The tea party now has its own news site. Based at the Venetian Resort in Las Vegas, the Tea Party News Network describes itself as “the only trusted news source.” It focuses on such right-wing heroes as Michele Bachmann and Allen West, who just lost an election for a House seat in southern Florida – though perhaps not on TPNN.

That the patriots have rejected the Republican establishment as governance sympathizers is no longer a concern of the Republican establishment. Many GOP leaders blame tea party antics for their recent electoral defeats.

Now they must deal with the “fiscal cliff” and are going to need all the reality-based supporters they can get. Better to have the patriots saying remarkable things far from the Fox News studios in New York and Washington.