I just read Kathleen Parker’s editorial at the Washington Post site.  She writes the Tea Party conservatives in Congress are:

” the most destructive posse of misguided “patriots” we’ve seen in recent memory.”

Teri O’Brien, conservative talk-show host/blogger, states at Illinois Review that the Tea Party is President Obama’s new BFF (Best Friends Forever) and is already laying the blame for Obama’s re-election at the feet of the Tea Party as well:

I pray that my Tea Party friends will come to their senses. Otherwise, I hope that the warm feeling of self-righteous satisfaction and certitude that they were absolutely right makes them feel better on January 20, 2013 when the democrats are celebrating the re-election of the Anointed One.

Now the Right joins the Left in hating on the Tea Party whereas the Right just loved the Tea Party darlings going into November 2010.  The Republicans loved the Tea Party as the Left and the Democrats were busy trying to marginalize, condemn, and destroy the conservative movement.

To date, Tea Partiers have been accused of being racist, nazis, homophobes, bigots, amongst other names and now….saboteurs – by the Republican party!

Funny how it is great, grand and wonderful when the Tea Party went after the Democrats and President Obama but when they turned their sights on lack-luster Republicans, oh well, that is a whole different story!  When Mike Lee won the primary, the Tea Party was blamed for turning Utah’s Senate seat over to the Democrats (Mike Lee won).  Conservatives loved it when the Tea Party helped push Governor Charlie Crist out of the Florida Senate race in favor of Marco Rubio.  However, despite getting conservatives elected to the Senate and the House, it was the Tea Party’s fault because Sharon Angle and Christine O’Donnell lost thereby losing an opportunity to win the US Senate away from Harry Reid and his merry band of thieves.

Now, when the Tea Party stands firm and refuses to play along with politics as usual in the DC circles, it is once again our fault that Speaker Boehner is in the position he is in.  It is our fault that President Obama and the Democrats refuse to pass Speaker Boehner’s debt bill because it is too conservative and many Tea Partiers keep pushing for Cut, Cap, and Balance.

But, is it our fault Speaker Boehner didn’t stop with Cut, Cap, and Balance and force President Obama and Harry Reid to actually come up with a debt plan?  What’s wrong with “take it or leave it”?  If the Senate refused to act on CCB, it’s their fault then, not the GOP or the Tea Party.  Is it our fault that the GOP leadership has yet to force the issue regarding the 815+ days since an ACTUAL BUDGET WAS PASSED?!

One would figure that the Tea Party, being on the scene now for just over 2 years, would finally be understood.  Instead, we can add “ideological purists” to our list of accusations toward the Tea Party.  Instead, we get lectured on what a “true conservative is”.  Instead, we get the blame.  I think the GOP is finding out what the Libertarians found out going into the last election cycle, we stand for more than just “a third way” or as an effort to destroy the 2 party system as we know it.  Libertarians that I have run into don’t like the Tea Party either because they feel they are nothing more than a wing of the GOP – a claim also leveled by the Democrats and the Left.  Yet now, we are Obama’s BFF and the GOP is tired of bowing to the 87 freshmen House members who just seem so unwilling to compromise.  Politics versus substance.

In a conversation with a friend of mine yesterday, he mentioned that the Tea Party is fantastic because they are not ideological purists as most think, but they value substance over politics.  Not ideological substance mind you, substance in the form of doing what you promised and fixing the problems we elected you to fix.  A great point.  The Beltway Boys and Girls think that the Tea Party seeks ideological purity.  While there is a fixation on fiscal responsibility, limited government, and free-market principles that the Tea Party stands for, it is more about doing what is right for our country – politics be damned.

This is what I believe scares both Democrats, Republicans, and their soap-box writers/pundits/bloggers/hosts.  We’ve heard everything Washington has said before, enough with the rhetoric, just do the job we elected you to do.  We are tired of political games.  Right the ship.  Control your spending.  Get the economy rolling again. Even now 2 1/2 years later, GOP still whither in the presence of Obama and his teleprompter or Harry Reid’s commanding (sarcasm) 53 seat vote majority in the US Senate.  Perhaps it is Mitch McConnell that should be taken to task for not keeping all his 47 Republican Senators in check?  But no, it’s those rascally Tea Party Senators like Jim DeMint, Mike Lee, and Marco Rubio who are misguided patriots dedicated to destroying what is left of our Republic.

We are tired of hearing that “just vote for it now, we’ll do a commission or promise to vote on something big later”.  In other words, we are tired of hearing (and tired of hearing the phrase itself) “kick the can down the road”.  No more political games of who will look the best and how it will effect the elections.  It’s that mentality that has gotten us into this mess we are in.  We’re tired of commissions.  We’re tired of empty promises.  We’re tired of budget gimmicks showing cuts where there are none.  We are tired of reform disguised as regulation or tax increases.  The horror of it all!

How much can we spend to court the elderly vote?  How much can we spend to court the minority vote?  How much can we spend to court the soccer-mom vote?  How much can we spend to court the __________ vote?  Meanwhile, our debt continues to rise, and our budget deficit (actually a guesstimate because there has been no written budget in over 2 years) continues to rise, and our country continues down the path to insolvency at a 9.2% jobless rate.

But hey, it’s all the 2 year old Tea Party’s fault for decades of deficit spending.  I guess somebody has to be the goat; this time around it’s the Tea Party.  Soon though, election time is around the corner and the GOP will be coming back to ask for the Tea Party’s help once again to defeat Obama and his gang.

Crossposted at Downstate Illinois Advocate