Et Tu, Tea Party?

Allowing himself to blow with the political winds of the moment, Gov. Phil Bryant continues to ratchet up his new-found opposition to Common Core education standards that he has approved over the past two years. Going against the wishes of the state Board of Education and business groups like the Mississippi Economic Council, Bryant flip flops on a position he agreed with just two months ago! Citing such sources as Tea Party state Sen. Michael Watson of Pascagoula, and let's take a moment to think about that, Bryant feels he has tapped into a vein of opposition he must follow.

Beyond such unremarkable legislators like Watson and Tea Party Sen. Angela Hill of Picayune, Tea Party leader and person who gives me mean looks in the Capitol Laura Van Overschele says that even though Bryant has changed his views on Common Core, his new-found opposition may be too little too late. Read her words for yourself.

“My worry is that he [Bryant] hasn’t figured that out yet—whether he wants to be re-elected for a second term as governor,” Van Overschelde told Breitbart News. “I’m wondering whether the groundswell that has amassed for Chris McDaniel and his conservative values, I’m wondering if he [Bryant] will ever be able to convince enough of the electorate, who supported him overwhelmingly in 2011—are they really going to be able to bite that bullet? I don’t think so. It could be really politically bad for him.”

When asked if Bryant is still salvageable from the grassroots perspective, Van Overschelde said, “he’s going to have a lot of work to do.”

“He’s tone deaf,” she said. “We had extensive conversations with him about the army we were amassing to support Chris McDaniel. We told him about it not very long after Sen. Cochran announced that he was going to run again. We told him this was going to be a grassroots thing. We’re going to get the people in Mississippi to look at what’s going on here. The people are not happy with a lot of the state things that have happened. It’s coming. You can bet on it. It’s going to be a hard road to hoe to convince enough people that they can believe in you when you’ve been backing Cochran all that time.”

After all Bryant has done to advance the Tea Party's agenda, and thereby transforming the Republican Party, Van Overschelde and her army of malcontents are threatening to punish the man who has done more for them than Haley Barbour ever would. Still no word on pardon reform, mind you.

For crying out loud, Phil Bryant isn't conservative enough for the Tea Party?! My goodness! This is the same Phil Bryant that said mothers getting jobs is the reason for faults in our education system! Bryant has dragged his knuckles across the ground with his Tea Party supporters from day one! I don't understand how much more conservative they need Bryant to get before they view him as a team player.

If Bryant is not as conservative as they want, I wish Van Overschelde and her colleagues would move beyond platitudes like "we want conservative leadership" and actually explain what they mean when they say that. If Bryant isn't their guy, who is? Explain to us, or We The People, what an ideal candidate looks like to them. If Bryant isn't safe after all he has done for the Tea Party base of the Republican Party, I hope every other Mississippi Republican hears the footsteps coming up behind them.