Tea party looks to 2016 at South Carolina convention

[Lite Beer]

Tea party looks to 2016 at South Carolina convention
By BILL BARROW

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (AP) — Presidential primary polls will not open for another year, but archconservatives have begun debating how to reverse the GOP's losing streak in national elections.

Retaking the Oval Office, according to many of the activists attending the annual Tea Party Coalition Convention here, depends on choosing a nominee from within the conservative movement, rather than a more moderate favorite like John McCain in 2008 or Mitt Romney in 2012.

"There's just so much excitement here, such hope that we can go in a different direction," said Gerri McDaniel, a Myrtle Beach tea party leader who helped organize the three-day convention that opened Saturday.

About 1,500 attendees from 28 states are to hear from several potential White House hopefuls who hope to tap that energy. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson are scheduled to speak Sunday. Former Sen. Rick Santorum and businessman Donald Trump are awaited Monday.

Organizers said they also invited Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul. They all declined, citing scheduling conflicts.

The venue is particularly important given that South Carolina hosts the South's first primary, set for February 2016, shortly after the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary. Newt Gingrich, who won South Carolina's 2012 Republican primary, has said publicly that he will not run again.

Meanwhile, the party establishment finds itself embroiled in an unusual scramble among New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and failed 2012 nominee Mitt Romney, who recently started telling his past backers and staff members that he's considering a third run for president.

In 2008 and 2012, McCain and Romney, respectively, consolidated the establishment relatively early in the primary calendar, positioning themselves to withstand spirited, but longshot challenges from multiple candidates on the right. Certainly, the 2016 campaign again promises a plethora of conservative candidates, but figures on the right express optimism that one of their standard-bearers has a shot if the traditional GOP power structure remains divided.

Nearly to a person at the South Carolina tea party gathering, activists express displeasure at the current establishment trio. Among their concerns: Bush's support for Common Core and an overhaul of immigration laws, Romney's long struggle to connect with both the GOP base and middle class voters of all stripes, and Christie's governing record in a Democratic-leaning state that has legalized same-sex marriage and expanded Medicaid.

"We dislike them all tremendously," said Jack Gillies of the Fort Lauderdale tea party in south Florida. Gillies added that "they are all RINOs," — a dismissive epithet among conservatives who bemoan a "Republican-in-name-only."

The message from the podium Saturday offered similar sentiments; speakers mostly avoided calling out specific figures other than President Barack Obama and some Democratic leaders on Capitol Hill, but they offered a fiery defense of policies that have come to define the tea party and the conservative grassroots.

Robert Rector of the Heritage Foundation drew a standing ovation when he said, "If you want to control the cost of welfare, do not grant amnesty."

Retired Air Force Col. Rob Maness, a Louisiana Republican who ran unsuccessfully for the Senate last year, also blasted the administration's immigration stance.

"We will not allow illegal aliens who break our laws to be rewarded with our jobs and government handouts," Maness boomed. But "far worse" than Obama's job performance, Maness said, "are those go-along to get-along politicians who insist on masquerading as Republicans."

-- (c) Associated Press 2015-01-18

[zaphod reborn]

So, be more reactionary and make the tent smaller. Good strategy to win elections.

[bikerlou47]

The strategy to win is quite obvious. Think about all Americans not just the Rich, White and Men! We all know that is not possible so the Democrats will hold the executive office again!

The joy I will get is to spend the next several months is to watch the GOP implode!

Thank you GOP for being so ignorant!

[NeverSure]

According to a very left wing rag called the New York Times, 21% of Americans support the Tea Party. That's not just Republicans, but Americans.

36% of Republicans support the Tea Party.

This rag calls that support "thin," but that's enough people to swing any otherwise close election.

I'm not a Tea Party member, but I pay attention to what they are doing because they do have an affect.

LINK

[Ulic]

According to a very left wing rag called the New York Times, 21% of Americans support the Tea Party. That's not just Republicans, but Americans.

36% of Republicans support the Tea Party.

