Confessions of a Tea Party Casualty

In an article in the January/February issue of Mother Jones, David Corn interviewed Rep. Bob Inglis (R-SC) about his interaction with the Tea Party base of the Republican Party. The article, Confessions of a Tea Party Casualty, appeared on Mother Jones blog in August of 2010.

Former Rep. Bob Inglis (R - SC)

Rep. Inglis is quoted as saying,

"They say, 'Bob, what don't you get? Barack Obama is a socialist, communist Marxist who wants to destroy the American economy so he can take over as dictator. Health care is part of that. And he wants to open up the Mexican border and turn [the US] into a Muslim nation.'"

Much of what they said to Rep. Inglis came from the rantings of Glen Beck whose spoutings have far less to do with reality than with some paranoid fantasy land of late night conspiracy theories and apocalyptic religious prophecies.

Rep. Inglis goes on to say that he believes that tea party "demagoguery" will ultimately undermine the credibility of the Republican Party. I think he is correct. Whenever a fringe group gets a hold of one of the parties in the US, the core of that party draws it back toward the center. I believe that most Americans are much closer to the center of the political spectrum than the edges.

Everyone can read the blog posting or better yet pick up a copy of Mother Jones magazine.

Here is my prediction for the short term future of the Republican party:

I wonder what animal the Tea Party will have.

• The Tea Party will continue to be a vocal subgroup in the party.
• The leaders of the party will get increasingly nervous about the extreme views of Tea Party members, particularly the conspiracy theory fringe. (More on that in a future posting.)
• The candidates that are put forth by the party in the next Presidential election will pander either right or centrist, attempting to capture which ever side seems more viable at the time.
• The Tea Party rightists will continue to smack talk the moderates in their own party.
• The party will split along political lines, with the leadership of the party trying to keep it all together to win the election.
• Barack Obama wins the election. (Witness the movement in 1992 then 1994 then 1996.  The right doesn't seem to remember that Americans don't like extremes.) So congratulations, Mr President, on the next four years. {Psst: And, Mr. President, don't forget what Napoleon Bonaparte [the last Frenchman to win a battle] said: Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.}