Thread: Is the tea party movement being hijacked by Republicans ?

Some quotes from the convention Include "we are not Interested In forming a third party".... "we are not people just standing around holding up signs"... "we are not affiliated with other groups such as Teapartypatriots'.... And now we find that Sarah Palin will be campaigning for JUAN McCAIN In his fight to save his Senate seat against J.D. Hayworth. (Sarah Palin was the keynote speaker at the so called Tea Party Convention In Nashville) I do not think that the REAL Tea Party folks want McCain back In the Senate. The Republicans are trying claim the Tea Party Movement as their own In my opinion,and I do not think this Is the kind of change that people In the movement want. What Is your opinion ?

Originally Posted by topsecret10

Some quotes from the convention Include "we are not Interested In forming a third party".... "we are not people just standing around holding up signs"... "we are not affiliated with other groups such as Teapartypatriots'.... And now we find that Sarah Palin will be campaigning for JUAN McCAIN In his fight to save his Senate seat against J.D. Hayworth. (Sarah Palin was the keynote speaker at the so called Tea Party Convention In Nashville) I do not think that the REAL Tea Party folks want McCain back In the Senate. The Republicans are trying claim the Tea Party Movement as their own In my opinion,and I do not think this Is the kind of change that people In the movement want. What Is your opinion ?

Hands Off! The Political Insiders Accused Of Hijacking The Tea Party Movement

As the Tea Party movement approaches its one-year anniversary, grassroots activists increasingly are finding themselves fighting off what they see as cynical bids by unscrupulous sophisticates to co-opt the movement for their own ends.

These new players on the Tea Party scene are lawyers, political consultants, business-people, and even Republican politicians. They're not working together for the most part, and the details of their efforts differ. But all have taken steps lately that have been denounced -- often by Tea Party activists -- as efforts to benefit personally from a movement that prides itself on its independence and incorruptability.

Who are these outsiders who stand accused of hijacking a grassroots movement?

• Sal Russo -- The Tea Party Express (TPE)
Russo, a veteran California Republican political consultant, took the lead in creating Our Country Deserves Better (OCDB), the PAC behind TPE. The fledgling group grabbed headlines last summer with its cross-country bus tour, but has been slammed by grassroots Tea Partiers as an inauthentic GOP creation. We reported last month that most of OCDB's spending went to Russo, Marsh. As one member of the Tea Party Patriots put it in an email to fellow activists: "What would the true grassroots people think if they knew their money is being spent in this manner?"

• Judson Phillips -- National Tea Party Convention
Phillips, a Nashville defense attorney who specializes in DUI cases, last year created Tea Party Nation, a for-profit social networking site for conservative activists. Now he's organizing the National Tea Party Convention, scheduled for next month in the Music City, with speeches planned from Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann. But the hefty price tag for the con-fab, and Phillips's vague statements about what he plans to do with any profits generated, have grassroots Tea Partiers questioning his motives. "The Tea Party movement is about to be hijacked," one wrote recently. Last week, one of the event's lead sponsors pulled out, citing concerns over the financing, and Erick Erickson of RedState agreed that the convention "smells scammy."

• Fred O'Neal and Doug Guetzloe -- Tea Party of Florida
O'Neal, an Orlando lawyer, had had little involvement with the Tea Party movement last summer when he registered the Tea Party of Florida as an official political party. Lately -- backed by his close ally Doug Guetzloe, a GOP consultant who in the past has been accused of numerous political dirty tricks (Guetzloe denies all those charges) -- O'Neal has been claiming rights to the Tea Party name, and pressing some Tea Party activists to drop the moniker. O'Neal even told TPMmuckraker he planned to take his case national, by urging Phillips to rename his national convention. One Tea Partier warned fellow activists in an email that O'Neal and Guetzloe "are trying to 'hijack' our movement and turn it into the thing we are protesting for their own personal gain." For his part, O'Neal told us he's only aiming to prevent confusion in the public's mind, and simply wants people to follow the law.

