Tea Party fail in Kentucky

The fascist Tea Party movement was supposed to spur a growth in Republican organizing.

But it's fallen plumb on its stupid face.

This far-right movement - which supports expansion of government as long as it helps a financially secure few - has actually coincided with a drop in GOP registration.

It's clear even in Kentucky - despite the state's large rural base, which is where Republican strength has become concentrated. With the GOP becoming more rural, they shouldn't have major recruiting failures in Kentucky. But they do: Since early 2009 (when the Tea Parties began), Kentucky has seen 50,000 new registered Democratic voters and only 41,000 new Republicans. (This is the Democrats' biggest advantage in years.)

That doesn't mean the Tea Party whack-a-doodles don't have influence they don't deserve. Money buys a lot. "Tea Party activists tend to be people with high socioeconomic status," University of Kentucky political scientist Stephen Voss correctly observed. So they have more money to throw at political campaigns.

Not exactly a populist movement. They're about as populist as the companies that stand to benefit from the Supreme Court's approval of corporate personhood. If they were genuine populists, they'd rally against this ruling.

I'm usually not in favor of kicking people when they're down, but the Tea Parties deserve every bit of it.