VOA慢速英语2014 共和党人与茶党的政治斗争暂占上风

 

AS IT IS 2014-06-30 Mainstream¹ Republicans Defeat Tea Party, For Now 共和党人与茶党的政治斗争暂占上风

Mainstream Republicans claimed a victory recently in their political battle with activists² from the conservative Tea Party movement. Thad Cochran represents the southern state of Mississippi in the U.S. Senate. He is considered a traditional -- or “establishment” -- Republican. Mr. Cochran has served in the Senate for six six-year terms. But he had been targeted for defeat this year by Tea Party activists.

Last week, Senator Cochran defeated his opponent for the Republican nomination³, but the vote was very close. In an earlier primary election, Mr. Cochran received fewer votes than his Tea Party-supported opponent -- state legislator Chris McDaniel. But neither candidate received at least 50 percent of the votes. This forced the two men into a second, or run-off, election.

Mr. McDaniel lost the runoff election. But he received money and other help from national Tea Party organizations. They have been fighting establishment Republicans for control of the party.

VOA National Correspondent Jim Malone has been reporting on the Tea Party movement for the past few years. We asked him to tell us what the group wants.

“Their main goal is to reduce the size of government, but, politically, they want to push Republicans away from the idea of negotiating or compromising with Democrats⁴ -- especially with President Obama. They find him sort of an opponent in terms of the size of government and in the direction the country is headed, so over the past several years we have seen a number of primary battles within the Republican Party where Tea Party challengers have taken on established Republican figures.  They’ve had some success, they’ve had some setbacks. The race in Mississippi -- this latest example -- was a setback⁵ for the Tea Party, but the Tea Party will live on and this battle for the heart and soul of the Republican Party will continue indefinitely.”

Jim Malone says the Tea Party movement gained strength because of the policies of President Obama. But he says the group’s members oppose government spending and tax increases -- whether proposed by Republicans or Democrats.

“The rise of the Tea Party was, in part, not just against Barack Obama but against the policies of, say, George W. Bush, who was also a heavy spender -- some of it military spending. And this sort of divide in the Republican Party that we see on display in these primary elections is very much alive because the Tea Party is committed to reducing the size of government. They also want a different approach to American politics -- they do not like the compromises that we’ve seen in the past between Democrats and Republicans to keep the government moving. And the great example of that in recent times was last October’s government shutdown -- which was led by Tea Party supporters in the Congress.”

The battle between mainstream Republicans and Tea Party supporters will continue in the 2016 congressional elections. Experts believe Republicans will keep control of the House of Representatives and may take control of the Senate away from Democrats.  

Tea Party supporters will be working to make the House more conservative. They also want Republicans in the Senate to support more-conservative policies. The two sides will also fight over who will be the Republican presidential candidate in 2016.  Already, each side has its favorites.     

1 mainstream   

n.（思想或行为的）主流；adj.主流的

参考例句：

• Their views lie outside the mainstream of current medical opinion.他们的观点不属于当今医学界观点的主流。
• Polls are still largely reflects the mainstream sentiment.民调还在很大程度上反映了社会主流情绪。

2 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 nomination   

n.提名，任命，提名权

参考例句：

• John is favourite to get the nomination for club president.约翰最有希望被提名为俱乐部主席。
• Few people pronounced for his nomination.很少人表示赞成他的提名。

4 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 setback   

n.退步，挫折，挫败

参考例句：

• Since that time there has never been any setback in his career.从那时起他在事业上一直没有遇到周折。
• She views every minor setback as a disaster.她把每个较小的挫折都看成重大灾难。