Each time I hear an interview with a member of the tea party, my general impression is reinforced: there are no intellectual luminaries among them — or, in other words, they’re uniformly stupid. The latest tea partier to make a bad impression on me was Rep. Joe Walsh (R-IL), who blustered for what seemed like forever last night on Hardball.
Meanwhile, tea party Rep. Allen West (R-FL) made a fool of himself after Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL), in her half of a traditional House exchange, wondered why her colleague from Florida would vote against the seniors who comprised so much of his constituency with his support for cuts in Medicare and Social Security. In an email response, West called Wasserman Schultz vile, unprofessional, and despicable. It’s actually West who is vile, unprofessional, and despicable.
This kind of bald incompetence bodes poorly for the Republican party, which was once capable of governing. This also bodes poorly for the country, since unfortunately the tea party is running the show in the House. The trick will be to survive until November, 2012, when there will hopefully be enough buyer’s remorse to chalk it up as a bad experiment.
Polls continue to show that the public understands just who’s responsible for the current morass over the debt ceiling — the GOP-led House. Even Wall St. and the US Chamber of Commerce are urging Republicans to raise the debt level, ironic considering they generally supported tea party candidates in the last election.
By all logic, the tea party is self-destructing even as we speak. We have to hope that they don’t take the country down with it.
Liberal Buzz 