In the wake of a sharp defeat by the Democrats and President Obama, Republicans are left struggling to refocus the party’s direction. Meanwhile, Tea Party advocates have grown increasingly resentful of Republican strategy.
Disappointment lies not only at the prospect of another four years with President Obama, but in the failures of the GOP. The Tea Party sees this as the time to re-energize their forces as the conservative root in America.
Ryan Rhodes is the chairman of the Iowa Tea Party.
“David Frum and those folks can continue attempting to blame conservatives and other people for the fact that they’ve put up Bob Dole, John McCain and now Mitt Romney,” Rhodes says in response. He cites the case in Wisconsin, where Scott Walker ran as a Conservative and won, but Mitt Romney lost, arguing that it was the flip-flopping, not Conservatism, that cost Romney the election.
Rhodes thinks the losses in this election should reinvigorate the Tea Party movement, rather than defeating it.