Ethics

Do Tea Parties Help or Hurt the GOP?

By Ed Brayton

It was very clear last week that the Republican party thinks jumping on board the tea party protest bandwagon was good for them politically. About 1/4 of the Republican legislators in Congress appeared at one of them, as well as Rick Perry's now-infamous appearance at several of them in Texas. But will doing so help them or hurt them with voters?

Sam Stein at the Huffington Post says that the displays turned off independent voters and has some Republicans worried that this will hurt them with voters in the next election.

Full post as published by Dispatches from the Culture Wars on April 23, 2009 (boomark / email).