How To Kick Out The Tea Party in 7 Steps

The Republican Party seems to be rushing into oblivion as far as clinching the White House is concerned no thanks to the Tea Party. Moreover, they have the unenviable position of being consistently constrained and defined by their most extreme arm, which could eventually lead to them losing ground to the Democrats especially with Independents. While far right support seems to be blossoming because of the Tea Party, across the board national support is waning. Averting political extinction is possible if the Tea Party is either reined in or muscled out. Below are seven steps on how either or both can be achieved.

Difficulty Level

Intermediate

Things Needed

·         Realigning Your Base at both Grassroots and Business Level

·         Organizational skills

·         A working committee to see to the fulfilling of the steps below

Step 1

Create a Conservative Manual for new Super-pacs

 The manual would be based on conservative principles entirely dedicated to the best thing about the conservative ideology –without the extremism of the Tea Party sponsoring Super-pacs. A good way of going about this is just look at what Freedom Works or any other Tea Party organization is pushing and creating a more blunted, refined and publicly acceptable set of guiding principles.

Step 2

Go to Town

Go to town with the new guidelines and aim at setting up 3 Super-pacs working independently of each other but all using the guiding principles of this “new” middle-ground conservative, non-extremist manual cum manifesto. They should source the funds and backers independently.

Step 3

Grassroots Drive

Establish a grassroots presence not from the bottom up but from the top down. More on this on step 5.

Step 4

Candidate Identification and “Political Impact Assessment”

Identify Republican candidates that have not taken any tea (or herb of the other sort for that matter). They should be candidates that can appeal to independents and America as a whole while affirming the principles of the super-pacs.  Assess their chances of success for Republican Party nomination ticket and running against the other political party.

Step 5

Standing Apart

Presenting an image of a reinvigorated Republican Party devoid of herbal induced rhetoric and action that borders on anarchy by creating a new voice backed up by the super-pac funds is the next thing. Go full throttle on presenting another image and narrative from the national media down to the local. This top to bottom approach should be placed side by side with establish local grassroots drive for middle of the road conservatism.

Step 6

Supporting Indentified Candidates

Push selected candidates as true Republicans. This is the where the road might fork. If your candidates get nominated, it will decimate the Tea party, further isolating them. This could either serve to reel them in or force them out of the main stream Republican Party. If your candidates lose, the same parting may still occur because it could become the real argument for a 3^rd party. Middle-ground conservatism would always be regarded as the true Republican Party and it is still the one that would have a greater audience while Tea Party would transmute to something akin to extremist right-wing parties found in Europe. These are parties that only tend to find national relevance when the economy tanks. They need you more than you need them.

Step 7

Side Notes

·         Steps 4 through 6 should run concurrently.

·         This means steps 3 too will start taken effect at the same time because of step 5.

·         While the super-pacs should be independent of each other, a level of coordination is obviously needed to create a political synergy that will serve the common good.

·         Step 5 is a critical aspect.

·         They need you more than you need them. Call them out. Stand apart and their so-called ‘base’ would become smaller. They have a smaller political footprint and are only relevant if they leech on into in the wider appeal of mainstream Republicanism. By stepping aside, they will be forced into making some hard decisions.

Tea Party: The Lost Soul of The Republican Party

The Republican Party has lost its soul to the Tea Party. A very narrow group has practically taken over a big enterprise and is now steering the ship of the Republican Party, dictating the agenda and how it responds.
This is dangerous. There is nothing wrong in being able to place your own concerns on the table, but when you take over how a Party responds to an issue without leaving any room for other opinions to come on board, it becomes dangerous especially when your agenda dose not just serve a narrow interest but is seen to scuttle the aspirations of the Party as a whole.
The Republican Party is standing at the precipice of something that has already got out of hand in terms of whose hand is on the wheel. They have lost control of the debt ceiling debacle to a group of very narrow serving people who will only end up causing more harm to the Party than good.
At first it looked as if they were in charge as they rode on the wave of energy the Tea Party brought to the Party after Bush era was literarily 'erased' out of the White House. But the wave of energy has turned into a tsunami scale wave and now they are all being hurled into land with everything about them spelling disaster because the Tea Party has gone out of control.
They should have seen this coming, if they were really observant but they accepted anything that would take them out of the lethargy they were in. There was no way the Tea Party could work for them, their stance was too ultra-conservative and bordered on fanatism. But as at that point in time, it wasn't directed against them(or so they thought). The real issue is that it wasn't directed in favor of any of the two parties. They thought that it would be the Democratic Party that would take the heat. This would have been true if they sat with the party squarely but they had their own agenda and the way they are pushing it has finally shown a lack of finess and strategy that will end up costing the Republican Party more than they bargained for.

