Tea Party Remains A Driving Force As GOP Leaders Risk Backlash From Movement

By Tim Reid

WASHINGTON, (Reuters) - Emboldened by concessions wrung from their own leadership and President Barack Obama during the debt limit fight, Tea Party-affiliated lawmakers will likely remain a driving force in the Republican Party -- and possibly induce gridlock until the 2012 elections.

The several dozen fiscally conservative, small-government members in the House played a significant role in forcing John Boehner, the Republican House Speaker, to abandon efforts to forge a bipartisan ``grand bargain'' debt limit deal with Obama because it contained revenue increases -- and their clout will continue, analysts say.

The struggle to avert a catastrophic default ended Aug. 2 when a deal to raise the debt limit was finally struck and signed into law by Obama.

The fight over the debt ceiling exposed a fundamental rift inside the Republican Party between the Tea Party movement newcomers, many of whom believed a debt default was actually needed to get America's spending under control, and traditionalists such as Boehner who said a deal had to be struck to increase the United States' borrowing authority.

A wave of Tea Party-affiliated members was elected to Congress in the November 2010 mid-term elections, propelled by voters furious about a bad economy and government spending.

"This wave hasn't crested yet,'' said Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia's Center for Politics.

"The momentum among voters generally is completely about cutting spending. There is this fissure inside the Republican Party -- between the Tea Party absolutionists and the strongly conservative traditionalists -- but they all agree that the debt has to be taken care of.''

'NO MODERATE WING'

Sabato predicted political gridlock and battles until the November 2012 presidential elections.

"The right is energized. They can rally against Obama, healthcare, spending, unemployment, the debt. There is no moderate wing of the Republican Party. The party is very conservative, and is basically in agreement.

"It will remain very conservative and intransigent,'' Sabato said. "What could possibly change them? Why would they cooperate? What's the incentive?''

Stu Rothenberg, an independent political analyst, said Boehner and Republicans affiliated with the Tea Party movement will be able to coexist in the short term.

"John Boehner used to be one of the most conservative members. He came to Washington as a bomb thrower, he wanted to cut government, he wanted to reform things. Now he is the mainstream of the party. That just shows you where the party has moved to.''

Boehner will continue to be forced to consider Tea Party Republicans' views, Rothenberg said, ``because he will need their help along the way. The Tea Party will be a significant force throughout the next year and a half.''

But he predicted serious problems if the Tea Party Republicans gain more clout.

"If they are ever in charge -- if the Republicans win the White House or control the White House, Senate and House, you will see civil war break out,'' Rothenberg said. ``The Tea Party will think okay, now we can run the place. They will expect everything they want to be passed. It will be a huge problem for whoever the president is.''

When running for office last year, Tea Party-affiliated candidates advocated cutting government spending, lowering taxes, curbing government regulation of private business, phasing out the Social Security retirement program, dismantling the Education Department and repealing Obama's healthcare reform law.

The Tea Party is a loosely organized conservative movement that gets its name from the 1773 Boston Tea Party anti-tax protest.

POTENTIAL BACKLASH

Others predict a voter backlash against fiscally conservative Republicans in next year's elections, accusing them of bringing the country to the brink of default.

"The electorate will be very different next year because it is a presidential election year,'' said Tad Devine, a Democratic strategist.

He noted that in 2010, independent voters wanted to show they were not happy with the direction of the country and so supported Tea Party candidates -- who once elected may have gone too far.

"But this was not the change they wanted,'' he said. "They have watched what just happened in Washington, that the country was brought to the edge of a cliff with consequences that would have had immediate effects on their lives, and they are astounded.''

"This time round, these Republicans actually have to run on their record. And independent voters will be repulsed by their policy prescriptions and actions.''

Steven Hess, a veteran Republican staffer and a political analyst in the Brookings Institution think tank, said Republicans, who have a 49-seat majority in the House, could lose control of the chamber next year.

"You will have exposed candidates and an enlarged electorate,'' Hess said. ``The Tea Party is a relatively fragile movement. People have already lost interest in it and are getting irritated with it.''

(Editing by Philip Barbara)

 

 

Comments

[Samiiam]

02:34 AM on 08/10/2011

Samiiam 26 minutes ago (8:28 PM)
36 Fans
Warren Buffet critizes S & P and then they threaten to lower his companies, Berkshire Hathaway, credit rating since he holds the largest private holding of U.S. Treasury notes. And this not political? They certainly did a grand job on their ratings of worthless mortage based stocks for their Wall Street cronies in their Bently and Ferraries.

[muddywood]

02:32 AM on 08/09/2011

Can we continue to borrow 4 BILLION DOLLARS A DAY of the 10 BILLION DOLLARS the government spends and have a good outcome?
Just keep on borrowing and spending like nothing is wrong with this balance sheet?

[justalurker]

11:16 PM on 08/08/2011

I will remember the tea party downgrade to our country, the stock market and my pension come the November 2012 elections. EVERYONE WILL.

