Despite the hopes of the foolish, the Tea Party hasn’t gone away:

“When it comes to the presidential contest, I think the tea partiers will turn up in droves,” she told The Daily Caller.

“They aren’t rallying in the street anymore — I think they’ve been there, done that, so they appear to be quieter. But tea party chapters are still alive and vigorous, and they are just chomping at the bit to pull a lever in November.”

What’s more, says Foley, is that tea partiers will ultimately rally behind whomever the GOP nominee turns out to be.

“And frankly, I think many tea partiers are eager to pull the lever in favor of the Republican presidential nominee — whoever that turns out to be — simply because, from their perspective, that person’s policies will be clearly preferable to those of President Obama,” she said.

And then there’s this:

Foley is the rarest of species: a tea party supporter in liberal academia. A law professor at Florida International University and chair in constitutional litigation for the Institute of Justice, Foley says many of her liberal colleagues didn’t receive her pro-tea party book too well. (RELATED: Full coverage of the tea party movement)

“It’s more than a little ironic that some of the most close-minded folks I have ever met make their living as professors whose entire job is to engage in scholarly inquiry and convey that spirit of open-minded inquiry to their students,” she said. “It never ceases to amaze and disappoint me.”

I’m long past either amazement or disappointment. They can do neither any more.

[Update a few minutes later]

Here’s a review of Foley’s book, which explains the Tea Party to the idiots in the media.