If Newt is the 'Tea Party candidate' I'm a banana
At Telegraph blogs today, my colleague Tim Stanley - a generally percipient analyst of the US political scene - claims that Newt's victory in South Carolina represented some kind of victory for the Tea Party.
Then came South Carolina, where religious and fiscal conservatives finally got it together and backed a candidate against Mitt Romney. Exit polls suggest that Newt Gingrich won by appealing to every Tea Party demographic – middle income voters, angry white men, regular church attendees etc. To put it into to perspective, these are the only categories of voter that Mitt Romney won: people with an income greater than $200,000, self-described “moderates” or “liberals”, folks who think religion doesn’t matter in picking a candidate, those who “oppose” the Tea Party.
What is this "Tea Party" of which Tim speaks? It's certainly not one that I recognize. The Tea Party I know and admire is defined by nothing except its opposition to Big Government in all its manifestations. I can't see it consciously rooting for a rent-seeking DC insider who profited from the taxpayer via Fannie Mae and who recently attacked Mitt Romney's record at Bain from the left, as if somehow creative destruction were a bad idea that needed to be extirpated by a benign, caring state.
If any Tea Partiers voted for Newt - and I'm quite sure they did, given Sarah Palin's endorsement - I'd suggest that would have been a gesture of frustration rather than ideological kinship. This doesn't mean that a character as principle-free as Newt doesn't have the ability to remould himself in the Tea Party's image. Just that if that's what he really wants to do - and I hope he will - he'd better get moving quick.
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Mar '11
Re: If Newt is the 'Tea Party candidate' I'm a banana
James; as unlikely as it may seem, you are indeed a banana. I'd recommend a brisk walk on the Malvern Hills to blow the cobwebs off - it never fails.
Sarah Palin's was a semi-endorsement, btw.
I guess Dr Paul would be the only other candidate (who is running) who non-bananas might think of as a Tea Party candidate - but he has more baggage than a crate-load of bananas with Tarantulas hidden in it.
It would be a long stretch to consider Mr Santorum a Tea Party candidate - he could maybe have positioned himself better to be one, but is only recently trying.
Mr Romney?
That leaves Newt, who is indeed remoulding himself quite successfully in the Tea Party image (check out his SC victory speech).
He is taking the (metaphorical) fight to the liberal media and Democrats -- which is what the Tea Party wants.
Sure, he ain't ideal, but he is all we have.
So, I am afraid Mr Stanley is spot-on, and no banana.
Edited on January 23, 2012 at 12:11pmMay '11
Re: If Newt is the 'Tea Party candidate' I'm a banana
Banana you are, sir!
Newt is the Tea Party candidate because he embodies our fury at the big-spending AND not-listening Washington culture. I am well aware of Gingrich's many failings, shortcomings, ideological heterodoxy and so forth, and I accept it all, known issues.
Gingrich is the front-runner for avoiding a Romney nomination, and we know he can wipe the floor with our Communist-in-Chief. Thereafter, even if we have to lash him to the mast, we are willing to do so if only we can replace Obama with somebody who cannot be sunk by Romneycare. Gingrich also has this penchant for FIGHTING whereas the rest of the milquetoasts are posing. Gingrich is genuinely angry, and for very good reasons.
We are not the neanderthals that Ann Coulter and her fellow travelers wish us to be. It does not bother me that they think so--they will continue to underestimate us.
We remember when Newt broke the Democrats' forty-year lock on Congress, balance the budget, reformed welfare, and so angered the GOP DC establishment that they ejected him. In our eyes, that QUALIFIES him to run as a Tea Party candidate.
Things have changed.
Oct '10
Re: If Newt is the 'Tea Party candidate' I'm a banana
Tim never said Gingrich was the 'Tea Party candidate', but the candidate the Tea Party had voted for. There is a difference.
Tim's closing paragraph bears quoting in full:
Dec '10
Re: If Newt is the 'Tea Party candidate' I'm a banana
Avoid monkeys James.
Apr '11
Re: If Newt is the 'Tea Party candidate' I'm a banana
As candidates dropped out and the field became smaller, I tried to reconcile myself to Romney. I started to believe that his nomination was inevitable and it would be tolerable as long as we elected more conservatives in the senate. But his poor defense of the attacks on Bain and his tax situation gave me pause. We can't nominate another McCain to run a weak ineffective campaign. I don't trust Newt as far as I can throw him, but it looks likes he's the best we have right now.
Re: If Newt is the 'Tea Party candidate' I'm a banana
OK. I'm a banana
May '11
Re: If Newt is the 'Tea Party candidate' I'm a banana
Welcome to the bunch.
Jun '11
Re: If Newt is the 'Tea Party candidate' I'm a banana
At this point I'm for Anyone But Obama or Paul, but some of the stuff I'm seeing lately makes me want to tune out politics completely. I just saw someone on Facebook post an article titled, "Gingrich Win Turns GOP Race Upside Down: It's Now Establishment Versus Insurgents."
