Read the rest of Slate’s coverage from the GOP convention.
TAMPA, Fla.—Two words have not appeared in tandem in any of tonight’s speeches. They are Tea Party. The closest any speaker got to mentioning the movement that changed Congress in 2010 was in Texas U.S. Senate candidate Ted Cruz’s speech. And he managed to avoid using the magic words.
Since 2010, something extraordinary has been happening, something that has dumbfounded the chattering class. It began here in Florida in 2010. In Utah, Kentucky, Pennsylvania. Was repeated this summer in Indiana. Nebraska. Wisconsin. And this past month, in the Lone Star State, Texas. What is happening all across America is a Great Awakening. A response to career politicians in both parties who’ve gotten us into this mess.
“Career politicians in both parties.” There was not a Tea Party so much as there was a kick-out-the-incumbents movement, we’re told. But the Tea Party’s challenges were idelogical, and the Democrats who lost in 2010 and 2012 have been victims of pretty situational/redistricting-related problems.
