Tea Partiers distribute signs paid for by RNC

[Modbert]

Sounds nice, but highly theoretical rhetoric.

They said the same thing to Barry Goldwater. He too was trying to warn a group of people about certain elements taking over a movement. 46 years later, it seems what he said not only came true but came true in spades.

 

[American Horse]

Sounds nice, but highly theoretical rhetoric.

They said the same thing to Barry Goldwater. He too was trying to warn a group of people about certain elements taking over a movement. 46 years later, it seems what he said not only came true but came true in spades.

I voted for Barry, and bought and read his book "Conscience of a Conservative." I plead ignorant or woefully forgetful, unless you are talking about the advancing Liberal/Statist movement. Please fill me in; what movement did he warn about during 1964 if not the one to which I just referred?

 

[VaYank5150]

Yes. There is nothing wrong with a Tea Party getting help from the RNC as long as they disclose that info. It's up to the local members. There is no National Tea Party Command & Control Organization.

Grass roots does not mean that cooperation and collaboration with existing organizations is verboten.

Am I the only idiot here who thought I remembered Tea Baggers stating that independent thinking came from NOT being in bed with either one of the two large National political parties?

Kindly refer to Tea Partiers as “Tea Partiers” as Dog was intelligent enough to do in the OP. References to "Tea Baggers" makes a strong allusion about where you "hang out" since it's obviously very much on your mind. Just sayin’ you should stop embarrassing yourself to make an old joke that is too smart by half.

Last time I checked, it's a free country, and I will call this fringe group whatever the hell I want, thank you very much. No one takes these fools seriously.

 

[Modbert]

I voted for Barry, and bought and read his book "Conscience of a Conservative." I plead ignorant or woefully forgetful, unless you are talking about the advancing Liberal/Statist movement. Please fill me in; what movement did he warn about during 1964 if not the one to which I just referred?

Strike that, it wasn't 1964. 1980's. So roughly 30 years later.

I speak of the involvement of the religious right in the GOP. Which by 2010, has taken over the GOP.

Barry Goldwater - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In his 1980 Senate reelection campaign, Goldwater won support from religious conservatives but in his final term voted consistently to uphold legalized abortion and, in 1981, gave a speech on how he was angry about the bullying of American politicians by religious organizations, and would "fight them every step of the way".[35]

After his retirement in 1987, Goldwater described the conservative Arizona Governor Evan Mecham as "hardheaded" and called on him to resign, and two years later stated that the Republican party had been taken over by a "bunch of kooks".[36]

In a 1994 interview with the Washington Post the retired senator said,
When you say "radical right" today, I think of these moneymaking ventures by fellows like Pat Robertson and others who are trying to take the Republican party and make a religious organization out of it. If that ever happens, kiss politics goodbye.[37]

 

[Sarah G]

Is anybody really surprised by this?

 

[VaYank5150]

Is anybody really surprised by this?

Nope...just a bunch of GOPers and supposed Tea Baggers in here making up excuses now that the truth is out...

 

[Sarah G]

Is anybody really surprised by this?

Nope...just a bunch of GOPers and supposed Tea Baggers in here making up excuses now that the truth is out...

They're trying so hard to make the tea baggers seem like a bunch of Indes.. Ridiculous.

 

[Mr. Peepers]

Grass roots does not mean that cooperation and collaboration with existing organizations is verboten.

Um, yes. It kinda does. It also is negated by the teabaggers being sponsored by corporations.

pl.n. (used with a sing. or pl. verb)
People or society at a local level rather than at the center of major political activity. Often used with the.
The groundwork or source of something.
grass-roots grass'-roots' (grăs'rūts', -rʊts') adj.

Fox hosts GOP-backed Tea Party Express to deny that tea party is "Astroturf" | Media Matters for America

 

[CrusaderFrank]

I'm not surprised that the RNC is carrying water for the Tea Party movement when asked.

 

[VaYank5150]

I'm not surprised that the RNC is carrying water for the Tea Party movement when asked.

Neither is anyone else...

 

[American Horse]

Grass roots does not mean that cooperation and collaboration with existing organizations is verboten.

Um, yes. It kinda does. It also is negated by the teabaggers being sponsored by corporations.

pl.n. (used with a sing. or pl. verb)
People or society at a local level rather than at the center of major political activity. Often used with the.
The groundwork or source of something.
grass-roots grass'-roots' (grăs'rūts', -rʊts') adj.

Fox hosts GOP-backed Tea Party Express to deny that tea party is "Astroturf" | Media Matters for America

The KEY word in your definition that makes it in-apt is "CENTER".

The Tea Party is at the fringes and/or the edges of the Republican Party, not its center.

 

[antagon]

Kindly refer to Tea Partiers as “Tea Partiers” as Dog was intelligent enough to do in the OP. References to "Tea Baggers" makes a strong allusion about where you "hang out" since it's obviously very much on your mind. Just sayin’ you should stop embarrassing yourself to make an old joke that is too smart by half.

evidence tbags dont have what it takes to hang in american politics. too soft.

