As I tried to express - somewhat unsuccessfully it would seem - in my previous post, I am beginning to wonder if the Tea Party movement may inadvertently lead to a political outcome quite different from what it intends to achieve.
Rand Paul's recent remarks about the Civil Rights Act and the Disabilities Act perfectly illustrate my point. And just this morning, he came up with another doozy:
Kentucky's Republican Senate candidate Rand Paul is criticizing President Barack Obama's handling of the gulf oil debacle as putting "his boot heel on the throat of BP."
Paul says Obama's criticism of the oil company sounds like an attack on business and "really un-American."
Holding one of the largest corporations in the world responsible for eleven deaths and a likely ecological disaster is "un-American?"
I would guess that most Americans would strongly disagree with that statement.
As these would-be politicians begin to come under scrutiny, their views, and, quite simply, their ignorance and prejudice, will become much more widely known. I think a large number of independent voters will be disgusted. These independents may yet choose to back more mainstream Republican Party candidates - if any can still be found anywhere.
But if the Democrats can successfully link the Tea Party to the national GOP, which shouldn't be too difficult, they may be able to bring some moderate voters back to their side.
Just as Sarah Palin's interviews with Katie Couric and Charlie Gibson revealed her to be the ignorant nit-wit she truly is, Rand Paul's interviews on Rachel Maddow and "Good Morning, America" reveal that he is way out of his depth. His views may go over well with some folks in a bar or diner in Kentucky, but they are not ready for prime-time - and they will surely be rejected by the nation as a whole once they become more widely known.
Also like Sarah Palin, Mr. Paul chose to go on the offensive rather than admit that he doesn't have a clue what he's talking about. This morning he accused critics of his views on the Civil Rights Act of "trashing" his campaign.
"I've just been trashed up and down and they have been saying things that are untrue. And when they say I'm for repealing the Civil Rights Act, it's absolutely false. It's never been my position and something that I basically just think is politics."
Think Progresshas a brief story on Mr. Paul's stance on the Civil Rights Act, accompanied by a very powerful photo.
Again, it's an example of what happens when an ophthalmologist-turned-politician, beloved by the Tea Party because he doesn't think he is "better than everybody else," takes his head out his ass long enough to prove that he is, in fact, more ignorant and extreme than everybody else.
So, as I tried to say in yesterday's post, I hope that all the Tea Party's efforts to "take their government back" will ultimately back-fire. They may stir people up, but once they are stirred up they may very well choose to use that energy to oppose the Tea Party, rather than support it.
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