[martykz]

08:20 PM on 08/08/2011

On September 15, 2008, Uncle Sam had a heart attack and stopped breathing for several days. He also had a stroke and was later diagnosed with advanced kidney, liver and pancreatic cancer.

Sam was put on life support and his next of kin were notified for instructions. The family said that they loved their dear uncle and to spare no expense in saving him. Heroic measures were taken and Sam has been in ICU since.

Uncle’s medical history revealed several decades of chain-smoking, heavy intake of rich foods and alcohol, unsafe sex, bi-polar personality disorder, regular bar fighting, hard drug abuse, mosh pit diving and extended morbid obesity. Sam also suffered from moral hazard syndrome, a condition that had him gamble and lose other people’s money because it didn’t bother him one bit.

After full heart, lung, kidney and liver transplants, hundreds of transfusions, regular relapses, daily code blues and a fortune’s worth of drugs, Uncle opened his eyes and was able to almost miraculously twitch his nose.

Today, after selling everything they owned and borrowing every last penny to save and cure old Uncle, the homeless family is having second thoughts. Maybe the best thing, some say, is to just hoard their remaining gold and guns, have faith and put him back in God’s hands.

[martykz]

07:22 PM on 08/08/2011

The Tea Party is the Kamikaze wing of the Republican Party.

[Johnny Bomers]

05:20 PM on 08/08/2011

I cannot believe that the majority of the Yea Party members are high earners. They want their taxes cut. Don't we all? The problem with this is that the budget will only be balanced with a combination of tax increases and spending cuts. To insist on just spending cuts is to cut off their nose to spite their face. It is the fools in Washingtorn who seem to have a lack of balls to resolve the problem to the detriment of all of us.

[soapyrub]

11:37 AM on 08/08/2011

A prominent Republican, David Stockman (Ronald Reagan's director of Managment and Budget), had this to say:
“The Republican "no tax increase" position is preposterous; we are collecting less than 15% of GDP in taxes, the lowest since 1950, and spending 24% of GDP.” (7/29/2011)
The rise of extreme partisan politics manifests in the Tea Party movement and Club for Growth anti-tax pledges signed by Republicans. It is clear that "America is broke" - nobody disputes this - but refusing to make the tax revenues more fair and simple as part of the solution is just plain dumb and Americans are just now waking up to this. Obama has opened himself up to criticism on the left for supporting "entitlement" cuts and now finds himself in "no man's land".
America looks at all the possible alternatives, but almost always eventually does the right thing. Call it progressive reform, or just plain common sense, or whatever, but we will eventually climb out of the hole that "conservative ideology" put us in.

[onsiteval]

12:02 PM on 08/11/2011

The problem is that we need to get rid of the IRS tax code all 17ft (stacked ) of it. It was written for the wealthy by their bought and paid for politicians on both sides of the aisle. Any Tax increase to individuals making under $200,000.00 will kill this ecoonomy. I'm no where near that level, but, as our little buss. has not gotten to raise rates in 6-7 years and the cost of everything goes up over same time period we no longer can do the little projects around our home. No sidewalk this summer, no new (although I mean used) car for us even though mine has 160,000 mil on it and is 11 years old. I look forward as I'm 60 to soc. sec. bkz we have always put our $ into our real estate and did not save alot. I don't know what we'll do, but, I do understand that entitlements like medicare and soc. sec. (which BTW wouldn't be broke if Johnson didn't move the SSTrust fund into the General Fund for those thieves to spend ) are not sustainable and need revamping if they are to survive and be of any supplement in the future to our children. And while we're at it I do think the wealthy should not get all the SOC SEC benefits if they have a $60,000.00 a year income in retirement. lots can be done but Dems want to keep spending??

[wgdisk]

09:13 AM on 08/08/2011

If John Boehner ever had a legit reason to shed some tears this is about as good a time as any.

[Kenji]

02:21 AM on 08/08/2011

Very conservative? Conservative is not wanting to shake things up at the risk of losing everything. These people are crackpots-on-a-mission.

[sarahmille]

01:55 AM on 08/08/2011

Here is our problem the Tea Party doesn't understand either - CHINA

China has 19% of the world’s population, but consumes
... 53% of the world's cement
... 48% of the world's iron ore
... 47% of the world's coal
... and the majority of just about every major commodity.

In 2010, China produced 11 times more steel than the United States .
The U.S. govt. purchases steel from China to make military equipment, bullets, etc.

New World Record: China made and sold 18 million vehicles in 2010.

CHINA HAS:
More pigs than in 43 pork-producing nations combined.
The world’s fastest train and the world’s largest high-speed rail network.
Currently the number one producer in the world of wind and solar power.
Currently the largest importor of both to the U.S. . Why are we not producing these?
Controls more than 90% of the total global supply of rare earth elements.
Moved from 14th place to 2nd place in the world in published scientific research articles while America's children are becoming dumber.
Possesses the fastest supercomputer on the globe

At the end of March 2011, China accumulated US $3.04 trillion in foreign currency reserves the largest stockpile on the entire globe. The U.S. Government owes China $1.6 trillion in U.S. Treasury Bonds and Notes.

