It’s almost as if the liberals in charge of ramming through the president’s socialist agenda are completely out of touch with the frustrations of everyday Americans.

Tweet

In a move that can only be understood as a fundamental misreading of this year’s political landscape, the Democratic National Committee has announced that it will accomplish in three months a goal that has eluded Republican strategists for over a year: uniting the GOP with the Tea Party movement before the 2010 midterm elections. 

At a time when only a handful of Republican lawmakers are willing to identify themselves with the Tea Party’s call for lower taxes and smaller government, the campaign head of the Democratic Party is trying to convince millions of energized activists that they – despite their protests – are really Republicans at heart. 

As proof, DNC Chairman Tim Kaine stated that, if elected, Republicans would work to enact laws favored by the Tea Party, including repeal of the Democrats’ takeover of health care.  But Kaine forgot to mention that a Rasmussen Reports poll as of July 26 found that 58% of all voters favor repeal.  That number is holding steady months after ObamaCare’s final passage.  If repealing the president’s signature domestic agenda item gets 60% support, it’s puzzling that his handpicked national fundraiser wants to highlight that fact. 

It’s almost as if the liberals in charge of ramming through the president’s socialist agenda are completely out of touch with the frustrations of everyday Americans.  

Other Democrats at Kaine’s press conference pointed to support for a “Tea Party” caucus among high profile House Republicans such as Mike Pence (IN), Michelle Bachmann (MN) and Pete Sessions (TX).  Yet enthusiasm for creating a caucus is not the same as the Republican Party – or even its House leadership team – adopting some Tea Party calls for abolishing the departments of Education and Energy, privatizing Social Security or reasserting the validity of the Tenth Amendment.  If anything, the lack of enthusiasm among establishment Republicans to embrace fundamental Tea Party calls for lower taxes and less federal government shows just how much ground there is to travel before Tea Party members and Republicans are walking hand-in-hand on Election Day.

Let’s not forget that every Tea Party-backed Republican who won a primary this year beat an establishment GOP candidate.  Rand Paul (R-KY) beat Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-KY) own Trey Grayson in McConnell’s back yard.  Marco Rubio (R-FL) chased sitting Governor Charlie Crist (I-FL) from the party.  And Sharron Angle (R-NV) beat a much better funded – and connected – Sue Lowden.  Other than Constitution-based public policies, the only commonality among the three is a knack for beating boilerplate Republican candidates. 

But thanks to Tim Kaine and the DNC, the fusion of Republicans and the Tea Party into the G-O-T-P might start much sooner than anticipated.  Reportedly, the Democrats’ strategy is to drive a wedge between the GOP and independent voters by characterizing the Tea Party as the grassroots arm of the Republican Party.  Instead, Democrats should be trying to highlight the differences between the Tea Party and the Republican establishment. 

The divide is as old as the conservative movement.  Since Ronald Reagan’s 1980 presidential campaign, conservatives have been the grassroots momentum behind every successful Republican victory.  Conservatives are the force that pushed George H. W. Bush over the finish line in 1988, and they provided the anti-big government energy that propelled Newt Gingrich and the Contract with America into national prominence. 

But Democrats like Tim Kaine make a mistake when they equate conservatives with Republicans.  Conservatives are philosophers.  Republicans are politicians.  Now, Democrats are making another mistake trying to conflate the Tea Party movement with the GOP.   

The Tea Party is not a GOP creation, nor is it likely to be co-opted by Republicans from the top down.  Prior to Kaine’s announcement, it looked like the only way the two groups would get together is if members of the Republican establishment allow “their” party to be co-opted by the Tea Party agenda of lower taxes and less federal government.  Even that possibility didn’t quite stir the right emotions from either side since Republicans want to take back Congress while the Tea Party wants to take back America. 

Those differences may now disappear.  If Tim Kaine’s DNC commits millions of dollars and months of advertising to making the GOP and the Tea Party identical brands, the Democrats will have no one to blame but themselves when voters elect a Congress full of Republicans caucusing as a Tea Party.