Nigerian Security Situation: Reality Check

The trend and pattern is now clear. It started in the 60's with the
first major deliberate ethnic attack on the Ibos in Northen Nigeria,
many were killed. The
events spiralled into the Civil War.
During the eighties, pockets of extremist religious sects and their
quest to 'cleanse' the North of Southern elements ensued with
understated death tolls. One of such sectarian incidences were the
Maitasini riots.
Kaduna, Jos and some other cities had been major points of eruptions.
Kaduna and Jos are unique because of their historical heritage. With
other areas like Kano, Borno, Sokoto etc, the target had been
Southerners but with these two, it had always been with indigenes.
This is because Kaduna and Jos have idigenes who from time were
basically non-moslems. And some in The North had always seen these
stwo areas stick out as a sore thumb when it came to their claim of
having an Islamized North. It is time we do a reality check.
There has always been Northern elements whose sole agenda is to
forcibly bring these two areas ie the Non-moslem indigenes to their
knees by sheer brute force and terror. And the pattern has been
rushing towards what we are now seeing for some time now.
-it first started with 'riots' during the eighties.
- through out the nineties till now, with events occuring round the
world, astute watchers had known it would only be a matter of time
before clear cut and advanced form of terror begins to take place in
these parts. Now from roving bands of marauders attacking villages in
Plateau state and leaving behind them a trail of blood, we now have
synchronized multiple bombings taking place. We have moved within a
decade from a 'riot' that came about through two people probably
fighting over the price of chicken in the market to synchronized
bombings.
The people in power needs to really do some serious reality check.
There was a time this was limited to core areas in the North with
Kaduna and Jos, now Abuja has been attacked twice within a year. It is
spreading down and what stops it from hitting the shores of Bar Beach?
It is time people wake up. It is no longer a Northern thing.
The very first hijack ever recorded in Nigera was during the war or
those very early periods of it when a group of Easterners hijacked an
aircraft and landed it in The East. A Nigerian tried blowing up a
plane in Europe, what stops any body from taking one during a local
flight? It is time those in power wake up to reality.
They are still living with their heads in the clouds. They are still
calling for 'restraint' implying that they know who is doing what,
treating an ever enlarging issue with criminally kid gloves.
Nigeria is facing real terrorists. They are coming down from The North
and going up from The South-South.
It is time those in power stop looking at this as a 'sensitive' issue
where they are afraid whose ox will be gored. Some decisive actions
needs to be taken. Their are Emirates within The North that needs to
be completely dissolved. The issue of Sharia needs to be addressed
once and for all, we can't have two law systems working side by side,
one constitution is enough for one country. It is the sum of thes
'little' issues that is joining together to form the monster that we
are all looking up to.
Some Northern bigwigs needs to be brought to book for complicity. A
presidential hopeful made a very glaring threat on national TV, in
that same month Abuja was attacked again. People need to start been
shown that they just can't get away with any thing. They may not be
connected but it should be investigated because it is a lead worth
followiing on its own merit and an example should be made. People in
like positions should begin to see that every utterance comes with not
just responsibilities but with consequences.
The government should stop living with their heads in the clouds and
wake up to reality.
One of President's Jonathan's greatest undoing was to indicate
interest in running for the office. It has greatly limited his
capacity to taking decisive action. Now he has to weigh pros and cons
that he would have been otherwise free of if he and every body else
knew he was going to stay for the few months he had. They too would
have taken caution and kept their dogs on the leash because they would
know that it would not be allowed. But now, their dogs have been
unleashed on the Nation as they play their deadly game of relevance
and angling and haggling for positions with every thing in their
arsenal. Now Jonathan has been sworn in as President. Police
headquarters was bombed in Abuja.
It is time those in power sit up to the reality of what is happening
now. Governor Fashola should become pro-active. Nothing stops him from
setting up a security task force now( excluding the usual suspects of
the police and the State Services who from their body language and
indeed words of his Plateau counterpart, indicates that they are more
or less tools in the hands of the powers that be). He should set up
his own task force to look at the near and remote causes of the
security situation in the country and the impact it could have on
Lagos being the melting pot of the land and the most tempting target
around. They should send in people to infiltrate those areas in the
North and go into intelligence gathering. We are living in a country
where the passersby has more knowledge of about to happen events than
the State Apparatus. This is something that actually happened. One of
the intervewees in a recent successful jail break that was contrived
by members of another extremist sect; the Boku Haram asserted that it
was known by people within the vicinity of the prison. The man was
shown on TV saying they were told in a Mosque not to go to that street
moments before the attack started(I lie you not, this actually
happened but this is a country where things are criminally
overlooked).
The Fashola government shouldn't wait for things to happen or for
those in power -who are busy chasing after false dreams, negotiating
away a moment where they could have made real impact on the Nation(
you don't need 4 years to make that impact, Muritala Mohammed had a
shorter stint in the government house). They should become more
pro-active. They should just make sure they don't rely on the
apparatus of state or the task force would be dead before it even
starts.
Nigeria needs to wake up to the reality on ground and tackle this
menace head on, once and for all.

