New CNN poll reveals fissure between tea party members and GOP establishment

On MSNBC's Morning Joe program Friday, host Joe Scarborough said he was "Tea Party before there was a Tea Party," a line that we've heard uttered by Rick Santorum on the campaign trail this year, and a few other Repubilcans over the past couple of years.

Scarborough made that remark, however, to inoculate himself to charges that he was being critical of the conservative upstarts in the Republican Party, as he criticized (once again) Rick Perry and Michelle Bachmann, saying that they are straying outside the mainstream of being viable nationally.

That remains to be seen. But a new CNN poll reveals that though plenty of establishment Republicans (such as Mitt Romney) give lip service to how much they respect the tea party, there is undoubtedly a division between them and the GOP establishment.

This article appears in Sep 15-21, 2011.