Conservative columnist Michael Barone: tea party full of ‘wackos and weirdos and witches’
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-tea-party-20121111,0,4516315.story
Tea party activists blame losses on Republican establishment
Angry tea party activists say Mitt Romney was too moderate and the GOP undermined ‘true conservative’ candidates.
By Robin Abcarian, Los Angeles Times
November 11, 2012…snip…
Wednesday, the political direct-mail pioneer Richard Viguerie gathered a group of disenchanted conservatives for a news conference in Washington. Calling Romney’s loss “the death rattle” of the GOP, Viguerie, chairman of ConservativeHQ.com, said, “The battle to take over the Republican Party begins today.”
…snip…
“In any logical universe,” Viguerie said, “establishment Republican consultants such as Karl Rove, Ed Gillespie and Romney campaign senior advisors Stuart Stevens and Neil Newhouse would never be hired to run or consult on a national campaign again and no one would give a dime to their ineffective ‘super PACs.’”
…snip…
Viguerie’s attack didn’t sit well with many mainline Republicans, who blamed conservative “purists” and the tea party wing of the party for squandering the GOP’s chance to regain control of the Senate.
Friday, for instance, conservative columnist Michael Barone told an audience at Hillsdale College’s center in Washington that the tea party, while bringing some talented politicians to the fore, also brought some “wackos and weirdos and witches.”
——>Continued
