The Associated Press did a lengthy, in-depth study of the so-called tea party movement and found things that shouldn't surprise anyone who reads a newspaper or follows any legitimate news source.
The AP found:
* There is no one centralized tea party, and in fact there seems to be an argument among those involved in the movement whether there should be a unified tea party since many of them remember the last real third-party movement led by Ross Perot that actually took enough votes from George H. Bush to put Bill Clinton in the White House.
* The movement, although most would consider very politically conservative and certainly leaning toward being far right-wing, is not tied to Democrats or Republicans and has targeted both in anti-incumbent rallies.
* The party has no state or national leader. In fact, there are multiple tea party groups in the same areas of various parts of the nation.
* The movement has no specific issues and is not united on one platform.
* The movement appears to be more against existing government than for anything and demonstrates more anger at incumbents than it does anything else.
If one had to summarize the tea party movement philosophy, it might best be described as one of "throw all the bums out," with little regard for how the government might function while the new electees learn their jobs and/or establish a foothold in government policy, philosophy, budget, law, nation and international affairs, etc.
While "throw all the bums out" might sound like a great philosophy, it's always someone else's "bums." that need tossed and there's never any consideration on how to continue government when all the "bums" are tossed.
It's the entire pork vs. bacon debate of what's pork for one area or segment of the nation is bacon for another.
"Throw all the bums out" just isn't practical, let alone possible.
