How the Tea Party's Apocalyptic Politics Are Destroying the Republican Party

[Iwillnevergiveup]

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/11/11/how-the-tea-party-s-apocalyptic-politics-are-destroying-the-republican-party.html

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"In the aftermath of the great government shutdown of 2013, the Tea Party continues to cause heartburn for establishment Republicans. Consider the results of last week’s elections, which offer clues to the internecine GOP battles that lie ahead. Although it’s much too early to draw hard conclusions, Chris Christie proved that a moderate, common-sense Republican could win in deep blue New Jersey, while in purple Virginia the wild-eyed social reactionary Ken Cuccinelli failed to gain traction outside his uber-conservative Christian-right base.


Yet the Tea Party is willing to defy overwhelming negative public opinion, wreck the government, risk plunging the world economy into chaos and invite political defeat. The driving force behind this destructive strategy is that Tea Party zealots answer to a “higher calling.”


They believe America teeters on the brink of destruction, and hold as an article of faith that liberals, gays, Democrats, atheists and the United Nations are to blame. This “end-times” world-view is a foundational precept of the evangelical movement, from which many of the so-called Tea Party favorites spring. Scholars call it apocalypticism."

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[Vinnie From Indy]

1. You are right, but miss the underlying reason.

The Tea Party is everything mentioned in the OP, but the vast majority of columnists and media personalities that discuss this issue miss a FUNDAMENTAL component of the rise of the Tea Party - Right Wing Media.

The fact is that until the old guard Republicans and their 1%'er masters understand and acknowledge the role of right wing media in the birth, growth and sustenance of the Tea Party, they will fail miserably at containing the movement. Blimpy Limbaugh and FOX News are the wind beneath the wings of the Tea Party and at this date, they have formed a symbiotic relationship. As long as Blimpy, Beck an Fox News administer the purity oaths for GOP candidates, the Tea Party will still have the power to steer the GOP straight off a cliff.

In short, the old guard GOP and their 1%'er masters HAVE TO address the influence of Blimpy and FOX to fix their Tea Party problem. I am quite sure that some of the saner minds in the upper echelon of the GOP understand they have a problem with Limbaugh and FOX.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

2. I've been getting the impression lately that Faux is backing away from the Teabaggers a bit.

After all, they (and Murdoch) are in it for the money, and the big money people are becoming a bit disenchanted with the GOP's lunatic fringe. We'll have to wait and see how that plays out.

[Vinnie From Indy]

4. You are absolutely right about that.

I think Murdoch and Ailes have been taken to the woodshed by the old guard GOP and the 1%'ers. Watch for even more negative coverage of the Tea Party from FOX. As far as Limbaugh goes, he will either play ball or be neutered by the 1%'ers. Just a prediction, but I do not see how they can allow Limbaugh to feed the Tea Party beast everyday on his show.

[GatorOrange]

8. We'll know the Republican Wall Steet/GOP crowd is serious....

When they dismantle the batshit crazy section of the Conservative Media Echo Chamber. The area where Circus Clown Glenn Beck and the other hardcore anti-GOP "establishment" reside. I think that's why Beck has started his own media empire; he knows the RW talk radio axe was going to fall and he wanted to be in a position to profit off of it. He'll be able to spin that the "Saudi/Money" elements have compromised Fox News into a liberal haven where the truth is lost. Beck and his Blaze will be pumped as the only "beacon of truth". Idiots have no idea the Pandora's Box they opened with the Telecom Act of 1996 and Faux News.....

[Iwillnevergiveup]

3. It's hard to imagine

many people at FAUX are truly end-timers, and are most likely put off by the likes of Bachmann, Cruz and Palin. O'Reilly and Hannity are staunch Catholics fer cryin' out loud.

[Vinnie From Indy]

5. Do not forget that it was FOX and Limbaugh that have sustained

and nurtured the Tea Party. That is undeniable. I think you will see FOX pivot away from the Tea Party and maybe Blimpy Limbaugh will as well. Regardless, the Tea Party is a creation of right wing media and until the old guard addresses that fact, the Tea Party will still control the primaries and continue to nominate the extreme candidates.

[rock]

6. I believe it's as simple as this:

We (Dems) already knew the Republicans were a party unfit for a Democracy. Now with the advent of the Tea Party, everybody knows.

[yurbud]

10. the Tea Party, like terrorism, is not an ideology, it's a tactic

[pscot]

7. I wish they were a little quicker about it

But credit where it's due: we're on the brink of apocalypse. Just not the one they're looking for.

[Iwillnevergiveup]

9. Well, the Tea Party

is certainly not analogous to the "Democratic wing of the Democratic Party." YEAAGGHHHHHH!

[Doctor_J]

13. The president disagrees with you

&quot Boner and I) both have to deal with the extremists in our respective parties"

- President Obama

[Prophet 451]

11. Christie isn't a moderate

He's a hard-right corporatist Republican. The media, who adore the shithole, keep pretending he's a moderate but he's a corporatist and a dismal failure as governor who only stayed in power (and will probably run for president) due to a fawning media covering up his mammoth faults.

[Doctor_J]

12. they republican Party doesn't look to me like they're "destroyed"

should we count governors' mansions and state houses and re-evaluate the premise of this article?

[Bill USA]

14. Doing a good job destroying AMerica too. How much has really been done over the last year of two in

Congress. The Republicans have managed to grind constructive legislative activity almost to a halt. with the GOPers at total war with getting anything accomplished problems that need to be addressed aren't even getting any time or attention.