Rove: GOP Ignores Tea Parties at Own Peril

Karl Rove thinks the "tea party" anti-tax movement is "frequently amateurish and sometimes shrill," but he knows an opportunity for his beleaguered GOP when he sees one. The movement represents an outpouring of real and growing concerns that the party can't afford to ignore, the Republican strategist writes in the Wall Street Journal.

President Obama's tax hike on cigarettes was the first in 15 years, Rove notes, and the protesters clearly fear more to come. The Republican party may get a boost in upcoming state elections from the anti-tax feeling, Rove writes, but to properly harness it, the party needs to start explaining—as Reagan did—how the GOP approach will "link lower taxes to money in voters' pockets, and economic growth and jobs."