Maryland Gov.: Republicans running for tea party nomination

Democratic Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley pointed out Sunday that Republican presidential candidates didn't seem to be running for their party's nomination as much as they were pandering to the tea party.

"I notice that [Alabama Gov. Haley Barbour] hasn't endorsed any of those that are running for president in his party yet," O'Malley told CBS' Bob Schieffer. "And that's because, Bob, they're not really -- you've seen the spectacle -- you talked about it yourself, the crowds booing the serviceman that spoke, the crowds applauding at the notion of letting someone die in the hospital. These candidates aren't running for the nomination of the Republican Party. They are running for the nomination of the tea party."

"They are not putting forward new ideas to create jobs that would qualify them to be president. They are pandering to the tea party to be the Mad Hatter... When President Obama runs against the backdrop of the big mess he was left, he will not be running against the Almighty, he will be running against the alternative. And right now, while their bench might be deep with personalities in the Republican Party, their pool is shallow in terms of new economic ideas or any sort of effective governance that's been proven in the field."

Barbour replied by saying that Republicans had a great chance if President Barack Obama decides to run on his first-term record.

"I mean, the idea that they are going to blame what happened in the last three years on [former President George W. Bush], you know next they will be talking about Herbert Hoover," Barbour explained.

"That's good analogy," O'Malley interrupted.

"Hey, I'm not surprised," Barbour said. "The Democrats ran against Hoover for 70 years. They gotta run against somebody because they sure can't run on Obamacare or his proposals to increase taxes on employers when the deal we're trying to do is have more employees. Yeah, they'll talk about Hoover, George Bush, Richard Nixon, Haley Barbour's too fat."

Watch this video from CBS' Face the Nation, broadcast Oct. 2, 2011.

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