And here comes "The Tea Party" ("TTP"). The Liberal Elite and other members of the looney Left tell us that all members of TTP are white, fat, old, racist, uneducated hypocrites that want to keep the "gubment hand's off our social security" - anybody remember the African American Congressman that swore he heard the "N" word at a rally with THOUSANDS of video cameras? Haven't heard much about that silly accusation lately, have we? Because it didn't happen... and neither has the Media's attempted character assassination of TTP... didn't happen, that is. For all of the disinformation coming out of the media, the Libertarian insurgents within the Republican party were about as welcome by the establishment RINO's as the proverbial turd in the punch bowl. What the 2H1P just can't seem to understand is the desire of the Tea Party folks to power down the Federal Government's power in favor of state and local government. Is the Tea Party really the Libertarian take over of the Republican party, or will it be a case of "I thought I heard the voice of the people..... must have been something else"...
And while the Tea Party may not push the Republicans over into power in the Senate, I am not sure that that is the issue (or should I say that I HOPE that is not the issue). Maybe, just maybe, we now have 51 Democrats, 44 RINO's, and 5 Libertarians. What the 2 headed 1 party ("2H1P") desperately tried to extinguish - the potential for a "new party" to emerge - now might in fact be a fait accompli. (To my mind these folks would be better off caucusing separately so that they are not cast aside in the next election... our electorate still seems to believe that there is a political answer to our economic problems.)
As for the House, the drubbing that the Dems are going to take will be without precedent.
As Scott Rasmussen said in his excellent WSJ piece yesterday, tomorrow's vote is not a vote in favor of RINO's as much as it is a rejection of the 2H1P (yea, I know I was a little liberal translating his title... but I think that statement is closer to the meat in his article).
But none of this means that Republicans are winning. The reality is that voters in 2010 are doing the same thing they did in 2006 and 2008: They are voting against the party in power.
This is the continuation of a trend that began nearly 20 years ago. In 1992, Bill Clinton was elected president and his party had control of Congress. Before he left office, his party lost control. Then, in 2000, George W. Bush came to power, and his party controlled Congress. But like Mr. Clinton before him, Mr. Bush saw his party lose control.
That's never happened before in back-to-back administrations. The Obama administration appears poised to make it three in a row. This reflects a fundamental rejection of both political parties.
More precisely, it is a rejection of a bipartisan political elite that's lost touch with the people they are supposed to serve. Based on our polling, 51% now see Democrats as the party of big government and nearly as many see Republicans as the party of big business. That leaves no party left to represent the American people.
Voters today want hope and change every bit as much as in 2008. But most have come to recognize that if we have to rely on politicians for the change, there is no hope. At the same time, Americans instinctively understand that if we can unleash the collective wisdom and entrepreneurial spirit of the American people, there are no limits to what we can accomplish.
In this environment, it would be wise for all Republicans to remember that their team didn't win, the other team lost. Heading into 2012, voters will remain ready to vote against the party in power unless they are given a reason not to do so.
Elected politicians also should leave their ideological baggage behind because voters don't want to be governed from the left, the right, or even the center. They want someone in Washington who understands that the American people want to govern themselves.
"And therein lies the rub"... The Tea Party needs a "Great Communicator" now more than at anytime in our history - including 1860. If the electorate is expecting anything other than a deeper recession than we now have should the Tea Party succeed in shrinking the Federal Budget to a manageable size... well, it would be inevitable that they would be the shortest lived political party in the history of the Republic. The electorate needs to be informed, challenged, and cheer-led onward, A coupe of good slogans wouldn't hurt "All we have to fear is fear itself" combined with "Ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country" into fill-in- the-blank (I will take a stab at coming up with a new slogan over the coming weeks).
The American people will needs be better acquainted and educated with the issues of economics and energy. There are good reasons why Oil is $83 per barrel in the middle of the worst recession since the 1930's and no one wants to get into the bond insurance business - Peak Oil and Peak Credit cannot be "artfully dodged" any longer. The Tea Party would do so at its peril and to its detriment.
Let us hope that is not the case.