Dems launch effort to equate GOP with far right Tea Party candidates

What is the influence of the Tea Party and its candidates on the Republican Party?

Uhh, I hope very influential! We are the people! The point of the Tea Party movement is to influence ALL politicians and to remind them to listen to their constituents!

From Jon Ward of The Daily Caller on July 28:

Democrats have said they are running against George W. Bush this fall, or at least his policies. But on Wednesday, they’ll announce that they’re really running against the Tea Party.

Democratic National Committee Chairman Tim Kaine will argue at a morning news conference that “the positions espoused by the Tea Party [are] the governing platform of the Republican party,” according to a DNC official who relayed details of the rollout ahead of time to The Daily Caller.

Kaine’s tack is a swipe at House Republicans for not offering more specifics of how they would govern if they retake the House. But it’s also an attempt to force the GOP to own proposals by Rep. Paul Ryan — the Wisconsin Republican who is one of the few Republican lawmakers to propose a sweeping plan to tackle entitlements — combined with an effort to taint the GOP with some of the more radical positions taken by a few insurgent Republican candidates, notably Rand Paul and Sharron Angle, the GOP nominees for Senate in Kentucky and Nevada.

“The Tea Party is now the most potent force in Republican politics,” the DNC official said. “While GOP leaders are still promising to hold town halls and online forums to develop a contract of their own, it’s already clear what that agenda will be based on what self-professed Tea Party adherents have said they stand for and the Republican adoption of the Tea Party.”

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