Is the Tea Party done? Conservative right wing movement may be dead as Republican leaders agree to compromise on taxes



Tea Party conservatives now face a much less receptive welcome in the Republican party as even GOP leaders admit that they must give away some of their ground on taxes in order to reach a compromise for the fiscal cliff.

The fact that the ultra-conservative segment of the Republican party lost a significant amount of power after the election comes as little surprise, as the vast majority of the candidates that they backed were not elected, coupled with the fact that a host of the politicians they helped get elected in 2010 were booted out.

But now that Speaker John Boehner has offered to allow higher taxes in exchange for a deal on the looming fiscal cliff negotiations, the group has effectively seen their legs knocked out from underneath them by their own leader.

Losing steam? Tea Party enthusiasts achieved many political gains in the 2010 election but had less success this year

Choosing their platform: The fiscal cliff negotiations cause problems for the group since they have less to stand on since Speaker John Boehner agreed to compromise

At the beginning, the Tea Party drew upon the anger felt by many following the billion-dollar bailouts and recession that came following President Obama's election in 2008.

From there, the grassroots movement- which harkened back to the colonial era when early settlers staged the Boston Tea Party to protest British taxation- turned into a national operation, led largely by individual groups that were indirectly (or in some cases, directly) by conservative political action committees.

PACs like American Crossroads and it's spinoff Crossroads GPS- run by former Bush strategist Karl Rove- and Americans for Prosperity- a multi-million dollar operation run by David Koch- bet big on the fact that they would be able to have the same success in 2012 as they did in 2010.

They lost, and so did their candidates.

In the case of American Crossroads, Rove was left to explain why he convinced donors to pitch in $390million for the election, but none of their candidates ended up winning on November 6.

Not happy with threats: President Obama reportedly grew frustrated with Speaker John Boehner and said that if they didn't strike a deal he would blame the Republicans in his Inaugural address

U.S. President Barack Obama delivers a statement on the fiscal cliff at the James Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House Thursday

Now party organizers are not only facing funding challenges, but they are also having ideological issues.

Big spender: Karl Rove's super PACs were responsible for spending $390m in the election

The group first gained traction by focusing their attention on the threat of increased taxes; it even provided the basis of their name, as TEA stood for Taxed Enough Already.

Boehner's signal that there is room for negotiation on the issue takes the wind out of the sails on that front.

The other raison d'etre that may not prove as plausible in the coming year is the fight against President Obama's health care reform since the Supreme Court ruled it constitutional.

The New York Times reports that with so-called Obamacare and a firm stance against increased taxes are off the table, the true Tea Party supporters are looking for remaining wedge issues to use as their new platform as they reorganize.

Trip Gabriel explained that the next talking points for the various splinters of the Tea Party may examinations of fraud on local election boards that caused the Democratic-leaning results in this year's count, or even an apparent plot against property rights stemming from a United Nations resolution.

A more realistic change may be a noticeable demographic shift within their own ranks.

Taking aim: Billionaire Donald Trump criticized Rove's spending

Following the lead made by a number of key Republican politicians and analysts who were vocally calling for less stringent immigration laws, a number of Tea Party groups have begun appealing to Hispanic voters.

'We’ve been working with a group of Spanish-speaking Tea Party people in Florida,' Jenny Beth Martin, the chairwoman of Tea Party Patriots told Slate 's Dave Weigel.

'In Wisconsin, people were putting material out in Spanish, reaching the Spanish-speaking community. Our idea of freedom resonates across party lines and across the party divide.'