This rag calls that support "thin," but that's enough people to swing any otherwise close election.

I'm not a Tea Party member, but I pay attention to what they are doing because they do have an affect.

LINK

All true but none of these voters are swing voters. All have voted Republican and always will.

The true strength of the Tea Party is the primaries because they are fully engaged on there agenda.

[ggt]

Election 2 years away and the rhetoric is already heating up around the nation...

Dems have Hillary...Repubs have a mess...if they are not careful...they will defame one another to the point that the elections will be pointless...

I shutter to think what will be left of the country if the Obama admins initiatives are carried forward for another 4 to 8 years...

[NeverSure]

According to a very left wing rag called the New York Times, 21% of Americans support the Tea Party. That's not just Republicans, but Americans.

36% of Republicans support the Tea Party.

This rag calls that support "thin," but that's enough people to swing any otherwise close election.

I'm not a Tea Party member, but I pay attention to what they are doing because they do have an affect.

LINK

All true but none of these voters are swing voters. All have voted Republican and always will.

The true strength of the Tea Party is the primaries because they are fully engaged on there agenda.

True, but as I just posted, 21% of all sides support the Tea Party while 36% of Republicans do.

A lot of general elections are very close. 21% of voters can swing an otherwise close race.

I don't support the Tea Party. I'm just making the point that they aren't tiny.

[Publicus]

The tea party people make no difference in a national election.

Each actual political party gets 41-45% from its own voters and after that each party needs the Independent voter to vote for it to win.

For prez in 2008 McCain got 44% of the vote and that was it because Independents went big for Barack Obama.

In 2012 Romney got 47% because while a few more Independents went for Willard, the strong majority of I voters continued to side with Prez Obama

Tea party people voted Republican long before they became tea party people which means they remain a part of the R party base. In 2004 Bush won because Christian conservatives turned out in record numbers in Ohio to tip the state to him in a close national election. Neither could stop Barack Obama winning twice in Ohio and nationally.

[Publicus]

Analysis by researchers at Florida State University of tea party members found that "racial resentment" was more a of a factor in their political activism than are conservative political views. FSU is a state run taxpayer funded institution where two sociologists published their findings last month in the journal Social Science Research..

While the tea party is not an actual political party, its members are far more active in elections, politics and government than most members of political parties or most political movements. More tea party types are in the Republican party and from the South than another other party or region of the US.

Anyone who might want to know the facts about tea party people could look at the CBS-New York Times survey findings concerning tea party Americans.

Racial Resentment Drives Tea Party Membership

"At least to some degree, the Tea Party movement is an outlet for mobilizing and expressing racialized grievances which have been symbolically magnified by the election of the nation’s first black president,” writes a research team led by Florida State University sociologist Daniel Tope.

Tea party activist shows support of government shutdown by waving Confederate flag outside the home of a black family.

The study, just published in the journal Social Science Research,finds this acrimony appears to be aimed specifically at blacks rather than also targeting Latinos. While that’s somewhat surprising, “The findings suggest that, among conservatives, racial resentment may be a more important determinate of membership in the Tea Party movement than hard-right political values.

”

http://www.psmag.com/navigation/politics-and-law/racial-resentment-drives-tea-party-membership-93419/

Tea Party Supporters: Who They Are and What They Believe

Eighteen percent of Americans identify as Tea Party supporters. The vast majority of them -- 89 percent -- are white. Just one percent is black.

More than half (54 percent) identify as Republicans, and another 41 percent say they are independents. Just five percent call themselves Democrats, compared to 31 percent of adults nationwide.

More than one in three (36 percent) hails from the South, far more than any other region. Twenty-five percent come from the West, 22 percent from the Midwest, and 18 percent from the northeast.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/tea-party-supporters-who-they-are-and-what-they-believe/

Edited January 19, 2015 by Publicus

[chuckd]

These are some words from post #8.

"The tea party people make no difference in a national election."

Difficult to believe all that work and time put in on post #9 was wasted on something that makes no difference in a national election.

Hard to cut through the excessive rhetoric at times.

