Third party... folks we have one right now in Congress

[nadinbrzezinski]

they MIGHT have run as Republicans... but the Tea Party IS a third party, in all functional matters.

So there you have it... the Granger movement in reverse.

[aaaaaa5a]

1. I would love to see a challenge to the right of the GOP in 2012.

Especially if Mitt is the nominee.

[KatyMan]

16. I think it'll happen. Now way evangelicals on the right

would vote for a Mormon no matter what polls say.

[no_hypocrisy]

2. They were a stealth third party. Came in to use repubilcans for Tea Party's purposes.

[existentialist]

3. They are also a "know nothing" party.

[Cleita]

4. I hope they run as a separate Party in 2012

and divide the Repugs right down the middle.

[nadinbrzezinski]

6. I fear they are too cagey for that

[tridim]

5. Technically the Democratic Party is the majority in the House

How can we enforce this?

Are third parties allowed to be part of a parent party for the sake of maintaining a majority? I kind of doubt it.

[nadinbrzezinski]

7. They ran as Republican... but functionally are not acting

like members of saith party. This came to me as I watch the machinations...

[TheKentuckian]

12. The parties have no constitutional role, whoever gets the most votes is Speaker.

They could be a one person caucus and still technically be Speaker.

The TeaPubliKlans are TeaPubliKlans and vote for a TeaPubliKlan, they are a faction not a separate entity.

[valerief]

8. And we have indie Bernie Sanders, who represents the masses. nt

[nadinbrzezinski]

9. We need to find a way to get copies of him elected

to both chambers in massive ways, under Democratic cover.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

10. I pointed this out yesterday

The thread got locked for other reasons, but the Tea Party, for all intents and purposes, has essentially become a quasi-successful Third Party. (We'll have to wait to see how the whole debt ceiling charade plays to find out just exactly how successful, but still...)

[nadinbrzezinski]

13. And you were right.

:hi:

Did I miss the fireworks?

[Cool Logic]

11. Well, a wise man once said...

There is nothing which I dread so much as a division of the republic into two great parties, each arranged under its leader, and concerting measures in opposition to each other. This, in my humble apprehension, is to be dreaded as the greatest political evil under our Constitution. ~ John Adams

[A Simple Game]

14. We need a fourth party. I noted in another thread that the Tea Party caucus

had 52 members and seems to have disproportionate power.

The Progressive caucus has 81 members and seems to be assigned to the children's table of politics. When the Democrats held the house they were excluded from the health care talks, and now seem to be excluded from the debt ceiling talks, even when they have what is obviously the best plan.

Something is wrong here. The progressives need to realize the potential power they wield.

[Eddie Haskell]

15. I was thinking the same thing.

It's the angry white racist wing of the Republican Party.

[eppur_se_muova]

17. Yep. They should run their own primaries, instead of stealing Republican ones.

Christine O'Donnell primaried a pretty good guy -- Mike Castle.

Boehner needs to stand up and say "you can't have divided loyalties -- cast your lot with one Party, and stick with it. If you choose the Tea Party, you will not caucus with Republicans". But he won't. He'd rather keep the votes in the R column. To quote an Israeli activist (in another context), "It's like wanting to get cancer just so you can have the extra cells".