Sarah Palin is losing fans over her decision to campaign for John McCain’s reelection against tea party primary candidate J.D. Hayworth. The Nashville Tea Party Convention is falling apart as groups and individuals shy away from naked profiteering. The “movement” sparked by right-wing operatives is rudderless, leaderless, and at odds with the Republican Party apparatus. Now that Obama has pivoted on Wall Street and stolen much of the populist thunder, it remains to be seen whether the “movement” can even sustain itself.
It’s my opinion the best that organizers can hope for is to create a kind of semi-permanent right-wing counterculture. Tea party-goers are moved to protest against government in general, and Obama in particular, but without a coherent electoral message. The Teabagger Fail I predicted here last April seems more likely than ever.
