The chairman of the Southern Florida Tea Party is getting a little worried about the next election.
South Florida Tea Party Chairman Everett Wilkinson thinks the GOP budget -- and in particular its call to phase out Medicare and replace it with a marketplace for private insurance -- is a total disaster. He's saying that Republicans, including members in his sphere of influence like Rep. Allen West (R-FL), should back away from it.
In an email to fellow Tea Partiers last week, obtained by The Palm Beach Post, Wilkinson called the GOP plan a "public policy nightmare" that could trigger "huge Democratic wins in 2012," and prompt Republicans to blame the Tea Party for their losses.
"Republicans will lose if they support the Ryan Medicare plan. Americans do not support the [Paul] Ryan plan," he wrote. "Expect the GOP to then blame the Tea Party for losses."
Why shouldn't they blame the Tea Party?
It's the ideological Tea Party freshman in the House of Representative who threaten to take their ball and go home anytime it is even suggested that their agenda may not be the best idea for the country. It's the ideological Tea Party freshman in the House who have lead the charge to kill the EPA, kill Medicare, kill Planned Parenthood, and hold the entire economy hostage just so they can cut spending by a few percentage points. Killing jobs in the process.
The Tea Party of Ohio has threatened to primary Speaker of the House John Boehner because he has been unsuccessful at achieving those goals. Goals which a clear majority of Americans do not agree with.
Newt Gingrich's campaign imploded and he was publicly shamed for actually telling the truth about Paul Ryan's Medicare Coupon plan. A Medicare Coupon plan which a majority of Americans do not agree with.
Why then, should they not blame the Tea Party? The entire Republican party is to blame for their enabling of, and pandering to, the lowest common denominator, but that lowest common denominator is the Tea Party.