Reid May Have Stirred Tempest With Tea Party in Slamming movement

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid just might regret dissing the tea party movement, even if he did cite a poll to back up his criticism of the grass-roots activists who are credited with boosting the GOP to election victories last year. Reid wants the Republican Party to ignore the tea party, a vocal group that probably won’t nod politely, and quietly, at his advice.

"The country doesn't care much about the tea party,” Reid said Wednesday, according to The Hill. “There is a new CNN poll out today that says this very directly.”

He was referring to a CNN poll released Wednesday showing that 47 percent of Americans view the tea party movement unfavorably, compared with 32 percent who have a positive view of the movement.

“So let me reiterate my hope that the Republican leadership recognizes that they can't continue to be pulled to the right by the radical, unrealistic, unreasonable, I repeat, radical and unpopular faction — the tea party," Reid said.