Tea party groups fire on each other
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Two of the tea party movement’s largest organizations are at odds Monday after a fight over a resolution approved by the NAACP calling their tactics “racist.”
On Sunday, the Tea Party Federation, an umbrella organization, expelled the Tea Party Express over the actions of one of its leaders, Mark Williams.
The Tea Party Express fired back Monday with a statement excoriating the Tea Party Federation for its “arrogant” decision to expel the group after Williams posted a highly controversial satirical “letter” he wrote from NAACP head Ben Jealous to President Abraham Lincoln.
“Most rank-and-file tea party activists think we’re talking about 'Star Trek' when we try to explain who the ‘Federation’ is,” said Tea Party Express spokesman Joe Wierzbicki. “Given the absurdity of the actions by the ‘Federation,’ this is quite fitting, since their conduct is alien to our membership.”
“Groups trying to say who can or can't be 'expelled' from the tea party movement is arrogant and preposterous,” Wierzbicki continued. “Perhaps this explains why so many tea party groups have left the ‘Federation’ during the past few months. Whatever the reason, most tea party activists are focused on taking back their country and the upcoming 2010 elections and not silly power games being played by individuals such as those in the 'Federation.'”
After receiving criticism for his letter, Williams, a conservative radio host, said over the weekend in an interview with CNN that he would no longer talk about the conflict between tea party activists and the NAACP on his show.
But Williams’s announcement that he was bowing out of the fight wasn’t enough to keep the Tea Party Federation from expelling both the radio host and the Tea Party Express with which he is affiliated.
Federation spokesman David Webb said Sunday that Williams’s letter was “clearly offensive” and indicated that because of those comments, the Tea Party Express and the dozens of large rallies featuring the likes of former Alaska GOP Gov. Sarah Palin would no longer have a place in the movement.
The decision, said Wierzbicki, has harmed the tea party movement and aided the NAACP in its critique of the tea party.
“The ‘Federation’ has enabled and empowered the NAACP's racist attacks on the tea party movement, and they should be ashamed of themselves,” he said. “Circular firing squads of groups within the tea party movement attacking one another accomplish nothing, and on this issue the Tea Party Federation is wrong, and has both enabled and empowered the NAACP’s racist attacks on the tea party movement.”
Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/07 ... z0uBxEqcei
On Sunday, the Tea Party Federation, an umbrella organization, expelled the Tea Party Express over the actions of one of its leaders, Mark Williams.
The Tea Party Express fired back Monday with a statement excoriating the Tea Party Federation for its “arrogant” decision to expel the group after Williams posted a highly controversial satirical “letter” he wrote from NAACP head Ben Jealous to President Abraham Lincoln.
“Most rank-and-file tea party activists think we’re talking about 'Star Trek' when we try to explain who the ‘Federation’ is,” said Tea Party Express spokesman Joe Wierzbicki. “Given the absurdity of the actions by the ‘Federation,’ this is quite fitting, since their conduct is alien to our membership.”
“Groups trying to say who can or can't be 'expelled' from the tea party movement is arrogant and preposterous,” Wierzbicki continued. “Perhaps this explains why so many tea party groups have left the ‘Federation’ during the past few months. Whatever the reason, most tea party activists are focused on taking back their country and the upcoming 2010 elections and not silly power games being played by individuals such as those in the 'Federation.'”
After receiving criticism for his letter, Williams, a conservative radio host, said over the weekend in an interview with CNN that he would no longer talk about the conflict between tea party activists and the NAACP on his show.
But Williams’s announcement that he was bowing out of the fight wasn’t enough to keep the Tea Party Federation from expelling both the radio host and the Tea Party Express with which he is affiliated.
Federation spokesman David Webb said Sunday that Williams’s letter was “clearly offensive” and indicated that because of those comments, the Tea Party Express and the dozens of large rallies featuring the likes of former Alaska GOP Gov. Sarah Palin would no longer have a place in the movement.
The decision, said Wierzbicki, has harmed the tea party movement and aided the NAACP in its critique of the tea party.
“The ‘Federation’ has enabled and empowered the NAACP's racist attacks on the tea party movement, and they should be ashamed of themselves,” he said. “Circular firing squads of groups within the tea party movement attacking one another accomplish nothing, and on this issue the Tea Party Federation is wrong, and has both enabled and empowered the NAACP’s racist attacks on the tea party movement.”
Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/07 ... z0uBxEqcei
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Comments
where do they get these names? lol... it is like the old Scottish clans from braveheart...