The racist flag has been thrown...now comes the one for rednecks.

[Chicog]

"Archconservatives".

Good word.

[Publicus]

Well chief, given the demographic survey found that some 40% of tea party people have a degree from a four year university, one might be able to proffer that a whole lot of 'em are over educated hillbillies.

Intellectual Bubbas.

Grads of Bob Jones University, aka BJU.

You know, the which weighs more, the refrigerator or the wife kind of people.

http://www.bju.edu/

Edited January 19, 2015 by Publicus

[bendejo]

The tea party people make no difference in a national election.

Each actual political party gets 41-45% from its own voters and after that each party needs the Independent voter to vote for it to win.

For prez in 2008 McCain got 44% of the vote and that was it because Independents went big for Barack Obama.

In 2012 Romney got 47% because while a few more Independents went for Willard, the strong majority of I voters continued to side with Prez Obama

Tea party people voted Republican long before they became tea party people which means they remain a part of the R party base. In 2004 Bush won because Christian conservatives turned out in record numbers in Ohio to tip the state to him in a close national election. Neither could stop Barack Obama winning twice in Ohio and nationally.

I consider the 2000 Florida vote count disruption to be the origins of the Tea Party. W later gave a dinner to thank those true patriots who stormed the locations where the votes were being counted demanding democracy and declaring love of country. Hey Jeb, where were the state troopers that day? That same virulence appeared again at Palin's campaign rallies in 2008, outrage against a you-know-what becoming president, racist sympathies openly expressed that no US broadcaster would cover.

If a white Republican had won in 2008 and done the same exact things these past six years there wouldn't be a Tea Party and Glen Beck would still be doing ads for used car dealers (same for Limbaugh if Clinton haqdn't won in 1992). Fox News would have been running patriotic puff pieces and kitty cat rescue videos. We'd probably have a better health care program too.

[Publicus]

The tea party people make no difference in a national election.

Each actual political party gets 41-45% from its own voters and after that each party needs the Independent voter to vote for it to win.

For prez in 2008 McCain got 44% of the vote and that was it because Independents went big for Barack Obama.

In 2012 Romney got 47% because while a few more Independents went for Willard, the strong majority of I voters continued to side with Prez Obama

Tea party people voted Republican long before they became tea party people which means they remain a part of the R party base. In 2004 Bush won because Christian conservatives turned out in record numbers in Ohio to tip the state to him in a close national election. Neither could stop Barack Obama winning twice in Ohio and nationally.

I consider the 2000 Florida vote count disruption to be the origins of the Tea Party. W later gave a dinner to thank those true patriots who stormed the locations where the votes were being counted demanding democracy and declaring love of country. Hey Jeb, where were the state troopers that day? That same virulence appeared again at Palin's campaign rallies in 2008, outrage against a you-know-what becoming president, racist sympathies openly expressed that no US broadcaster would cover.

If a white Republican had won in 2008 and done the same exact things these past six years there wouldn't be a Tea Party and Glen Beck would still be doing ads for used car dealers (same for Limbaugh if Clinton haqdn't won in 1992). Fox News would have been running patriotic puff pieces and kitty cat rescue videos. We'd probably have a better health care program too.

That is I think a valid pointing out and analysis of what happens when a Democrat is elected president and moves into the White House. The right goes ballistic and the wingnuts go bananas, any time, every time. In 2008 they went over the moon because of it.

The 2000 Florida vote count swindle was the real time frantic reaction of the crazies and other Republicans to prevent the occurrence of a Democrat continuing in the White House, which was an unmitigated horror they saw developing before their eyes. The right knew that with Gov Jeb Bush in charge of the state, they had the golden opportunity to act to prevent such a travesty occurring, and they did do exactly that.

That the 2000 ad hoc collection of conservative Republican and extreme right crazies who descended on Florida in 2000 did not formalize themselves as the tea party until 2009 only serves to demonstrate their acute racialism on seeing Barack Obama move into the White House.

