INDEED: Tea Partiers to GOP: Fall in line or face challengers. “Prominent leaders within the Tea Party movement have a warning for presumptive House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. – keep their campaign promises to cut spending and repeal the health care law or face defeat in their next primaries.”
UPDATE: Reader Neil Sorens writes:
This is exactly why the Tea Party nominating Senate candidates was such a big win. The weakness of the candidates, far from being a Tea Party failure, makes it an even bigger win in terms of leverage within the party. The GOP establishment exists primarily to further the interests of the GOP: namely, winning elections and raking in funds. Everything else, including issues, voters’ desires, the well-being of the country, etc., is secondary. With weak Tea Party candidates losing important, winnable races, the GOP establishment either has to give in and start backing principled, electable fiscal conservatives rather than good ol’ boys or face the punishment they fear most: letting power and influence slip through their fingers because the establishment candidate got taken down in the primary by another O’Donnell.
Hopefully, the end result is something that both groups want: strong fiscal conservatives for the Tea Party, and a Republican majority for the GOP.
Interesting take.