53. Centrists team up to fight the Tea Party

Financial Times FT.com

US 

Politics & Foreign policy

Centrists team up to fight the Tea Party

By Tom Braithwaite in Washington

Published: September 19 2010 20:32 | Last updated: September 19 2010 20:32

Republican and Democratic centrists fought back against the conservative “Tea Party” movement as lurid comments from Christine O’Donnell, its latest champion, threatened her chances of victory in November’s congressional elections.

Colin Powell, former secretary of state under George W. Bush, said it was time to argue over policy rather than “nonsense” and argued for liberalising immigration law. Mr Powell, a Republican, said he would not rule out endorsing President Barack Obama for a second term. “[The Tea Party] may well be a fad unless it converts itself from a movement into something that is a real political organisation that takes stands on positions. Right now what do they really believe in?” Mr Powell told NBC’s Meet the Press.

Ms O’Donnell, who won the Republican primary for a Delaware Senate seat, pulled out of appearances on the Sunday television talk show circuit after the emergence of an interview in 1999 when she said she had “dabbled into witchcraft”. The comments met immediate criticism from religious conservatives.

Meanwhile, Michael Bloomberg, the mayor of New York and another centrist Republican, told the New York Times that the Tea Party’s anger was “not a way to govern” and he would back centrist Democrats and Republicans. to take on the movement’s candidates for the November elections.

The Tea Party’s rise has been fuelled partly by the bail-outs of banks and carmakers that have driven its loose platform of lower taxes and less government intervention.

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2010. Print a single copy of this article for personal use. Contact us if you wish to print more to distribute to others.

"FT" and "Financial Times" are trademarks of the Financial Times. Privacy policy | Terms
© Copyright The Financial Times Ltd 2010.

--