Politics: The Tea Party Purge of 2012.

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Politics The Tea Party Purge of 2012 Republican leaders are punishing some of the party's most conservative members. And they won't go down without a yelp. By David Weigel Posted Wednesday, Dec 05, 2012, at 12:29 AM ET Everybody knew that Tim Huelskamp would make trouble in Washington. That was sort of the point of Tim Huelskamp. In 2009, when a safe Republican seat in western Kansas opened up, State Sen. Huelskamp established himself as the mad-as-hell candidate. He told conservative bloggers of his fight to defund Planned Parenthood, ban gay marriage, and keep Kathleen Sebelius out of the Obama cabinet. In one TV ad, as the mellow-looking Huelskamp climbed into a tractor, voters were told that he "went against his party leaders, and was kicked off his committee, for bucking the establishment and fighting wasteful spending." He won easy. History repeats. On Tuesday, the re-elected Huelskamp walked into a luncheon at the Heritage Foundation and told conservative activists how he'd just been booted from the Budget and Agriculture Committees. It was a "purge," and his crime was being exactly as conservative as he'd promised. "We've heard from multiple sources that someone walked in with a list of votes and said, 'if you didn't [fulfill] a particular scorecard on the 'right' votes—which by the way, in most cases, were not the conservative positions—we're gonna remove you from committee." The activists quietly chewed Chick-fil-A sandwiches as Huelskamp scorched his party leaders. "It confirms, in my mind, Americans' deepest suspicions about Washington. It's petty, it's vindictive, and if you have any conservative principles, you will be punished for it." If losing the 2012 election was tough for movement conservatives, the month ... To continue reading, click here. Join the Fray: our reader discussion forum What did you think of this article? POST A MESSAGE | READ MESSAGES Also In Slate The Tea Party Purge of 2012 The Dark Dangers of Tunnel Vision What Should You Do if You're Pushed Onto Subway Tracks?	Advertisement
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