I am not a tea party republican; I am completely on the other side of
the spectrum. However, when I opened up my PoliticsPA daily email of
political stories throughout the state and saw the Philly Tea Party
endorsed Mitt Romney, my reaction could be best compared to Kyle's
mother in the cartoon South Park; What What Whatttt!!!!!!!
According to the article, Philly Tea Party Endorses Romney, by Elyse
Clonan a contributing writer for Politics Pa quotes the endorsement by
Teri Adams, co-founder of the "Independence Hall Tea Party PAC":
"It discounts the good sense of millions of Tea Party folks nationwide
who have come to realize, or will eventually realize, that the only way
to defeat President Obama, whose policies are an anathema to
conservatism and the Tea Party Movement, is to rally around his
strongest opponent-Mitt Romney-the man who, we believe, will become the
next president of the United States,"
(http://www.politicspa.com/...)
In the endorsement, Teri Adams also stated the former Governor of
Massachusetts is
"An embodiment of conservative Republican values", an assertion that
even a liberal looking in could see is false.”
In my opinion, the Philly area tea party has come to terms with the
fact that their brand of conservatism is so out of touch with the
mainstream of the American people, that they must accept the
establishment Republican as the standard bearer; the same establishment
they rebelled against in 2008.
Romney, while he changes his opinion daily to meet the conservative
talking point of the day from same sex marriage, to abortion rights, to
health care proves his only consistency is he is inconsistent. Romney's
constant about faces causes many on the right to wonder if he is a true
conservative, or just a venture conservative adjusting his stance to fit
the electoral market. This venture conservatism of Romney, gives hope to other GOP candidates like Governor Rick Perry (R-TX) , who recently stated on Fox News', America Newsroom:
“I don’t have any doubt that if it is just me and Mitt Romney who the Republican primary voter is going to pick all across this country. They are going to pick the true, authentic conservative, not a conservative of convenience that Mitt Romney is" (http://www.politico.com/...)
As a Progressive, I don't fear a Mitt Romney candidacy as being the most
able to defeat the President, I fear a true conservative the likes of
Perry, or Gingrich who might actually believe the rhetoric they espouse
sneaking through the primary. Who knows what will happen when the
Republican Convention adjourns in Tampa, however, the greatest threat to
the Democrats and the left is not Mitt Romney, and it is a true
ideologue. Let's not forget that Eisenhower appointed the chief justice
who furthered the effort to desegregate the South, Reagan bailed out
Social Security when it was in danger, Bush Sr. raised taxes when it was
necessary. However, the further right you go on the candidate list you
see pure ideologues, not the establishment "Massachusetts Moderate" as
Speaker Gingrich referred to Romney in his speech following the Iowa
Caucus.
The Philly area tea party endorsement is just a compromise to the
establishment republicans. As the PoliticsPa article states in the
beginning:
"Electability is more important than conservative orthodoxy, according
to one prominent Philadelphia-area Tea Party."
(Elose Clonan's Article on the Philly Tea Party can be found at
PoliticsPa:
http://www.politicspa.com/...)