"Well, you tell him that I don't talk to suckas."
I don't know if I should laugh or not comment on that...
it's to funny!
I apologize for laughing
quote="mrvedderson"]I think its funny when they show tea party events. Most of the people that attend probably wont even be alive come the next election[/quote]
1) Average Joe - Age 30 - 65; Conservative; Works for small business or farms; Concerned about family, mortgage, and stability. This group makes up the majority of the "Tea Party".
2) GOP Hi-jacked Tea Party Fronts - Conservative strategists who are trying to control group 1 by becoming the official voice through propaganda and fear-mongering.
3) Paranoid-Ultra-Conservative-Guy-Who-Starts-Local-Chapter & Whose 15 Year-Old Daughter Taught To Run Blog - This is a very, very small percentage of the group but they attract media attention like flies on honey. These people are known to talk out of their ass while a microphone is stuck up it (although this describes about 95% of this board . . . including myself at times
Anyway, that's my five-minute analysis. Everyone I know that associates with the Tea Party falls into category one.
Were you some sort of Utopia before Obama came into office?
obama wins by a landslide and suddenly they lost their country...
"Well, you tell him that I don't talk to suckas."
So, Jason, as to your categorization, I think the group 2 has won already. I think Group 3 is a little bigger than you seem to think, but they will soon be purged away. Then all that remains are "concerned republicans" who gets a grassroot boost out of the whole thing. A few more radical reps in the house, perhaps.
Peace
Dan
"Every judgment teeters on the brink of error. To claim absolute knowledge is to become monstrous. Knowledge is an unending adventure at the edge of uncertainty." - Frank Herbert, Dune, 1965
Its just kind of funny, "take our country back!"
FROM WHAT?
"Racist group calls other group racist - news at 11"
I voted for Gore, then Kerry for President, followed by voting for Obama for Senate. Then I voted for Ron Paul in 2008 primaries and voted for Chuck Baldwin from the Constitution Party for President since Dr. Paul endorsed him.
Please tell me when my guy was in office. I already know when I cared thankyouverymuch.
"Well, you tell him that I don't talk to suckas."
i wouldn't be surprised to learn 20 years from now of heavy gov't involvement in these teaparties, doing everything they can to fuck it up for everyone.
Too late. Heavy government involvement is actually fucking everything up right now, actually.
You could maybe hope for some reform, but too many are comfortable with the system as it is. And even among those that are tea-partying, a minor concession on a key issue will be enough to send many of them home.
Revolution won't happen, cause you don't have it so bad. Plain and simple. But if you allow your society to develop a significant underclass of frustrated penniless citizens who dont get any help or support, then something might happen.
And why the government would need or want to go around rounding up firearms for control is beyond me. That's just the boogeyman of the US right wing and the wacky militias. Real control has nothing to do with firearms or weapons.
Peace
Dan
"Every judgment teeters on the brink of error. To claim absolute knowledge is to become monstrous. Knowledge is an unending adventure at the edge of uncertainty." - Frank Herbert, Dune, 1965
On the contrary, it is precisely when they have empty stomachs, and a poor outlook to filling them in the future, that they DO revolt. People generally don't revolt unless their lives depend on it. The US have enough food, and it will be relatively simple to keep the peace with a social programme or two.
There may be protests from various groups to achieve limited political goals. The civil rights movemet largely succeeded for instance. But they didn't change the fundamentals of society, they infact appealed to them in making their case. I dont think we'll see Tiananmen square incidents, but rather more tea party-type stuff and perhaps minor Gwhatever meeting riots.
Peace
Dan
"Every judgment teeters on the brink of error. To claim absolute knowledge is to become monstrous. Knowledge is an unending adventure at the edge of uncertainty." - Frank Herbert, Dune, 1965
That was done during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
But relevant to the story is that a year later the senate (part of government, no?) voted overwhelmingly in favour of this not being allowed ever again, no matter what the crisis.
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0714-06.htm
So, no, they're not gonna take your precious guns. And now, not even in a crisis. So strike that off the "communist-plot-signs" list.
My point is still that the amount of firearms in private homes is pretty irrelevant to the power and authority of government. The authority of government stems from people electing them, and those elected are also people. Your greatest protection against government abuse is that the police and military are also people like yourself. Like in this case where your fellow american senators ruled that this should not have happened, and voted overwhelmingly to ensure it doesn't again...
