Tea Party: A Faction or a Party?

Paul Rand's recent "Tea Party Caucus" proposal is putting pressure on establishment-style Republicans. Well, according to the Washington Post, it is. But dig deeper -- even in the Post's own article -- and I'm not so sure this is such a "dire" threat.

Republicans such as Paul and Sharron Angle in Nevada may hold provocative views, but "they're our nominees and I think we ought to get behind them 100 percent," said Sen. John Cornyn (Tex.).

"The candidates are not ours to choose," said Cornyn, chairman of the Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee. "They're the choice of the primary voters in the states, and I think we should respect their choices."

Yet some Republicans worry that tea-party candidates are settling too comfortably into their roles as unruly insurgents and could prove hard to manage if they get elected. Paul, who beat GOP establishment favorite Trey Grayson in Kentucky's primary, told the National Review that he would seek to join forces with GOP Sens. Jim DeMint (S.C.) and Tom Coburn (Okla.), "who are unafraid to stand up" and who have blocked numerous bills advanced by both parties deemed by the pair as expanding government.

The "some Republicans" named in the article? Trent Lott, who says no to "Jim DeMint disciples" and outgoing Utah senator Bob Bennett, who lost his primary to a tea party candidate. To say that these men are lacking credibility when it comes to the current state of conservatism or of the Republican Party is an understatement. Lott sounds like he's still got an axe to grind with old adversary DeMint and Bennett just sounds like a poor loser. Of course the MFM has quoted them for the proposition that the Tea Party will consume the GOP.

posted by Gabriel Malor at 06:02 PM

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