After a week of legislative defeat and a cancelled celebrity appearance by Donald Trump, the Tea Party seems to be losing momentum.
The South Carolina Tea Party experienced a hilarious defeat on Thursday. Expecting up to 2,000 people to show up at the State House rally, only a staggering 30 made it. And it probably wasn’t even because the Tea Party agenda was defeated twice this week, even though the South Carolina legislature passed measures approving tax breaks and increased spending measures that the group opposed.
As we know, Donald Trump announced his decision to stay out of the 2012 presidential race this week. Along with that news, he also canceled his much anticipated appearance at the Columbia, SC rally. As his replacement, the Tea Party got the much less exciting Gov. Nikki Haley to speak on government transparency. Let’s face it — no one wants to see that.
This comes as the second Tea Party flop in a month, as the Tax Day Rally, starring Tea Party favorite and possible presidential candidate Michele Bachmann, attracted a mere 300 attendees. That’s only one-tenth of the turnout for the same event in 2009.
It’s always easy to write off the Tea Party as a joke, or fear-mongering populism, or a corporate-funded illusion to fool working class Americans. But come on guys—just look at that photo. Don’t you feel just the tiniest bit sorry for them? Yeah, me neither.
May 20, 2011 at 6:53 pm, Jim said:
It is hard to be sympathetic in light of the inanity of the original Tea Party Rallies.
Pathetic would be a better word for this month’s Tea Party set backs, but it has been coming for quite awhile. I have written several articles chronicling the Teat Party Movement which I think will inform and amuse your readers. The can be found on The Cutting Edge Blog at It’s Worth an Opinion under the Tea Party Category; http://02d30f6.netsolhost.com/blog1/?cat=193
Enjoy!
Jim Worth
Author, “Final Audit”
Huffington Post Blogger
@authorofmystery
May 20, 2011 at 6:53 pm, Jim said:
It is hard to be sympathetic in light of the inanity of the original Tea Party Rallies.
Pathetic would be a better word for this month’s Tea Party set backs, but it has been coming for quite awhile. I have written several articles chronicling the Teat Party Movement which I think will inform and amuse your readers. The can be found on The Cutting Edge Blog at It’s Worth an Opinion under the Tea Party Category; http://02d30f6.netsolhost.com/blog1/?cat=193
Enjoy!
Jim Worth
Author, “Final Audit”
Huffington Post Blogger
@authorofmystery
May 20, 2011 at 7:55 pm, Mail4me said:
Sounds like Luis Ortiz doesn’t have any of the Liberal tolerance that the Liberals are always claiming/bitching the Conservatives don’t have.
May 21, 2011 at 9:32 pm, Matthew Gray said:
Mail4me’s comment sounds like the nonsensical ramblings of an angry ignorant Tea Partier lashing out the liberal stereotypes that only exist in his mind.
May 21, 2011 at 7:16 pm, john charles webb jr said:
The Tea Party appeared after Obama’s presidential election and the apparent demolition of the post-Bush Republican Party . The Tea Party was the platform that the rats leaving the sinking ship of the Republican Party established .
The Republican Party has not yet recovered . . . . . and The Tea Party is now in dire straits . . . . initially (opinion) The Tea Party was a FOX in sheep’s clothing . . . . .
despite an encouraging entry into American politics . . . . .
I liked the initial approach of the Tea Party . . . . ‘we have had enough’ !!!! all aimed at the Democratic Administration . . . . . . and ignoring the Republican agenda that sourced the dilemma .
May 23, 2011 at 3:19 pm, DK said:
This “article” is total BS: and that’s from someone who is anti-Tea Party. Give me a break, one rally with poor attendance and you’re concluding that the Party is dissolving? Maybe they didn’t advertise it well, maybe there was a competing rally somewhere else, or a host of other reasons.
May 24, 2011 at 2:59 pm, Dune Scholar said:
You may be right – but it’s more than just one rally… as with most new movements, the chance of failure is high. I just don’t think that the message (if there really is any cohesive message) of the Tea Party resonates with enough people, especially the people who are proactive about, and interested in, consistent long-term lasting changes for the better in our political system.
If there are a host of other reasons why there have been (more than one) setbacks to the Tea Party, please list those excuses here… thanks!
June 01, 2011 at 1:56 am, Coinspinner said:
Yeah we all bolted when the Tea Party threw in social issues and wandered away on ending the Drug War.
February 11, 2012 at 3:55 pm, a3478620 said:
I’ve said that least 3478620 times. SCK was here
February 11, 2012 at 3:55 pm, a3329233 said:
I’ve said that least 3329233 times. SCK was here
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