The House speaker claims the Tea Party movement has been hijacked by the Republican Party despite grassroots sharing common ground with Democrats.
The Tea Party movement is being orchestrated from Republican headquarters, so isn’t truly a grassroots movement, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Sunday.
“The Republican Party directs a lot of what the Tea Party does, but not everybody in the Tea Party takes direction from the Republican Party. And so there was a lot of, shall we say, Astroturf, as opposed to grassroots,” she said
In a speech Wednesday night at the George Washington University, Howard Dean told College Democrats that “the Tea Party is about a generation who grew up in an America where everyone looked like them” and implied that the movement is hostile to President Obama because of his race.
This website is set up in response to the attempts by the GOP and Third Political Parties to “hijack” the tea party movement. We find the recent attacks on the movement insulting and are demanding a retraction by Michael Steele and the leadership of the GOP. Specifically, the funding of groups in California to hold “tea parties,” the launching of the partisan website teaparty.gop.com, and the misrepresentation of a meeting by Mr. Steele has called for the tea party movement to take action to address the GOP.
Big Government has learned a meeting of former Clintonistas and senior Democrat political operatives to coordinate a push-back to the burgeoning tea party movement. Consider it a Democrat party relief effort.
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When tea party, 9/12 and townhall protests and rallies first erupted on the national scene, they were derided by national politicos as astroturf or a small fringe movement. Lefty journalists at MSNBC, CNN and elsewhere laughed away the movement with derogatory, pornographic references.
Then, Scott Brown won election to the U.S. Senate from Massachusetts. No one is laughing anymore. In fact, Democrats are facing political annihilation this November. Not only do Democrats face the possibility of losing their congressional majorities, massive losses in state house races could jeopardize redistricting next year and set back the progressive agenda for at least a decade.
So, the Clinton Empire is planning to strike back.
Big Government has learned that Clintonistas are plotting a “push/pull” strategy. They plan to identify 7-8 national figures active in the tea party movement and engage in deep opposition research on them. If possible, they will identify one or two they can perhaps ‘turn’, either with money or threats, to create a mole in the movement. The others will be subjected to a full-on smear campaign. (Has MSNBC already been notified?)
Big Government has also learned that James Carville will head up the effort.
Sarah Palin and the Tea Party movement “both have far less support in the country at large than a gullible Old Media seems to understand or suggest,” Time magazine senior political analyst Mark Halperin asserted on “The Page” while colleague Joe Klein, on Time’s “Swampland” blog, showed fear of the supposedly impotent coalition as he denigrated her Saturday night convention speech as “anti-intellectual drivel,” scolding as “anti-American” those dumb enough to like her:
Those who celebrate Sarah Palin’s lack of knowledge as a form of “authenticity” superior to Barack Obama’s gloriously American mongrel ethnicity and self-made intellectuality are representatives of a long-standing American theme – the celebration of sameness, and mediocrity, in a country that has succeeded brilliantly because of its diversity and restlessly eccentric genius. Happily, it has almost always been a losing theme. And, indeed, in the truest sense, it can be called anti-American.
Halperin, political director for ABC News until 2007, appeared on the Sunday edition of ABC’s World News where he insisted Palin and tea partiers are “still not big enough or specific enough to do anything but criticize Obama, criticize the government” and while “that creates excitement,” it’s “not a national governing movement.”
Join us for the biggest Tea Party Express national tour to date. Starting March 27, 2010 with a Mega Rally in Searchlight, NV (hometown to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid) we will take this message across the nation all the way to the White House in Washington, D.C. on April 15th:
“You, the politicians in Washington, have failed We The People with your bailouts, out-of-control deficit spending, government takeovers of sectors of the economy, Cap & Trade, government-run health care, and higher taxes! If you thought we were just going to quietly go away, or that this tea party movement would be just a passing fad, you were mistaken. We’re taking our country back!”
Join us from March 27th to April 15th, 2010
as we tell Congress and the White House: “Enough!”
The Tea Party is a unique populist movement and moment in American history. There is no charismatic leader of the party. The Tea Party has more grassroots movers, shakers, and members than any other populist movement ever seen in our country. So what makes it so different from previous populist political factions?
“Populism” is a vague political concept. There have been populist (and wannabe populist) political movements on the left, on the right, and even in the middle (wherever that is) in the history of American politics. None of the movements were particularly successful — and many of them were outright scams.
