GOP, Tea Party Face Growing Divide

[wvit1001]

 Tea party activists, once unquestioned as a benefit to the Republican Party for supplying it with votes and energy, are now criticizing GOP leaders at seemingly every turn.

They're demanding that Congress use upcoming budget votes to deny money for putting in place President Barack Obama's 2010 health care law, despite warnings the strategy could lead to a government shutdown.

They're upset that Republicans didn't block a Senate-passed immigration bill.

Many are outspoken opponents of any U.S. involvement in Syria's civil war.

A recent Pew Research Center survey found that more than 7 in 10 self-identified "tea party Republicans" disapprove of the job performance of GOP congressional leaders.

Many of the major tea party groups are backing 2014 primary challengers against Republicans the activists deem too moderate, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. The Kentucky conservative once declared it his job to make Obama a one-term president.

That leaves some Republicans quietly worried that an intraparty tussle could yield a repeat of 2012. That year, conservative candidates lost winnable Senate races, and GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney struggled to win over conservatives while still appealing to moderate swing voters.

The health care debate puts the GOP in its tightest spot. Wary Republicans recall the 1995-96 government shutdowns under President Bill Clinton, who persuaded many voters to blame the GOP and House Speaker Newt Gingrich, a Georgia Republican, for that budget impasse.

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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/14/gop-tea-party_n_3926215.html?utm_hp_ref=politics

[August West]

Let them shoot it out. America wins!

[william H]

[Byteryder]

And rightly they should.  The term GOP Leadership is kind of an oxymoron.  The GOP has devolved into a bunch of Fence Sitters.  Waiting to see what way the Winds of Political Fortune are blowing.  In other words, Democrats by another name.

[sweetwater5s9]

 John Milton once wrote that " long is the way and hard that out of hell leads up to light."