“Tea party” on The Daily Caller

Felony gun charges have been dropped against Tea Party Patriots co-founder Mark Meckler, who on Thursday agreed to plead guilty to a lesser charge of disorderly conduct and pay a fine. (more)

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., speaking in New Hampshire this morning, reminded her audience of the tragic Tucson shooting last year — and also insinuated that the Tea Party, which she said regards political opponents as “the enemy,” has enhanced divisiveness in Congress and had something to do with the shooting, at least indirectly. (more)

After a recent meeting of the Greenville Tea Party in South Carolina, supporters of GOP presidential candidates Newt Gingrich, Ron Paul, Rick Perry and Rick Santorum handed out fliers and made themselves available to answer questions about their candidates, according to two people in the room. (more)

One year has elapsed since a brooding psychopath named Jared Lee Loughner killed six people in Tucson, Arizona and injured 18 others. His intended target, U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, suffered major injuries but survived the shooting. Her presence at a memorial this weekend demonstrated that although the healing process is a long and difficult one, she is recovering. (more)

The Iowa Republican caucuses turnout numbers were slightly higher in 2012 than they were in 2008. However, without a Democratic presidential caucus to compete with, some are asking why the turnout numbers weren’t significantly higher.  The suggestion is that the enthusiasm for the field is lacking. (more)

A half-hour after the Iowa caucuses got underway Tuesday night, Des Moines Register reporter Jason Noble caught an unusual indicator of how little support Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann enjoys in the Hawkeye State. (more)

COLUMBIA, S.C. — Organizers of a tea party convention scheduled to convene next month in Myrtle Beach are fending off accusations that they called for “armed guards” with concealed weapons permits to staff the event. A senior leader of one tea party group in the Palmetto State raised concern about heat-packing patriots amid a flurry of email backlash after supporters of Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann announced their intention to hold a straw poll at the event to promote their candidate. (more)

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney hasn’t always been best friends with the tea party, but on Sunday the presidential candidate made his pitch to the conservative activists in the movement with just more than two weeks to go until the Iowa caucuses. (more)

“Dude, where’s my job?” is one of the slogans one finds scrawled on signs held by disheveled young protesters at Occupy events. (more)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican political figure and tea-party favorite Christine O’Donnell says she’s backing Mitt Romney’s presidential bid. (more)

Kentucky GOP senator and tea party supporter Rand Paul blasted Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich Friday, calling the former House Speaker a “big government, status quo Republican.” (more)

It should come as no surprise that some people are biased against the tea party movement. We have seen it in the media, which often portrays tea partiers as anti-government naysayers and rabble-rousers with nothing better to do than complain. At the same time, the so-called “Occupy Wall Street” whiners have largely been given a pass. (more)

Curiously, there’s an important Senate primary race in Indiana that some top conservative voices are ignoring. The Republican incumbent candidate supported amnesty and the Kennedy-McCain DREAM Act, as well as President Obama’s nominations of Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court. It’s no wonder that Senator Dick Lugar has been called “Obama’s favorite Republican.” (more)

Questlove of The Roots, the house band of “Late Night With Jimmy Fallon,” was attacked by “3,500 tea party extremists” on Twitter after he publicly insulted Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann by playing the song “Lyin’ Ass Bitch” when she took the show’s stage last week. (more)

One tea party chapter in Virginia is fighting back against what it has called a double standard for tea partiers and members of Occupy Wall Street, and, it alleges, the capital city of Richmond has punished the group for lodging complaints. (more)

Colin Powell on Sunday blamed the media as well as the Tea Party for the divisive political tone in Washington. (more)

In an exclusive interview with The Daily Caller, Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) founder and Service Employees International Union organizer Wade Rathke acknowledged that the tea party movement has been more effective than Occupy Wall Street in influencing American politics. (more)

Thanksgiving can mean different things to different people depending on their point of view, whether it is William Jennings Bryan suggesting it’s an acknowledgement of dependence, or Rush Limbaugh suggesting it is a lesson of self-reliance and a rejection of collectivism. (more)

New York Democrat Chuck Schumer was the U.S. senator who decided that a group of tea partiers couldn’t meet in a Capitol hearing room with lawmakers on Thursday, new video shows. (more)

The Senate Rules Committee on Thursday had a message for a group of tea partiers who planned to meet with Utah Republican Sen. Mike Lee and other lawmakers in a congressional office building to discuss cutting spending: You can’t meet here. (more)