And Americans are still buying the products at Walmart, KMart, Target, JC PENNEY made in China that has cost over 9 million Americans their jobs.

[Peter Boehringer]

07:49 AM on 08/08/2011

Faved. China will be our biggest competitor and greatest adversary over the next several decades. Yet, we have given them the very technology they are now using to compete with us. Whether or not China becomes a super power may depend upon their ability to feed their vast population, but we should have put the brakes on trading with them long ago. There is not a trade mark or patent which they respect...well you already know these things judging from your post.

[clonemastr]

09:03 AM on 08/08/2011

I like the way you think! Very fact-oriented; we could use more of that type of thinking in Congress!! F&F

[Revgregory]

11:16 PM on 08/07/2011

What is that she is handing him?

[PaulStewart]

10:17 PM on 08/07/2011

This quote is laughable: "It will remain very conservative and intransigent,'' Sabato said. "What could possibly change them? Why would they cooperate? What's the incentive?''.... Really? What is the incentive? How about (i) doing what is right by America and the American people, (2) moving the country forward in a way that all parties can agree, (3) getting re-elected by the people who put them there who didn't know you all were capable of taking the country and the American people hostage. That's for starters. I for one don't see you all coming back to the Congress.

I have to believe that Americans are too smart to put in stupid people a second time. There is much more to do right now than slam on the spending brakes and dismantle the American social security and medicare and healthcare and unemployment insurance and unions. Don't you think? Like maybe rebuilding the country's base of jobs while looking after the people who through no fault of their own are out of a job.

These people are not America's savior as they purport. Americans voted them in thinking it would solve the nonsense and none action and non co-operation going on in Washington. Instead they found out they are making it worse. They are out to cut her down at the root and indeed as you allude but in a real and different way, I see them all out causing civil unrest if not civil war.

[sarahmille]

01:00 AM on 08/08/2011

The problem is too many Americans listen to talking heads like Limbaugh, Hannity, Beck on the right and those on the left and accept that they are telling them as gospel. Instead, they should do their own research, ( oh, that would take too much of their time ), by looking up information on various govt. agency sites like the GAO accounting, social security, etc, The main problem is too many Americans basically sat on their behinds for too many years living the so called American dream without paying any attention to what their politicians were doing, ( i.e. the $2.4 million dollar bridge in Alaska for (12) people on an island that was pushed through by a Republican Senator ) and now that things have turned sour the easiest thing to do is to point the finger at President Obama for spending, spending, spending as Limbaugh, Hannity and Beck has been hawking to people when the facts are
nearly $9.8 trillion of our debt was created by Reagan and the (2) Bushes. Clinton only raised the debt $1.5 trillion. The Tea Party people are basically ignorant to the real facts and truth, I know because I've had a few friends I've had to educate with the truth and facts and get them out of the misinformed Tea Party movement. Obama had to raise it to keep the country from going into a worst depression that the 1929.

[sarahmille]

01:05 AM on 08/08/2011

My grandmother had pictures of the 1929 Depression showing bread lines ten blocks long,people waiting to get (1) small loaf of bread. Americans memories are very short and the one thing that Americans need to accept is the responsiblity that they are primarily to blame for what has occurred by sitting back and not paying attention to what was going on in Washington. Until Americans accept that responsibility they will not stop all this childish infighting of who is right and who is wrong and FIX our problems, but there is one thing that Amreicans must see and correct and that is GREED in this country has gotten out of hand and until that is dealt with on every level, nothing will get fixed in this country.

[digruprguy]

10:15 PM on 08/07/2011

Our fighting politicians should be more than ashamed of themselves for our devalued credit rating. They should be made to make up the difference with their salaries and medical insurance. It's time we as Americans march of Washington like other countries have done to tell our politicians we are sick and tired of their fighting. It's time to get together and fight for the country not for your parties.

[Glory2]

12:35 AM on 08/08/2011

Goon one digruprguy, I give you fan #2...

[Peter Boehringer]

07:52 AM on 08/08/2011

It's time for term limits on these clowns. It's time to take away their life long health insurance, their junkets, their private gym, their discount restaurant, their generous pensions, etc. Let them live like the rest of us.

[Glory2]

06:46 PM on 08/08/2011

My thoughts exactly Peter Boe, F&F...

[bardgal]

10:11 PM on 08/07/2011

Explain to me why anyone wants people who hate government, working in government.

I don't want a neurosurgeon who hates people, medicine, and being a doctor, operating on me.

[Bryan Boru]

10:20 PM on 08/07/2011

Because only they would consider not expanding their department. Government is like a tumor: all it tries to do is grow.

[bardgal]

10:28 PM on 08/07/2011

Please move to Somalia where there is no government.

I love my government, and I enjoy the benefits it affords me like clean water, air, a job, public schools, police, fire, roads, safe food, a standing military, etc. And I'm proud to pay taxes to keep it working. I don't want to starve it into being BROKEN.

[Liberalforsure]

08:00 AM on 08/08/2011

AMEN!!!!!

[toldusodems]

09:17 PM on 08/07/2011

Creating Jobs, Hog Wash!