• Michael Steele and Sarah Palin
The RNC chairman has been cozying up to the Tea Party movement as he pitches his new book. "I'm a tea partier, I'm a town-haller, I'm a grass-roots-er," he told a radio interviewer recently. And Palin is being paid what may be as much as $120,000 to speak at the national convention. (She recently said she won't gain financially from the speech -- a pledge that doesn't rule out directing the fee to friendly political entities.) Most grassroots Tea Partiers remain supportive of Palin, and have no particular animosity toward Steele -- though many remain deeply skeptical of efforts to work with the organized GOP. But some commentators see parallels between Steele and Palin and the other insiders being accused of co-opting the movement. The two GOP pols, wrote Frank Rich yesterday, represent "the rise of buckrakers who are exploiting the [Republican] party's anarchic confusion and divisions to cash in for their own private gain."


What these various skirmishes suggest is that the Tea Party movement finds itself, almost one year in, at a crossroads. Many of the grassroots activists who helped turn it into a major political phenomenon see the more sophisticated players who have recently emerged as a threat to the movement's basic nature. But at the same time, it's inevitable that people with ties to the GOP will seek to get involved with a movement that has harnessed grassroots conservative anger. And, this being America, it's also no surprise that some people might try to turn a buck.

So maybe all this turmoil proves is that the Tea Party movement has arrived.

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.c ... hijack.php

Is Sarah Palin going to hijack the Tea Party movement on behalf of the republican party?
I like Palin, but she is a Republican at heart. So why is she the keynote speaker at an organizational meeting for the Tea Party. She doesn't want to leave the Republican party. It sounds like she is hoping to sway the Tea Baggers(of which I am one) to being duped once again by the republican party.

Originally Posted by topsecret10

Is Sarah Palin going to hijack the Tea Party movement on behalf of the republican party?
I like Palin, but she is a Republican at heart. So why is she the keynote speaker at an organizational meeting for the Tea Party. She doesn't want to leave the Republican party. It sounds like she is hoping to sway the Tea Baggers(of which I am one) to being duped once again by the republican party.

Tea Party activists bitter about GOP ‘hijacking’ movement

Revelations about the connections between a Republican lobbying firm with a long history of astroturfing and one of the two main factions of “Tea Partyâ€

Any attempt to try to connect the Tea Party movement to a political party is just wishful thinking or ignorant rhetoric. The overwhelming majority of Tea Party's protesters simply want a return to constitutional government and fiscal responsibility. Don't read anything into the fact that Palin is a keynote speaker. She simply echo's the sentiment of most that want a return to common sense. Gad! Common sense?? What a novel idea!

By Chas Sisk, The Tennessean
A spat between organizers of the national Tea Party convention, which starts Thursday in Nashville and will feature Sarah Palin as its keynote speaker, has largely centered on fees, speakers and profits.
Those were among the concerns cited by two key conservative lawmakers, Rep. Marsha Blackburn of Brentwood and Minnesota Rep. Michele Backmann, as they pulled out of the event last week. They echoed similar complaints other grass-roots Tea Party supporters have been making for weeks.

But at the core of the division lies a more fundamental question of where the Tea Party should go from here and what it's really all about.

Supporters of the convention to be held at the Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center say the national conference will build alliances across state lines, strengthening into a force that can press the Democratic and Republican parties to change their ways or face a threat to their existence.


The convention's opponents, however, believe the event threatens to ruin the movement. They say their disjointed, grass-roots uprising is being turned into a top-down organization that will be co-opted by the major parties.

Which side wins could determine how the Tea Party phenomenon plays out, and the national convention in Nashville could be a turning point in the movement.

"One side is trying to build an organization," said Marcus Pohlmann, a professor of political science at Rhodes College in Memphis. "The other wants a protest movement. There are reasons for both."

