I feel that calling them ‘big tent’ is both correct and incorrect, depending on definitions. My parents were tea partiers, so I got a real up-close look at it.

You are correct about needing lockstep with the agenda, but missing the part where they didn’t care so much about your past actions. They Big Tent in the “well, you might have voted Dem before, but now you’re with us now, so you’re cool” sort of way.