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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: 998
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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Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 87.
#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.
Actually, it's not fascism to call for less government. What is fascism (in many parts) and socialism (in the remaining parts) are the policies of the current administration. Protesting those policies is *anti-fascism*. Fascism, for the record, is the public direction of the output of private property. The government gets to decide the where, what, why and how, while the private citizen gets to pay the property tax and has no real say. That's this administration's direction thus far, clear and unequivocally.
I don't know about that SoL. I did notice that Palin's posse drew from the Oath Keepers personal page when I created an account and signed-up to monitor them. Which is why I do this sort of thing. I signed up with Oath Keepers first, then later did so with the Palin group. From experience doing this since the early 1990s, I learned to omit minor facts to see if I could get the system to draw them in from other databases, and this happened with the Palin group sign-up. As far as I am concerned, this makes me very skeptical about the actual motives and goals of Oath Keepers specifically and the Tea Party movement in general. Too many things here are joined at the hip for me not to be cynical about various groups on the right and what they actually trying to do.
I didn't see any self proclaimed or advertising "Oath Keepers" at any of the functions around this area. And I've heard and seen Republicans (and Dems) booed with equal vigor at these gatherings, for the same reasons. I suspect that it's a matter of where you're at in the nation. Each area's rally seems to be different than other area's rallies. Nature of the beast when dealing with grassroots.
OK, fair enough. Tell you what, next time a tea party is close enough to where I will be much of this next year in Connecticut dealing with family business, I'll go check it out for myself. I would say that that is the least I can do. Though I'm here to tell you, when I went to the rally at one of the Federal Court Houses in Eugene during the Klamath Water controversy, even though I was an openly myself account holder at Free Republic, they shunned me heavily based on my very counter culture appearance, and even posted a picture in the FR piece on it of me calling me a "suspected Earth liberation Front member" until I complained and they had to change it. ;-)
How did you get an account at FR? You were banned for life shortly after I signed up there in late 98. RimJob actually let you have an account again?
#89. To: Critter (#87)
I don't think Jim Rob really cares who posts there. As long as no one complains you can go back.
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#15. To: farmfriend (#14)
#16. To: Eric Stratton (#15)
#19. To: farmfriend (#16)
#24. To: Ferret Mike (#19)
#46. To: SonOfLiberty (#24)
#48. To: Ferret Mike (#46)
#56. To: SonOfLiberty, farmfriend (#48)
#87. To: Ferret Mike (#56)
Replies to Comment # 87. How did you get an account at FR? You were banned for life shortly after I signed up there in late 98. RimJob actually let you have an account again?
End Trace Mode for Comment # 87.