Weak tea

Though it shouldn't come as a shock, the Tea Party's political influence is waning. In an upcoming Washington Monthly piece, Colin Woodard reports: "As 2010 drew to a close, the Tea Party looked like a truly national movement, racking up congressional seats and governor's mansions not just in traditionally red states like South Carolina, but in the Northeast and Midwest as well. And yet, twelve months later, the Tea Party's power seems to be melting away in much of the country. Tea Party-supported governors in states like Maine and Wisconsin find themselves beset by controversy over their radical agendas and incredibly unpopular with voters. Meanwhile the broader movement, once deemed unstoppable, seems to be running out of gas." If the GOP is decimated in 2012 (as I suspect it will be), then the Tea Party will ushered to history's ash bin like its nativist predecessors (see the American Know Nothing Party, among others). And if I'm right, Republicans should rejoice at the prospect because only then will they get their party back.