Thread by @Doc_0

Interesting bit from great @davidharsanyi post on alleged Tea Party racism:

"Although a majority were more socially conservative than the average voter—particularly on abortion—8 in 10 of them wanted their burgeoning movement to focus on economic issues rather than social ones."

@davidharsanyi Maybe that was part of the problem facing the Tea Party: they took the advice constantly given to conservatives and avoided social issues. That left them defenseless against entirely social attacks, i.e. you're just racists angry at the First! Black! President!

@davidharsanyi The Tea Party tried to forge a populist appeal without touching social issues, which deprived it of energy and made it easy to caricature. In essence, they were saying Big Gov programs like Obamacare and excessive spending were bad without really explaining why.

@davidharsanyi This left the Tea Party's flank exposed to the Left, which is completely devoted to populism and emotional appeals. Leftists and their media slammed the Tea Party for being *inexplicably* agitated because they skirted the social issues they were taught to stay away from.

@davidharsanyi "How could you Tea Party guys be so upset about something as dry and abstract as deficit math, government spending spreadsheets, and health care reform? Your engines MUST be using something else as fuel. It could only be blind anger and racism!"

@davidharsanyi It's a charge Obama partisans were going to make anyway - they threw it at every single critic of Obama, and continue doing so to this day - but it's tough to fight back against a populist social issue attack like racism if your movement has no social issue artillery.

@davidharsanyi The Tea Party was a revolutionary GOP moment, but ironically it was undone by following the hoary "socially liberal, fiscally conservative" advice prescribed since the end of the Reagan era. Those who insist on that prescription gave them zero credit for following it. /end

@davidharsanyi Addendum: link to @davidharsanyi original post, "The Left Can't Stop Lying About the Tea Party."

thefederalist.com/2019/08/28/lef…