The teabaggers are starting to take on Republicans and their first target is Lindsey Graham.

Now, after voting to confirm Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court and expressing a willingness to build a compromise approach to clean energy legislation, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) appears to be the new target of tea party activists. At a Graham town hall in Greenville yesterday, activist Harry Kimball of “RINO HUNT” protested by constructing a display that depicted Graham, as well as moderates like Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) and Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), being flushed down a toilet:

KIMBALL: This is for every RINO who has failed to represent us. […] [the toilet represents] flushing them, flushing them.

One attendee of the event asked the senator, “when are you going to announce that you are switching parties?” The question drew loud applause from the crowd. Graham defended himself, and denounced the influence of Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) on the Republican party:

They pushed Specter out and now are targeting Graham. Add to that Collins and Snowe and you can see the Republican numbers in Senate drop down to less than 30%. Here’s a video of this exchange, with more thoughts after that:

Now every analyst pretty much agrees that one of the biggest problem with the Republican Party is their the size of their incredible shrinking tent. Add to that how viral the tea baggers actually are, you could end up with less than moderate Republicans being pushed out down the road. This will be a very bad outcome for the GOP – becoming a party of old, angry white racists. This isn’t how you rebuild a party, but rather how you put the final nails in the coffin.

I never believed the tea party movement had the strength to change a country. Even with all the PR they get and positive exposure from places like FOX News, a majority of this country still views them as being very bad for our nation. While the won’t be able to change our country, they are very capable of changing the Republican Party. Enough GOP leaders grasp on to them just to act like they have people who believe in them. Even when there was the huge tea party here in Ohio last month, neo cons like John Boehner and Jean Schmidt were ridiculed by the tea baggers. If those two aren’t wingnutty enough for the tea baggers then who is?

Given the very angry nature of the tea baggers and their destructive personalities, it very well could turn out that they are a big plus to the Democrats next fall. A tea party endorsement for any candidate will be a death blow. Perhaps the best solution to this problem is for the tea party to become actually that – a party. I always preach how we need more parties in this country, and they have enough of a movement to do just that. Forget about the Republicans, start your own. Then we can sit back and see how many Republicans actually defect to it. My guess will be not many at all. No where near the numbers as if the liberals split off from the Democratic Party and started their own party.