The Tea Party

Kathleen Parker’s article entitled “Tea Party has Steeped too Long for the Nation’s Good” is a admonishment of the Tea-Party for their failure (specifically through John Boehner) to raise the debt-ceiling. Parker’s motive behind this article is to convince the public of the kind of poltical dangers the Tea-Party presents and of the need to oust it from government. To do this, Parker employs blistering, cynical, admonitory tone behind her rhetoric, complaining of the Tea-Party’s hubris and incompetence, in general. But while the technical failings of the Tea-Party are clear in Parker’s opinion piece, what is more apparent are the character flaws of the party, itself. A further analysis of contents to this article will make this point clearer.

In short, the party’s use of power to avoid passing the amendment seems to be less concerned with the public interest and more with fulfilling their own agenda. This is Parker’s crucial concern, underlying her amonishment of the Tea-Party in general. --------
But Parker tries to get the reader to share this concern mostly by speaking to the audience in an angered tone, adopting harsh, jugmental rhetoric towards the Tea Party. For instance, Parker makes her stance on the Tea Party very clear from the start of the article. Parker writes how “The behavior of certain Republicans who call themselves tea party conservatives makes them the most destructive posse of misguided ‘patriots’ we 've seen in recent memory.” Parker further adds how “These people wouldn 't recognize a hot fudge sundae if the cherry started talking to them.”