The Aimless Tea Party

A News-Press profile of Rick Scott published today tells a great deal about the gubernatorial candidate, but most interesting to me was insight into how aimless the tea party movement can be this far into a campaign. I have noted this before, but the final portion of this article offers a great taste of the indiscriminating nature of these so-called conservatives.

Check out this quote from Naples tea partier Barry Willoughby had to say:

"I have never met him, but on the surface I absolutely agree with what he has said about accountability in government, limited government and following the law... I'm very torn, that's for sure. I don't see how the tea party could go against what he has said."

So a guy with a boatload of money rushes in from the right and a group of people supposedly driven by populism and ideals falls in love. Virtually no press account of Scott's entry into the race has ignored the $1.7 billion in fines that HCA earned during his tenure as CEO, nor has it ignored that Scott was pushed out of that private sector job by angry shareholders. None of that matters, though, because he is an outsider and he leans toward Ghengis Khan when it comes to rhetoric. As Stephen Colbert would note, facts have a well-known liberal bias. Media counts of Scott's flaws must be part of a left-wing media plot, right?

Why is this tea party enthusiasm for Scott amazing to me? Because Bill McCollum for 30 years has been the conservative's conservative in Florida. He is pro-life, anti-tax, anti-regulation and pro-defense. Not pugnacious enough? Well if the guy who walked impeachment papers from the House to the Senate and who hates health care reform so much he is suing on behalf of Florida using tax dollars isn't hostile enough to government, I don't know what to say. Ironically, that long tenure of conservative rhetoric is a vulnerability within today's Republican Party. Undoubtedly, McCollum is every bit the insider his critics make him out to be, but his entire time in office, he has been as far to the right as just about anyone could get. Scott has tried to make McCollum out as a lefty, airing soundbites of the Attorney General criticizes an Arizona immigration law which earned rebuke from across the nation, even earning the temporary ire of Tea Party prophet Marco Rubio. Yet Scott is chipping away at McCollum in the polls.

The funny thing is that Scott does not consider himself part of the tea party, yet is finding all of his support within those ranks. To rely openly on a movement yet deny a direct association should insult such ideological purists, but these activists are so driven by hate of the system that they don't care. There is no way Scott could appeal to independent and moderate voters, but all the better in the eyes of tea. The partiers deserve this guy. When you stand for nothing and against everything, yet preach from the pulpit of principled ideals, don't be surprised when your anger is exploited by opportunists.