Tea Party - Double Entendre Intended?

Michael Steele's grim outlook on Sean Hannity's television show regarding the Republican Party's odds in 2010 prompted Rogue in Rouge to quip glibly to a coworker that we ought to scrap the entire party and start afresh, a la Whig --> Democrat. I've always imagined the end of the Whig Party as a boisterous scene with a bunch of men angrily removing their wigs, waving them with clenched fists in the air, throwing them to the ground, storming out of the Capitol and ending the party then and there. A recent WSJ/NBC News Poll hints that such a thing may be afoot. It's not a good sign when a loosely affiliated group of protesters within your party is more popular with voters than the actual party itself, right?