The Tea Party Grows Up

Politico had an interesting piece this evening about the Tea Party Movement of Arizona and its refusal to endorse J.D. Hayworth in his GOP Primary bid to unseat Arizona Senator John McCain.

The telling quote from the article is below:

“The tea party is a non-partisan, grassroots movement that stands for limited government, free markets and fiscal responsibility. Both McCain and Hayworth’s records during their many years in Washington leave much to be desired on these issues,” said Robert Mayer of the Tucson Tea Party. “It is their job to hold themselves up to these values and fight for our votes.”

[Link]

In contrast to some of the protest rhetoric that came out last summer, this is the reasoning of a sophisticated political movement.

For starters, the Tea Party clearly allows room for political nuance in the positions of the respective candidates vying for its support. This is evident in its refusal to endorse either candidate - even though the obvious choice for the Tea Party would seem to be J.D. Hayworth and his anti-establishment rabble-rousing.

The reality, of course, is that Sen. McCain is in a much stronger position to actually deliver on the ideals the Tea Party Movement espouses. It's a difference between listening with one's heart and one's head. While Hayworth may appeal to the Tea Party base and its mad-as-hell heartstrings, Sen. McCain appeals to their better judgment.

The non-endorsement can be viewed, then, as a victory of sorts for Team McCain. The Senator's ads against Hayworth's spending proclivities, and Hayworth's questionable ties to disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff are clearly making in-roads among the conservative rank-and-file.

More to the point, even the Tea Party seems to recognize that Sen. McCain will be in the best position to take on the Democrats' challenger, and defend his seat come November.

It seems our little Tea Party is finally growing up.

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