Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Who Would Run on a Tea Ticket in Wisconsin?

National establishment-type Republicans have reportedly been worried for months that the Tea Bagging frenzy that they started may actually damage their plans for the 2010 midterm elections. If recent events are any indication, then they certainly have reason to fear such a development. In New York we now have a Democrat coming to Congress from a district that has gone (moderate) Republican for many years. Rather than trying to get a win in a safe Republican district the Teetotalers, fueled by the new GOP leadership (Palin/Limbaugh/Beck) decided to take down the Republican themselves. Now those same extreme elements are actually forming a third (Tea) Party in Florida to compete with Democrats and Republicans. This made me wonder which of our "favorite" Wisconsin Republicans would run on a hypothetical Tea Party ticket here?

In my own personal view, I don't think that a Tea Party would work in Wisconsin because you already have an extreme right wing party here otherwise known as the Republican Party of Wisconsin. The Sconz blog made a similar observation in a posting yesterday but it can't be repeated enough. The RPW has been fully and completely radicalized over the last number of years and I have a very difficult time thinking of any moderates that still remain. I'm not sure exactly when this happened but I would probably peg it sometime toward the end of the Thompson era and the beginning of the Bush nightmare.

If there still was a traditionally "Republican Party" in the State of Wisconsin, I wonder which members of the current extreme version would bolt and actually run on a Tea Ticket. Here are 2 ½ people that immediately came to my mind as I pondered this question:

  • Leah Vukmir would have to be on your list of top Tea Party recruits. After taking a look at her comments in the media or even just following her Twitter feed for a while, she is already there ideologically speaking. Whether it is her official membership in the "tenther" movement or her supportive comments to an extreme right wing blogger Tweeting racist jokes about the President, she already has the extreme Tea Party platform down pat.
  • Half of Scott Walker would probably try to join the Tea Party while leaving the other half in the RPW just to play it safe. Heck, I think that Walker would even consider pulling a "David Clarke" if he thought that it would help him win a statewide election. The half of Scott Walker that would join the Tea Party is the same half that was more than happy to throw out the red meat to the extremes at any number of events that he has already attended. The half of Scott Walker that wouldn't join is the half that realizes that he eventually has to appeal to more than just the extreme right wing base.
  • J.B. Van Hollen has already demonstrated that he would abuse the court system when someone says something that he doesn't like. He has shown that he would toss out career crime fighters while promoting political cronies to official and very sensitive positions. He has also shown that he is more than willing to abuse his office for political gain and to advance a hyper-extreme agenda in Wisconsin. Why wouldn't he jump into a Tea Party ticket since it is much closer to his own personal extreme world view?

Those are just the first 2 1/2 that popped into my mind but there are many more in the RPW that would fit much better into a Florida-style Tea Party. Unfortunately that is also the reason that a Tea Party is probably not going to happen here. Quite simply it already exists, and it goes by the name Republican Party of Wisconsin.

UPDATE: Heartland Hollar is pointing out that Paul Ryan, F. Jim Sensenbrenner, and Tom Petri are bringing a major teabagger target to Wisconsin. Heartland Hollar wonders what Wisconsin teabaggers think of them apples?

And The Chief has a telling statement from the "lord of the teabaggers".

10 comments:

Display Name said...

You say you want a revolution? We'd all love to see the plan.

I'm waiting to see the Tea Party platform. So far, it seems to be run by Republicans who want to return more Republicans to office.

Cory Liebmann said...

frankly, the only part that i'm interested in is the part where they divide themselves causing the Democrat to win (as they did in NY and as i hope they do in FL).

i'm really not sure if electing Republicans is really the goal anymore for many of them...i think they just want the ideologically (extreme)pure.

if nothing else, it will certainly be interesting to watch.

Jeremy R. Shown said...

Cory,

The notion that we can't just disagree without being extremist seems a bit ridiculous don't you think?

Repeatedly calling Republicans that parrot Democrat positions "moderate" doesn't make it so.

Cory Liebmann said...

sorry the stuff that i see and hear coming from the tea party crowd is not just about "disagreement"...it is bat shit crazy and extreme right wing rhetoric. whether it is calling the President of the United States a Nazi/socialist/Anti-Christ or false claims about "death panels" and other tinfoil hat conspiracy theories...there is no way to simply "agree to disagree" about crazy talk of that magnitude.


unfortunately many of the conservatives that i could just "agree to disagree" with are the same reasonable ones that the tea crowd is trying to purge from the gop.

Cory Liebmann said...

by the way...someone nominated glenn grothman as a top candidate for the tea party. how could i forget about him? he would be a perfect fit for it.

Cory Liebmann said...

whatever you say howie...just can't control yourself again i see.

i don't remember the last time that i blogged on conspiracy theories like "death panels" or claimed that someone was a nazi/socialist/anti-christ/communist or advocated revolution. i don't remember abusing painful images of the holocaust to make some crazy point that the govmint is trying to kill us all. many of the tea people are doing a lot of those things and it is indeed bat shit crazy.

an argument about milwaukee county budget numbers or walker policy is not even in the same ball park.

Anonymous said...

Yeah only people with views differing from the left make crazy points...keep trying.

Cory Liebmann said...

that is not what i said...there are plenty of people on the left that say crazy things, but right now i'm talking about the crazy things that tea people are doing/saying and how they are pushing the entire gop into a very extreme corner.

Anonymous said...

yeah that corner...no way they will survive that.

Cory Liebmann said...

tell that to the republicans in the ny district that just elected a dem to congress (for the first time in many years)....all because of them being pushed into "that corner".

keep going further and further to the extreme right...be my guest.