Newt Gingrich is an "insurgent" now. Against "the establishment."
Jesus wept.
Apr '11
Re: If Newt is the 'Tea Party candidate' I'm a banana
Tea Partiers supported Romney over Gingrich in New Hampshire and Iowa. They supported Gingrich over Romney in South Carolina. Some of the major Tea Party organizations back Newt, while most of the Tea Party Caucus in the House prefer Mitt. TEA Partiers are people, rather than pure ideological constructs, and vote and endorse for a variety of reasons.
Nov '10
Re: If Newt is the 'Tea Party candidate' I'm a banana
Now, if only Daniels or Ryan would grow a pear...
Dec '10
Re: If Newt is the 'Tea Party candidate' I'm a banana
Consider this in light of Milton Friedman's recipe for conservative governance, creating a situation where even a sometimes-wayward Newt can be managed within an otherwise small-government milieu. For myself, I don't think the other candidates are manageble and are merely pandering to the small-government voters long enough to get the nomination, prior to yanking the football away once they are safely back in the warm embrace of Lucy Van Pelt.
Mar '11
Re: If Newt is the 'Tea Party candidate' I'm a banana
OK, now I'm a banana.
hehe...Sorry, but seeing that term applied to Ms. Coulter almost got coffee out my nose.
I'm not a member of the Tea Party -- in fact, I'm not even sure that the Tea Party has a membership. I've attended a few events, and I'm in agreement with them on their salient points, and just because there aren't little old ladies on the evening news handing out pamphlets on street corners doesn't mean they are through.
Newt didn't really court these people, at least he hasn't much. But the Republicans most upset with his candidacy are also the ones who, when they had deposed him, went more than a little crazy with government largesse. They stove in the top of the pork barrel, everybody got a taste, and we got a bridge to nowhere. Meanwhile, the 800-pound gorilla of entitlement spending was ignored.
Somebody is being told to pound sand.
Mar '11
Re: If Newt is the 'Tea Party candidate' I'm a banana
My view of the current field is best summed up by this little guy:
Jul '11
Re: If Newt is the 'Tea Party candidate' I'm a banana
I'm simply going to assume that whoever is the eventual Republican candidate will garner a large share of votes by those who identify themselves with the Tea Party, or at least identify with some of the themes of the Tea Party. I will also (safely) assume that some percentage of Tea Partiers will choose not to vote, because they are or will be unhappy with the eventual candidate.
This does not mean that any candidate is the "Tea Party candidate", any more than any candidate is the "Ron Paul candidate", if any candidate earns the votes of people who want to abolish the Fed and hide behind Fortress America.
No matter the candidate, the Leviathan needs to be dismantled, shrunken, if we ever plan on a) having individual liberties restored, and b) having a roaring economy again. I'd like to be more hopeful of that outcome, but history does not trend in those two directions.
Re: If Newt is the 'Tea Party candidate' I'm a banana
Alas, beggars cannot be choosers.
Sep '10
Re: If Newt is the 'Tea Party candidate' I'm a banana
You're a banana.
Like everyone else, the Tea Party can only pick from what's available.
Oct '11
Re: If Newt is the 'Tea Party candidate' I'm a banana
K T Cat: You're a banana.
Like everyone else, the Tea Party can only pick from what's available. · 3 minutes ago
What is fantastic is how few there is to choose from :-/
Not a banana, just a person afflicted by ''Mitt Autoimmune Rejection Syndrome'' or MARS.
Shall we increase Mr Delingpole dose ?
Edited on January 23, 2012 at 3:37pmJun '10
Re: If Newt is the 'Tea Party candidate' I'm a banana
Sometimes you don't care if you have the very best lawyer. You just want the angriest lawyer.
Jun '11
Re: If Newt is the 'Tea Party candidate' I'm a banana
As someone who attended a couple of rather large "Tea Party" rallies in South Carolina in the Spring of 2009 I'll just say what I observed then: there is no such thing as The Tea Party. Sure, it was a set of ideas- not an organization- but it was not simply that since the ideas were sometimes (at least slightly) in conflict. There were FAIR TAX people, there were Glenn Beck 9/12 Project people. There were Paulistas and there were Palin fanatics. Militarists and isolationists. The point is that it put millions of people in the streets who had never protested before because it was about a central thing everyone involved (apparently) wanted: LESS GOVERNMENT.
Calendar pages fly away... an historic election victory is driven by Tea Party passions... more time passes... and we finally get to the 2012 Republican Primaries. But primaries aren't about agreeing on one central idea they're fights over the differences.
Candidates cheered at 2009 Tea Party events, Herman Cain and Rick Perry, are gone. Paul gets his 15% and his followers rage at those who just don't get it. The "Tea Party" remains what it always was: shapeless and malleable.
May '11
Re: If Newt is the 'Tea Party candidate' I'm a banana
Percival
Sorry, but seeing that term applied to Ms. Coulter almost got coffee out my nose.
Glad you noticed--it was intentional :-)