While most prominent Republicans were lavishing praise on the Tea Party at the influential Conservative Political Action Conference, Arnold Schwarzenegger had another message: "The Tea Party is not going to go anywhere," the California governor said, dismissing the grassroots movement as merely "an expression of anger and dissatisfaction." Will he pay a political price for his comments even if he's right? (Watch Arnold Schwarzenegger diss the Tea Party)
Why should Swarzenegger be censured? He's right: The Governator is shrewd to predict the Tea Party will be a short-lived political "fad," says Mark Schmitt in The American Prospect. Just look back at every other fit of "right-wing populism." McCarthyism? The 1994 Gingrich revolution? Both came to nothing. "Hot populism" always burns itself out "quite quickly."
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