# The Tea Party movement's overall effect on the 2010 midterms **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [September 16, 2010, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tea-party-movements-overall-effect-on-the-2010-midterms/553916 "2010-09-16T00:50:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2010, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tea-party-movements-overall-effect-on-the-2010-midterms/553916/141 "2010-10-20T15:20:21Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Fun fact: The Villages has the highest incidence of herpes of any community in Florida. Interesting. Now please email some brain bleach. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2010, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tea-party-movements-overall-effect-on-the-2010-midterms/553916/142 "2010-11-02T18:01:54Z")
Any final predictions? ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2010, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tea-party-movements-overall-effect-on-the-2010-midterms/553916/143 "2010-11-03T14:17:15Z")
So, what next for the Tea Party? ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2010, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tea-party-movements-overall-effect-on-the-2010-midterms/553916/144 "2010-11-03T14:29:09Z")
Well, according to the Contract From America, it goes like this: > [@](#): > > 1. Protect the Constitution > 2. Reject Cap and Trade > 3. Demand a Balanced Budget > 4. Enact Fundamental Tax Reform > 5. Restore Fiscal Responsibility and Constitutionally Limited Government in Washington > 6. End Runaway Government Spending > 7. Defund, Repeal, and Replace Government-run Health Care > 8. Pass an ‘All-of-the-Above” Energy Policy > 9. Stop the Pork > 10. Stop the Tax Hikes So now that the Constitution has been protected, presumably the next step is defeating the American Clean Energy & Security Act in the Senate (or making sure the final version doesn’t pass the House). ---
**Author:** ![Jas09](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d07c76/32.png) [@Jas09](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jas09)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2010, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tea-party-movements-overall-effect-on-the-2010-midterms/553916/145 "2010-11-03T14:37:12Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Well, according to the Contract From America, it goes like this: > > So now that the Constitution has been protected, presumably the next step is defeating the American Clean Energy & Security Act in the Senate (or making sure the final version doesn’t pass the House). I’m pretty sure “Protect the Constitution” means removing the Kenyan usurper from office, but I could be wrong. Point 2 is probably a done deal. 3-8 are no-gos (and aren’t 5, 6, and 9 the same thing?). Maybe 4 is possible, depending on how compromisey everyone feels, and what the deficit commission recommends. 10 will be a mixed bag. I still think it’s likely the Dems pass a permanent extension on everything but the top-end bracket, but it’s possible they cave and pass a 1-year extension on that. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2010, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tea-party-movements-overall-effect-on-the-2010-midterms/553916/146 "2010-11-03T14:40:09Z")
> [@](#): > > 1. Protect the Constitution by initiating needless and expensive investigative proceedings of the president. > [@](#): > > 1. Reject Cap and Trade i.e., make sure our corporate overlords continue to profit obscenely while the liberal seaboards (and, incidentally, some of our strongest supporting regions) submerge. > [@](#): > > 1. Demand a Balanced Budget like the one we had before our last Republican president blew it all up. > [@](#): > > 1. Enact Fundamental Tax Reform i.e., make sure the people who have the most pay the least. > [@](#): > > 1. Restore Fiscal Responsibility and Constitutionally Limited Government in Washington by making sure we’re not helping out any lazy black people or fags. > [@](#): > > 1. End Runaway Government Spending like we did before (NOT!). > [@](#): > > 1. Defund, Repeal, and Replace Government-run Health Care which doesn’t exist and isn’t created by the HRC bill. > [@](#): > > 1. Pass an ‘All-of-the-Above” Energy Policy “All” meaning oil. > [@](#): > > 1. Stop the Pork except, apparently, that earmarked by Republicans. > [@](#): > > 1. Stop the Tax Hikes which aren’t actually tax hikes but a return to the previous tax rates caused by a sunset clause that WE put in the tax cut bill 7 years ago but why would we start telling the truth NOW? ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2010, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tea-party-movements-overall-effect-on-the-2010-midterms/553916/147 "2010-11-03T14:40:58Z")
> [@](#): > > I’m pretty sure “Protect the Constitution” means removing the Kenyan usurper from office, but I could be wrong. No, that was “take back America”. You appear to have last year’s edition of the Tea Party Dictionary. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2010, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tea-party-movements-overall-effect-on-the-2010-midterms/553916/148 "2010-11-03T14:59:02Z")
You only have to look at one thing to see if the new congress is serious: Whether they take on entitlement spending. Specifically, whether they’re willing to make structural changes to Medicare. One thing you have to give credit to the Obama administration for, is that they realized that health care spending is a ticking time bomb and tried to do something about it. Unfortunately, their ideology led them down the wrong path, and Obama made the mistake of trusting the Congress to write the health care bill unsupervised, but in fact they were right that health care is a huge problem that is going to get exponentially worse in the coming two decades. The Republicans can’t just repeal Obamacare and go back to business as usual. If they manage to push through a repeal or significant change, it will be up to them to propose a real alternative that really does ‘bend the cost curve’. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2010, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tea-party-movements-overall-effect-on-the-2010-midterms/553916/149 "2010-11-03T15:10:21Z")
Serious about fixing the nation’s problems, or serious about retaining the voters they gained in this election? Those are not the same thing, and may even be contradictory aims. ---
**Author:** ![Knorf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/58956e/32.png) [@Knorf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knorf)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2010, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tea-party-movements-overall-effect-on-the-2010-midterms/553916/150 "2010-11-03T16:32:07Z")
> [@](#): > > 1. Defund, Repeal, and Replace Government-run Health Care > > > [@jayjay](#): > > > > …which doesn’t exist and isn’t created by the HRC bill. And which would, presumably according to the language used, include Medicare. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2010, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tea-party-movements-overall-effect-on-the-2010-midterms/553916/151 "2010-11-03T16:47:19Z")
Tricare and the Veterans’ Administration, too. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tea-party-movements-overall-effect-on-the-2010-midterms/553916.md?page=7)