Time, tide, and Tea Party
July 18th 2010 00:10
"The Matrix cannot tell you who you are."
-- Trinity
There’s a new Gallup poll making the rounds, suggesting that the Tea Party’s base overlaps with conservative Republicans. You can guess from this context why it’s making the rounds: it could suggest that the current political turmoil is merely re-branding, rather than actual reform.
That is certainly the conclusion that several prominent bloggers and independent websites have reached, including Media Matters (for what it's worth). But I remember another political insurgency not too long ago, the one that first brought online fundraising and the use of internet social media to the political process. They got credit for this, even to the present day . . . despite the fact that they were campaigning for future Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean, and their demographics and outlook overlapped significantly with the liberal side of the Democratic Party.
Various groups affiliated with the Tea Party are already responsible for the outcomes of several important Republican primaries, including the South Carolina and Maine gubernatorial primaries (won by Nikki Haley and Paul LePage respectively), and congressional contests in South Dakota and Kentucky (Kristi Noem and Rand Paul). Compared to the Republican establishment, the Tea Party-backed candidates are younger, are relative newcomers to public office, and have a “cause” in the broad sense. Which, more and more, sounds rather like Howard Dean’s movement, and has in fact every chance of having the same lasting influence on politics that he did.
-- Trinity
There’s a new Gallup poll making the rounds, suggesting that the Tea Party’s base overlaps with conservative Republicans. You can guess from this context why it’s making the rounds: it could suggest that the current political turmoil is merely re-branding, rather than actual reform.
That is certainly the conclusion that several prominent bloggers and independent websites have reached, including Media Matters (for what it's worth). But I remember another political insurgency not too long ago, the one that first brought online fundraising and the use of internet social media to the political process. They got credit for this, even to the present day . . . despite the fact that they were campaigning for future Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean, and their demographics and outlook overlapped significantly with the liberal side of the Democratic Party.
Various groups affiliated with the Tea Party are already responsible for the outcomes of several important Republican primaries, including the South Carolina and Maine gubernatorial primaries (won by Nikki Haley and Paul LePage respectively), and congressional contests in South Dakota and Kentucky (Kristi Noem and Rand Paul). Compared to the Republican establishment, the Tea Party-backed candidates are younger, are relative newcomers to public office, and have a “cause” in the broad sense. Which, more and more, sounds rather like Howard Dean’s movement, and has in fact every chance of having the same lasting influence on politics that he did.
As long as they don't copy his special move.
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