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So what makes the Tea Party different? I have attended several local Tea Party gatherings (and addressed a couple of them). There is one document that is ubiquitous at these events: the Constitution for the United States of America[iii]. People hand out copies of the Constitution like hors d’oeuvres that are served at…a de rigueur tea party.
At one Tea Party, I helped a women lug a couple of cardboard boxes filled with pocket-sized copies of the Constitution into the hotel conference room. We sat the boxes on a folding table next to the dais for the speakers. “I only bought a thousand copies. You think that will be enough?” she asked me.
I smiled. “Enough for today…” I started to reply.
“Excuse me,” a man interrupted us. He carried another box full of copies of the Constitution and set his box on the table next to her two boxes. He opened his box and began handing out the Constitution to the people who were filing into the meeting room. “Plenty,” I told the woman, and we laughed.
“Populist constitutionalism” — that’s what the Tea Party is all about. Love and respect for the Constitution is driving the movement. Sharing the document, and then discussing its meaning, purpose, and ideas — that is the process that is taking place as a result of this love and respect.
This discussion is what America needs right now. The Constitution (and a real federal government) contains the set of principles that can unite all Americans (with the possible exception of the most radical of those on the left, who want to see some kind of socialist central state). Please Read More Here…
A new Web site targeting the tea parties is a part of a complex network of money flowing from the mountainous coffers of the country’s biggest labor unions and trickling slowly into political slush funds for Democratic activists.
A seemingly grassroots organization that’s mounted an online campaign to counter the tea party movement is actually the front end of an elaborate scheme that funnels funds — including sizable labor union contributions — through the offices of a prominent Democratic party lawyer.
A Web site popped up in January dedicated to preventing the tea party’s “radical” and “dangerous” ideas from “gaining legislative traction,” targeting GOP candidates in Illinois for the firing squad.
“This movement is a fad,” proclaims TheTeaPartyIsOver.org, which was established by the American Public Policy Center (APPC), a D.C.-based campaign shop that few people have ever heard of.
But a close look reveals the APPC’s place in a complex network of money flowing from the mountainous coffers of the country’s biggest labor unions into political slush funds for Democratic activists.
Here’s how it works: What appears like a local groundswell is in fact the creation of two men — Craig Varoga and George Rakis, Democratic Party strategists who have set up a number of so-called 527 groups, the non-profit election organizations that hammer on contentious issues (think Swift Boats, for example).
Varoga and Rakis keep a central mailing address in Washington, pulling in soft money contributions from unions and other well-padded sources to engage in what amounts to a legal laundering system. The money — tens of millions of dollars — gets circulated around to different states by the 527s, which pay for TV ads, Internet campaigns and lobbyist salaries, all while keeping the hands of the unions clean — for the most part.
The system helps hide the true sources of funding, giving the appearance of locally bred opposition in states from Oklahoma to New Jersey, or in the case of the Tea Party Web site, in Illinois.
And this whitewash is entirely legal, say election law experts, who told FoxNews.com that this arrangement more or less the norm in Washington.
“It’s not illegal but it is, I think, dishonest on the part of the organizations,” said Paul Ryan, a legal counsel at the Campaign Legal Center. “And there’s a reason they do it: they know voters don’t like outsiders coming in to sway the vote.”
Sarah Palin and the Tea Party movement “both have far less support in the country at large than a gullible Old Media seems to understand or suggest,” Time magazine senior political analyst Mark Halperin asserted on “The Page” while colleague Joe Klein, on Time’s “Swampland” blog, showed fear of the supposedly impotent coalition as he denigrated her Saturday night convention speech as “anti-intellectual drivel,” scolding as “anti-American” those dumb enough to like her:
Those who celebrate Sarah Palin’s lack of knowledge as a form of “authenticity” superior to Barack Obama’s gloriously American mongrel ethnicity and self-made intellectuality are representatives of a long-standing American theme – the celebration of sameness, and mediocrity, in a country that has succeeded brilliantly because of its diversity and restlessly eccentric genius. Happily, it has almost always been a losing theme. And, indeed, in the truest sense, it can be called anti-American.
Halperin, political director for ABC News until 2007, appeared on the Sunday edition of ABC’s World News where he insisted Palin and tea partiers are “still not big enough or specific enough to do anything but criticize Obama, criticize the government” and while “that creates excitement,” it’s “not a national governing movement.”
The South Carolina Republican Party announced Monday that it’s uniting with tea party groups in the state to share resources, coordinate messaging and push the GOP in a more conservative direction.
