They were infiltrated by hardcore "progressives"...AKA socialists and communists. Others just got into power and were quickly corrupted by it. Ideology and power, to summarize.
Of course they're extremists, but extremist is a relative term, especially these days. Also, extremist doesn't necessarily mean wrong, but there again, it depends on which side of the argument you're on as to what you believe to be right or wrong. I have views that would be considered extreme, especially if you're a leftist commie. I think Harry and Nancy are extremists, but if you're a lefist commie you probably don't think that they are. The difference between me and many extremists is that I am willing to admit that some of my views are extreme. They happen to be right, but they are extreme when taken in context of the entire argument. All I'm saying is when you have to parties being heavily influenced by extremists, somebody needs to be the mediator. In this case that would be the president. In this particular case the president is also an extremist who favors the left, has zero leadership skills, and basicly can only operate in perpetual campaign mode. Consequently, nothing gets done.
We "Tea Party types" are supporters of the US Constitution. We only appear to be "extreme" to Leftist/DemoCrap/Communist ideologues (you know, like Odumbo, Reid, Pelosi, Schumer) and their parasite-class supporters.
Now the bigger question. Who is winning? We both know that both parties are pandering to the extremists within their respective parties. Let's take a few issues. Captial Punishment: Extremist view for the right. The obviously guilty of capital crimes should be executed within 24 hours of their conviction(which BTW would be my view). Other leftist commie view. Nobody gets executed regardless of crime committed. It gets negotiated. Who won? The left. Look at what we have. While some states do have executions, they take years, usually decades and millions of dollars in expenditures, muking up the entire system. Leftist victory. War: Extremist view of the right. Wars should only be fought when complete and total annilation of the enemy is the accpetable outcome. Leftist commie view. We act as police, win hearts and minds, build schools and give the heathens indooor plumbing. It gets negotiated. Who won? Do I even need to be specific? Leftist victory. Abortion: Why even waste the space? Leftist victory. The economy: The right would have free market capitalism. The left would prefer socialism. It gets negotiated. Who won? This is a tricky one because many would say the right is winning. Actually the left is kicking ass again on this issue, and the wealthy elite on the right have said, fuck it, we make money either way, so who cares. So they privatized the profits while socializing the losses. If you understand that the goal of the left is to destroy the system, then you understand why Obama has done nothing to prosecute the financial terrorists that took us down. What should have been done to these people like Mozilo, Phil Grahm, Hank Paulsen, Greenspan, et al? See my opinon under Capital Punishment. Issue after issue the left is winning and winning big. When you consider the whole point of radical leftism is to destroy our society, and you look and what these issues are doing to our society, the obvious conclusion is that the left is winning. I would say wake up America, but frankly it's too late. We went to sleep and were killed while dreaming of better days.
Which is why so many of us who are opposed to left wing policies must be painted and percieved as extremists. You were correct in your earlier post (an excellent post, by the way) when you stated that it is relative to the viewer's perspective whether someone is extremist or not, but I would add that it is also politically expedient to portray your enemy as extreme to marginalize him, even if he is not extreme against what would be considered the middle ground. I personally believe that is where the tea party is, but all must be convinced they are extremist as they pose a threat to the left (and those on the right who are OK with the lurch to the left). This is a major tactic of the current political left wing power, many of whom are radical Alynskyites, prez included. They also use false accusations of racism and other lies to create the perception of "extremists".