On Delaware

About that Delaware primary: Christine O'Donnell won the Republican nomination and it is therefore time for Republicans and conservatives to go all in to give her the best possible chance to win the general election.

To those who opposed her in the primary, get over it. She is a more, uh, colorful candidate than many of us might prefer. The downside to the Tea Party movement is that there is no party apparatus to recruit candidates. That's is a serious drawback. But the energy that the Tea Party has brought to the Republican party -- and the insistence that Republicans return to first principles -- has saved our party from irrelevance.

I could care less that Mike Castle would have had an easier shot in the general election because Delaware is a blue state. Mike Castle is a RINO. He would not have voted with Republicans on the close calls, the issues that matter to conservatives. He is not a lost vote because he would not have been a reliable vote.

The only thing that a Castle victory could have contributed is that if his election made the difference between minority and majority status, that would have allowed Republicans to chair Congressional committees. Realistically, however, control of the Senate will not be determined by one seat -- at least not this year.

I am sick and tired of Karl Rove bashing Christine O'Donnell. I am sick and tired of Fox News treating Karl Rove like he matters any more. He does not. He stood by while the Bush administration spent like drunken sailors -- not just the war, but the Energy bill and the Transportation bill and the Medicare prescription benefits. In light of that profligacy, he has lost the authority to speak for conservatives. If he was really such a political genius, he would have seen the back-lash that the Bush administration's spending was bound to cause.

It's hard to believe that Christine O'Donnell is the most electable conservative in Delaware, that there wasn't a true conservative with less baggage. It no longer matters. She is the nominee and its is time to get her elected.

Tea Partiers Dumping Rand Paul

Rand Paul likes to open his stump speeches by saying that he "has a message from the Tea Parties: we've come to take our country back."

The problem for Paul is that his endorsement from Sarah Palin has infuriated many in the Kentucky Tea Party movement, who prefer Bill Johnson in the Republican primary.

In addition, two organizers of last summer's Tea Parties, Sue Jaycox and Debra Tennison, complain about Paul's audacity at claiming to represent a movement that arose around issues and ideas rather than a candidate's charisma:

We believe any candidate who claims to be "the" Tea Party candidate is clearly out of touch with its spontaneous and diverse nature that is truly non-partisan and completely free from being bound to any one candidate.

This race may be on the verge of becoming a three-way. If Paul and Johnson split the Tea Party vote, Trey Grayson wins.

Tea Party Convention Comes to Nashville

The first ever Tea Party National Convention will take place in Nashville, February 4-6. Sarah Palin is the keynote speaker. Rep. Michelle Bachmann will also speak.

Dr. Rand Paul is not listed as a speaker, but given the proximity of Bowling Green to Nashville, it would be easy for him to drop by.

Happy Tax Day

As you file your tax return (or your extension) today, consider that if you're 40 years old, you will pay $81,000 just to service the debt on the Obama budget. If you're 50, you'll pay $132,ooo in interest on the debt in the Obama budget. No wonder taxpayers are taking to the streets.

Tea, Anyone?

"Tea parties" patterned after the Boston Tea Party are springing up across the nation as voters manifest their disgust with the Obama Administration's profligate spending of our tax dollars.

Last weekend, four thousand people protested federal spending at the Cincinatti tea party. (Check out the Instapundit's pictures.) This Saturday, Lexington gets its own tea party, hosted by WLAP, the Club For Growth and the Bluegrass Institute. The fun starts at noon at the Fayette County Courthouse.

It's a decentralized movement that has caught on by virtue of the power of its message rather than any organizational force, as David Vickers writes:

The American tea party movement bears more resemblance to a rolling block party than a unified organized movement or cause. And that’s precisely why I love it. These people are nice. They’re smart. They come from all walks of life. And they’re sincere. I’ve met hard-hat wearing construction managers, accountants, school teachers, the unemployed, retirees, even the nicest anarchist couple who are worried about their kids’ futures.

And the numbers of protests and protesters continue to stagger, from the consistent low hundreds to the thousands — in all types of political and meteorological climates.

This broad spread outrage with the Obama Administration's spending contrasts with the fake grassroots support that Team Obama is trying to impose from the top down by reactivating its campaign apparatus. So desperate is Obama to gin up support for his budget that he even has called upon Moveon.org to help.

Millions of campaign supporters are receiving e-mails urging them to call members of Congress. Groups allied with the White House are running ads scorning the president's foes. States that were closely contested in the 2008 election are again getting visits from Obama.

While he's in road-trip mode, Obama should take the time to visit one of the tea parties. He'd realize that Rush Limbaugh is not the leader of the Republican Party; John Galt is. And all those women swooning --it's not over Barry's abs, but rather the size of the deficit.