Bachmann and Tea Party Will Be a Force in 2012
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Michele Bachmann won the Ames Straw Poll this past week and there’s been a lot of excitement written about it. Is she the frontrunner? Does this signal that the leading cast of retreads in the race (looking at you Romney and Gingrich) have much to be concerned about?
Honestly, I’m not sure. Because the Iowa and New Hampshire primaries are early in the electoral process winners of these primaries usually can use the boost to garner a party’s nomination. However, if we go back to 2007, 2008 Republican nominee John McCain came in 10th in this very same straw poll. That means a lot can happy between now and the GOP convention in Tampa, Florida next August.
But still, I have to admit to some interest in Michele Bachmann.
Bachmann is leans Right….as in so far Right she’s horizontal
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTShe’s pretty far to the right…and when I say far to the right…she’d probably make the members of Anchor Rising reconsider their right wing bona fides. She supports the traditional view of marriage, is pro-life, has called for the dismantling of federally backed home loans, generally opposes minimum wage increases, and is a founding member of the House of Representatives’ Tea Party. Like I said, her conservatism would make many a conservative blush.
I believe there’s a significant segment of Republicans who still feel betrayed by former President Bush, the younger. He got us entangled in Iraq, increased the size of government, and gave rise to the phenomenon known back in 2008 as Barak Hussein Obama. For many of us, if he had held to conservative ideals we wouldn’t have faced as many of the problems we’re facing today and the country wouldn’t have reacted with a shift to the Left in recent years.
Bachmann is tapping into that angst and while the Ames Straw Poll doesn’t mean she’ll be the next Republican nominee, she represents a choice for people on the Right and even those in the center looking for a return to an American they remember.
The Tea Party isn’t going away
From a larger perspective, the Tea Party has been and I think will continue to be an attractive choice in 2012. Liberals don’t quite get why the Tea Party is attractive to center-leaning Americans, but it shouldn’t come as a surprise. There are two things at work. After the hangover of the Bush administration, during which time a “conservative” oversaw the ballooning of government we’ve had about 2.5 years of a tax/spend liberal who now presides over a country with the largest amount of national debt in our nation’s history. And Obama, where’s our economic recovery?
Bachmann and the Tea Party are offering ideas that are very different from Democrats and are more virulent than many Republicans. Tea Partiers are saying enough is enough and that the country needs to return to its roots. That’s appealing to centrists who aren’t like their liberal brethren in that they have no desire to destroy all of the moral codes that have defined the country for hundreds of years and who also don’t have faith in left wing ideology to solve our economic, educational, or foreign policy issues.
That hasn’t stopped the left from trying to marginalize a mostly grassroots effort and in my opinion, that only helps the Tea Party movement.
Tea Party results in Rhode Island are mixed because demographics are different in RI
Here in little Rhody, the Tea Party is alive and kicking (despite the recent split) but didn’t have the same splash in our state in 2010 as occurred nationally due to demographics. Simply put, Rhode Island is one of the most liberal states in the union and Tea Party rhetoric is anything but. Couple that with the fact that many Republicans in Rhode Island would be considered Democrats in most other states, and you don’t have the base of support that is latent countrywide.
There are still a few notable exceptions including Doreen Costa, but regardless of what’s happening here in Rhode Island Bachmann’s straw poll win illustrates that the Tea Party isn’t going anywhere and that it will be a force to deal with in 2012. Indeed, if the Tea Party is able to marginalize the President as an extreme left-of-center garden variety liberal I would not be surprised by a radical shift right in the 2012 elections.
One can only hope.
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Don Roach is a member of the Young Republicans. His personal blog is located at donroach.org and he can be reached via e-mail at [email protected]
