It doesn't matter a whit. The TP voter is "THE" Crouching Tiger...and it's ready to show up this November.
The only thing that can beat them is if they cheat...and with electronically programmed machines......I dunno. I don't trust them.
A 3rd suicide this week of a member of the Federal Reserve....or people closely associated with same.
It seems The Godfather may be making his move.
Lately I've had some thoughts along these lines. Firstly, I question how much the impact of what we now call the "IRS scandal" really was. Don't get me wrong, I'm not condoning what the IRS did, not at all. But from my personal involvement with a few TP groups, I never saw the tax exempt status as an issue at all on the ground. For myself, and everyone else that I know, being able to get credit for a portion of what we kicked in to support a rally or other activity was never a question. If I needed to throw in a couple of hundred to cover part of the PA or other rental expenses, I just wrote the check, never thought for a moment about whether or not I could get a deduction for a portion of it. As I said, no one else I know ever did either. And to be honest, I have not seen any decrease in activities during that time period up through now either. In fact I see that there are more and more meetings and activities all the time (of course, this is just my little view into the world, it could be drastically different elsewhere).
I have been wondering if the whole "IRS scandal" was allowed to percolate out on purpose -- knowing full well that the GOP and conservatives would be all over it jumping up and down (rightly so as I mentioned above), and thus create a part of the narrative that explains the 2012 result. (I have been in the camp since that day that believes it was stolen from Romney. Based on what I was seeing myself and from others I know in so called battleground states, all of the momentum and activity was for Romney -- record crowds all over, people lining up for blocks and miles down the road to get close enough to hear the rally on a PA. The other side's rallies were basically empty absent the bussed in "supporters." I believe that the phony polls were also used to color the narrative for a successful re-election. And the "IRS scandal" was another part used to describe what made no sense.)
I look at it like this: 2010 showed how pissed off the country was based on the first 2 years, and how this agenda was being rejected outright. Does anyone think that:
A. Things got so much better since then that everyone was calmed down?? I don't think so, everyone turning out in 2010 just saw more and more to motivate them to turn out in 2012.
B. The folks that turned out in 2010 just decided to stay home because they just couldn't get them selves motivated to vote for that sharp successful business man and wonderful family man, because he was a Mormon?? because of his unfortunate mistake in MA?? Again, I don't think so. Even though Romney-Ryan was not a "first choice" for many, myself included, comparing them to what we had for 4 years was like comparing fast food to a fine dining experience, simply no comparison. I submit that to a person, anyone that turned out in 2010 to give the GOP the House in a very overwhelming manner, and put more GOP candidates in place across the country at the state and local levels, certainly showed up in 2012. And more joined them.
The support that Romney-Ryan had on the ground in the last few weeks in those states that they "lost" on election day just can't be explained away to me.
You bring up the electronic voting machines, I agree, just another way to make the theft of an election all the more easy.
So, of course you need some cover stories to explain it away.... and I've wondered lately if the whole "IRS scandal" was really a tempest in a teapot of sorts, in its actual,
real impact on 2012. I just don't know. But I will never be convinced that Romney "lost" the election, never.