Getty Images
Remember when the introduction of Congress' Tea Party Caucus was considered an important development a couple of years ago? Well, forget it.
Two-odd months ago, I asked a Republican Hill staffer what had happened to the Tea Party Caucus. Launched with great fanfare in 2011, it was often cited in Michele Bachmann's introductions on the presidential campaign trail -- "she's the founder of the Tea Party Caucus!" -- and it brought luminaries like Antonin Scalia in to educate Republicans. At its height, the caucus had 60 members, but 10 of them lost their 2012 elections.
So how many members remained in the caucus?
"We are actually in the process of re-filing the caucus," said the staffer.
As Dave Weigel noted, the caucus has gone from 60 to zero in the last two years, since the group effectively does not exist and has not held a meeting since July 2012.
Bachmann's office reportedly hopes to get the old gang back together -- there's apparently a re-launch scheduled for April 15 -- but it's not all clear why she'd bother. The caucus never really served much of a purpose anyway.
Keep in mind, Tea Partiers -- I'm hesitant to call their effort a "movement" since the activists never really had any kind of specific agenda or policy goals -- are not at all popular with the American mainstream, with polls showing their favorability rating dropping precipitously in recent years. If Republicans are sincere about "rebranding," telling voters about Congress' Tea Party Caucus 2.0 is more likely to cause eye-rolling than excitement.
But let's also not forget that the caucus isn't necessary, either. It's not just the fact that the activists already have Republican lawmakers' ears -- though they do -- it's also the fact that they've already had considerable success dragging the party even further to the right. It's not as if the relative collapse of the Tea Party as a brand has led to GOP moderation.
Sure, there's a growing fissure between the party establishment and its base, but that will remain the case whether there's a new Tea Party Caucus or not.
In fact, at this point, I suspect the folks who'll be the happiest about a congressional Tea Party Caucus re-launch are Democrats, who are eager to tell the public that in the wake of 2012, Republicans really haven't changed much at all.
Leave a Comment:
The Tea Party was always more of a political fad than a movement. And an embarrassing one at that.
Imagine being stuck in line at a Walmart behind Victoria Jackson.
[shudder]
...singing "You're a Grand ol' Flag"...
What happened was Michelle Bachmann herself.
An event like that is very likely to leave no survivors.
Except one - the worst one - Michelle Bachmann.
Things that make you go hmmmm...
Michelle was last seen RUNNING from a CNN reporter...She looked a little like Forest Gump :-)))
Early in her career, before she was elected to the H or Rep, she hid in the bushes to avoid some lesbians who simply wanted to talk with her.
Imagine... "hiding in the bush" to avoid lesbians. The imagination runs wild...
ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh please my monotor
More confirmation that the Conservative Right Wing Media Complex, who is propagating the myth that the Tea Party is an organic, grass roots organization that is gaining popularity, is fudging the data. The Tea Party was started by the Koch Brothers and continue to be funded by them and their ilk. Serious legislators? Hardly. They are all just squeaky wheels who really don't know what they are for but will, without provacation, tell you what they are against.
A bunch of paid off religious fascists whose sole purpose is to screw the 99%.
Because there never really was a tea party. It was all smoke and mirrors propagated by FOX.
Bingo. That's it exactly, and everyone knows it.
"re-filling the tea caucus" sounds like the tea bags have been sitting in the pot a little too long.
The cup was broken.....and thrown away....
I'm watching that so called Representative, Bachmann, on Chris Matthews right now. Every time I see her, I wonder what kind of mentally deficient people live in the district that voted her into office! Is there some nasty chemical in their water or something?
Sad, I really like Minnesota, but MY GOD - how a woman like that could actually win an election is beyond me!!
It's called gerrymandering.
Sadly, she is representative of that district.
Not all Minnesota is like that.
Having lived in MN-6 for 7 years, I can say that the water is safe. That said, I have never seen a place with such a density of hard-line Catholics.
Perhaps it's not true of the entire area, but certainly was the case near me.
Minnesota is a real nice place - nice people too, but they have their fair share of extremist right wing republicans...they're just quieter.
I AM from Minnesota. She bat @!$%# Bachmann is in my district. I am throughly embarrassed by her. The ONLY thing that makes me feel better is that she was BORN in IOWA!! Many Minnesotans feel that IOWA stands for I Owe the World an Apology...
We kicked her out of Iowa, you took her, so you are stuck with her, no give backs. Oh wait you can re-gift her to North Dakota!
Just don't send her to Arizona! Our political cut ups, McCain and Brewer, are more than any single state should bear.
I say send 'em all to Texas and then let them secede. Good riddance.
Right, Obama won Minnesota by a good margin so how could a district in the the same state return this idiot to congress.
Right, Obama won Minnesota by a good margin so how could a district in the the same state return this idiot to congress.
It's all about gerrymandering- and this is how the Republicans hold a majority of seats in the house - by outright cheating.
Having lived in the Sixth DIstrict, home of Lake Wobegon, for many years, I would say that the voting logic, or illogic, for many Bachmann voters went something like this: 1) We always vote Republican, 2) who is Jim Graves?, 3) besides, she's really pretty, 4) she's a national celebrity, 5) she's entertaining, kinda like Jesse was, 6) well she hasn't ruined my life (yet), and (my personal favorite), 7) she doesn't show up in Congress enough to cause any real harm. Locally it's known as Stearns County Syndrome; not a lot of original thought involved in daily living... fear, loathing and disgust for anything or anyone different from you, and a lot of insular smugness for the status quo.