Given the prospect of another very likely democratic succession in 2016 of Hillary following Obama, which would be similar to that of Gore in 2000 following eight years of Bill Clinton, we'd need to arm and forearm ourselves mightily in the leadup to and on election day the first Tuesday of November, fewer than two years from the present.

Recent history shows that since FDR in particular any time a D moves in to the White House the crazies of the far right and the mainstream Republican party conservatives have launched themselves into a war mode that makes the campaign combat that produced the election result seem like a walk in the park. .

I think the following piece provides a pretty good discussion of your excellent point...

Too many observers mistakenly react to the tea party as if it's brand new, an organic and spontaneous response to something unique in the current political climate. But it's not. It's not a response to the recession or to health care reform or to some kind of spectacular new liberal overreach. It's what happens whenever a Democrat takes over the White House.

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2010/08/history-of-the-tea-part

[NeverSure]

That is I think a valid pointing out and analysis of what happens when a Democrat is elected president and moves into the White House. The right goes ballistic and the wingnuts go bananas, any time, every time. In 2008 they went over the moon because of it.

The 2000 Florida vote count swindle was the real time frantic reaction of the crazies and other Republicans to prevent the occurrence of a Democrat continuing in the White House, which was an unmitigated horror they saw developing before their eyes. The right knew that with Gov Jeb Bush in charge of the state, they had the golden opportunity to act to prevent such a travesty occurring, and they did do exactly that.

That the 2000 ad hoc collection of conservative Republican and extreme right crazies who descended on Florida in 2000 did not formalize themselves as the tea party until 2009 only serves to demonstrate their acute racialism on seeing Barack Obama move into the White House.

Given the prospect of another very likely democratic succession in 2016 of Hillary following Obama, which would be similar to that of Gore in 2000 following eight years of Bill Clinton, we'd need to arm and forearm ourselves mightily in the leadup to and on election day the first Tuesday of November, fewer than two years from the present.

Recent history shows that since FDR in particular any time a D moves in to the White House the crazies of the far right and the mainstream Republican party conservatives have launched themselves into a war mode that makes the campaign combat that produced the election result seem like a walk in the park. .

I think the following piece provides a pretty good discussion of your excellent point...

Bla Bla Bla (insert name calling) Bla Bla Bla (insert name calling) Bla Bla Bla (insert name calling) Bla Bla Bla (insert name calling)...

[chuckd]

I could have predicted a Mother Jones link coming sooner rather than later.

[Berkshire]

Racial Resentment Drives Tea Party Membership

"At least to some degree, the Tea Party movement is an outlet for mobilizing and expressing racialized grievances which have been symbolically magnified by the election of the nation’s first black president,” writes a research team led by Florida State University sociologist Daniel Tope.

Tea party activist shows support of government shutdown by waving Confederate flag outside the home of a black family.

The study, just published in the journal Social Science Research,finds this acrimony appears to be aimed specifically at blacks rather than also targeting Latinos. While that’s somewhat surprising, “The findings suggest that, among conservatives, racial resentment may be a more important determinate of membership in the Tea Party movement than hard-right political values.

”

http://www.psmag.com/navigation/politics-and-law/racial-resentment-drives-tea-party-membership-93419/

Agree that the Tea Party has come to represent the extreme right and the racist wing of the Republican party. Supporters should recognize that it's not what the Tea Party claims to represent, it's what everyone else thinks they represent. And a vast majority of Americans do not support the Tea Party and their views on a great number of issues. I'm sure every Democrat would be privately ecstatic if a Tea Party member were to win the Republican nomination because that would guarantee a Democratic President in 2016.

[Ulysses G.]

Agree that the Tea Party has come to represent the extreme right and the racist wing of the Republican party. Supporters should recognize that it's not what the Tea Party claims to represent, it's what everyone else thinks they represent.

Agreed. They have been unfairly maligned, but, thanks to a dishonest media, that is the public perception.

Edited January 20, 2015 by Ulysses G.

[uptheos]

Can someone put me out of my misery and give me an exact definition of the Tea Party within the Republican party please?

