re: #233 Targetpractice, Worst of Both Worlds

Think it depends on how good or bad things turn out for them. They win the White House and Congress, then the Tea Party will be here to stay. If they win one but lose the other, it’ll cause a couple years of navel-gazing as to why they only succeed partially. If they fail both by sharp margins, they’ll argue anything from voter turn-out to voter fraud.

Only with a complete, Mondale-scale blowout will the Tea Party be well and truly gone after next year. Because the blowback from not just the voters, but the party establishment would make flying the TP flag political suicide.

But that’s just looking at the Tea Party running the show and while they have been rather influential the atavism on the shared issues has always been there. There really is no change in the policy and ideology of mainstream Republicans like Boehner and McConnell. Mitt Romney turned to the right well before the onset of the Tea Party as has Rick Perry. Michele Bachmann always had a Tea Party mentality. The Republican Party’s problems go well beyond the Tea Party and it was there for decades now. So even with the Tea Party gone — if that ever were to take place — the Republican Party will still be a party of climate change deniers if you will; creationists; anti-choice; anti-gay; etc.