Deja Moo: Just FYI: Most Midwesterners will tell you that IOWA stands for Idiots Out Walking Around. :-) :-) :-) :-) :-)
Poor Mrs. Michele Bachmann. She tries to be a good Republican, but still does not realize that facts and feeling are not the same thing.
Michele Bachmann is our new Anita Bryant. Like Anita she knows what her husband is doing.
"What her husband is doing".... is every guilt ridden Catholic boy in the District.
There's no need for a Tea Party Caucus. It's now just called the Republican party, and it's winning policy objectives. Recall there's a little something called a "sequester" going on, and the blame for it is Obama's lack of leadership two years ago in standing up to Republicans and allowing the debate to be about nothing more than debt.
Bingo.
Probably was the food.
Going to try to bring the band back together on April 15?
Why that date I wonder? Does that hold some sort of significance where "regular Americans" might feel more hostility towards the government than usual for some unspecified-yet-perhaps-costly reason?
I'm drawing a blank. Not a blank check, mind you. Just a blank.
LOLOL!! Good one!
Why does not Canada just install a chemical cracking plant right there and not need an XL pipe line? Come on Canada, pollute equality!! What? Not in your backyard? Ok ….my…bad…
The crazy lady lied again today. About the president's dog, no less.
I admit I enjoyed no small amount of mirth when the Tea Party first formed, unwittingly calling themselves Teabaggers.
Secretly hoping they re-emerge with a new branding. Say, the Better Jobs for America caucus, or some such.
I remember when a call was put forward by the Tea Party to teabag the White House. Jon Stewart had a lot of fun with that. Ah! the old days.
BJs for America!
The Tea Party is the worst thing that has happened to the Republican Party in a long, long time. Its entertainment value is priceless, but we can do without the dismantling of the country that is going along with it...
Sure they had goals... "Keep your cotton pickin' gummint hands out of my wallet/off my medicare."
I think the tea party lasted just long enough to create more division and discord in this country. Through use of divisive and inflammatory speech, they stirred up an ugly pot of racism, classism, and sexism and, attracted that element to the republican party. I submit, they attracted THAT voter - who may not have been participating in the process because those ideas (until the tea party) were socially unacceptable. I DON'T think that was incidental. I don't think republicans as stupid as most of us would like to believe - just a lot more sinister.
Karl Rove isn't bankrolling this "grassroots" movement anymore.
The TP Queen was re-elected in November by just barely enough votes to avoid an automatic recount.
Miz Michelle got the message, but if she acts up again, this will likely be her final term in Congress.
We can only hope.
I am surprised she is catholic. One can find a Lutheran church every few blocks, and most of us are Nordic. I know things have changed, but she seriously seems out of the mainstream, even for a republican.
I did not know she was Caatholic. well every one has a few nuts. I am Catholic and a democrat. My whole family are democrats. I want someone to ask Mechele to cut farm subsidizaties to farmers and watch her. Her family collects them. Her husband collectss medicare and other free money from tax payers. I saw someone ask her to stop the farm subsidzaties and she almost laid a egg
Actually, thinking about Michele Bachmann hiding from Lesbians in the bushs gives me a good chuckle. Talk about a paranoid woman wrapped up in some religious extremist views of hatred running and dodging Lesbians is pretty funny. What a nut. What did Michele Bachmann think these Lesbians might convert her or is it Michele Bachmann just might have a fantasy about Lesbians and is looking to hide it. :)
We have a back log of toaster ovens and she must assimilate!
Resistance is futile!
Just a couple of t.v. shows mash-up.
The snork-o-meter is on stun.
Ever since Dick Armey left to found Freedom Fries Inc. Michelle.org has been reduced to barking at the moon.
Ya know I think the most telling part of this whole article is the last paragraph. Regardless of my political leanings, I really want to believe that these people, who apparently went to college, garnered wealth and status, and raise families would have SOME semblance of intelligence. Then you read stuff like this. I mean, If this is the intelligence level of the people that get voted into office, what does that say about the voting public it's self. So sad.....
"Nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people." -- H.L. Mencken, 1924 (written during the Scopes Monkey Trial)
Not to pick nits, but if in the same sentence you are going to denigrate the intelligence of the American public it might be a good idea to not write "it's self" instead of "itself". Not even "its self", which might have been at least a bit more feasible, albeit still very incorrect. But you had to stick that apostrophe in there? Really?
Well you're picking nits, and out of about a hundred words I got one wrong. I guess I really am the 99%
think of all the children she corrpted
Between Bachmann, Palin and Coulter, I can never choose which one takes the biggest twit award!
Oh, Coulter, for sure. I'd put Bachmann next, just because she's still in office. Round it out w/ Grandma Palin who is more like an annoying mosquito you can't get rid of, dontcha know.
The Republicans (run by white men) like those 3 women because they reinforce the men's stereotypical views of women as vapid idiots, whose heads can be filled with any crap they want, and controlled. Personally, I am ashamed they are of my gender every time I see them. What poor role models for our young women of today. Head shaking...
TPer agenda:
Spread anger to a fever pitch and have as many folks as possible lashing out at Obama for stuff that's not true, or stuff Bush or Rs did.
While I absolutely abhor the "Tea Party" movement, I don't think it's true that they never had much of a platform. It's a pretty simple and easy platform to remember.... "We hate us sum tackses and we luv us sum gunz." I think they needed to go to Warner Bros. and license the Yosemite Sam character to act as their "movement's" mascot. That would have put them over the top.