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Title: Tea partiers turn on GOP leadership
Source:
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URL Source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/politico/28157
Published: Oct 11, 2009
Author: n
Post Date: 2009-10-11 21:46:43 by gengis gandhi
Keywords: None
Views: 988
Comments: 96
Tea partiers turn on GOP leadership Politico Featured Topics: * Barack Obama George's Bottom Line on Tea Parties Play Video ABC News – George's Bottom Line on Tea Parties * Raw Video: Tea party protesters converge on D.C. Play Video Video:Raw Video: Tea party protesters converge on D.C. AP * Protestors Expected in Washington, D.C. Play Video Video:Protestors Expected in Washington, D.C. ABC News Alex Isenstadt Alex Isenstadt – Sun Oct 11, 8:00 am ET While the energy of the anti-tax and anti-Big Government tea party movement may yet haunt Democrats in 2010, the first order of business appears to be remaking the Republican Party. Whether it’s the loose confederation of Washington-oriented groups that have played an organizational role or the state-level activists who are channeling grass-roots anger into action back home, tea party forces are confronting the Republican establishment by backing insurgent conservatives and generating their own candidates — even if it means taking on GOP incumbents. “We will be a headache for anyone who believes the Constitution of the United States … isn’t to be protected,” said Dick Armey, chairman of the anti-tax and limited government advocacy group FreedomWorks, which helped plan and promote the tea parties, town hall protests and the September ‘Taxpayer March’ in Washington. “If you can’t take it seriously, we will look for places of other employment for you.” “We’re not a partisan organization, and I think many Republicans are disappointed we are not,” added Armey, a former GOP congressman. In Florida, where the national party has signaled its preference for centrist Gov. Charlie Crist in the GOP Senate primary, tea party activists are lining up behind former state House Speaker Marco Rubio in reaction to Crist’s public backing for President Barack Obama’s stimulus package. “We were very disappointed with Gov. Charlie Crist when he supported the stimulus, the bailout, and he appeared publicly with President Obama,” said Everett Wilkinson, a South Florida-based organizer for Tea Party Patriots. “The opposition comes from Crist’s support for the largest spending plan ever and the environmental policies he’s pushing on the American people.” Rubio has already made appearances at Florida tea parties, and protesters have been seen waving signs declaring, “Anybody but Charlie Crist.” He also has Armey’s endorsement, and Armey headlined a Dallas fundraiser for him several weeks ago. Wilkinson said that the tax status of his Florida-based group limits what it can do to assist Rubio in the August 2010 primary. But he said the organization would launch an aggressive get-out-the-vote operation and issue a report card grading each candidate appearing on the ballot. Tea party activists are also lining up behind challengers to GOP establishment-backed Senate candidates in Colorado and Connecticut. In California, former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina — like Crist, another National Republican Senatorial Committee-favored Senate contender — is the target of tea party animus in her primary against conservative state Assemblyman Chuck DeVore. “My impression is that the support among tea partyers for DeVore is high,” said Mark Meckler, a California-based organizer for Tea Party Patriots. “I hear nothing but praise for the guy.” Tea party organizers say their resistance to Republican Party-backed primary candidates has much to do with what they perceive as the GOP’s stubborn insistence on embracing candidates who don’t abide by a small government, anti-tax conservative philosophy. “It’s an outgrowth of the frustration people have had with the Republican Party,” said Andrew Moylan, director of governmental affairs for the National Taxpayers Union, another group that has played a large role in organizing the tea party movement. “I think a lot of people have been angry at Republicans for betraying our trust.” “I think the GOP establishment has ignored their constituents and the feelings of their constituents for years,” added Meckler. It’s an unusual predicament for the Republican Party, since the conservative-oriented issues that animate Tea Party activists once seemed destined to make the movement a valuable auxiliary to the Republican Party. While there’s little evidence of tea party activist support for Democratic candidates, the specific notion of electing a GOP majority hasn’t ranked high on their agenda either. At the recent “Defending the American Dream Summit,” a conservative event held in Arlington, Va., a breakout session featuring tea party organizers saw panelists peppered with questions ranging from how to start up political action committees and 501(c)(3) organizations to whether it was necessary to hire lawyers. “Nothing is going to change unless we can get politicians elected who can implement fiscally conservative policies,” Teri Adams of the Philadelphia-based Independence Hall Tea Party Association, which will be launching a political arm, told those in attendance. In a handful of states, tea party activists have zeroed in on House Republican incumbents and have launched primary challenges in protest of their past support for the controversial Wall Street bank bailout. One of those activists, Canyon Clowdus, an Army veteran who is taking on third-term conservative Rep. Mike Conaway (R-Texas), has blasted the incumbent for making “a horrible mistake” in voting for Troubled Asset Relief Program. “He has put a financial burden on my four children that will amount to hundreds of thousands of dollars each,” Clowdus says of Conaway on his campaign website. “I think it was a bad, bad political decision,” Armey said of the 34 Senate Republicans and 91 House Republicans who voted for the TARP bailout, “and if you talk to grass-roots activists, it has become a political test for them.” Moylan agreed that TARP is “really kind of the flash point that started all of this.” “People are paying attention and are willing to hold these people accountable,” he said. For some, supporting insurgent campaigns or waging primary bids just isn’t a strong enough signal to send to a Republican Party that has abandoned core conservative policies. Erick Erickson, founder and editor of the influential conservative blog RedState, has urged tea party activists to “put down the protest signs” and stage takeovers of local Republican parties. “Grass-roots activists need to start infiltrating the party,” said Erickson. “The only way to start getting [the establishment] back is to start pounding them with every fist we have.” Read More Stories from POLITICO
Poster Comment: yet another institution becomes irrelvant, this time, political parties.
