Opinion
Tea party movement getting cold shoulder from GOP
Rick Outzen
Published: February 10, 2013
The Republican Party has learned that crazy no longer sells in general elections, particularly the kooky tea party version of conservatism. It worked in 2010 in wrestling away control of the U.S. House of Representatives from the wily Democrats, but no longer.Published: February 10, 2013
And GOP party leaders appear ready to dump the lot of them.
American Crossroads, GOP strategist Karl Rove's super PAC, recently formed a new super PAC, the Conservative Victory Project. Its aim is to improve the GOP's record in congressional races by nominating the most electable conservative candidate to represent the GOP in the general election.
The goal is to end the string of undisciplined tea party-backed candidates that kept the Republicans from winning a majority in the U.S. Senate. These include Todd Akin, the one-time GOP frontrunner, who lost to Democratic U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill in Missouri after drawing nationwide criticism for suggesting women can't get pregnant after "legitimate rape."
Republican politicians appear to be following Rove's lead.
Florida U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, a Republican and a tea party favorite in 2010, has become an outspoken supporter of immigration reform, something that the deportation-happy conservatives despise.
His plan provides the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants a path to citizenship that includes passing a criminal background check, paying back taxes and learning English. Rubio added some language about more secure border controls, but clearly he has separated himself from the tea party movement's immigration agenda to "build more and higher fences."
In Tallahassee, Gov. Rick Scott, another tea party darling, has announced his $74.2 billion "Florida Families First" budget for fiscal year 2014, the largest in state history and $8.4 billion more than the first one he proposed two years ago. He wants to give teachers a $2,500 pay raise and increase funding for services to the elderly and higher education.
It just may be time for the tea party movement to put away the costumes and realize the Republicans only want their votes, not their candidates.
Rick Outzen is the publisher/editor of Pensacola's Independent News. He can be reached at rick@inweekly.net.