--
Sent from my mobile device

Bypassing The Republican Agenda

The strategy: set the agenda
The politics of the game is to set the topic of discuss and throw enough cogs in the wheel as to destablize the White House.
There success at setting the agenda is something that can be measured by just turning on your TV or looking out of the window.

The Antidote
Bypass by looping over the rhetoric and argument. Face the public and ask the pointed questions that unravels or show them to be politicking at the expense of real issues.....which is what you are presenting(ofcourse).
Take the budget ceiling issue. It is plain enough for any one to see that you can't just eat your cake and have it. If you want debt reduction, you must be willing to drop something at the table. But the problem is the handling of this matter. Democrats or The White House should loop over the Republicans who are doing everything to draw attention and ask the pointed question in the public domain.
Why shouldn't there be a tax increase on a segment of the populace?
Why are you protecting that segment?
Is this not just plain politicking at the expense of the American public?
Who and what are you really protecting?

Counter Strategy: if they set the agenda; dictate the pace.
Place every action they take on the alter of mere politicking and show it to be so. Take Romney and those that are hinging on them getting back to the White House on the back of a failed economy. Simplify the argument. No economy can work in isolation. That is no large economy can work in isolation. The American economy has been driving the world for decades. America is not Sweden. The 'failure' that is been seen today is a fallout of a failure that happened when they were in the White House. And they are doing everything possible to fight the bail out as it were. Simplify your argument not with them but with the public and you will get yourself another term.

Obama: Ten Tips To Topple The Republican Resurgence

One
Do not get into their ring with them. The simple fact is that they can't come into your ring. So their best bet at making any mark in the coming elections is to draw you away from yours and get you into theirs which is typicallu republican in nature and rhetoric. You can see already the areas they are harping on and pushing into the forefront of national consciousness. It is the typical republican side stepping and deflecting of attention from the weakest area which happens to be their brand of republicanism. Is America really ready for them after eight years of Bush? The simple answer is no and at a subconcious level, they know this. This is why Jeb Bush won't dare to step into the fray....that would have spelt disaster for the republican for at least a generation. But they are willing to heckle you both from the House(congress) and those outside who have daydreams of living in the White House but are at best and at this moment in time just canon fodder. In your ring you can dismantle them in no time. Stay in your ring and it would be clear to the public that since they can't step in, they are just distractions that should be ignored.

