WFFaithful
Well-known member
I don't know many Tea Party folks who have said we need to get rid of dictators in a lot of countries.
just our own
I don't know many Tea Party folks who have said we need to get rid of dictators in a lot of countries.
I consider myself more aligned with whatever the Tea Party is (I consider it a reactionary movement fed up with too much spending and most politicians in DC) than I do the Republicans. Some individuals labeled Tea Partiers still spout the same religious crap as their primary go-to in talking points. That to me isn't very Tea Party, but it shows a different focus from a different element that, like me, is fed up with Republicans. The problem with the GOP is they give lip service to all kinds of things from religion to immigration to taxes to spending to whatever...and that's all it is. People who are more focused on religion or immigration or taxes or spending recognize that and they've broken off and are focusing on whatever they're pissed off about. The Tea Party label seems to be slapped on all pissed off Republicans, and that's a pretty diverse group of people with different priorities. The only commonality appears to be a desire to get spending under control.
You see many who have been in the GOP fold a long time trying to cater the Tea Party movement and thereby trim its rough edges, but that's not going to happen any time soon. And that's a good thing. Maybe bad for the GOP, but good for the country. If it sustains, it will breed a similar movement within the Dems, who are more fractured now than is commonly acknowledged.
Whether it's the Tea Party or the GOP, as long as extremely vocal social conservatives are front and center, conservatives will have major problems winning the presidency and growing their base. Huckabee, Santorum, Bachmann, Perry, and Pence aren't the future and their strident opposition to marriage equality is a net political loser now and going forward. Doesn't appeal to business and young people. Catering to an older, declining demographic now is akin to investing in pay phones and pagers in the late '90s-the writing's on the wall. Can't be small government in business, but want to restrict people's private lives at the same time. Until conservatives elevate socially libertarians over social conservatives, they're just treading water whether they call themselves 'Pubs or Tea Party.
Kinda funny that the Tea Party groups didn't invest in Brat's campaign and are now taking credit for his win. Immigration isn't a major issue in central Virginia relative to what it is in Bakersfield, California, Kevin McCarthy's district. McCarthy's more moderate on immigration than Cantor, out of necessity. Not a great trade for voters for whom immigration is their number one priority.
Great post
Ph-
That article shows that he doesn't fit into whatever existing mold Politico thinks a Tea Party guy should fit. They can't exactly say the Koch brothers won this election for him. I like the part where they act surprised that he thinks black students should be treated like white students, as if that's some flaming liberal ideal. Gee, he can't be very Tea Party because he isn't a total racist. Nice bit of patronizing on the part of the authors there.
I consider myself more aligned with whatever the Tea Party is (I consider it a reactionary movement fed up with too much spending and most politicians in DC) than I do the Republicans. Some individuals labeled Tea Partiers still spout the same religious crap as their primary go-to in talking points. That to me isn't very Tea Party, but it shows a different focus from a different element that, like me, is fed up with Republicans. The problem with the GOP is they give lip service to all kinds of things from religion to immigration to taxes to spending to whatever...and that's all it is. People who are more focused on religion or immigration or taxes or spending recognize that and they've broken off and are focusing on whatever they're pissed off about. The Tea Party label seems to be slapped on all pissed off Republicans, and that's a pretty diverse group of people with different priorities. The only commonality appears to be a desire to get spending under control.
You see many who have been in the GOP fold a long time trying to cater the Tea Party movement and thereby trim its rough edges, but that's not going to happen any time soon. And that's a good thing. Maybe bad for the GOP, but good for the country. If it sustains, it will breed a similar movement within the Dems, who are more fractured now than is commonly acknowledged.
Agreed. I don't understand how conservatives aren't grasping this concept. McCain, Romney, Cantor etc. seem totally shielded from reality by their employees, who have been tremendously wrong for years now.
Cantor is a d-bag. Guess he'll have to settle for the mil/yr consulting gig next year and remove himself from the "Young Guns" commercials.
He's not allegedly an economics professor. He and his will be Democratic opponent both teach at the same small university.
How can't an economic professor have a position or statement about a basic economic policy like minimum wage? It's about as basic an issue as there is.
TODD: Where are you on the minimum wage? Do you believe in it, and would you raise it?
BRAT: Minimum wage, no, I'm a free market guy. Our labor markets right now are already distorted from too many regulations. I think CATO estimates there's $2 trillion of regulatory problems and then throw Obamacare on top of that, the work hours is 30 hours a week. You can only hire 50 people. There's just distortion after distortion after distortion and we wonder why our labor markets are broken.
TODD: So should there be a minimum wage in your opinion?
BRAT: Say it again.
TODD: Should there be a minimum wage in your opinion?
BRAT: I don't have a well-crafted response on that one. All I know is if you take the long-run graph over 200 years of the wage rate, it cannot differ from your nation's productivity. Right? So you can't make up wage rates. Right? I would love for everyone in sub-Saharan Africa, for example -- children of God -- to make $100 an hour. I would love to just assert that that would be the case. But you can't assert that unless you raise their productivity, and then the wage follows.
TODD: Sounds like you're making a case against a federally mandated minimum wage.
BRAT: I'm just making the case I just made that you can't artificially make up wage rates, they have to be related to productivity.
How can't an economic professor have a position or statement about a basic economic policy like minimum wage? It's about as basic an issue as there is.
Ph-
That article shows that he doesn't fit into whatever existing mold Politico thinks a Tea Party guy should fit. They can't exactly say the Koch brothers won this election for him. I like the part where they act surprised that he thinks black students should be treated like white students, as if that's some flaming liberal ideal. Gee, he can't be very Tea Party because he isn't a total racist. Nice bit of patronizing on the part of the authors there.
I consider myself more aligned with whatever the Tea Party is (I consider it a reactionary movement fed up with too much spending and most politicians in DC) than I do the Republicans. Some individuals labeled Tea Partiers still spout the same religious crap as their primary go-to in talking points. That to me isn't very Tea Party, but it shows a different focus from a different element that, like me, is fed up with Republicans. The problem with the GOP is they give lip service to all kinds of things from religion to immigration to taxes to spending to whatever...and that's all it is. People who are more focused on religion or immigration or taxes or spending recognize that and they've broken off and are focusing on whatever they're pissed off about. The Tea Party label seems to be slapped on all pissed off Republicans, and that's a pretty diverse group of people with different priorities. The only commonality appears to be a desire to get spending under control.
You see many who have been in the GOP fold a long time trying to cater the Tea Party movement and thereby trim its rough edges, but that's not going to happen any time soon. And that's a good thing. Maybe bad for the GOP, but good for the country. If it sustains, it will breed a similar movement within the Dems, who are more fractured now than is commonly acknowledged.