Tea Party Hobbits

The “Lord of the Rings” metaphors crept into the debt-limit fight on Thursday, as tea-party heroes fired back at Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) who mocked members of the conservative grassroots movement as “tea-party hobbits.”

“I’d rather be a hobbit than a troll,” freshman Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said on a conference call when asked by POLITICO about McCain’s remarks. “I think in reading the books, the hobbits were the heroes. They overcame great obstacles, and I think I’d rather be a hobbit than a troll.”

Added fellow freshman Sen. Mike Lee, who co-founded the chamber’s tea party caucus with Paul and Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.): “It’s stunning to me that some people have resorted to name calling rather than simply addressing the issue.”

McCain, his party’s presidential nominee in 2008, took to the Senate floor a day earlier, blasting tea-party lawmakers for opposing House Speaker John Boehner’s plan to raise the debt ceiling because it doesn’t require passage of a balanced budget amendment.

The five-term senator is a strong supporter of such an amendment but he dismissed their stance as “foolish,” “deceiving and “bizarro,” saying it is unrealistic the proposed amendment could win the 67 votes needed to clear the Democratic-controlled Senate.

Quoting from a Wall Street Journal editorial, McCain said “tea-party hobbits” were mistaken to think that if Republicans refuse to raise the debt ceiling and the government defaults on its loans, President Barack Obama would get the blame.

“This is the kind of crack political thinking that turned [tea-party heroes] Sharron Angle and Christine O’Donnell into GOP Senate nominees,” McCain said, citing the editorial.

Angle shot back in a series of rapid-fire tweets Wednesday night, then hit McCain in a statement Thursday noting that the senator picked tea-party darling Sarah Palin as his 2008 running mate and ran to the right last year as he fended off a tough primary challenge.

“This man campaigned for TEA Party support in his last re-election, but now throws Christine O’Donnell and I into the harbor with Sarah Palin,” said Angle, who tried to unseat Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) last year.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0711/60151.html#ixzz1TzyW5iod