[Ulysses G.]

Taxed Enough Already.

[uptheos]

Taxed Enough Already.

Geez that was simple.

[NeverSure]

Can someone put me out of my misery and give me an exact definition of the Tea Party within the Republican party please?

Uptheos, I can't remember your nationality but if you aren't American...

One of the sentinel events that stands out in the history of the US is the Boston Tea Party. This was when the King of England was still in control of the US and the citizens were about to have a revolution and run him off. He raised taxes on tea which was imported. In a show of rebellion the American Colonists went out to the ships in the Boston Harbor and threw the tea into the harbor.

From the beginning of the country that has been known as "The Boston Tea Party."

When an ad hoc group of people in our generation decided they'd had too much government and too many taxes they grouped together and called themselves the Tea Party. It's not a party and I don't think one can join. It's just a movement which caught on and about 1/3 of Republicans and 20% of all voters identify with them. I posted a link to that survey for Publicus, probably yesterday.

Although informal they vote in lockstep and one would be pretty silly to totally ignore them.

[mania]

Can someone put me out of my misery and give me an exact definition of the Tea Party within the Republican party please?

What a lot of folks do not know is the Tea party as seen today is but a name stolen from the original 2007 movement.

The original Tea Party was part of the Ron Paul revolution, money bomb etc.

But the Tea Party was co-opted by Neocons like Palin etc. basically the GOP

They changed it a bit initially by terming it the Tea Party Express but it is nothing like the original

Which basically wanted less Federal Govt intrusion as per the 10th Amendment

Along with responsible spending/budgeting, better foreign policy that did not indulge in all these undeclared wars we see today etc

Just did a quick search & saw this one older...but not old enough...article that states similar

GOP operatives crash the tea party

[bikerlou47]

[Publicus]

Can someone put me out of my misery and give me an exact definition of the Tea Party within the Republican party please?

Uptheos, I can't remember your nationality but if you aren't American...

One of the sentinel events that stands out in the history of the US is the Boston Tea Party. This was when the King of England was still in control of the US and the citizens were about to have a revolution and run him off. He raised taxes on tea which was imported. In a show of rebellion the American Colonists went out to the ships in the Boston Harbor and threw the tea into the harbor.

From the beginning of the country that has been known as "The Boston Tea Party."

When an ad hoc group of people in our generation decided they'd had too much government and too many taxes they grouped together and called themselves the Tea Party. It's not a party and I don't think one can join. It's just a movement which caught on and about 1/3 of Republicans and 20% of all voters identify with them. I posted a link to that survey for Publicus, probably yesterday.

Although informal they vote in lockstep and one would be pretty silly to totally ignore them.

they grouped together and called themselves the Tea Party...one would be pretty silly to totally ignore them.

One would be pretty silly to give the tea party crowd any attention at all in a national election, and that is because they vote Republican and are a part of the Republican party base. Tea party voters don't swing any national election because they are a major constituency only for any Republican who seeks the nomination for prez, and they are the concern of the R party nominee to get out the tea party vote in November elections, but the R for prez loses anyway so tea party voters are everywhere insignificant.

On the other hand, tea party voters do have an impact in some red states on local elections for mayor, city council, school board and, again, in some races for the US House and the Senate. There are about 36 tea party radical Republicans in the US House and a couple of 'em in the Senate....there are no Democratic party tea party members of Congress.

Most tea party people in Congress and in their local communities across the country have contempt of the Constitution, advocating unification of church and state, a strict regulation of citizen's private lives, they oppose abortion, advocate violent action against the national government, want prayer in schools, support the Defense of Marriage Act which the Supreme Court has ruled is unconstitutional....etc etc etc. An absurd and shameless contempt of the Constitution.

Conversely, the Boston Tea Party on December 16, 1773 carried out by the Sons of Liberty was a nonviolent act, dumping 342 cartons of tea from three British ships in Boston harbor valued at GBP 18,000. It was the response of the people of Massachusetts Bay Colony to the heavy taxes on tea imposed by the new monopoly London granted to the British East India Company and resulted in the British Navy permanently blockading Boston harbor and military rule over the city, which was already in a state of revolution, to include the Boston Massacre by the British Army.