 

[Mr. Peepers]

The Tea Party is at the fringes and/or the edges of the Republican Party, not its center.

You have reading comprehension problems. The RNC is smack dab in the CENTER of political activity AND the teabaggers have accepted, no embraced, corporate sponsorship (corporations that are also in bed with the RNC). Thus, it is not a "grass roots" movement. Astroturf is apt.

 

[beowolfe]

There are hundreds and hundreds of tea party groups across the country. Some have close relationships with the RNC and some don't.

Freedom of association - it's a wonderful thing.

Michael Patrick Leahy, an organizer of the Take the Town Halls to Washington project that is bringing Tea Party activists to the capital to lobby Democrats on President Obama’s health-care bill, admitted that the RNC “did provide the signage,” but said he didn’t know the details of the arrangement with Republicans and couldn’t explain how the signs got there. “They just showed up,” he said.

Sounds like RNC foot soldiers to me!!

 

[goldcatt]

The funny thing is they are supporting a third party that may eat their lunch in the end.

Nah, not going to happen. The Tea Parties are an outgrowth of the Libertarian Tax Day Protests that have been going on since at least the Clinton Administration. Most of the newcomers to the movement are naturally Republican voters. There are philosophical differences between the stated purpose of the Tea Partiers and the RNC, but in the end most of them will come back to the GOP fold if the RNC pays them enough lip service. Or register independent but vote primarily Republican. What are they going to do, vote for Democrats? The GOP isn't losing anything here, if anything they're working on coopting the third party who actually does siphon off GOP support at the polls: the Libertarians.

Just smart tactics by the RNC. If it were the DNC in their shoes, they'd do the same thing.

More than once during the last few months, when I've gotten calls from the R. Party for donations I've bent their ears as long as I could keep them on the line that "I'm giving to the Tea Party movement where it will do some real good. You tell the party people 'if you want my money again you'll change your ways and get on board.' "

I suspect they are really having a lot of trouble getting the usual donations from people with attitudes just like mine! That's what I do for right now, including to actually giving money to the movement and attending and supporting events by spreading the word among neighbors, business associates, family, and friends.

Good for you! Although the Citizens United decision will do a lot to negate your efforts, unfortunately.

I'm not a Tea Partier and don't agree with most of the movement's stated purposes, but I'm certainly not anti-Tea Party either. It's free speech, and speech is good. There are just too many involved who are either current or once and future Republicans, enough so that the RNC is more concerned about coopting and taking out a rising Libertarian party at the Tea Party base than it is about hanging on to its own - most of whom will naturally reenter the fold when faced with a choice at the voting booth.

They will pay the Tea Parties lip service, offer just this kind of token support, get their own into leadership positions in the larger and more influential Tea Party organizations (or starting their own Tea Party organizations with Party backing) and attempt to influence the message away from Libertarian principles and toward Republican ones. But nothing at the Party core will change. It's classic tactics. If you're serious about affecting change in the RNC, don't listen to what they say or who they send to your local rally or vote for in a meaningless for-the-cameras straw poll - watch very carefully what they actually do.

Call me cynical, and I may be wrong, but there are too many signs here - no pun intended.

 

[beowolfe]

The Tea Party is at the fringes and/or the edges of the Republican Party, not its center.

You have reading comprehension problems. The RNC is smack dab in the CENTER of political activity AND the teabaggers have accepted, no embraced, corporate sponsorship (corporations that are also in bed with the RNC). Thus, it is not a "grass roots" movement. Astroturf is apt.

Especially since the whole thing began with Dick Armey and his corporate buddies.

 

[AllieBaba]

Am I the only idiot here who thought I remembered Tea Baggers stating that independent thinking came from NOT being in bed with either one of the two large National political parties?

Kindly refer to Tea Partiers as “Tea Partiers” as Dog was intelligent enough to do in the OP. References to "Tea Baggers" makes a strong allusion about where you "hang out" since it's obviously very much on your mind. Just sayin’ you should stop embarrassing yourself to make an old joke that is too smart by half.

Last time I checked, it's a free country, and I will call this fringe group whatever the hell I want, thank you very much. No one takes these fools seriously.

Nobody except the majority of American citizens.

But keep pretending it's a "fringe"movement.

 

[antagon]

No one takes these fools seriously.

Nobody except the majority of American citizens.

But keep pretending it's a "fringe"movement.

oh, the thin line between kool-aid and tea.

 

[AllieBaba]

You wish.

 

[FA_Q2]

So what…. Of coerce the GOP is jumping into bet with the tea party. It is what was expected. The GOP has strayed FAR from its core principals and NEEDS to be realigned. This is the best case coming from the tea parties, the GOP realizes that it is a destitute joke and returns to real conservatism because of the outcry. The tea parties ARE grassroots but the GOP wants some of that action and I hope it does wake them up. There is no third party and there won’t be any time soon. The best we can hope for is to change the GOP into something that is at least presentable.