Re: ... taken to an extreme, is meaningless

The "No True Scotsman" fallacy refers to excluding members from a group by means of moving the goalposts - which is to say, continually changing the minimum requirements of group membership in order to exclude someone.

Nooooo, the No True Scotsman fallacy is denying that someone is a group they clearly a member of in order to suit your argument. Lamar Smith is a member of the Tea Party caucus. Whether you like it or not, he is a Tea Partier. And he is by no means alone in being a TPer that wants to curtail the rights of others. Time and time again the TP demonstrates it's true face: it's just another group of fiscal and social conservatives. Michele Bachmann, the caucus's chair, is a major pro-lifer, as is most of the caucus. Todd Akin is against stem cell research. Joe Barton voted against extending the Voting Rights Act. Stephen Fincher, from my state of Tennessee, is opposed to same-sex marriage. Again, so are most members of the TP caucus. Face it, Baldur--the TP is just the same old Republican bs masquerading as something new. The only difference is that their egos are bigger and they're more stubborn than the old school Republicans.

The Tea Party originated with supporters of Ron Paul. One of Ron Paul's signature causes has been opposition to the Drug War. Lamar Smith has a history as a Drug Warrior, and in 2009 shot down a bill that was co-sponsored by Ron Paul and Barney Frank, which sought to end prohibition of Marijuana.

And? It may have started with Ron Paul's crowd, but it never could've gotten as big as it did if it had rejected anyone who was a social conservative. In fact, the Tea Party really only gained steam after Glenn Beck and Fox News started promoting it.

Furthermore, the Tea Party Caucus is not popular with the Tea Party, many of whom consider it an attempt by Republicans to hijack the movement.

So the Tea Party isn't popular with the Tea Party? Makes perfect sense to me that they can't even stand each other. You're just like one of those Christians who tries to deny that Christians who do evil are really Christian. If believe in Christ and consider the Bible the "Word of God" then you're a Christian. If you join the Tea Party caucus, then you're a TPer by definition. You may not like it, Baldur, but that's what they are; they have the official designation. You can't dissociate yourselves from them just because it's convenient. If their was a fixed technical or scientific definition of Tea Party that excluded these people, then I'd agree with you. Unfortunately for you, the Tea Party is not a technical or scientific term. It is, by it's own slippery eel-like standards, a conglomeration of people with ill-defined goals. That's the nature of the double-edged sword they were playing with.