Tea Partiers distribute signs paid for by RNC
The Republican National Committee is paying for signs and political buttons used by Tea Party groups — despite widespread disagreement among the conservative, grassroots activists on whether the movement should work to elect candidates within the Republican party or steer clear from it.
The items, paid for by the RNC, were on full display at a Friday press conference of Tea Party activists in Washington. At the afternoon event at the Capitol Hill Suites, activists in town for the “Take the Town Halls to Washington” project passed out the red-white-and-blue buttons and signs emblazoned with the words “Listen to Me!”
Text at the bottom of the sign reads: “Paid for by the Republican National Committee.”
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.
An RNC official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told The Daily Caller that the signs were given to the group at its request.
The buttons and signs were visible both at the press conference and inside “the war room,” a small area inside the hotel where the “Take the Town Halls to Washington” project is headquartered. A stack of signs sat on a chair in the conference room during the presser.
Leahy downplayed the significance of the items, explaining, “We’re taking help from anybody that has an interest in this cause.”
“They’re a lot of people who are volunteers in this project,” he said. “Anybody that wants to help take the town halls to Washington — we are glad to have their help.”
While a number of self-identified Tea Party candidates are running in Republican primaries across the country, there is fear among Republicans that some activists will run as third-party candidates and split the conservative vote, catapulting Democrats into office. One example in recent days is the candidacy of Jon Scott Ashjian, who recently announced his candidacy to run under the Tea Party of Nevada banner against Democratic Sen. Harry Reid in Nevada.
RNC chairman Michael Steele, attempting to keep the activists from supporting third-party candidates, met with activists in Washington several weeks ago.
At the Friday press conference, Rep. Steve King, a Republican from Iowa, said members of Congress still undecided on the health-care bill are contemplating politics and not policy. He said legislators have seen all the information on the bill and already know how they feel about it and what’s holding them back from making a decision is the consideration of how the vote will affect their re-election.
One activist at the press conference was Kansas radiologist and blogger Milton Wolf, who claims to be Obama’s second cousin once removed. “I wish my cousin Barack the greatest success in office. But I feel duty-bound to rise in opposition to Obamacare. I must take a stand for my patients, my profession and, ultimately, my country,” said Wolf, whose mother and the president’s grandmother were first cousins.
Wolf, in town for the Take the Town Halls to Washington project, said even though he emailed the office of his congressman, Rep. Dennis Moore, the Democrat wouldn’t meet with him Friday over the bill.
At the end of the conference, Wolf — accompanied by about ten others, including his family and activists with video cameras — marched over to the Longworth House office building to demand a meeting with Moore.
After a receptionist in Moore’s office told Wolf that the congressman was away from the office and would be back later in the afternoon, Wolf asked if Moore was “too busy” to talk about health-care. “He’s not here, sir,” the receptionist countered.
Wolf left a note for the congressman and said he would stick around Washington to see if Moore would sit down with him. A federation of 30 Tea Party groups is behind the organization of the Take the Town Halls to Washington and is encouraging others like Wolf to meet with their representatives.
They plan to rally outside of the Cannon House office building at 9 a.m. on Tuesday morning in an event organized by Dick Armey’s FreedomWorks.
(4 votes, average: 3.00 out of 5)
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Good for these guys…nothing wrong with networking.
Big deal!
This is much ado about nothing.
As Jefferson said: Friends to all; entangling alliances with none. Seems like a very good idea for the TEA party to do likewise. Support the individual who will do the best for the country and the American people.
Sooner or later the tea party will endorse candidates. Right now Republicans most align with their views. I believe the tea party would endorse democrats if their views aligned with them.
The Tea Party movement has some great points, but they have some sub-factions that are killing them. (9/12ers, Birthers, KKK etc.)
Well, at least they don’t have the backing of Al Qaeda like the democrats.
And you have factless hyperbole to back you up.
Is cair not a terrorist organization? They support the dims.
Care is deeply involved with islamic terror. They are also deeply involved with the dem controlled government. So much so that they are in charge of dictating policy for the military and intelligence agencies when it comes to dealing with the islamic terrorist they are deeply involved with.
Really, a Muslim American civil liberties organization that trains FBI and US Armed Forces about Islam is a terrorist organization? I don’t suppose you can back that up with anything other than some Glenn Beck hysteria and prove they have more influence over our government than AIPAC?
The only time I hear about the klan being involved is when political hacks use them with no base to the claim. Whats so bad about the 9/12 movement? Is it because of Beck?
How come I can never get any signs? I like that button.. Guess I’ll do it the way I did last year cardboard and my computer.. Guess it doesn’t matter the DNC and SEIU had all those signs printed up for the HEALTH CARE town halls or that OBAMA paid to have all the signs printed up for his kool-aid drinkers.. and they were SUPPOSE to be grass roots.. LOL what a bunch of whiners.. I am supporting one candidate that the T.E.A. PARTY endorsed in my area not because they endorsed him but cause I like him and think he will do a good job.. he went out and actually met with the people.. I have to say this the Republicans in my area actually went out held FREE meetings for the people shook hands and talked all summer with us.. I HAVE NEVER had one DEMOCRAT do that the entire 30 years I was a registered DEMOCRAT Democrats only go to $500+ plate FUND RAISERS..
A political party is willing to listen to the disgruntled Americans and provide signs to express their grievances and it is portrayed unethical by the opposition who not only provide the signs, they educate, transport, reward, bless, praise and constrain their “Astroturf” followers to a certain (Dictated) belief!!
People PLEASE! The best thing us Tea Party sympathizers can do is DISAVOW Dick Armey and ANY lobbyist or politician that wants direct support. The very worst thing we can do is become a “wing” of the Republicans. I was a republican- considered myself a “moderate”, Tom Ridge republican type. Now I question everything both parties say, and research everything they do. I am convinced that we can only trust what we see them actually do, and how they have acted in the past- and if they have not acted consistently in a constitutional way- DON’T trust them to act differently now. We are for restoring the constitutional ideals of our Republic. We say we are for ANY candidate that exhibits those values, from ANY party. Is there not a single Democrat anywhere that fits that? Can we find them, and do what we say–identify and show our support for one! Why do we presume only Republicans can do this? Libertarians are closest to our stated values, but how come very little is said about that? Republicans presume they automatically have us. If they do not demonstrate constitutional support with actual action at all times, they do NOT deserve our support. And we need to make that clear, and be consistent in OUR actions!
No the worst thing we can do is start seeing ourselves as the “anti-Republican” or the “anti-” anybody. We need to stand on what we believe in, on principles, not worry about who is associating with who. The strength of the Tea Party movement is that it is not a centralized movement but a cluster of activists bonded by a set of guiding principles. We’ll the parties worry about the distancing and the following, we need to do the actual leading. If Dick Armey or even a Tom Ridge want to latch onto the movement, so be it, but they have to stick to the principles just like everyone else.
As a believer in policing the world, your principles and the principles of the Republican Party differ how exactly?
what in Brendan’s post and what in the Tea party principles alludes to policing the world? really…….what????
Nothing in this post on this article, which is why I was asking him and not you.
I made a post in support of going after the Taliban in another article, he must be the guy who argued with me and thinks it is unconstitutional or “policing the world”. Probably an Isolationist, of the most extreme variety.
Wrong again. I supported going after the Taliban when we did it nearly 9 yrs ago. Since then we’ve been nation building, not to even bother debating our war of choice and nation building exercise in Iraq.
You ignored the question about the differences between your principles and those of the Republican Party, but that’s ok, I think I know the answer.