Why the Tea Party continues to control the GOP

FRIGHTENING: Why the Tea Party still controls the GOP, polling data reveals strong ties.

Last November, Bill McInturff referred to the Tea Party-first Republicans as his party's "special forces elite troops." The middle group, he said, "are sort of like the regular army, and the Republicans that aren't the tea party are kind of the support staff far from the front lines." The Republican leadership in Washington is currently stuck between the rock of their activist base and the hard place of their allies and benefactors in the business community who fear the consequences of a government default. These polling data tell us that their dilemma will not easily resolve.

It's true, the ties between the Republican Party and the Tea Party, a movement so easily dismissed on its propensity to lean towards rhetoric than substance, have become so indelible they threaten to overtake the image of Republicanism as a balanced approach to government. When it was just gaining ground and support, I recall, Michael Bloomberg called the group a 'fad'. I only wish he had been correct. Now, it seems markedly more difficult to simply shrug off the group dismissively, and instead their influence, ever growing, must be taken into account — factored into the equation. It worries me.