Via T
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"The conflict is evidence of a broader rift between the Republican establishment and tea-party supporters, who helped vault the GOP to power this year."
The first: the tea party is not a "threat" to the Republican Party, the tea party saved the Republican Party. In a broad sense, the tea party rescued it from being the fat, unhappy, querulous creature it had become, a party that didn't remember anymore why it existed, or what its historical purpose was. The tea party, with its energy and earnestness, restored the GOP to itself."
Via Washington Rebel