"Tea party sucks!" —Says another guy who sucks
Imagine if you had to choose between the tea party and establishment Republicans.
On the one hand, you'd have Sen. Ted Cruz and his fellow maniacs who shut down the federal government in a doomed strategy to defund Obamacare, and then on the other hand you'd have the clown establishment Republicans who despite going along with the Cruz strategy now say that they opposed it all along.
For example:
Brian Walsh, former communications director for the National Republican Senatorial Committee, said the groups’ self interest became painfully apparent when they campaigned to shut down the government as a way to defund ObamaCare.
“Some of these groups, it’s not about advancing conservative principles, it’s about raising money and advancing their own influence in Washington — particularly when you see them endorsing a strategy that could’ve collapsed our economy,” Walsh said.
Walsh, who as a tea partier pointed out is a former staffer to convicted felon Congressman Bob Ney, is right about the fact that tea partiers pursued a strategy that could have tanked our economy, but the part he forgets is that establishment Republicans could have stopped it at any point, but instead decided to let Cruz have his way. Now that they've made their bed, they should sleep in it, but instead they are issuing foolish whines like this:
Republican strategist John Feehery, an outspoken critic of the groups, said “it’s not like [these outside groups] represent an issue or interest group.”
Jeesh, of all the reasons in the world to oppose the tea party, this has to be the worst. Basically, Feehery is saying that the problem with the tea party is that instead of it lobbying on behalf of an interest group, it's fighting for things it believes in. To most people, I suspect that is actually the single best thing about tea partiers. To most people, the problem isn't
that they believe in something, it's
what they believe in. But Feehery wishes tea partiers were just another GOP lobbying group, because then Republicans would know how to handle them.
There is a bit of good news in this story, however: Even if you once voted for Republicans, you don't have to choose between the D.C. lobbyists and the tea party whacko birds—it's still legal in all 50 states to vote Democratic.