The points of contact between the state party establishment and the grass-roots will be the Greenville County Republican Party — one of the most conservative wings of the state party — and the Upstate Coalition of Conservative Organizations, an umbrella structure of state tea party groups.
The agreement, as announced by South Carolina Republicans, is designed to serve four goals: increase precinct involvement, improve communication between the state party and grass-roots groups, create liaisons between the state party and the various tea party organizations and to work “closely to make the Republican Party more conservative.”
State Republican Party Chairwoman Karen Floyd told POLITICO that the arrangement came at the suggestion of a local activist who works with both the state party and local tea party groups.
Massachusetts earthquake puts everything in play
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Scott Brown’s election was certainly about healthcare. Massachusetts already has its own expensive plan. They don’t need or want even more government intrusion. It was also about national security. Brown’s own internal polling convinced the campaign this was true. People feel insecure with this President and his administration, and with good reason.
But it was even more than that. People have had enough. We have had enough of bald-faced lies from Democrats. We have had enough of big spending bills being disingenuously presented as “deficit reducers.” We have had enough of massive government programs guaranteed to cripple the economy and lose jobs. We have had enough of ever more intrusive government attempting to take over every aspect of our daily lives. We have had enough of blatant corruption and coddling of terrorists. We have had enough of radicals attempting to ram their virulently anti-American agenda down our throats and calling us “domestic terrorists” for objecting.
This election is a game changer. Make no mistake about it. Not only is the U.S. Senate in play for Republicans in November, but so is the House of Representatives, state legislatures and governor’s mansions. Last night, Sarah Palin said to Greta Van Susteren on Fox News “We just witnessed a wicked political pivot… This is a tidal wave sweeping the country…” She is right.
Now, Republicans have an uncanny ability to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. We have seen it time and again and that is a real danger here. So let me tell you what this victory is not. It is not about getting Republicans a seat at the Democrat table. Let me repeat that.
This election is not about getting Republicans a seat at the Democrat table.
If nothing else has become clear over the past year, Republicans have to have at least realized this: Democrats don’t share. Any effort to use this victory to give Republicans a better “negotiating position” on Democrat-sponsored bills will simply make it easier for Democrats to pursue their reckless agenda, only now they will have “bipartisan” support. Come November, voter contempt for Republicans will be as palpable as it is now for Democrats. Republicans will lose.
Going along to get along is out. Compromise is out. And if Republicans don’t get it they will be repeating the mistakes that put them back into the minority in the first place.
The reason We the People are in open revolt is because we finally clearly recognize that the entire Democrat agenda is willfully destructive. Republicans need to get this through their heads. We are not merely dealing with a Party of “opposing views.” We are dealing with an international movement that will destroy our Republic by snatching our freedoms, our wealth and our independence, with the ultimate goal of, as Barack Obama said, “fundamentally transforming” our Constitutional Republic into a socialist dictatorship.
Republicans have no excuse to be supporting or even compromising with that agenda. Their job should be preventing Democrats from imposing this nation-wrecking agenda, while convincingly articulating their reasons for doing so and offering superior alternatives.
A new Rasmussen poll clearly substantiates the power behind the “Tea Party Movement”, and the effects it will have in future elections as well as opposition to bogus legislation. A quick search of Rasmussen polls on tea party popularity shows a movement garnering momentum and a voice that can sway almost any outcome desired. This is evidenced by the support of tea party candidates, which breaks down the support for Democratic 36%, Tea Party 23% and Republican 18%, assuming an election were held today.
The message is clear, but I believe is being missed by both Democratic and Republican parties. The tea party patriots are not only angry at the current administration, and tired of government intervention in their lives, but also sick of politicians in general. The continuing rhetoric is stale and ineffective, and politicians fall far short in ability to address the new breed of well informed Americans found at the impetus of this movement. The new breed of American Patriot is often better informed than many of the politicians who lay idle claim to representing us. Very few politicians have any business acumen and have never made a payroll, paid business taxes, met a premium on Workers Comp, liability, or malpractice insurance. How could it even be remotely possible that these same politicians could actually represent our best interests?
It is no longer acceptable that we put in office a representative that possesses a silver tongue, a $400 haircut, or is the first to break the glass ceiling. We have learned the hard way that the cookie cutter image is the very thing we should be vehemently rejecting. The new breed of representative to Congress needs to pass a litmus test far more defining than popularity and the ability to say the right thing. Before all the blame appears to be heaped on the hundreds of dirt bags that currently represent us, we need to accept full responsibility for putting them there, and vow to be more vigilant to ourselves and future generations.
