Tea Party Group Incurs 'No Labels' Wrath Over Republican 'Threats'

No Labels, a bipartisan citizens group, is calling out Tea Party Patriots for "threats" against House Republicans for supporting the bipartisan deal on the 2011 spending bill.

Tea Party Patriots' co-founder Mark Meckler told The Hill he is encouraging primary challenges against Republican members who voted for the stopgap budget measure.

When the majority of Americans are crying out for adult leadership in Washington, Mr. Meckler is throwing the political equivalent of a temper-tantrum. We came just hours away from a shutdown of the federal government, but thankfully, Republicans and Democrats were come together in a bipartisan manner. Now Mr. Meckler and the Tea Party want to thwart this progress, said Mark McKinnon, No Labels co-founder.

If the Tea Party really wants to show it can be a powerful force in American politics, it needs to bring ideas to the table, not threats.

McKinnon, a Republican, cited a USA Today/Gallup Poll that showed respondents support the bipartisan budget deal by a 2-1 margin. Meanwhile, other polls show nearly half of Americans have an unfavorable view of the tea party movement generally -- a rating almost identical to the Republican and Democratic parties.