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ORIGINAL: DarkSteven

After the disastrous Bush presidency, I asked myself how the GOP would get back in the saddle.  The Bushies had pretty much messed things up across the board, especially economically.  The GOP has since attacked Obama for spending too much and for bailouts, but c'mon - Bush pushed the first bailout and the economy under him was pretty feeble.And he spent like a drunken sailor.  The GOP couldn't really repudiate Bush and he was an albatross.

Thus the Tea Party.  They have repudiated the spending sprees of BOTH GOP and Dems.  They have a weird existence, where they kind of fit within the GOP but not really.

While they do tend to leave reality occasionally, they have a better grip on economics than the GOP, which has as an unassailable plank that tax cuts are always good and pay for themselves. 

So far the Tea Party has come up with some unbelievably bad candidates, such as O'Donnell, Dan Maes, Angle, etc.  I'm surprised by that and don't expect them to get such bad candidates again. 

Everyone is focusing on the fact that these weak candidates have turned slam dunk races into competitive ones.  They've stated that this weakens the GOP.  What they're overlooking is that, once elected, Tea Party pols will not automatically vote the GOP party line.  In other words, the Tea Party will weaken the GOP once in office, and to be honest, weaken the Dems as well.

Expect massive gridlock in the short term.  Hopefully, though, the Tea Party will get strong enough to absorb the GOP, and finally bury the Bush influence on the Republican Party.