James Wolcott Quotes

Make no mistake about it. These are not 'kookie' birds. Right now the greatest player, the big tent on the political scene in America, is called the Tea Party movement.

To some extent, the mainstream's absence means the Tea Party is the Republican Party.

The reality of it is I think the GOP - Republicans and certainly conservatives - will partner with the Tea Party movement around this country.

I'm a conservative Republican, and I'm not a member of the Tea Party Caucus, but I have very good friends that are.

One thing Republican leaders, regardless of whether they love us or they hate us, have got to understand is there's no way in hell there will ever be another Republican president without the active engagement of the Tea Party masses and support of the Tea Party masses.

Today, grass-roots Republicans want to drink a bottle of 2010 small-government wine, but our candidates were bottled in another era, before the tea party's ideas took root.

The Tea Party has won. There simply isn’t that much difference between the establishment Republicans anymore, and if grassroots chalengers are loosing more races, it’s because they’ve succeeded in yanking the party far enough to the right that there isn’t any more space for them to fill.

The tea party movement has challenged the GOP to get back on track or risk losing its grip on the right wing. It's reminded Democrats that a slick marketing campaign coupled with paid activism isn't the same as a groundswell of real change, and the reason that Democrats are so hostile towards it is because they've never before encountered it.

Not all Republicans in the class of 2010 owe their seats to the Tea Party. But many do.

Ted Cruz just in a different league. He understands conservatism because he is.

So, a lot of my supporters back home are members of the Tea Party.

I've long thought that Marco Rubio would make a strong G.O.P. candidate for president. While he was brought into office by surfing on the Tea Party wave, he has proven himself not to be wedded to the frequent lunacy of those folks.

Sarah Palin may have chosen to not answer the call for the presidency, but make no mistake, the principles that garnered her the unique support she enjoyed continue to inform and drive the base that lifted her.

But I came from a conservative Republican background.

The Tea Party movement is a wide and diverse group. It will hurt the Republican Party if some elements of the Tea Party decide to become third party advocates because it will split the conservative vote.

My daughter will be reading about Pat Buchanan in a history book someday, and I am hanging out fist-bumping with him and joking with him.

You can't just have slogans, you can't just have catchy phrases. You have to have an agenda. And I think what the Republican Party has to do, if it's going to incorporate the tea party efforts in it, is to come up with an agenda that the American people can see, touch, and actually believe in, and something they believe in.

You know I have had Tea Party support.

I'm a conservative Republican. I have been since I was 15 years old and participated in the 'Goldwater for President' campaign in 1964.

Whether it's their Sharia law and birther conspiracies or their unwillingness to buck Grover Norquist's no-tax pledge, the Tea Partiers have hijacked their party and carried it all the way to the right.

My political views have since I was a kid someway or another reflected the concerns of Tea Party movement.

It is, of course, further indication that a fundamentalist right has really taken over much of the Republican Party, People might cite George Bush as proof that you can be totally impervious to the effects of Harvard and Yale education.

In many respects, I guess I would say I was into Tea Party before there was a Tea Party.

So I'm a pretty conservative fellow, but not conservative enough for the Tea Party.

Ted Cruz is not the official spokesman for American conservatism. If you want somebody who has been out there, who has offered an alternative - the person who offered an alternative, for example, is... Paul Ryan.