Two
Enterpreneurship and the economy is something that may be beyond your control, but like someone rightly said, the man at the top takes the commendation or condemnation when things go right or wrong during his watch. Yet the public can see through that veiled attempt to call a dog a bad name so that it can be hanged. The public can see through it if your team makes them see it. So for you, it will be a win-win situation.

Three
Mobilize a counter force to the disruptiveness called the Tea Party. Pay attention without paying attention. If you pay too much attention to them, it helps them but if your team can just turn the search light on them, the public would definitely see the ugly side of ultra conservatism. This is a secret; people at the top echeleons of the Republican Party have already seen it....and they stayed away from them, using them 'remotely'. But the onus is on your own side(Democrats) to remove the very thin layer of patriotism to see and show the blinding and destructive fanatism and extremism(the sms are coming thick and fast) that they really represent.

Four
Order The House. I think you need a special team just to 'liase'(I won't say handle or deal with because it might not sound politically correct) with Democrats in the House. The team would need to have their own office and they must be ready to apply all the tactics in the book of unwritten laws to make sure they whip, sorry; keep them in 'shape' and focused and heading in one direction. They must also have an eye out for the strays. I don't know if you have heard this before but it seems to be common knowledge that the Democrats in Congress are regarded as the most finnicky and fickle minded people(politically speaking) on earth. At the same time their Republican counterparts are seen as the most dreaded team to face, the type you would pray would be on the other side of the draw, like Barcelona(the football ie soccer club). So if you would want to meet them, let it be at the finals(that was what Ferguson and indeed all the managers in Europe asked of Santa during Easter, unfortunately, he was not on speaking terms with Murinho). Do something about the Democrats in Congress! Everybody needs to sit down and talk or maybe hire a therapist or something. The team(you and them in congress) must be tight.

Five
Consider the little things. Be a bit more 'preachy', sound black. Personally I like the balance you have struck, but now your 'aloofness' is now looking to become an unnecessary side issue. It is the little things that alienates....some are actually saying that these 'aloofnesss' is more or less 'whiteness' or you denying your 'blackness'. We know it's all just lack of education and plain old envy that borders on obtuseness.....but deal with it. Don't 'run amuck'(?). It's all about timing. There is a time to let it rip, and there is a time when the great speech is silence. But Michael Jackson wake was not a time to be silent. The preacherman let it rip and there were people who actually got to accept Michael at the point of that man's speech(because of his speech). There they saw light(circa: when he spoke directly to Michael's kids, about strange things and strange times, many saw light at that very moment). Don't wait till you are voted out of office before people begin to see light. History is now. Help them see it and appreciate. Every speech you make, every utterance should be something archivist should sell their homes for. Remember; history is now.

Six
Reach out to the undecided and don't sweat on the decided. The only thing with the decided is to present a consistency that is compelling. But a fact is some people will not vote for you because you are a democrat, period. If you had been an independent, they would have but because you are in the other party, the best you can get is if the abtain from voting altogether. And that is what you should go for i.e the best. But there are those who traditionally just came to watch the game and would applaud every good move whether is one team or the other.

Seven
Advance deployment of your weapon of defintie assurance. Once you deploy this weapon and integrate it into your campaign strategy, there is no way you won't be presenting to the public a very compelling reason for another four years. One thing you must recognize is winning marginally will not help your last tenure and the Democratic Party. If only Bush Jr. had read the handwriting correctly with the way he won and adopted aggressive measures, they would have readily introduced Jeb and the public wouldn't have reacted negatively. But he didn't read his scrapping victory correctly so they didn't adopt measures to appeal to the generality and Jeb was sheathed(would have been political suicide if he came out).
Unleash that weapon now.
And what is this weapon. It's not a what but a who.
Dearest Hillary. She already has the post and six years is not really that far away. Unleash her now(integrate her into this campaign and you would be telling America we want to go for back to back history) and that would change the whole color of the campaign. They would have to react. The Republican Machinery that have already giving you this coming election(they just don't want you to get it easily and their number one desire is that you win by the slimest of margins) would be bound to want to take evasive action. In fact, if you bring her in this early, they might just be tempted to throw Jeb into the race because they wouldn't want him to contest during 'half-time'(you stay your remaining four years, and Hillary takes the next four, they won't want him to come in then but to wait for another four years but by then twelve years would have gone). The public too would see this election differently because they would be forced to take their eyes off the present and 'plan' or look into the future(which is one thing that America has lost, the ability to bear pain now for gain tomorrow). They would start asking the questions you want them to ask and this might give you a landslide. Think about it, from history to history. Unleash her.

