Now we're talking:
Although generally hawkish and conservative with a libertarian streak “we’re for strong defense” is an oft-repeated mantra in the movement tea party leaders and allies contacted by POLITICO said that both fairness and common sense dictate that the military budget be scrutinized for such cuts, a view that puts them in sync with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and some of the most liberal members of Congress.
“Everything is on the table,” insisted Mark Meckler, a national coordinator with the group Tea Party Patriots. “I have yet to hear anyone say, We can’t touch defense spending,’ or any other issue. ... Any tea partier who says something else lacks integrity.”...
[Rep. Paul Broun (R-Ga.), a tea party favorite], a bitter critic of Obama and no fan of Gates or the history of U.S. military intervention since World War II, including NATO said the country “cannot be a protector of the whole world. We cannot do that any longer. We don’t have the money to do it anyway.”
When the tea-partiers put entitlements and defense on the table and produce real plans to cut all of the above, they will get the Dish's support. I'm waiting, like a lot of people, to see whether they mean what they say. So far, they have failed utterly. But if they show a willingness to cut entitlements and defense by the amounts needed for long term fiscal sanity, we'll back them all the way.