The Tea Party, Not Democrats or Republicans, Is the Problem

[DonViejo]

The Tea Party, Not Democrats or Republicans, Is the Problem

by Jon Favreau Oct 21, 2013 5:45 AM EDT

It’s de rigueur to decry ‘partisanship’ as Washington’s ‘real problem.’ Let’s get real—the most destructive force in American politics today is the Tea Party, says Jon Favreau.

So now that our government is open and able to pay its bills, what soon-to-be-forgotten lessons have we learned from this sorry fiasco?

Perhaps most important is the reminder that political temper tantrums in Washington exact a toll that goes far beyond unfavorable headlines and worse-than-dog-poo poll numbers. This decision hurt people. Some families couldn’t pay their bills. Others had nowhere safe to send their children while they worked. Poor women lost vouchers that helped buy food and formula for their newborns. Cancer treatments were put on hold for patients who didn’t have much time to waste.

All told, the shutdown and flirtation with default cost America north of $20 billion. The countries that weren’t busy mocking us were frightened by our behavior, wondering if the world’s wealthiest nation would become the world’s deadbeat nation, taking everyone else down with us in a global collapse worse than 2008.

And for what? For what purpose was this pain and humiliation inflicted upon the American people?

Yes, you, Rep. Marlin Stutzman from Indiana. Do you have an answer?

more
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/10/21/the-tea-party-not-democrats-or-republicans-is-the-problem.html

[Scuba]

1. Which congress critters ran as Tea Party? I think the answer is 'none'.

They're Republicans. Don't let them off the hook.

[UncleTomsEvilBrother]

2. The title of this piece still lets the republicans off the hook.

They housed the Tea Party disease and let it fester. They should not be allowed to remove themselves from it. McConnell, McCain, Graham, and other Republicans who come off as "sensible" have all seen benefits from Tea Party mania. When the dust settles, they always vote on the party line.

[loveandlight]

3. 100% yes

They let it go on and on. The "moderate" Repubs could have stopped this at any time, but chose not to. So it is on them as a party. If they don't challenge these people up front and every time, then the whole party accepts the blame.

[Bluenorthwest]

4. That might be true if there was any such thing as an actual political Party called Tea

but they are just Republicans and to claim otherwise is to serve Republicans. If they were a separate group, Republicans would call them out rather than caucus with them.
There is no such thing as the Tea Party, they are just a sort of Republican. The fault belongs to Republicans, to the Republican Party.

[freebrew]

5. The publicans have been a problem

for longer than there was a tee party.

Remember Nixon? How about Hoover, Reagan, Bush I & II

Gingrich the lizard.

No, the Republicans are the problem, they work for the rich, ONLY.

[Cosmocat]

10. Right - like things only got bad starting in 2010?

LONG before the "tea party" these jackasses spend tens of millions of dollars in witch hunts before bringing up articles of impeachment on a President for a personal discretion that half of the morons voting for it were guilty of.

LONG before the "tea party" these jackasses took the first balanced budget in nearly half a century and blew it up.

LONG before the "tea party" these jackasses ramrodded this country into Iraq.

There is not enough time in this day to list all the disasters the Republicans have imposed on this country before the "tea party" came about.

[Avalux]

6. Tea Party = Republicans.

They run as Republicans, and if the party can't manage its members, they're responsible. Sorry, but the GOP doesn't get a pass on their extreme wing.

[hamsterjill]

13. +1000

n/t

[DCPSR]

7. Friends

As we saw in 2012, the Tea Party are friends of Dems. The more incumbent Republicans they knock out, the more DEM pickups there are.

[JHB]

8. No, the problem is Republicans, both types

1) There is no "tea party". It's just a rebranding of of the rabid conservative wing. Sometimes it has a name, like "Birchers", but it's always there. These people wanted Bill Clinton impeached, and cheered Dubya when His Squandership launched his neoconservative joyride in Iraq.

2) The "moderate" wing who went along with the nutters as long as it got them their tax cuts, privatization, and deregulation.

If the "moderates" didn't join with the nutters in Party Line votes that would be the envy of the Soviet Politburo, the nutters wouldn't have any leverage. They'd howl, but wouldn't be able to accomplish (or destroy) anything. But without the lockstep the "moderates" couldn't do much either, so they stay in the phalanx.

They're all responsible.

[Cosmocat]

11. YEP!

nm

[TheKentuckian]

9. Bullshit, Teabaggers are Republicans.

You need to stop trying to carve outa phony "center" for your corporate Democrats and their opposite numbers among TeaPubliKlans.

[Sunlei]

12. Tea party= Republicans.

funded by republicans.

[geek tragedy]

14. Tea Party, Republicans, same shit in different piles nt