Eight
The technicality of this race demands that we classify is a cross country. It's not a hundred metre dash, neither is it your typical marathon but a cross country race. The layed out course goes through rough terrain that would naturally have unexpected things happening. There are things you can't control. Stick to that which you can i.e the man in the mirror. As much as possible, let the environment be as controlled as it possibly can. But in the end, you can only hold onto your own reins.

Nine
Intelligence demands that nothing should be taken for granted. So pay attention to those who would vote democrat come what may. Political Intelligence demands you get the right people in the right position and you strategically recognize and adopt measures that would diffuse every resistance that might want to rear their head. Use the sledge hammer if you have to or ignore them totally.

Ten
Chip monks.

Jonathan: Now That You Have Won The Elections

You have finally achieved a life long ambition, you have become the president of Nigeria in the most self-satisfying way possible. But you have been President already and what is obtainable already gives insight to what will happen in the next four years.

Violence increased
When you were sworn in the first time it was said that Niger Delta became less restive. This may be true because the argument peddled to them then was that one of 'their own' is now in the seat of power. But the real people who went underground in Niger Delta never came out. In fact, it is on record that they did what they had never done before in their history when you came to power; they bombed Abuja. These people are still underground, they do not intend coming out and that is what you have to tackle in the next four years.
Meanwhile the Niger Delta 'settlement' still continues. It is an all comers affair. It was sad to note a phone conversation that went on one place. On this end of the conversation, the fella was excited as he was being told to leave Lagos quickly and rush down to Port (Harcourt).
Why you might be wondering? Apparently, the windfall of 'militant resettlement' had started dropping and youths like him from all over the country, some of whom had never even held a gun in their life were rushing down to Port Harcourt to don the name of a militant so that they could be registered. This youth laughed over it, he didn't go but many did. The number of 'militants' that have been 'resettled' are in their thousands. Nobody is pausing to ask if these thousands were actually in the creeks -an army with such a mass would have done more damage than what really transpired. But the real militants are still in the creeks, they are even becoming more efficient now that you are President and those are the people you will be facing in the South-South.

What about the North?
Ah! For the things you would have done within a year of your stay in office if only you decided not to run! You see, just as those in the South-South had people who knew them by name and face and who even knew where they slept at night, the same applies to those in the North. And these people(that knows them) are in positions of authority, don't be surprised Mr. President if you have been eating and dining with them even as they are aware of these men who unleash carnage in the name of religion. You see sir, it's all about control and leverage. It's all about having an effective bargaining chip. Oh how they prayed that you would bite the bait and accept to run for the office of President! Before then they had no power, no leverage on you and they were very afraid because you were like a wet dynamite to them in those very early days when it appeared as if you were undecided. Cursed is ambition that made you swallow the bait! That was the period you would have effectively dealt with them. That was the period when those sponsoring violence in Jos and Borno and in other places up north would have either gone underground and suspended the act altogether or would have been made to pay the price because they know that without any leverage over you, they would be sitting ducks. Or why do you think that sect leader was killed after being apprehended? Didn't you hear when it was said that there were those in places of authority who were connected with him? But you decided to drink and dine with them and you short changed your tenure with the desire for another four years. You short changed a period when you could have made extremely meaningful impact to four years of the usual story. Maybe you should have gone to Muritala Mohammed and talked to him. How long did he stay in power? But are we not still talking about him today because of the impact he made? Even Buhari could have told you a few things, how long did he stay, but it was that very short period of time that catapulted him into relevance and had become so even decades after. If only you had just refused to bite the bait! But now that you have won the elections, what will your next four years be like?
Are you going to be one of those President who cannot freely travel to some states in his own country(even states you were declared as winner)? That would be a first if it ever happens. But what do we have here? We still have a PDP that is in power. It's a master stroke of ingenuity for a party agreed by all to be so corrupt and having lost its relevance to now be voted into power by people who were all this while thought to be de-tribalized and ready to push Nigeria forward in the right direction. And they had the temerity to say they were voting personality and not the polity called the PDP. What has that got to do with the party? Why would they not celebrate their stroke of good fortune for having such a Good Luck to continue the pillage and the 'equitable' sharing formular they have adopted over the years? Their partners in crime have been indicted in foreign courts and names have be mentioned but in Nigeria, their EFCC is still looking for proof! In foreign courts, their accomplices have be prosecuted and found guilty, but in Nigeria the very prime perpetrators of the crime are walking free and in places of governance because the evidence is just not there.

