By Diana Banister & Craig Shirley

If they know what is good for them, the leadership of the still beleaguered Republican Party should be gathered this morning to develop a strategy for capturing the energy and intensity of the Tea Party protests.

Simply, the Tea Party movement is filling a void in American politics the Republican Party has failed miserably to do, even nine months since George W. Bush was sent packing back to Texas and the Obama Administration began its remaking of America, as he promised to do in the campaign.

To be sure, there is always a period of adjustment for the "out" party to react and to rebuild while all the attention is lavished on the "in" party but this is something quite different.

Maybe as many as 100,000 Americans were on the Washington Mall this past weekend protesting the policies of the Obama Administration and both Republicans and Democrats in Congress, while other protests took place around the country.  We know from national polling these are not just a few "nuts," as foolishly dismissed by some in the media, but rather a quickly growing number of serious minded and thoughtful American men and women who understand the stakes and are taking action.

While conservatives like Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), Reps Mike Pence (Ind.), Tom Price (Ga.) and Marsha Blackburn (Tenn.) understood the significance of this gathering, Republican consultants like Mark McKinnon were trashing the Tea Party protesters, in some cases even worse than are the liberals who support Obama. In fact it is Republicans like McKinnon who just don't get it.

The problem for the GOP is there has never been a cathartic event or series of events for the needed blood-letting for the disasters during their years of "leadership."  In fact, the last straw for most of these protesters was the TARP bailout a year ago which came under the direction of George W. Bush and Treasury Secretary Hank Paulsen.

Polling shows that while discontent with Obama is on the rise, affiliation with the GOP has astonishingly continued to fall. They never had the necessary "show trials" to assign blame and guilt for what went wrong and how the conservative principles espoused by Ronald Reagan were perverted over the last several years.

American populists remain repulsed by big government policies, no matter which party is in power. But what the Republicans don't understand is these grassroots conservative activists are just as fearful of big business as they are of big government, as true heirs of Jefferson and Madison, they distrust any concentration of power.

We frankly admit our surprise at the slow wittedness of the GOP – failing to fill the void on the right – and while there is time to right itself and join forces with the citizens of the Tea Party, it may be that when push comes to shove, it will be the Tea Party that co-opts the GOP; and not the other way around.

Many of the thousands of signs on Saturday suggested all members of Congress be thrown out of office. "Congressman for Clunkers" was one that captured the sentiment.

Conservatives taking control happened before, beginning in 1977, when the movement, led by Reagan, took over the country club, threw out GOP lightweights, and built a new winning political force in America.

It can happen again and this is a great start.

* * *

Craig Shirley and Diana Banister are partners of Shirley & Banister Public Affairs, a public relations and government affairs firm located in the nation’s capitol. Mr. Shirley’s latest book, "Rendezvous with Destiny" about Reagan’s 1980 campaign, will be released in October.

Bill Huey, Strategic Communications Atlanta (9/15):
Indeed, the so-called tea parties may be filling a void in American politics, but they aren't filling the void in American heads. A lot of them don't even know why they're there, except to vent. They don't want health care reform because they don't like change and think it's too expensive, but they have no idea of the cost of the present system.

The TPs also think they're being led down the rosy path by the Obama Administration, but the fact is they were screwed by Wall Street and their enablers long, long before Obama was out of political short pants.

Nevertheless I agree: the Tim Pawlentys of the world had better look out--the silent majority is still out there, and plenty mad.

Veep (9/15):
The Tea Parties, if nothing else, have been effective PR for conservatives. The GOP is wrestling with itself for an identity that goes to the right or tries to fight in the middle. You can certainly argue that the GOP chairman has not done much to give his party an identity, and these rallies have, as you said, filled the gap.

Joe Honick, GMA International Ltd (9/15):
I warned about these events in at least two articles in these pages recently. The idea of Armey's Army of bullyboys having an impact was laughed off by a partisan Obama person going by the name of "Honcho" and a right-wing anonymous type called "GOPlease."

The fact is as the authors here suggest that this bunch of well financed protesters has virtually silenced the finer people of the Republican party and are assuming a daily impact on the folks around the country upset by the recession and looking for someone to express irrational fear and anger. It is not a pretty picture now and could get worse.

Fed Up In NYC! (9/15):
Well done ... thank you for your insight. How important a time it is to do so - as the Left has gone off the deep end! Suggesting that paying for new Government programs by cutting waste and fraud in Government programs is the ultimate irony!

Guru 2 (9/15):
As a first step, the GOP should dump its chairman, Michael Steele. He has been an embarrassment from the start. It's not a racial thing, he is simply incompetent.

California cruiser (9/15):
Barack Obama's ratings drop each time he delivers another nothing rah-rah spiel. A judge has given the "talk" to Wall Street and the SEC that Obama should have given months ago. Obama is still floating on campaign air. Strange that the TP invective has not yet brought him down to reality.

PR Honcho (9/15):
Was it only 100,000? Are you sure it was so few? Glenn Beck said it was 2 million.

No matter, the better angels of the GOP were certainly on display this past weekend. They carried heart-warming signs like "Bury Obama Care With Kennedy", "We Came Unarmed (This Time)", "Obama Bin Laden", "Obama's Czars = Hitler's SS", and, my favorite, "Brother You Ain't My Keeper", featuring a racially stereotyped black Obama preparing to eat a little white guy.

I sincerely hope "reasonable Republicans" like you two continue to try to mainstream and legitimize teabaggers because moderates and indies are running the other way, as Howard Fineman has noted. They see right through what's really happening here. This mostly white, mostly southern minority of fringe wingnuts can't fathom how a black man ever became president. They don't understand how he was elected with an electoral college landslide. They reject Obama and they "want their country back," the one with Jim Crow laws.

