I agree. It is what it is.
I was at a dinner party on Halloween. Politics came up, and the people there pretty well scoffed at the Tea Party because they perceived it exactly that way-like a resurgence of Pat Robertson. And one of them was a freedom-loving fiscal conservative who would buy into the TP philosophy if he was clear on what it was.
I'll add "at the beginning" to what I bolded, say that it's my opinion. Taxed Enough Already in 2009 had nothing to do with immigration, or abortion, or anything outside of true capitalism, and leaving more money in the hands of consumers rather than having government redistribute it.
As with anything, though, different factions who were disappointed with the GOP, many including social conservatives, started to co-opt the Tea Party movement to the point it's become a bit of a parody of itself. I'm all for a new TEA movement that focuses solely on fiscal policy, and cutting the size of government. The social issues, frankly, are a battle the social conservatives are losing.