Conspiracy Debunked: IRS Targeted Progressive Groups More Than Tea Party
Conspiracy debunked: The IRS targeted more progressive groups than Tea Party groups http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2014/04/23/3429722/irs-records-tea-party/ --On the Bonus Show: The...
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Stoned America - Hannity Audience Edition 4-25-2014 - Part 1
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Stoned America - Hannity Audience Edition 4-25-2014 - Part 1 - Video
ATLANTA (AP) - Republican Rep. Paul Broun may be known as the conservative firebrand in a crowded race for Georgias open U.S. Senate seat, but he has yet to cement support among the states active tea party crowd.
In an increasingly volatile Republican primary, tea partiers remain just as divided as the rest of the GOP electorate. And a big reason is the evolution of the tea party itself, with activists now weighing which conservative candidate stands the best chance of being elected in the fall.
Electability is now an important factor for us, said Sal Russo, chief strategist for the Tea Party Express, one of the largest tea party groups in the country. Were not just here to wave the flag.
The race in Georgia is one of the most closely watched this year as Republicans make a push to seize control of the Senate. Republicans need to gain six seats to wrest control of the Senate from Democrats and cant afford to lose the Georgia seat. And party insiders have expressed concerns that a weak Republican candidate could open the door for Democrat Michelle Nunn, the daughter of former Sen. Sam Nunn, a moderate who represented Georgia for years.
While Broun has earned the backing of the conservative Madison Project and some local tea party groups, his past statements, including one in which he described evolution and the Big Bang Theory as lies straight from the pit of hell, have drawn scrutiny. Broun and another Republican in the race, Rep. Phil Gingrey, have stoked fears of a repeat of Todd Akin, a 2012 Senate candidate in Missouri who won the primary with conservative support but lost the general election after his comments on abortion and rape.
Tea party activists are unlikely to voice any criticism of Broun on the issues. His message of small government and individual liberty resonate among tea partiers and libertarians. But Broun, who has lagged in fundraising, could have a tough time rallying establishment support and emerging from a likely runoff. The state primary is May 20 with seven Republicans and four Democrats on the ballot for the Senate seat.
That was a key reason why conservative talk radio host Erick Erickson, who has helped candidates from Marco Rubio in Florida to Ted Cruz in Texas, decided to support former Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel.
If I could will someone into the Senate, itd be Congressman Paul Broun, Erickson wrote on his site, RedState.com. If Broun is in the runoff, while Id gladly support him, I think youd see the establishment pour every penny they have into crushing him. Hed either limp badly out of the runoff or wed wind up with someone worse.
But Brouns supporters are passionate about his campaign and dismiss any suggestion of weakness. Instead, they point to flaws of the other candidates in the race. One of the front-runners, Rep. Jack Kingston, has earned the support of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which plays well with the establishment but less so among tea party activists wary of big business.
They all run very conservative, said Kay Godwin, co-founder of Georgia Conservatives in Action and co-chair of the South Georgia Tea Party. But when you know the backgrounds and you know all the details of what is behind the scenes, then you can pick out who is the most conservative and who is not. And I know that Paul will do what he says he will do.
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Tea party split among crowded field in GA Sen race
SCOTT BAUER, Associated PressUpdated: Friday, April 25, 2014, 2:56 pmPublished: Friday, April 25, 2014, 2:24 pm
MADISON (AP) Wisconsin Republicans gather next weekend in Milwaukee for their annual convention amid dissent from some conservative tea party members who have already passed votes of no confidence against two moderate lawmakers and also support a resolution reaffirming the states right to secede from the union.
The noise from the conservative wing of the party is an unwanted distraction for Republicans who want to use the convention to rally behind Gov. Scott Walker and U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan, two possible 2016 presidential candidates, and prepare for the fall election season as they try to retain and grow their majority control in the state Legislature.
While Republicans may want the convention that begins May 2 to be a pep rally, conservative activists arent backing down.
Danny Krueger, a Columbia County Republican, said activists like himself are tired of being ignored by party leaders.
Either the party is going to pay attention to us and work with us or we are no longer going to pay attention to the party or work with them, Krueger said.
Jeff Horn, who runs the Prairie Patriots group in Sun Prairie and is a delegate to the Republican convention, said he doesnt feel like the party is representing his view and that of other like-minded conservatives.
I think the party is not being true to itself, he said.
Both Krueger and Horn support a nonbinding resolution urging Sen. Luther Olsen and Rep. Steve Kestell to recuse themselves from all matters in which they have a conflict of interest or are acting contrary to the party platform. Olsen and Kestell, leaders of the Senate and Assembly education committees, blocked attempts this year to repeal Common Core academic standards.
The standards, adopted by state superintendent Tony Evers in 2010, cover what public school students should know in the subjects of reading and math. State tests will be geared toward the standards starting next school year.
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Tea party conservatives making waves in Wisconsin
The relationship (or lack thereof) between the mainstream of the Republican party and the tea party has long been pooh-poohed by GOP strategists as standard operating procedure for a party out of the White House. The base and the establishment feud and, in the end, the base falls in line, they argue.But what if the tea party movement represents something new -- and less manageable -- for the establishment heading into the 2016 presidential race?
U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) speaks during the inaugural Freedom Summit meeting for conservative speakers in Manchester, New Hampshire April 12, 2014. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson (UNITED STATES - Tags: POLITICS)
That's the question Reed Galen, a California-based Republican strategist, raises in a blog post entitled: "The Republican (r)Evolution". Writes Galen:
While parties typically have a hard-core, somewhat disaffected minority, they are usually swept along with the current of a larger movement.
However, in the case of the Tea Party, their lack of central organization and strict adherence to ideology over politics makes them a potent ingredient tossed into the evolutionary soup.
That the Establishment wing of the party is either unwilling or unable to co-opt them for the larger goal of winning major elections shows just how exotic an addition to the mix the Tea Party is. They wont do what you want them to unless theyve already made up their mind to do it. Reasoning with them doesnt work because their starting point isnt based in rationality but passion.
Galen's question is a powerful one -- particularly in light of how the GOP establishment in Congress has changed its tactics in dealing with the tea party over the last few years. Riding high off of a 2010 midterm election fueled by tea party energy, newly-installed Speaker John Boehner and the rest of his leadership team seemed convinced that, after a few months, the tea party caucus would start to realize that they needed to go along to get along.
Yeah, not so much. Time after time over the least three-plus years, Boehner has seen his priorities thwarted by his own conference -- roughly four dozen of whom clumped in the tea party wing simply will not support anything he backs. By late last year, Boeher appeared fed up -- unleashing a now famous/infamous "are you kidding me?" in reaction to the tea party's approach to the government shutdown.
On the Senate side, a similar trajectory has emerged. After largely humoring tea party groups between 2010 and 2012, the establishment has begun to fight back. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who himself is facing a tea party primary in Kentucky on May 20, has led the offensive, telling the New York Times last month:I think we are going to crush [the tea party-aligned outside groups] everywhere. I dont think they are going to have a single nominee anywhere in the country.
Given that, it's not unreasonable to think that a similar out-in-the-open political brawl is coming for the big prize: The 2016 presidential nomination. The lines are already drawn -- albeit somewhat crudely -- with Sens. Ted Cruz and Rand Paul on the tea party side and people like Govs. Jeb Bush, Scott Walker and Chris Christie as well as Sen. Marco Rubio representing the establishment side.
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What if the tea party decides to walk away from the GOP in 2016? It could happen.