Peace
Dan
"Every judgment teeters on the brink of error. To claim absolute knowledge is to become monstrous. Knowledge is an unending adventure at the edge of uncertainty." - Frank Herbert, Dune, 1965
As someone who lives in Louisiana, and was here during Katrina, it wasn't that big a deal down here. I actually didn't even know confiscations had taken place, and I was working as a triage volunteer with evacuees for eight weeks (so it's not like I was avoiding the aftermath of the storm).
Even if it did happen, I think the 2nd Amendment causes more problems than it solves in America. Somehow "you're allowed to own a gun to defend yourself" has turned into "everyone should own as many guns as possible just in case they want to blow their drunk next-door-neighbor to smithereens." Somehow, being a gun owner became woven tightly into what it means to be an "American" - and the end result is one of the highest murder rates among developed countries. Having an argument with your spouse? Why talk your way through it when you've got a .38 on the table? (this happened here in Louisiana recently - a sheriff was arguing with his wife and shot her to end the argument). It isn't 1860 anymore - there aren't "injuns" running around Manhattan scalping people, though you wouldn't know it to talk to some people. Half the conservatives down here act like you should be allowed to shoot someone right between the eyes if they as much as look at you funny - because that's how you do it in "Good ol' 'mer'ca."
A lot of the problems are also caused by the people who are legally allowed to own, and are trained to use, guns. Since a good percentage of the population seems to think 2010 = still the era of Wyatt Earp and Billy the Kid, when "I have a badge" and "I love the Wild West" collide there are problems. Just ask the family members of the people shot by cops after Katrina (you know, like the mentally disabled guy who was shot in the back and then beaten by the NOPD, or the unarmed 17-year-old kid who was killed by a cop on the other side of the bridge from him). Four cops are facing the death penalty for murdering and then covering up the murders of unarmed civilians in New Orleans after Katrina.
Gun fanatics are also mostly (in my opinion) borderline insane. I got an email from a hardcore Republican I know (I want to clarify that they're not just "right" they're "faaaar right") saying we need to get rid of Obama because he's trampling all over the Second Amendment. What was their proof? An alleged bill that would've made people keep their guns in places kids can't access them in their homes, would've made them take lessons before they were allowed to own a gun, would've made it legal for law enforcement officers to check to make sure you were keeping your gun in a secure location, and would've made them declare all gun sales to the police, so they can track the guns. I read the points of the alleged bill and couldn't find anything really unreasonable - if you want to own a weapon that is solely designed to kill people, then you should have to prove you're responsible enough to own it. But to the nut who sent me the email, it represented Obama singling out hunters and trying to outlaw deer hunting.
Fewer guns in society is not a bad thing. Exhibit A-Z for me is my father-in-law, who defended the Second Amendment to me once by saying that if he sees someone he doesn't recognize coming across his front lawn, then he has to assume that that person is coming to kill him, and therefore he should be allowed to shoot first.
fear is the path to the dark side. it really is.
"With our thoughts we make the world"
i'm claming this as part of my sig
Sammi: Wanna just break up?
Did the GW administration not overlook the constitution a time or two?
"what a long, strange trip it's been"
A Revolution in America will not happen now or in the near future.
Why?
People care more about themselves and would never consider getting arrested, imprisoned or shot and killed for their ideals. They will 'support' those on the front lines by saying "I support the Revolution"... but, getting to them to pick up a firearm and go up against the police then the state police then the FBI then the U.S. Military... no fucking way. it's a hell of a lot easier (and safer) to sit on the couch, stroking your gunstock and saying, "From My cold dead hands" than actually risking the reality of your cold dead hands.
Hail, Hail!!!
You are probably right on your assessment of Tea Party demographics. Unfortunately, the majority are being driven by the the minority with the loudest megaphone. That being, the Republican Party and their media mouthpiece, FOX News and Rush Limbaugh. FOX News has PNAC Chairman, William Kristol and Bush Architect, Karl Rove on board. FOX News advertise Tea Party rallies where FOX celebrities, Ann Coulter, Sean Hannity and Glenn Beck make appearances and speeches. Sarah Palin is the darling of the Tea Party.
The agenda of the Tea Party is the Republican Agenda of replacing Democrats, not with Independent candidates, with Republicans.
The Tea Party began as a Grass Roots operation to repace all seated representatives with Independent (typically, Libertarian) candidates... but it has since been consumed by the Republican Party. The Tea Party is about as 'Independent' as the Republican Party.
Hail, Hail!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8MO7fkZ ... ure=avmsc2