ago: the 2012 contest may be about issues rather than ideology. Imagine the consternation that is broiling in GOP hopefuls' campaign offices as the realize the base they were playing to is no longer solidly theirs. The bad news for Democrats, however, is that this may cause some Independents to shift to the GOP in 2012 now that it is free from the anchor of far right ideology.
When the Occupy movement forced the media to pay at least some attention to the vast disparity between the 1% and the rest of Americans the GOP quaked in its boots. If we stopped our single minded focus on the deficit they knew it would hurt them badly, and it has. The Tea Party's fear of big government spending shifted to the old fear of Robber Barons. So get out the Chardonnay, tea time's over.
Tea Time is OVER! Please please be true. I love these. And as a template that got us to join our voices and create a ground swell, that has populated the OWS movement and fueled "Take back the Dream" movement, we have to thank the Tea Party. They certainly did illustrate the power of a vocal center piece. And Van Jones may do something positive with that impetus.
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