rock over London. rock on, Chicago.

“I’d go back to the Carter administration, get rid of the Education Department first. Go back to the Clinton administration, AmeriCorps has got to go. Go back to the Bush administration, TARP funding has got to go. And no funding for ACORN ever.”
– quote from a local congressional candidate and tea party activist

interesting story in the New York Times about a fractious ‘tea party’ function. no one trusts each other, and they all hate the GOP establishment.
I don’t think I’ve ever written on the tea party types before. I don’t recall having done so, so I’ll just start here like this is the beginning. there’s a lot of them in my congressional district, Virginia’s 5th, and there’s a whopping five (I think) of them vying for the Republican nomination to take on Tom Perriello, D-dragonslayer.
at work, McNeill the political reporter has very much enjoyed covering this primary, as it has made for great quotes and great campaign moments. the tea-party candidates all hate the guy backed by the party establishment to run for the seat, a state senator from somewhere down south of here, name of Hurt, and are attempting to unite around someone to Hurt’s right to defeat his nomination.
problem is: they’re crazy, and try to out-crazy each other. no one believes in taxes; they all hate “the bailout,” which doesn’t mean any one thing, I don’t think, but rather anything done in Washington since August ’08; and no one believes in global warming. but then again, neither does my supervisor. so take that for what you will.
so yes. the local tea party activists are dipshits, but you could probably say that around the country. reading the Times story, you get the feeling that if this movement is able to get a wing off the ground, it could actually make some noise in a midterm congressional election. they actually might affect change in the GOP from the ground up, which is a fascinating concept.
this is nothing more than a gut feeling. I certainly hope these assholes don’t win any votes, but I gotta admire their pluck. the Times describes one of these groups as seeking “to take over the Republican Party from the bottom by filling the ranks of local and state parties with grass-roots conservatives …” which is a pretty ambitious goal. and they’re getting what appears to be pretty consistent press coverage. so maybe there’s something to them.

PS — the Democrats have taken notice, well before me, I’m sure, and are looking to exploit this rift in the opposition. here’s a generous cut and paste, as I know none of you assholes click on the links I provide you. fuck. you:

The memo (which is being advertised by Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Chairman Robert Menendez and his aides) urges Democratic candidates to force their opponents to answer a series of questions on health care, taxes and some of the favorite causes of the far right:
“Do you believe that Barack Obama is a U.S. citizen? Do you think the 10th Amendment bars Congress from issuing regulations like minimum health care coverage standards? Do you think programs like Social Security and Medicare represent socialism and should never have been created in the first place? Do you think President Obama is a socialist? Do you think America should return to a gold standard?”
If a Republican candidate says no to any of the questions, the memo says Democrats should “make their primary opponent or conservative activists know it. …”