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retreated or ran. Republicans who sign on to tax hikes cannot go home again. 23
    I say more power to them.
    The Mad-Hatter’s Tea Party
    Even a blind man can see that the Tea Party movement has changed the political landscape of the country. The evolution of the Tea Party movement has probably been the most important political development in the last two years. Much of its initial success has to do with the purity of the party. By that, I mean it’s neither a Republican nor Democrat movement. It’s organic. It’s autonomous. It’s of the people. And it transcends traditional labels or party affiliations.
    The movement gained strength because, at its heart, this is a center-right country. Regardless of prior political party affiliation, the middle class has joined hands to stop the left-wing onslaught by the most powerful, most dictatorial president this country has ever seen. But I want to help you see what’s going on. I want you to see how the Tea Party movement is being co-opted and gobbled up primarily by the Republican Party, the beltway boys, the neo-conservatives, and the old boys in checked pants.
    Take Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele. Much like the snake in the Garden of Eden who tempted Adam and Eve to go over to the dark side, which they did and now we’re paying for that lapse of judgment, Steele has made a number of tempting overtures to various leaders of the Tea Party movement in order to co-opt it.
    Oh, sure, Steele talks a good game. After inviting and meeting with fifty or so Tea Party leaders deep within the belly of the RNC Headquarters, Steele said, “We share a common purpose in stopping President Obama’s agenda and standing up for principles such as smaller government, lower taxes, free enterprise, and the Constitution.”24 Sounds good on paper.
    Don’t be deceived.
    Don’t let this Republican charmer trick you.
    What Steele and the old guard within the GOP fears most is that the Tea Party movement will, as Senator Orrin Hatch—another Republican RINO—put it, “fractionalize the Republican Party.”25 I say it’s time to pull out the Savage Decoder Ring. What Steele and Hatch really care about is maintaining their power and control of the GOP. They’re scared because of the emerging conservative versus establishment split. They’re looking over their shoulders at the Tea Party movement fearful that true conservative candidates will emerge and unseat their more moderate buddies in office.
    Then there’s Sarah Palin.
    I personally think she’s a good woman. I think her heart is in the right place when it comes to this country. But she’s dead wrong about the Tea Party movement. She fails to see that this is a movement made up of people driven by core principles, principles valued above any party affiliation. Am I being unfair? Here’s what the former Governor of Alaska told a crowd in Little Rock, Arkansas: “Now the smart thing will be for independents who are such a part of this Tea Party movement to, I guess, kind of start picking a party.”
    Really? Why?
    In Sarah’s view it’s “Because the Tea Party movement is not a party, and we have a two-party system, they’re going to have to pick a party and run one or the other: ‘R’ or ‘D’.”26 What’s this? The mainstream conservative voter believes she’s an outsider and yet she had the audacity to say you’ll have to vote “R” or “D” so make a choice. Is Sarah Palin the chair of the co-option league? I realize this will be seen as a personal attack on her. False. She is unelectable at the executive level for several reasons, including her attempts to drive Independents back to the “K Street” Republican establishment.
    She’s wrong on this. I’m not the only one saying so, either.
    Listen to Dale Robertson, president of TeaParty.org. He’s one of the early founders of the movement. Dale’s retired from the military, married, and has five children. In other words, he’s not a