Tea Party Concerns About Counterterrorism, Civil Liberties Skyrocketing

How tea party could you have been if you supported the national security state? About Michele Bachmann level

A majority of tea party Republicans say anti-terrorism policies are going "too far" in restricting civil liberties, a complete reversal for a group who at its beginnings thought Washington was not being aggressive enough on terrorism.

The striking shift comes from a Pew Research Center poll released Friday that asked respondents which concerns them more about anti-terrorism policies: that they "have gone too far in restricting civil liberties" or "not gone far enough to protect the country." By 55 to 31 percent, more Republicans and GOP-leaning independents who agree with the tea party movement say civil liberties are the bigger concern. In 2010, by comparison, tea party Republicans broke by more than 3 to 1 in the opposite direction, 63 to 20 percent more concerned about not going far enough to protect the country.