United in Campaigning, Tea Party Divides Over Governing

[RamboLiberal]

Source: New York Times

HARRISBURG, Pa. — When Tea Party groups celebrated their victories here in November —they had helped take the governor’s office and the legislature — it seemed that one of their priorities, school choice legislation, would have an easy time passing.

Instead, the bill, which would provide vouchers to poor families who want better schools for their children, has sparked what one Tea Party activist called a “fight within the family.”

Tea Party groups that oppose the bill call it a bailout of failing schools. They accuse those who support it — who are backed by a powerful Washington group that has helped cultivate the Tea Party — of selling out to the kind of politics-as-usual approach that the movement was founded to oppose. Supporters say the opponents fail to understand that politics often means compromise.

The disagreement resonates beyond the local particulars. It offers a microcosm of the Tea Party’s struggle as it tries to turn the potency it showed in the midterm elections into influence in legislative battles and the 2012 presidential campaign. Having been brought together primarily by what they oppose, Tea Party groups have had difficulty agreeing on what they stand for. Just saying “Tea Party” strikes fear in many Republicans in Washington and state capitols. But in practice, the Tea Party is often fractious and undefined.



Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/29/us/politics/29teaparty.html?_r=1&hp

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The issue of vouchers aside, as one Pittsburgh talk host put it they are afraid of the black kids coming to their surburban schools.

Article mentions other issues in states splitting the tea partiers.

[Doctor_J]

1. Total bullshit

they will vote en masse whichever way Hate Radio tells them to. Shame on the NYT for catapulting what is obviously a teabagger press release.

[pampango]

2. Good article. Found this: "the voucher issue has raised serious questions among the Tea Party rank

and file.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/12/tea-party-school-vouchers-pennsylvania-2012_n_875519.html

The fight over school vouchers in Pennsylvania is a test of whether the Tea Party can transition from a protest movement into sustained political activism. They might yet make the grade, but they're hitting plenty of bumps along the way.

A forum in Shippensburg, Pa., on June 6 showed how the voucher issue has raised serious questions among the Tea Party rank and file.

Many of the questions were skeptical, especially as the session wore on and it became clear that the vouchers would only go to low-income students for the first few years of the program. The audience was also dubious that the program would ever be expanded beyond poor students, now that it is being whittled down in the state legislature's budget negotiations.

"Everybody is sick of taxes. And now we're coming up with another program which is going to involve more money and it's going to start on the lower-income side," the woman said. "People are tired of having to pay and pay and pay and see no results."

FreedomWorks is collaborating with local activists to push the governor to act more forcefully on voucher legislation. It was introduced into the GOP-controlled Senate as the first bill this year, but the schools legislation has now stalled. The conservative group is frustrated that Corbett -– who talked about school choice in his inauguration speech -– is not cracking skulls to pass controversial bills like Govs. Scott Walker (R-Wis.) and John Kasich (R-Ohio) have done in their states.

[cstanleytech]

3. If this keeps up the mad (crazy) tea party wont live much longer

............now anyone seen where I put my vicks vapor rub so I can cry on cue like Beck over this?