The energized “tea party” movement, which upended this year’s political debate with noisy anti-government protests, is preparing to shake up the 2010 elections by channeling money and supporters to conservative candidates set to challenge both Democrats and Republicans.
Buoyed by their success in capsizing a moderate Republican candidate this fall in Upstate New York, tea party activists and affiliated groups are unveiling new political action committees and tactics aimed at capitalizing on conservative opposition to health-care reform, financial bailouts and other Obama administration policies. The goal is to harness the anger that led to hundreds of protests around the country from spring to fall, including a gathering of tens of thousands of protesters on the Mall in September.
The strategy poses both an opportunity and a risk for the beleaguered Republican Party, which is seeking to take advantage of conservative discontent while still fielding candidates who appeal to independent voters. Fundraising efforts are just beginning, but tea party activists have already inspired serious challenges to establishment GOP Senate candidates Carly Fiorina in California and Charlie Crist in Florida; a similar insurgency in last month’s House race in New York splintered local Republicans, leading to a Democratic victory.
“It’s time to take control,” conservative activist Eric Odom declares on the Web site of his new political action committee, Liberty First PAC, which will “support fellow patriots looking [to] defend our liberty.” Odom, who played a central role in organizing the first tea party protests this spring, says the PAC will not support incumbents of either party.
Yep, Vaughn was exhausted, but we had set the date with Glenn Beck in March and even having nearly crossed the country twice in a day already wasn’t going to stop us now! He emptied his luggage and threw in some clean clothes being careful not to forget the Patrick Henry shirt given to him at a town hall meeting we had attended. I never really know how to prepare for trips where we fly stand-by. It could just be a trip to the airport and back, but this time we felt unusually assured that things would work out. With everything all set and grandma here, we said our prayers with the kids and confidently headed into the eye of the gathering storm.
We arrived the morning of 9/11. We picked up our rental car and drove to the hotel. It was raining and I was worried because the weather station had predicted heavy rain for the following day. We made our way thru the gloomy weather and after checking in exceptionally early (6am) without any problems (our original plan had us arriving at usual check in time) we gratefully threw ourselves on the bed and slept.
After recovering (we had to fly from Salt Lake City to California and THEN to D.C.) we decided to head in to see the sights before the big day. The rain had stopped, but it was still overcast reminding us of the solemnity of the day. Thankfully it is always exciting to pull in and drive down Constitution Avenue and see all those historic buildings, monuments and memorials. It brightens the mood to think of all the wonderful people who came here and sacrificed so much to start something so great. After finally figuring out where to park we got out to do some bi-pedal touring. It was a peaceful day and it surprised us how quiet the streets were. It was lovely to visit and we especially enjoyed the WW II monument, reading every engraved quote. But as day turned to evening we began to worry that the turn-out tomorrow would be minuscule. Finally I spotted a bold red “Tea Party Patriot” t-shirt crossing the street towards us! Immediate joy! Anxiously I asked her if she was here for the rally tomorrow and that’s all that was needed to become new best friends. She and her son had come from California a week ago and had participated in several gatherings already. We walked and talked for almost an hour and she gave experienced information about how to ride the metro in the next morning. We said good-bye and promised we’d find each other the next day. Walking back to the car we spotted two other small groups with identifying markers(Freedom Works cap and patriotic shirts) and talked to them about where they had come from and what had brought them the distance to participate. Exchanging concerns we again made more friends from strangers. Funny how comforting it is to find others who are as deeply concerned as you are.
That night I could hardly sleep. Gratefully the alarm noted it was time to get out of bed. We got ready quickly, grabbed a fast-food breakfast, we made our way to the metro. Parking there turned out to be frustrating. Again we saw some “ralliers”, this time the marker was their hand-made signs. We called to them and they said they were just heading into I-HOP for breakfast. Maybe we could beat the crowd and take the car all the way in! Dare we? Well, we are dangerous right-wing extremists! As we drove in we tensed a bit as the streets were already lined with cars and buses. Miraculously a moment later we saw a spot and pulled in! It was 4 hour parking, but we didn’t care! Go ahead, ticket us! We are on a role of rogue behavior! Anyway, we were less worried about a parking ticket then the thought of increased taxes. Had we known how overwhelmed the police would be that day, we wouldn’t have given it another thought!
