Sunday, June 1, 2014
Tea Party politics this week - is the GOP (finally) taking back their party?
What's interesting about this emerging shift is that this is where we first began investigating the Tea Party 5 years ago: wanting to know where the GOP ends and the Tea Party begins. For a long time, there was little difference, since the "devil" of the Tea Party (Barack Obama) was the target of GOP campaigning, too.
But now (theoretically) that we are moving to midterms and a new Presidential election cycle, the "devil" is no longer running, so the Tea Party is losing influence and the GOP seems to be taking back the party from them, perhaps realizing they have no identity once Obama is gone.
They will need something positive to be for because what they were against is no longer an issue. (or they will need a new anti-thetical trope, but I doubt anything will ever match the fanatical opposition to Obama).
GOP mainstream politicians such as Jeb Bush began this shift years ago (see his 2013 keynote to CPAC). In that speech, he never mentioned Barack Obama, but instead spoke of what the Republican party stands FOR, not what they stand against. He noted "we have to stop being against everything."
In essence, the Tea Party needs a new anti-thesis and devil to survive rhetorically. So far the new antithesis seems to be "Benghazi" which is an anti-Hillary (+ Obama) trope. But Hillary rhetorically turned that back on them in her book recently, accusing them of playing politics "on the backs of dead Americans", which I think significantly weakens for a future anti-thesis.
Not surprising, however, Tea Party leaders such as Sarah Palin and legislators like Ted Cruz are still fixated on Obama and "Obamacare" as a primary problem in the U.S. and still calling for repeal; others such as Rand Paul are slowly backing away from that position.
Dave Weigel - Slate
The Tea Party vs. the Establishment, in Two Newspaper Front Pages
David Freelander - The Daily Beast
Conservative Senator Kicks Tea Party to the Curb
Stephanie Grace - The Advocate
The GOP keeping the Tea Party at bay.
Jonathan Martin - The New York Times
On Win Streak, Mainline G.O.P. Takes Tougher Stance Toward Tea Party
Jake Sherman - Politico
John Boehner’s friends plot tea party crackdown
Dan Balz - Washington Post
At Republican Leadership Conference, the struggle over the GOP’s future continues
Sean Sullivan - Washington Post
The tea party and GOP establishment are happily married in the Iowa Senate race
David Montgomery - The New York Times
Slowed Elsewhere, Tea Party Still Wields Considerable Sway in Texas Races
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