Par-tea'd Out

In my last post I celebrated the recent budget agreement...kind of...well I mentioned that we had one, but I was more excited by its existence than its content. Though inconsequential in substance, I hoped that just the agreement itself could push Congress to do something real. I mentioned, specifically, that perhaps the deal represented the Republican party breaking up with the tea party.

Perhaps my inclination was correct. I'm not overly optimistic, but I am encouraged, because in the aftermath of the deal even normally ridiculous people like Mitch McConnell and John Boehner are condemning the tea party denouncers of the deal. In fairness to the tea party, the deal is garbage. All Americans should be annoyed that after three years of nothing, the best our elected officials can do is agree to minor changes that should have been the starting point - not ending point - for any negotiation. Of course the problem with any deal the tea party would have supported is that it would have been way worse than that which we have. Not only would it have harmed the country even more, it would have further dampened the Republicans political prospects. After all, the policies espoused by the group so far have many Republicans fearing their party is going the way of the dinosaurs. More policies that would cause even further harm to the American people probably don't sit well with those seeking to preserve the GOP.

So there has been a split. After years of being the lap dogs for the tea party, it seems that Boehner and McConnell have had enough. Both of them have been lambasting the more foolish members of their party for, well, being foolish. Although this represents nothing new for the rest of the country, it is refreshing to hear Republican leadership telling the tea party to shut up. They've spent four years dragging the country backwards supported by no one except the members of their safely gerrymandered districts and a spineless "leadership" incapable of leading and fearful of their own electoral prospects.

Perhaps Republicans are finally tea partied out. While there are still legislative battles ahead, and the tea party will inevitably continue to fight as long as it can, I sincerely hope that the remnants of the sane Republican party have seen the light, and that in the largely insufficient budget we won a much bigger prize: the beginning of the end of the tea party.