The “Lord of the Rings” metaphors crept into the debt-limit fight on Thursday, as tea-party heroes fired back at Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) who mocked members of the conservative grassroots movement as “tea-party hobbits.”
“I’d rather be a hobbit than a troll,” freshman Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said on a conference call when asked by POLITICO about McCain’s remarks. “I think in reading the books, the hobbits were the heroes. They overcame great obstacles, and I think I’d rather be a hobbit than a troll.”
Added fellow freshman Sen. Mike Lee, who co-founded the chamber’s tea party caucus with Paul and Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.): “It’s stunning to me that some people have resorted to name calling rather than simply addressing the issue.”
McCain, his party’s presidential nominee in 2008, took to the Senate floor a day earlier, blasting tea-party “As in the fable, it is the hobbits who are the heroes and save the land,” she added. “This Lord of the TARP actually ought to read to the end of the story and join forces with the TEA Party, not criticize it.”
