Sullivan lays out a three-point rebuke of the tea party.
They both support lower taxation and yet bemoan the fact that so many Americans do not pay any income tax. They want to cut spending on trivial matters while enabling the entitlement and defense behemoths to go on gobbling up Americans' wealth. And that lack of seriousness is complemented by a near-fanatical cultural alienation from the modern world.
Considering the tea party's status as a mob of angry, incomprehensible, contradictory, racially-triggered white people who are inaccurately and brazenly invoking one of the ugliest chapters in American history by screaming "Commie!" at anyone who disagrees, this is about as polite a counterpoint as I've ever seen.