What? NYT's Kate Zernike Pegs Christine O'Donnell Win as 'Jump the Shark Moment for the Tea Party'

October 22nd, 2010 11:33 PM

New York Times reporter Kate Zernike appeared on Washington Week on PBS to discuss the Tea Party, but with less than two weeks to go before a wave election, Zernike has already spotted "the jump-the-shark moment" for the Tea Party in Christine O'Donnell. Does she know what means, as in when a TV show reaches its zenith and from then on, it's all downhill? It doesn't sound like November 2 is going to be an all-downhill evening. PBS host Gwen Ifill asked Zernike the usual question about whether the Tea Party would help Republicans:  

ZERNIKE: There's two things in this election. One thing is the Tea Party enthusiasm, which has been huge. I mean, remember, no one thought Christine O'Donnell could ever win that primary.

IFILL: That's true.

ZERNIKE: And that was the result of real, like, grass roots fervor, and those Tea Party people believing beyond hope that she could win, and she did. But on the other side is the Tea Party extremism, which is what Democrats were sort of hoping for. They were hoping they'd be able to tag these Tea Party candidates with these extreme positions -- getting rid of Social Security, wanting to abolish the Department of  Education -- which we've heard before, but with the Tea Party candidates, they actually tend to mean it. [Smiling broadly] So I think Christine O'Donnell was in some ways a jump-the-shark moment for the Tea Party.

Later on PBS stations like the one in Washington, Charles Krauthammer predicted "The peasantry shall rise, and their arrogant rulers shall be humiliated."