Tea Parties

Yesterday, St. Louis Tea Party Coalition leader Bill Hennessy announced the organization's support for the U.S. Senate Primary Candidate Forum spearheaded by the Franklin County Patriots.  In an email initiation to supporters, Campaign for Liberty activist Laura Hausladen explained that the March 20 event is intended to address the "great deal of restlessness and discord over the apparent anointment of [Roy] Blunt."

Each of the Republican Party candidates -- except for Blunt -- have confirmed that they will be attending.

Given his long record in Washington, Blunt has had a hard time warming up to the tea party crowd.  He was the #3 House leader in Washington as Republicans grew government spending and deficits, never figured out a way to pay for huge government programs like the Medicare Part D benefit, and was the leader of the House GOP efforts to pass the TARP legislation last year. And Blunt didn't just vote for the TARP legislation -- he was one of the key GOP leaders begging his colleagues to change their votes.

Mike Carey, president of the American Council for Affordable and Reliable Energy, was on KMOX's Hancock & Kelleyshow last week to talk about new billboards his organization is financing in the St. Louis area.  The American Council for Affordable and Reliable Energy is a Washington, D.C.-based group financed by coal companies created to protect companies' ability to pollute at their current unsustainable levels.

In the interview, Carey was unable to provide the name of a single funder or supporter unconnected to the coal industry, and struggled to explain why his organization was not running similar ads in any other areas of the country. And just in case you thought the ads weren't political in nature, Carey admitted on air that his organization has only tried to purchase ads in one other Congressional district in the country: Arkansas's Second.  But when Democratic Congressman Vic Snyder announced that his retirement in January, Carey and ACARE lost interest.

Carey was last seen in St. Louis at the November 2009 "Tea Party" as a keynote speaker, along with the recently-arrested James O’Keefe.  The St. Louis Tea Party wrote at the time that Carey created his organization last year "when he saw that misinformation and lies were beginning to shape the political landscape on coal and global warming." Before serving as president of the ACARE, Carey was president of the Ohio Coal Association.

A coalition of "Patriot, Liberty, Tea Party and 912 groups" has announced plans for a U.S. Senate candidate forum in Jefferson City on March 20th.  The event is apparently open to all GOP and Constitution party candidates, and organizers hope the forum provides "an opportunity for the grassroots to unite behind a candidate that truly represents our values and beliefs."

An email initiation sent to prospective participants from Campaign for Liberty activist Laura Hausladen explains in an email to prospective event co-sponsors:

We do not know what the mood is all across the state in regard to this race, but in the mid-east area, there is a great deal of restlessness and discord over the apparent anointment of Blunt by the Republican Party as the only viable candidate to fill the senate seat being vacated by Senator Christopher Bond.  In the spirit of the people choosing the candidate, there is a need for all the patriot groups to come together and help host a candidate forum to vet these candidates during this primary season and not just blindly follow party politics.  We may not have a consensus between groups at the end of the forum, but this is an important part of the process and a great way to meet and hear the candidates running for the US Senate here in Missouri in 2010. It's also an opportunity for the grassroots to unite behind a candidate that truly represents our values and beliefs.

Try not to laugh when reading this story in The Hill about how Roy Blunt is different from the other GOP leaders in Washington:

Rich Chrismer, a spokesman for Blunt’s campaign, said the candidate has tried to distinguish himself from inside-the-Beltway politicians by keeping close tabs on the Tea Party.

"Roy Blunt is doing something they’re not doing in Washington," said Chrismer. "He’s listening to them and paying attention to their concerns. We’re excited that many people who have not been involved in politics before are getting involved in the process."

Bill Hennessy, Gateway Pundit Jim Hoft*
and Ed Martin at the April '09 St. Louis Tea Party

St. Louis Tea Party leader Bill Hennessy linked to a rather troubling YouTube video last night that dubbed some of the tired attacks against Russ Carnahan and Robin Carnahan over a pivotal scene from the movie, Der Untergang (The Downfall).  In the clip, Adolf Hitler is not yelling at his generals about the end of WWII, but lamenting how their criminal conspiracy was unable to secure a U.S. Senate seat for Robin Carnahan.  Hitler says  he 'risked jail time' to get her elected, and complains about how the Congressman "tells his goons to beat up a diabetic."

It's worth noting that the rarely-shamed Hennessy expressed reservations about posting the video.  "I probably shouldn’t, but someone took the time to send me this link," he wrote.  If you've read any of Hennessy's ideas, his reluctance to post anything is a significant detail.

There's teabag jewelry. "Worn not just for its beauty, this TEA BAG^® identifies your support for conservative/libertarian beliefs which our country is in such dire need [sic]."

It's not too late to order before Valentine's Day. 

h/t The Washington Independent

A few hundred conservative activists filled the Capitol rotunda this morning for a "Sovereignty Rally" to hear House and Senate Republicans rail against the allegedly unconstitutional federal health care reform legislation.  Led by St. Louis area legislators Sen. Jane Cunningham, Sen. Jim Lembke, Rep. Tim Jones and Rep. Brian Nieves, the overwhelming majority of the House Republican Caucus was in attendance and on stage, along with a few other GOP Senators and Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder.

