Tea Party is here to stay!

[zqt3344 21]

Tea party is here to stay, Ask America says movement is here to stay.

With Election Day about three weeks away, we're getting close to finding out just how much force the tea party movement has had on this year's angry electorate. Sparked partly in response to the ballooning federal deficit and the debate over health care reform, the movement is attracting significant attention this election season.

Tea party-backed candidates around the country have seen some big primary victories — like Christine O'Donnell in Delaware, Joe Miller in Alaska and Rand Paul in Kentucky, all of whom knocked out U.S. Senate primary opponents who were considered the Republican Party's establishment candidates. The same is true in Colorado, where Senate candidate Ken Buck beat the GOP's early favorite, former state Lt. Gov. Jane Norton, in the Aug. 10 primary.

Tonight Buck will face current Sen. Michael Bennet, his Democratic opponent, in a debate hosted by The Denver Post. Bennet was appointed to replace Ken Salazar when President Obama tapped Salazar to be interior secretary. Neither Buck nor Bennet has run for congressional office before.

As some Republicans worry tea party candidates might be too risky for the mainstream, both parties' national organizations are pouring significant resources into the race. Buck and Bennet have already sparred in a few debates and have a few more to go after tonight.

Buck's rise is one example of the tea party's power, and Ask America, the Yahoo! News informal polling forum, has been asking people what they think about the movement.

A New York Times/CBS News poll conducted last month found that 23 percent of registered voters view the tea party favorably, 29 percent unfavorably. Nearly half said they are undecided or don't know enough about the movement yet.

Whether or not Ask America users like the tea party, a clear majority says it's here to stay. Of 7,755 responses to a question asking whether the movement is a passing storm, 64 percent said they think it'll stick around.

Is the tea party movement a passing storm in the political landscape or is it here to stay?

Ask America has also collected people's thoughts on the level of political bickering today that's represented in part by the tea party's hard lines on issues like health care and that comes out in its main catchphrase, "Take our country back!" Of nearly 5,500 responses, 76 percent say the level of bickering is unnatural this election cycle.

[Kathryn41 3,205]

Moved from Off Topic as it is a political post

[IndigoSkies 168]

Tea Party is really just Republican party with less education and poorer dental care. Untimately we're still stuck with a donkey and an elephant.

[^_^ 5,021]

Tea Party is really just Republican party with less education and poorer dental care. Untimately we're still stuck with a donkey and an elephant.

And if you've seen Tea Party rallies, you gotta believe most of them are on either social security retirement or social security disability Buncha old people and cripples.

[Heracles 417]

Tea Party = Libertarian 2.0 + Idiots from the Repub side.

Anyone who thinks that zero tax, less government, no investments in America, to each their own and more power to lawless private US corporations is the answer to America's woes is ...... [you can fill in the gaps without violating the TOS].

It's as smart as those who 'think' and 'feel' illegal aliens are a positive for the American economy and the American worker; ignoring any line of reasoning or real world examples that clearly illustrate otherwise.

Edited October 12, 2010 by Heracles

[luckytxn 2,263]

Tea party will be usurped by the Neocons and incorporated in the Republican party and then forgotten. No changes will result.

[Ban Hammer 12,836]

And if you've seen Tea Party rallies, you gotta believe most of them are on either social security retirement or social security disability Buncha old people and cripples.

why do you hate old people?