There's a lot of Chamber of Commerce types of small/medium sized towns in the Tea Party. They're not stupid/ignorant, they're protecting what they think are their interests. |
But after the Oops Moment of the shutdown, the CoC may now put money into backing mainstream opponents of Teaa Partiers in GOP primaries: http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/monitor_breakfast/2013/1021/Could-US-Chamber-of-Commerce-be-counterweight-to-tea-party |