Well, we all experimented a little in college, that don’t make it a life choice.
IMO, “tea party” was just a label applied to a pre-existing subset of the Republican Party. It just felt new because they’d been quiet for eight years, but they’ve been around for a long time. I think it’s largely the same movement that howled for Clinton to be impeached, annihilated gourds to prove he killed Vince Foster, defeated the ERA, formed the John Birch Society, etc. There is no new thing under the sun.
During my lifetime, the only party that has truly acted on fiscal responsibility has been the Democrats. The Republicans just talk about it.
That’s what the TP thinks, but it ain’t true.
Er, what?
Right – Doubtful the TP would have coined itself using a New York Yiddish-derived locution. 
Shows what I know- I thought the Tea Party was owned by the Kock brothers.
Question: did they, or did they not, early on refer to themselves as “teabaggers”? I have a wingnut co-worker who vociferously denys this.
The linked photo shows a Tea Party member holding a button that reads 'Proud to be a Teabagger.
The evolution of the word ‘tea bagger’ [emphasis mine]:
So they did use the verb ‘teabag’ first. After being informed of what the verb means, some proclaimed themselves Teabaggers.