Tea Party

Stalking Horses

By Jay Newton-Small | @JNSmall | July 20, 2010 | +

Michele Bachmann is making her GOP colleagues uncomfortable these days. Last week she started the Congressional Tea Party Caucus – the latest litmus test on how devoted members really are to the fledgling movement. Indiana’s Mike Pence, chairman of the Republican Conference, was quickly to sign up. Not so quick were House Minority Leader John Boehner, who has declined membership on the grounds that he belongs to no caucuses, and Eric Cantor and Kevin McCarthy are still weighing what they’ll do.

Democrats have watched the Tea Party divisions with glee. But just in case there’s not a Michele Bachmann in every district, in some cases Dems might be helping things along Alvin Green-style. A mysterious “Tea Party” independent candidate recently showed up in the race to unseat Rep. John Adler, a New Jersey Democrat. The candidate, though, may have more to do with Adler’s office than his Republican opponent’s, the Courier-Post reports. Why wait around for your opponent to screw up when you can hasten the process yourself through a stalking horse?

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Related Topics: john adler, Michele Bachmann, stalking horse, Tea party third candidate, 2012 Election, Congress, Democratic Party, Republican Party, Tea Party

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  • 53_3

    A horse, by any other name, is the Black community…

  • deconstructiva

    Jay, thanks for posting this. Not a big topic now but it raises intriguing q’s. Why would the R’s hesitate to embrace their TP brethren? Aren’t they peas in a pod? It’s not like either group’s “ideas” are that much crazier, loonier, more insane, capable of making Rusty giddy with delight different than the other’s.
    .
    Is Bachmann trying to mainstream the TP? Of course, one of the best ways to end a movement is to mainstream it. Yes, the movement achieves some victories by getting ideas implemented, but things get diluted fast when everyone plays along, corporations sponsor their events / run TV ads / roll out themed retail stores, and you see tattoo parlors for moms in suburban shopping malls.

  • 53_3

    And that’s a good thing…

  • sacredh

    “Michele Bachmann is making her GOP colleagues uncomfortable these days.”
    .
    The bigger question is why they weren’t uncomfortable with her in those days.

  • grape_crush

    Why wait around for your opponent to screw up when you can hasten the process yourself through a stalking horse?

    Because if you are found out, you’ve lost credibility and you look like a fool.

  • http://flounder73.wordpress.com pafro

    The teabaggers here in Arizona are claiming that Jim Deakin is a stalking horse set up by McCain to steal votes from J.D. Hayworth. In the deabtes this weekend (where McCain insisted on Deakin participating) there was a couple moments where McCain was kissing up to Deakin’s teabagger street cred so hard that I wanted to yell “get a room” at my TV.
    Maybe you could update your story to reflect the fact that the whole stalking horse thing is a Republican strategy.
    http://sonoranalliance.com/2010/07/09/jim-deakin-%E2%80%9Ctea-party-activist%E2%80%9D-or-mccain-wannabe/

  • 53_3

    “…when you can hasten the process yourself through a stalking horse?”
    .
    If I took this literally, I might have to point out that horses, stalking, or otherwise, are vegetarian, and one is not likely to be processed through one.
    .
    But I don’t, so I won’t…

  • http://www.twitter.com/jnsmall Jay Newton-Small

    It’s a bipartisan strategy. Trey Greyson tried to do the same thing with also-ran candidate Bill Johnson in Kentucky. Also look at Darrell Issa and the Gray Davis recall in California. And the Iron Lady herself — a stalking horse brought down Margaret Thatcher.
    JNS

  • nflfoghorn

    Do they put silicone on the hooves??

  • hersuziness

    The problem is that R’s think that just because Tea People are generally more conservative and independent that we fall into their camp. And that is a BIG mistake on their part, we are loyal to no particular party. But, we are loyal to our country and the constitution.

  • m0mentom0ri

    86 percent of Tea Party supporters and activists identify with or lean to the Republican Party.
    .
    79 percent identify as conservatives.
    .
    over 92 percent disapproving of Obama’s performance
    .
    Only 5 percent report having voted for Obama in 2008.
    .
    90 percent say the socialist label describes Obama well
    .
    85 percent of the supporters are white.
    .
    If it walks like a Republican Duck, and it quacks like a Republican Duck, its probably a Republican Duck.
    .
    http://www.democracycorps.com/strategy/2010/07/special-report-on-the-tea-party-movement/?section=Analysis

  • Paul-no not that one

    “Also look at Darrell Issa and the Gray Davis recall in California.”
    .
    I’m not sure that’s how Darrell would describe that experience.

  • pintortwo

    (sorry for such a late reply, hopefully you’ll see it)
    .
    hersuziness, were you made aware of the Tax Day Tea Parties by the libertarians planning it, or by FOX promoting it after Obama won?
    .
    The reason I ask is that, from what I have read, the libertarians intended to protest the accumulation of executive power, non-adherence to Constitutional law and the wars overseas, among other things– regardless of who won the election.
    .
    While it appears FOX jumped on-board to undermine the incoming Democratic President and made it a protest of Obama personally (certainly that’s how it looks from the outside).
    .
    I want to know if pre-FOX TPers would agree.

  • hersuziness

    When you pull your information from a decidedly leftist website you get slanted stats. You get something like this…

    ◦97% of Americans are gay. By gay, I mean anyone who is homosexual or who has been “happy” at any point in the past three years.

    ◦96% of US households lack health care coverage. To be specific, they lack coverage for “family” members like their pet fish.

    ◦94% of Americans are short. Survey respondents were asked “Which of the following describes you at any point in the past year: a) I’ve been short with a family member or friend; b) I’ve been short of cash when trying to buy something; or c) I’m under 5’2″.”

    ◦98% of bank customers are dissatisfied with ATM service. Well, the ones trying to get cash out of the broken ATM on Arch Street in Boston are. Personally, I’m not sure that the other 2% understood the question.

    ◦In any given month, women are twice as likely as men to pull their credit card out of their wallet. It’s not that women are any more likely than men to pay for something with their credit card, but over the course of a month, women change wallets or their purse more often than men.

    -From Marketing Tea Party
    Just because you can copy and paste from a website doesn’t make the information real.
    BTW, I’m not an R.
    Wait until November.

  • pintortwo

    Wait until November.
    .
    I hope that the tea party movement gets away from establishment-republicans and FOX-types to the point that an actual conservative or libertarian (like Ron Paul or Bob Barr) wins the R nomination.
    .
    I’d be happy if at least one party plans to adhere to the Constitution, abide by international law, slash the military budget and stop these wars-of-folly.

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