> It doesn't matter what the Tea Party has done, the point is that they won a bunch of elections against way more established politicians. Actually, it does m

> It doesn't matter what the Tea Party has done, the point is that they won a bunch of elections against way more established politicians. Actually, it does matter, because accomplishing policy goals is the point, not electing candidates that (claim to) support the name of an ad-hoc 'party'. If the Tea Party is succeeding only in electing candidates who claim to belong to the Tea Party but don't actually advance the Tea Party agenda (either because they don't actually care to or because they're unable to), that's a failure.