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#14. To: gengis gandhi, Eric Stratton, Flintlock, wbales, Jethro Tull, tom007, Horse (#0)
The GOP tried to hi jack the tea parties without really understanding what they were about. The GOP is about as blind as the left leaning media, if what you are doing isn't working, do more of it.
deleted
Can't argue against you.
I'm not impressed with the hypocrisy of the tea bag wans. It's just more Right wing fascist - you'll get freedom as long as you agree with us - crap. It is a movement not only not ready for prime time, it represents what it is against better then it articulates what it is for.
While I agree with your sentiment about the tea baggers, if you want to see hypocrisy you should look in the mirror, where you will see not only hypocrisy, but a face full of dishonesty as well. If you were honest with yourself and the rest of us then you would hail the Bush administration as the biggest liberal success since LBJ. He did everything your kind has been demanding for decades. There is not a single area of government that did not expand by at least half during their reign. An honest, non-partisan liberal would call him your sides best friend. Especially since Obama has so far continued with the exact same policies as Bush, to include siding with them in court over spying on American citizens, among other things. As for your Monsanto picture, that is another area of hypocrisy. You pretend that you are an enemy of big agri-business monstrosities like Monsanto, ADM, etc., yet support a party and a president who are right at this minute trying to decimate the population of the American small farmer in order to decrease competition to these same companies you supposedly dislike. All under the name of "safety." Under the Democan Party, H.R. 2749 will run thousands of small farmers out of business. Then of course their is the NAIS which Obama and friends are also pushing. So much for being for the little guy. You are as much a fraud as your Republicrat counterparts, your claims of not being a Democan notwithstanding. Actions speak louder than words and your continued support of a president and party that has shown itself to be no different than its predecessors speaks volumes.
With respect to the National Organic Program, it is my expectation that the FDA will work very closely with the NOP as it implements this bill to ensure there are no such conflicts. There is direction within the bill for the FDA to consider small farms, organic practices and conservation methods, and I trust that this will be followed. The intention of this bill is not to harm farming practices that have existed for centuries with minimal documented health risk." http://www.foodrenegade.com/hr-2749-passes-with-some-reassuring-language/ Ironic you should try to attack on this front. And it's not just because I changed the signature block last night as I do from time to time. I have many friends who like me are into organic gardening and I shop mostly at small organic heavy markets. We had been gathering signatures on petitions against the worst in this bill and by no means am I totally satisfied with all the changes in it. But the bill is not currently as bad as you say. There is more that does need to be done to it before it becomes law. I would also point out that I stopped working all aspects of industrial forestry in 1994, including on wild land fires because of the problems associated with turning the remaining healthy forest primeval into a tree farm. And this happened about the time I became a Green and became a forest activist full time for a long time. Political Party roles are open public information, and me, Michael Joseph McCarthy of Eugene, Oregon is a Pacific Green Party member, and you cover attitudes of some Democrats that caused me to change my lifelong membership in the Democratic Party. And I supported Barack Obama because my worries with the direction generally of the U.S. made it hard to get anywhere on farming and forestry issues because Smirk and Snarl had made things so dangerous for us internationally, it was hard to get people to focus on issues such as you talk about in your post and I nearly died protesting in my fall in 1998 from a tree I was climbing to banner for a demonstration planned the next day. I don't have any argument with you about the bad things in this bill, many of which have been removed, changed of modified because of problems with it. And I didn't spend the time I spent this summer at Red Barn Grocery helping table in front for petition signatures and to inform people about the problems with this bill and other legislation I am concerned with for any other reason then my concern for small organic farmers. We need more of them not less. We need to learn from their example, not to hurt them or put them out of business. Thanks for mentioning this bill by the way, I am heartened by your knowledge and concern about it. However, you are mis-informed if you think I am unaware of the problems with it and if you think I am not extremely concerned about it still.
You're effin kidding me. Just WOW. And of course you assumed the pro-fascist-Statist Commie will "solve" the problem?
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#15. To: farmfriend (#14)
#16. To: Eric Stratton (#15)
#19. To: farmfriend (#16)
#32. To: Ferret Mike, all (#19)
(Edited)
I'm not impressed with the hypocrisy of the tea bag wans.
#40. To: Hayek Fan (#32)
"The bill before us includes important language that would exempt from registration and from fees on-farm processors who sell more than half of their product by value directly to consumers or who process grain for sale to other farms. I believe these two provisions go a long way to satisfying the kinds of concerns being expressed. However, I realize there are other small farms or small local processors who will not fit under these exemptions who may face a hardship and I promise to work with my colleagues to address these concerns as the bill moves into conference.
#43. To: Ferret Mike, Hayek Fan (#40)
(Edited)
I supported Barack Obama because my worries with the direction generally of the U.S. made it hard to get anywhere on farming and forestry issues...
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