Get ready for the Grand Old Tea Party takeover
The loony wing of the Republican Party prepares for a big day in Tuesday's elections
By Mike Madden
Salon.com
WASHINGTON -- The whole thing may have started with a rainy April rally in Washington's Lafayette Park. But by the time the first wave of elections since President Obama took office are over, Tuesday could wind up being the day the Tea Party movement left the fringe and went mainstream. (Or at least mainstream-ish.)
Grass-roots conservatives are crowing already about a House special election in New York's 23rd District, mostly because a national movement forced out the Republican Party's officially endorsed candidate, Dede Scozzafava, in favor of a more ideologically pure choice, Doug Hoffman. Polls show Hoffman is now likely to beat Democrat Bill Owens, even though Scozzafava wound up endorsing the Democrat. The lesson the Tea Party types are taking from all this? They won the battle for the soul of the GOP.
"Conservatives are awake," said Fox News Channel's Glenn Beck on his show Monday. "This is an example of a Republican Party apparatus that is wildly out of touch with its base," said Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the Susan B. Anthony List, a Bizarro version of EMILY's List that usually supports conservative women who oppose abortion rights, but strongly backed Hoffman in the New York race. "This will bring about more conversation and potentially more cooperation -- or there will be some folks that don't keep their positions."
(More here.)
By Mike Madden
Salon.com
WASHINGTON -- The whole thing may have started with a rainy April rally in Washington's Lafayette Park. But by the time the first wave of elections since President Obama took office are over, Tuesday could wind up being the day the Tea Party movement left the fringe and went mainstream. (Or at least mainstream-ish.)
Grass-roots conservatives are crowing already about a House special election in New York's 23rd District, mostly because a national movement forced out the Republican Party's officially endorsed candidate, Dede Scozzafava, in favor of a more ideologically pure choice, Doug Hoffman. Polls show Hoffman is now likely to beat Democrat Bill Owens, even though Scozzafava wound up endorsing the Democrat. The lesson the Tea Party types are taking from all this? They won the battle for the soul of the GOP.
"Conservatives are awake," said Fox News Channel's Glenn Beck on his show Monday. "This is an example of a Republican Party apparatus that is wildly out of touch with its base," said Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the Susan B. Anthony List, a Bizarro version of EMILY's List that usually supports conservative women who oppose abortion rights, but strongly backed Hoffman in the New York race. "This will bring about more conversation and potentially more cooperation -- or there will be some folks that don't keep their positions."
(More here.)
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