Tea Partiers claim to support smaller government but are most enthusiastic about Rick Santorum, who hearts earmarks and right-wing nanny state paternalism, and Newt Gingrich, who would use big government to finance colonies on the moon.
How to explain this contradiction?
First of all, I suspect that many Tea Partiers really don’t know what they stand for other than identity politics. Secondly, I suspect as do some other pundits, that many Tea Partiers who gave Santorum a big bump in Iowa didn’t really know what he stood for, let alone the fact that he is a Roman Catholic and may not be right with their God.
In any event, Tea Partier will have little influence today in New Hampshire and only a bit more in South Carolina on January 21, but it may be that Iowa was their high water mark insofar as influencing the outcome of caucuses and primaries.