As we got out and our attention wasn’t on parking anymore, we began to really notice large groups assembling. We started following the crowd to Freedom Plaza. It was already making me very emotional to see the crowds filing in. Clapping my hands and jumping up and down like a teenager, I said to Vaughn hopefully, “I think this is going to be big!” I had no idea! We got as close to the stage as possible where a program of speakers and patriotic music was beginning. We climbed up on a ledge to get a look at the crowd and were fortunate enough to stay there the next hour or two as we watched the crowd multiply. It was thrilling beyond description to behold. I couldn’t believe the difference a night made! Where were all these people yesterday?
Finally it was decided that the march would have to begin early because the crowd had reached “critical mass”. I wanted to stay up on the ledge to see the parade begin. With music pouring from the speakers, I watched as a sea of flags and banners from this massive assembly of patriots rolled down Pennsylvania Avenue. I have never witnessed anything so grand! I was awestruck! It wasn’t a noisy crowd either. In fact, even though people were smiling and talking and laughing, it seemed to have the feeling of reverence. Vaughn felt he had stepped into the scene in from “The Ten Commandments” when the Israelites were leaving Egypt! He was anxious to belong to that family, so we jumped down and began making our way along side our conservative brothers and sisters. We laugh now because at the time we thought we were somewhere near the middle to end of the parade. We were NO WHERE NEAR the end, or even the middle! Vaughn looked like a freedom super hero as he wore like a cape his large “Don’t Tread On Me” flag given to us by our fabulous neighbor. As we walked we noticed people streaming in from all the side streets too and the crowd began to grow and grow and grow.
As we approached the Capital Building, capital police began directing us to the side yards on the right or left of the capital steps. We turned and made our way up on the grassy hill. I was hoping to be near a tree so we could sit and lean up against it as we had already been on our feet several hours. Even though the area was already covered with astroturf, you know grandmas and stuff, Vaughn was able to find a small spot near a tree and we parked there. Inspiring messages could be heard through large speakers. Anthem singing brought tears and cheers. We sat there for several more hours listening, learning, cheering and sharing ideas and experiences with the kind people near us. We were so grateful too that the sky had remained overcast, but it never rained as predicted. It was the perfect temperature for such a large gathering, and it didn’t go unnoticed or unappreciated. Vaughn and I so totally enjoyed watching the crowd, reading the signs – laughing at the funny ones and nodding and the serious ones. Such creativity on display! We were revved up when the crowd chanted “Can you hear us now?” or “Freedom,freedom, freedom!” and “2010, 2010”. As I looked out through the trees, I was overwhelmed at the crowd that had mobilized. I really couldn’t tell where the crowd began or ended. It was obvious that this was the largest assembly I had ever been in attendance with. It was deeply moving.
At one point we decided to get up and start walking through the crowd to get a sense of its enormity. Vaughn and I were so impressed that as we walked through the maze, everyone was so polite and thoughtful with an “excuse me” or a “sorry” if there was a slight bump. One girl was laughing saying that CNN was reporting that there were “thousands” of people here. She joked, “they must just mean the line for the bathroom!” The crowd was so large that sometimes we would hear spontaneous cheering from a section afar off. That was cool! We spent the next few hours walking through the crowd, enjoying the patriotic mood from largest congregation of devoted and resolute conservatives ever assembled here. As the last speaker said her good-byes, we looked around as the crowd began their procession homeward and noticed that the area around us had been treated with respect. Later it was reported that we left virtually no trace besides trampled grass. And, it was also reported that there were no arrests. It was peaceful from beginning to end.
The numbers may never be officially revealed but those who were there can confidently proclaim that hundreds of thousand if not over a million would not be an exaggeration. We didn’t even know then all the places people were standing until we saw pictures of it days later. Vaughn and I made our way back to the car and eventually out of D.C. and back to our hotel. As we put our heads down again, we prayed in thanks for the opportunity we had had that day to be a part of something so amazing. As we nodded off, we reminisced about some of our favorite signs like, “Nancy Pelosi’s ATM machine”, “Not the party of No but the party of Hell NO!” and “My dog makes two shovel ready projects a day” or “Part of the angry mob” adjacent to a picture of a family holding hands. We fall asleep with sore feet and smiles on our faces.
We recognized that this was just the beginning and that we would still have our work cut out for us at home, but now that our batteries had been recharged, our hearts lifted, and our hope in God and country revitalized, we knew we would be able to meet the challenge. Our thanks go out to all those volunteers who made it possible and all those flagwavers who made it unforgettable!
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