The rhetoric of the rally was all about the allegedly unconstitutional nature of federal health care reform proposals and the tyranny of Democratic leadership in Washington. There was much talk of "patriots" and "sovereignty" -- but no talk, of course, of what they as elected leaders would do to make health care more affordable and accessible to struggling families. 

I'll have more posts and video about the later today -- here are a few photos of the event to whet your appetite.

Rep. Jo Ann Emerson attended her very first tea party on Saturday to scrounge up votes from the super conservative wing of her party.  It's hard to tell how things went -- there weren't any real fireworks in the press and first-person accounts of the event, but both Emerson and tea party activists are working to keep their distance from each other.  The tea partiers obviously don't like a lot of her votes, and she (to her credit) wasn't all that enamored with their birther jokes and "socialist coup" rhetoric. 

From Rudi Keller's story on the rally in yesterday's Southeast Missourian:

While Emerson said she doesn't agree with everything said on stage -- she singled out [Poplar Bluff radio personality C.R.] Woolard's joke about Obama's citizenship as one example -- she said she doesn't turn away from chances to hear from any constituents. "It was my first Tea Party, and I felt I should go and listen," she said.

Over at the conservative RiteOn blog, conservative activist and website founder Chuck MacNab writes about a meeting at the offices of Sen. Jim Lembke he says he attended on Saturday.  According to MacNab, Lembke was joined by Sen. Jane Cunningham and representatives of numerous other conservative organizations and campaigns to focus on three goals for the 2010 elections.

A dedicated group of experienced conservative leaders met for about 4 hours in State Senator Jim Lembke's office in St. Louis Saturday morning, January 9. RiteOn observed a common view and single mindedness among these area leaders that, if allowed to mature, could spell big trouble for RINOS and liberals and impact the status of many who currently believe they control the Republican Party.

Three objectives emerged from the meeting:

- To replace non-conservative candidates and office holders with conservatives in the August Primary elections.

- To make certain a conservative candidate wins in the General election in November.

- To support conservative sponsored ballot issues and to defeat those issues the group opposes.

House Budget Chair and candidate for State Auditor Allen Icet apparently missed all those audits of the "death panel" falsehood -- Saturday, he said they're real.

Icet also attacked the federal health care bill working its way through Congress: "However you want to put lipstick on this pig, it will destroy our country," Icet said. And, he added, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin was right: "We will have what she referred to as death panels."

Palin and Icet, of course, are wrong (very wrong).  But why would a man entrusted by the House GOP with the state budget and seeking a promotion to statewide office be expected to know what he's talking about?

So said the St. Louis Tea Party leader and 97.1 FM radio host Dana Loesch after the RNC Chairman cancelled a scheduled interview with her.

You can watch video of a "fake interview" Loesch conducted with Steele after the cancellation (she plays both herself and Steele) -- it's actually pretty funny. 

h/t St. Louis Pushes Back

Tuesday, the Chairman of the Florida Republican Party resigned under pressure from tea party types for his support of Gov. Charlie Crist over the tea party-approved Marco Rubio in their GOP primary for the US Senate.  Earlier this year, Rubio was polling at 4% against Crist, and most everyone assumed the race was a done deal.  Yet Rubio has been relentless in criticizing Crist for straying from the narrow Republican path, and the two are now in a dead heat. 

On his way out the door, the former Chairman accused the tea partiers of trying to "burn the house down and try to destroy the Republican Party."  But the Washington Times reports that tea partiers are undeterred, and are warning Republican leaders in other states.

A founder of the "tea party" movement said Wednesday he had a warning for Republican state leaders: Back conservative candidates or else other states will suffer the same backlash that toppled Florida's Republican Party chairman this week.

"We are turning our guns on anyone who doesn't support constitutional conservative candidates," said Dale Robertson, who operates TeaParty.org out of Houston and helped start the movement nearly two years ago.

He declined to say which states are next on the tea party's hit list. He said party leaders in those states would be warned privately, but the movement's wrath "will be very clear publicly" if they don't listen.

This sort of wrangling about what it means to be a 'genuine' tea partier is interesting, especially given the controversy regarding this Saturday's faux tea party in Poplar Bluff.

Steve McQueen is the co-founder of the Quincy, IL Tea Party; Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer spoke at (at least) one of their events last year.

As recently as this morning, Roy Blunt was listed as a "headliner" for the Patriot Rally to be held in Poplar Bluff this weekend. His name is no longer on the rally's official website, however, with no explanation given for the change. 

Maybe the irony and hypocrisy was too much to bear?

Yesterday we noted the incredibly ironic list of keynote speakers for an upcoming "Patriot Rally" in Poplar Bluff for "the next generation of the Tea Party."  Roy Blunt and Jo Ann Emerson are headlining the event, despite their considerable differences with most tea party activists. 

Bob Parker, the Texas County rancher who is challenging Emerson in the GOP primary this August, saw our story and is predictably unhappy with the establishment's hijacking of the tea party brand.  In fact, he says he tried to get on the list of speakers, but was not allowed by organizers. 

Here's what he wrote on our Facebook page: