WHAT HAPPENED TO THE TEA PARTY IN THE 2012 ELECTION?
12 of the 16 Senate candidates endorsed by the Tea Party Express, one of the fragmented movement’s leading organizations, lost their races. That includes newcomers like Richard Mourdock of Indiana, who toppled incumbent Republican Sen. Richard Lugar in the primary by running to Lugar’s right and disdaining compromise with Democrats, but lost th
e general election after inflammatory comments about rape.
Tea party-aligned lawmakers helped force last summer’s stalemate over raising the debt ceiling, staunchly refusing any deficit-reduction compromise that involved raising new tax revenue.
What went wrong for Grover Norquist was overreach in his protect-the-rich scheme. The deep recession that followed the Wall Street mortgage-greed debacle caused the entire US financial system to go into a meltdown. The working-class Americans on the losing end of the bailout deal got tired of being suckers for CEOs, so they voted, mostly against, the Tea Party and Grover Norquist.
Not surprisingly, the name “Grover Norquist” did not appear on any ballot. However, if Norquist had run on his own pledge to protect tax breaks for millionaires, he would surely have lost.
Americans are catching on. Tax breaks for millionaires really don’t create jobs.
Norquist has used the threat of backing primary challengers to lawmakers who dare to break their vow to his pledge. But that didn’t work in the 2012 elections.
With his weapon to challenge disobedient incumbents losing its power, Norquist is fast becoming irrelevant.
Tea party-aligned lawmakers helped force last summer’s stalemate over raising the debt ceiling, staunchly refusing any deficit-reduction compromise that involved raising new tax revenue.
What went wrong for Grover Norquist was overreach in his protect-the-rich scheme. The deep recession that followed the Wall Street mortgage-greed debacle caused the entire US financial system to go into a meltdown. The working-class Americans on the losing end of the bailout deal got tired of being suckers for CEOs, so they voted, mostly against, the Tea Party and Grover Norquist.
Not surprisingly, the name “Grover Norquist” did not appear on any ballot. However, if Norquist had run on his own pledge to protect tax breaks for millionaires, he would surely have lost.
Americans are catching on. Tax breaks for millionaires really don’t create jobs.
Norquist has used the threat of backing primary challengers to lawmakers who dare to break their vow to his pledge. But that didn’t work in the 2012 elections.
With his weapon to challenge disobedient incumbents losing its power, Norquist is fast becoming irrelevant.
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