Will the Tea Party cause any permanent damage to the GOP?

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

I think they've made our generation even more Democratic and likely to remain so. Think about it, after 8 years of Bush we get these completely unrelatable crazies right afterwards. As sbane has pointed out, it's not just how crazy what they promote is, but also how nasty in general they are about it, much like how krazen here tends to completely turn off everyone not in total agreement with him. I don't know if it'll be a permanent effect though, but they definitely didn't help the post-Bush GOP revamp their image.

[Maxwell]

Permanent damage? The Tea Party is another name for the re-invigoration of the conservative movement. I think it's already in the process of going away and returning in another name in some sort of way. Of course it's not going to do any permanent damage, the public's attention span is far too short.

[memphis]

They are the GOP. Any attempt to separate the two is foolishness.

[DC Al Fine]

Of course it's not going to do any permanent damage, the public's attention span is far too short.

Exactly. This won't be an issue in 10 years, just like Clinton's antics wasn't an issue for Hillary in 08.

[TNF]

They are the GOP. Any attempt to separate the two is foolishness.

Yeah, the Tea Party has been around forever.

[Vosem]

I think the giant benefit they gave the GOP in terms of 2010 enthusiasm far outweighs the couple legislative seats the TP cost them in 2012. The TP doesn't seem likely to have much influence in 2014, so in the end it's a net gain.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

I think the TP provied the GOP with some way to distance themselves from Bush, without alienating the base. The one way to do that was to be more conservative then Bush and in many ways the TP began as a rebellion against Bush's immigration bill and other policies. The problem was that without a leadership to control it or restrain it, it didn't carefully select to be more conservative on just those issues that could be spun in such a way as to curry popularity with Independents and libertarian minded individuals, but on everything and that was were the problem came in.

[Stranger in a strange land]

I think the giant benefit they gave the GOP in terms of 2010 enthusiasm far outweighs the couple legislative seats the TP cost them in 2012. The TP doesn't seem likely to have much influence in 2014, so in the end it's a net gain.

True, but they've irrevocably lost the GOP a large number of voters who they're unlikely to ever get back, especially coming as they do on the heels of 8 years of Bush, and younger voters, who are more likely to oppose the Tea Party, will be around long after most of the Tea Party has died off.

[© tweed]

it's just a continuation of the cold war anticommunism / segregationist citizens councils that have been around for decades at the least.  the GOP will become less like this as the USA gets more distant from that past, demographically and otherwise.  that's about all you can say.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

As much as the Hippie movement affected the Democrats in/after '72...

[perdedor]

It won't have long term effects on voting trends directly, but the Tea Party has been and will continue to be a legislative hindrance for the GOP -- which could be costly as the years of stalemate and inaction drag on.

[pbrower2a]

They have allowed Reactionaries to entrench institutional power within state legislatures -- but eventually that implodes. When Democrats start winning R+5 seats because the Democrat is a moderate and the Republican is an extremist, the game is over.

Outrages will be reversed.

[Stranger in a strange land]

As much as the Hippie movement affected the Democrats in/after '72...

I know many, many people, including some born well after 1972, who complain about Hippies, so clearly they did some lasting damage...

[HansOslo]

I think the worst effects of the Tea Party can be seen on the GOP in The House and in The Senate.  Today it seems like congressional Republicans are supposed to be in a state of constant war with President Obama, and the Congressional Democrats. That might be a good idea short term, if you just want to halt a political agenda.

It raises a lot of problems in the long term though. First of all because the sensible center will view them as unreasonable and extreme, like they viewed the Democrats of the 1970s and 1980s. Second of all because at some point (maybe in 2016); a Republican will win the Presidential Election. If the Democrats decide to obstruct his agenda they will have nothing to complain about, since they did the exact same thing just a few years ago.

[minionofmidas]

Already has.

Oh, you meant in terms of the electoral math. Probably not. Or not much.

[Old Man Svensson]

I don't believe so. The American public is very liable to sink back into gullibility as soon as the Tea Party goes the way of the dodo.