As the Tea Party has been gathering steam, people from all over are cramming in to see if they can catch a piece of the pie. And the pie gets bigger by the minute – with four Senate seats – those of Rand Paul (KY), Pat Toomey (PE), Marc Rubio (FL) and Mike Lee (UT) – being claimed by the Tea Party movement. There is even talk of a Tea Party Caucus in the Senate and House during the next congressional cycle. Former President George W. Bush has been trying to capitalize on the political success of the movement like any other. It may seem odd that he would do that, given that his two constitutionally legal terms of office are over and he cannot rise any farther than he has been in the past. But his brother Jeb is now being speculated about as a potential Republican candidate for the 2012 presidential election. Now George seems to be trying to mobilize Tea Party support for his Jeb’s run to follow in his footsteps.
The Tea Party movement and its members would have to have really short memories if they were to follow the former president’s lead and throw their support behind another Bush. It is important to remember that the Tea Party originally rose in response to cronyism overspending by the BUSH Administration which has been expanded and continued by the Obama Administration. It is easy to forget – with all the attention centered around Obama – that Bush was the original target of the movement. The Tea Party will only get behind candidates true to their values and RINOs like Bush will not qualify. Sure, the Tea Party was largely behind Scott Brown here in Massachusetts and he’s a centrist on fiscal issues, but he was the best the Tea Party could settle for in the bluest state in the nation. Let’s not forget that George Bush snubbed now Senator-Elect Marc Rubio when he was running in the primary against establishment candidate Charlie Crist. Now Bush is playing like he knew the Tea Party was the real deal all along.