What are we going to see in the next four years now that you have being elected President?
If you failed with the little time, you are going to fail with the big time, and I know you don't believe the hype of how your short tenure has been so successful. It is the PDP that is in power ladies and gentlemen and you have all contributed your own quota in ensuring that they don't leave Aso Rock. All they did was try on a new mask and it brought them Good Luck. Now the mask did not cover there body ie they were not even a masqurade. It was in fact the kind of mask that even when used on your face or part of it still leaves your identity open for all to see but what most chose to see was their Good Luck. PDP was not trying to hide themselves and even up to the very elections people were still being caught in one act or the other that bespoke sabotage of their sitting President's promise of a free and fair election. And they were doing this in states where they had 'majority' but everybody decided to look the other way as they like the fools they were kept on nodding their head in approval of the wonderful clothing the king, sorry; the President had on and none had the guts to own up to the fact that the king is naked.
One can just see three years from now how this same people will come out and defend their Good Luck. We already know what they are going to say because it is a prepared script that only the perverse in integrity read from. Here's some:

*** ***
He was not given the chance to do what he really wanted.
The 'cabal' within the PDP fustrated his efforts.
Corruption is not the responsibility of one man to eradicate.
He should be given another four years to finish what he has started.
*** ***

Four years from now the PDP will jump up again and see if their luck would shine a second time. There would have been bombings, there would have been carnage, there would have been atrocities, there would have been scandals but the PDP would shake themselves again and see if their luck would shine.
Then the 'de-tribalized' Nigerians who are from the South-South would speak again. They would want the South to have their full eight years and who better to choose than the man who is already at the sit of power? And everybody would postpone the liberation of Nigeria from corruption for another four years.
And as for you Mr. President, you have become what you wanted. They have voted you into power -one way or the other. You are the Good Luck mask of the PDP. The mascot that represents corruption continum. Let's us see how you would fare. Already things are bad as it is. You have not been sworn in and carnage is already on the street called Nigeria. What have you done? Blame another man. Is this what Nigeria is going to get for the next four years? Blaming others and sacking one person after the other, looking at every where but the problem and dealing with it squarely? Please come off this shameless path and begin to look for other excuses beside post election violence. A time will come when it would no longer hold any credibility, the carnage in the North is being perpetrated by those in Authority who are privy of those that are commiting the crimes, the 'Blame it on Buhari' would soon wear out. What a shame. What a pity. As to the people that 'voted' you into power, we say congratulations. The joy here is they got what they wanted and yes what they deserved. This is an ongoing soap, sit comfortably and watch on.

NB part of your campaign assertions were that since you were in power there had not been any fuel crisis. Well sir, you have barely been sworn in and the truth of PDP and what you represent is already showing....where is kerosene? Have your people started justifying why fuel must be increased already? Now local air carriers go to countries like Ghana to get fuel because it is cheaper...and to think that Ghana gets their fuel from us....
The PDP won't allow the price to be cheap in Nigeria...their middle men won't. They won't allow it to be available also so that it can still be even more expensive....this is what people have voted to continue in Nigeria....now they are depending on Luck to get things done right...what a shame...what a pity.

This piece was written before President Jonathan was sworn in on May 29 2011.