After divisive election cycle, GOP returns to goosestepping to the party line

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2010/nov/21/tea-no-longer-gops-favorite-drink-dc/

November 21, 2010

Washington — Like incoming high-schoolers deciding which lunch table to eat at, many Republican freshmen came to Congress for orientation last week wondering if they’d have to choose which crowd to get in with — the GOP establishment or the Tea Party.

But after a week in town, they all appear to be part of one big clique.

Although Democrats were unable to keep party divisions under wraps, the elected Republican caucus — in the House at least — sailed through its first week in Washington with nary a blip of discord, maintaining a completely unified front as it voted unanimously for leaders and certain policy platforms, such as a ban on earmark spending in the coming Congress.

That unity — and the comparative discord among Democrats and their disappearing Blue Dogs — suggests that the Tea Party may not have to expend so much strength storming into Washington as it thought it would have to in the short term. And as Congress creeps toward 2012, it’s not clear that the GOP will remain steeped in a Tea Party embrace.

[AlinPA]

1. The teabaggers are in charge now. No compromise. None of the President's agenda or any other

Democrat's legislation will advance. Even a necessary response to a national emergency will be stopped. The American people need to tear themselves away from Dancing With The Stars and football and look at what is happening in Washington.

[Laelth]

2. They were always Republicans. The whole "Tea Party" thing was just re-branding. n/t

-Laelth