You know what the GOP needs to do? Reject Limbaugh, Savage, Beck, Hannity, Coulter and all the rest. The GOP needs to dump Michael Steele. The GOP needs to loudly and clearly denounce the birthers, deathers, swastikas, and gun-toters. The GOP has to accept Obama and, as the loyal opposition, pledge to work with the president to sincerely and seriously fix the problems in this country.

Fed Up In NYC! (9/15):
PR Honcho- your duplicity is staggering.

GOPlease (9/15):
My God! A Republican commentary on O'Dwyer's? How did THAT happen?

Anyway, kudos.

As for the "usual gang of posters," where were ANY of you when the left was hanging George Bush in effigy, when Harry Reid was calling him a "loser" and a "liar?" NOW you've found your outrage? Please.

I fully agree that the extreme signs and statements debase any political argument - on the right or the left (note to Honcho: is it possible for you to go 10 posts without mentioning the words "Hitler" or "Nazi?" I doubt it.)

Bill Huey, Strategic Communications Atlanta (9/15):
GOP: George Bush was a liar. He lied about WMD, and then he lied about "Mission Accomplished." Eight years later, the mission in Iraq was far from accomplished. And you've got your usual gang of anonymous posters and those who sign their real names. A useful distinction, no?

Joe Honick, GMA International Ltd (9/15):
I must not have read those last couple of lines before commenting. If these two think what has happened in the Armey's Army, the Glenn Beck, Limbaugh etal yammerings etc are reflections of ethical conservatism, Bill Buckley must be swirling in his grave.

The target of this bunch is not improvement of the system or the country but the destruction of a presidency, not unlike the tactics used by the heavy weight business types like DuPont, Hearst et al in the early days of the FDR administration when they actually tried to finance a coup using a former Marine Corps general who blew the whistle on them. There is not one single respected conservative heavyweight in this bunch.

As to GOP's surprise that a Republican point of view is published, he/she is out on the fringe because his/her stuff is always presented with compassion in these pages. When he/she gathers the courage to put a name to all those silly name calling pieces, perhaps he/she would get a whole feature done.

These two authors put their names where their words are.

GOPlease (9/15):
Bill, unlike you, I don't want to run the risk of alienating lots of clients and prospects by my rantings. I'll stack my business up against yours anytime.

And Iraq is a lot closer to "mission accomplished" now then, say, universal healthcare or a job-ful recovery (despite $787 billion spent).

And, Joe, the day we in the conservative movement start letting you judge who's a respected conservative and who's not, we should just all hang it up and join the Socialist Party.

Joe Honick, GMA International Ltd (9/16):
GOP, forget about stacking experience. It was a foolish statement about Iraq that you couldn't help dropping in. Success in Iraq at the cost of thousands of men and women's lives of our own as well as tons of Iraqis for just what kind of success?

It was and remains a phony war in which millions in that country were not stirred to their own defense. It was and remains an endless conflict that has won the hearts and minds of defense contractors who lobbied the hell out of the Bush/Cheney administration so that people of the ilk of Halliburton, Blackwater and others could prosper and continue to do so.

And we have conducted that conflict without a draft, as in no other war, without public involvement and have no idea what actual victory looks like. And the same goes for Afghanistan.

I applaud the two people here who have written this article though I disagree with them. We know who they are and accept their right to speak out in a professional arena like this.

Bill Huey, Strategic Communications Atlanta (9/16):
Oh, I see now, GOP: you're one of those PR guys who checks his opinions at the door when there's money involved. That explains your moniker.

Joe Honick, GMA International Ltd (9/16):
There is another fascinating aspect to adoration for Ronald Reagan and the condition in which he left the state of California, a state that has since gone from first to worst in education and many other facets.

In reality, while no doubt sincere in his problems with government, Reagan supported Proposition 13 which dismantled the finest school system in the nation, numerous institutions for the mentally ill and much progress in energy conservation. He was a nice man, engaging man whom I had the pleasure to meet once, but hardly a student of the effects of his actions.

The Superintendent of Education while he was there eventually wound up running a joint called Troy State University and working for George Wallace. As much as the right wingers want to blame the state of the state on the Democrats, another reality has been more than a few Republican governors who helped to dismantle a fine part of American geography, culture and education.

No doubt GOP will rant and rave about all this, but he/she had better check facts before getting into that nonsense again. So far his/her history is not very sound or factual.

Semper Fi (9/16):
The ability to mobilize supporters is the single most important political tactic today. Whether it's online or in person, these Tea Parties get crowds, they get press, and they get noticed by others. It's working to further opposition to the Obama administration's policies and they are emboldening conservatives who seemed to be on the fence about John McCain last fall. There has been no effective counter to them on the Democratic side, despite the massive war chest of groups like MoveOn.

Joe Honick, GMA International Ltd (9/18):
Interesting revelations over the past few days in Seattle where Lyndon LaRouche and his goons have set up shop outside numerous public buildings promoting the posters with Obama as Hitler. What is interesting is the apparent partnership of this character, Limbaugh, Beck, Hannity all seeming to read from the same script. What they fail to realize is that fascism documentedly began with big business powerhouses in Italy and Germany and hardly promoted the idea of being nice to people. So what is the partnership of the Roushies, Rush, Beck and the rest that should be explored?

Thinkman2 (10/07):
If there ever was a total refutation to GOP and his negative buddies about whether Odwyer would carry right wing stuff, the longevity of this feature does the job completely.