by Joe Queenan, guardian.co.u, Sunday 7 February 2010 20:30 GMT


Excerpt:


One of the things that helped get Obama elected was that he was really cool. This made Democrats feel cool. Tea Party types are not cool. But there are an awful lot of them out there. The Democrats thus find themselves in a bind. They cannot continue to cede the public stage to the Tea Partyers. They cannot simply sit back and do nothing. Maybe they should try torchlight parades. Or coffee claques. Perhaps even fistfights. But they better try something soon. Trouble's a-brewin'

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It is pretty clear at this stage that between the Tea Party Nation (TPN) convention's leadership (Judson Phillips) and their key note address being ultra conservative, their entire messaging being heavily conservative with small exceptions, Tea Parties have been fully co-opted as far right GOPers.

So, the PUMAs that joined the tea parties, and the left leaning moderates who have since 2008 come to their senses are probably wondering how to make their voices heard and distinct from Tea Parties that they formed and joined in early stages.

Rather than fighting to split the Tea Parties, they are probably better off reconstituting themselves.. which of course will be hard.

GOP knows the issue and has been heavily recruiting PUMAs directly.

Expect some major recruiting of PUMAs in the coming months... from BOTH sides.