The American War of Revolution began three years after the Boston Tea Party, at the Battle of Lexington and Concord outside of Boston under siege by the British Army and where the Massachusetts Militia defeated a regiment of British occupation troops. The date, April 19 is the state Patriot's Day holiday celebrated by the world famous Boston Marathon.

You're talking to the right person about Boston and tea parties, any and all of 'em at any time. I can tell you the Boston Globe recently noted the feeble presence of the present tea party movement in Boston, writing that the Boston tea party movement consists of "five people on a bus" and reporting that a recent local tea party convention in the city drew 40 participants. In 2012 Prez Obama won the city of Boston with 82% of the vote which is exactly what the Boston Tea Party was about.

The present day tea party people deny global warming and climate change, they believe the earth is 6000 years old. Fifty-two percent of 'em believe too much has been made of the problems facing black people, they believe Barack Obama was born outside the United States, they want gun laws abolished etc etc etc.

The vast majority of tea party people, 62 percent, say programs like Social Security and Medicare are worth the costs to taxpayers but they adamantly oppose Obamacare.

The Sons of Liberty Massachusetts Militia depicted by the History Channel, at the Battle of Concord Bridge outside of Boston, April 19, 1775.

http://www.history.com/shows/sons-of-liberty/videos

http://scholar.harvard.edu/files/williamson/files/tea_party_pop.pdf

[Berkshire]

Most tea party people in Congress and in their local communities across the country have contempt of the Constitution, advocating unification of church and state, a strict regulation of citizen's private lives, they oppose abortion, advocate violent action against the national government, want prayer in schools, support the Defense of Marriage Act which the Supreme Court has ruled is unconstitutional....etc etc etc. An absurd and shameless contempt of the Constitution.

This is the Tea Party in a nutshell. Not to mention their stance on immigration (both legal and illegal, which they'll never admit), the environment, Civil Rights, and a whole slew of other issues which contradicts the belief of most Americans. Supporters of the Tea Party are pretty fanatical in their beliefs and we don't deny that. As you rightly point out, they'll play a role in local politics, but not on a national level (except maybe to increase gridlock in Congress). But they are simply outnumbered in the USA and based on simple demographics, will become less and less relevant as the country moves on.

[Publicus]

Agree that the Tea Party has come to represent the extreme right and the racist wing of the Republican party. Supporters should recognize that it's not what the Tea Party claims to represent, it's what everyone else thinks they represent.

Agreed. They have been unfairly maligned, but, thanks to a dishonest media, that is the public perception.

The tea party hasn't buffaloed the 90% of Americans because they don't waste their lives watching Fox at all, never mind 12 hours a day the way the tea party people do.

From the research and analysis of three Harvard faculty who focus on the tea party.....

The conservative media have played a crucial role in forging the shared beliefs and the collective identity around which Tea Partiers have united. This community-building

effort has been lead by Fox News, with a strong assist from talk radio and the conservative blogosphere. Fox is the primary source of political information for Tea Party activists.

According to the CBS/New York Times national poll, 63 percent of Tea Party supporters watch Fox News, compared to 11 percent of all respondents. Only 11 percent of

Tea Party supporters report getting their news from one of the Big Three networks, while among all US respondents, more than a quarter reported watching network news.

Fox is more than a source of information, however. This key outlet, echoed by other conservative outlets, helped to create and sustain the Tea Party mobilization in the first place.

http://scholar.harvard.edu/files/williamson/files/tea_party_pop.pdf

[Ulysses G.]

Conservatives prefer to watch conservative news channels. Now that is a shocker.

[chuckd]

Liberals watch MSNBC, CNN, ABC, CBS, NBC and read Mother Jones and Huffington Post.

What's the difference?

[Ulysses G.]

But, everything on MSNBC and in Huffington Post is true!