What should the role of the tea party be?

It seems that what attracted Nevada primary voters to Angle was, in large part, her outsider, amateur status. But beginners by definition are not battle-tested, and a Senate campaign is a tough place to cut one’s political teeth. Angle is not a complete newcomer, of course; she served in Nevada’s State Assembly from 1999 to 2005. But she had been out of public life for five years before the current campaign, and had never faced anything like the scrutiny that goes with a Senate race…

My point is that it is fine to be both an outsider and a beginner, but since when did we conservatives think it’s a good idea to start at the top? The reality is that it takes a strong, competent candidate, and generally an experienced one, to beat an incumbent Democrat. So Tea Party activists and other conservatives should by all means encourage new entrants into the political fray, but at an appropriate level. The idea that anyone who has been engaged in politics for a while is tainted is a snare and a delusion. In federal races, conservative activists should support strong candidates who have a good chance to win, and that generally, although not always, means candidates who are not novices. We should support, as William Buckley used to put it, the most conservative viable candidate.