Dispute draws attention

The participants in this dispute have mainly been Tennesseans, but the disagreement has received attention far beyond the state. National media outlets fromThe New York Times to Fox News have carried stories on the event, and organizers say they have received requests for credentials from as far away as Eastern Europe.

Even Le Figaro, one of France's largest newspapers, may cover the event, a correspondent said Friday.

Before Blackburn and Bachmann pulled out, several of the conference's sponsors had dropped their support. But the main draw, former Alaska governor and GOP vice presidential candidate Palin, said late last week that she remains committed to the event, as have other speakers interviewed by The Tennessean.

The dispute has focused attention on the convention's organizers, Tea Party Nation founders Judson and Sherry Phillips. The couple rose to prominence within the movement by helping to organize at least two of last spring's Tea Party protests, including the April 15 event that drew 3,000 people to the state Capitol in Nashville.

Since then, the Phillipses have alienated some Tennessee Tea Party activists. These people say the Phillipses are profiteering from the movement, charging $549 for the three-day conference, and running the for-profit Tea Party Nation with a hierarchical style that runs counter to the movement.

They also say the Phillipses, who were involved in Williamson County Republican Party politics before joining the Tea Party movement, are too closely tied to the GOP. The decision to feature Republicans Palin, Bachmann and Blackburn as speakers has deepened those suspicions.

"It's just a Republican Party fundraiser," said Jim Tomasik, a Memphis Tea Party activist who is sitting out the convention. "The thing that's going to be going on (this week) will be somebody putting themselves in a position of power over everybody, and you'll see how that turns out."

Organizers, however, say the convention is simply an opportunity to bring together Tea Party activists from across the country to socialize and swap notes. Tea Party Nation says it has sold 600 tickets to the three-day conference, with people coming from all 50 states.

"Sherry and Judson Phillips have decided to host this, and it's going to be a great way for everybody to come together," said Mark Skoda, another Memphis Tea Party activist, who will lead a seminar at the convention and has been named the conference's spokesman.

"It hasn't applied for a subsidy or taken a bailout, and it's going to pay taxes. It's going to be a boost to the economy."

Judson Phillips, who has spoken to The Tennessean about the convention previously, did not respond to interview requests for this story, other than to confirm Skoda's appointment as spokesman.

A new party?

The convention comes as the Tea Party movement steps onto a political field that is wide with opportunities, Pohlmann said.

Last spring's protests of government spending and the summer's town hall debates over health-care reform have energized conservative and libertarian activists. Meanwhile, polling numbers show that as much as half of the electorate is dissatisfied with both major parties.

"It seems like the circumstances are ripe for one of the parties to be displaced by a new party," Pohlmann said. "My guess is the people that are trying to develop the Tea Party movement into an organization wouldn't mind if that were to happen over the long term."

Supporters of the convention say their goal is not to declare a third party or unite Tea Party groups under a single umbrella. With sessions on topics such as voter registration and information technology, the convention is meant to teach attendees new skills that they can take back to their own Tea Party groups.

"I think some of these folks are just disappointed that they didn't think of it first," said B. Leland Baker, a Colorado management consultant and author of a book on the Tea Party movement who will speak at the conference.

Critics, though, say the event has been designed to appeal to the small segment of the Tea Party movement who can afford the cost of registration, travel to Nashville and accommodations at the Opryland hotel.

Some of the convention's detractors have responded with their own events to draw Tea Party groups together. As an example, they point to a much lower-profile conference that brought representatives from 34 Tennessee Tea Party groups together at an inexpensive Nashville hotel last week.

People at that meeting formed an informal coalition that they say will do many of the same things as the national Tea Party convention — though on a smaller scale. They hope the idea will be duplicated by groups in other states, working independently of Tea Party efforts in Tennessee.

"What we're wanting to do is really return power back to the people," said Tomasik, who was named to the coalition's steering committee.

"What we've been elected to do is to figure out the best way to build this thing, without taking over anybody's group." http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington ... ture_N.htm

http://www.newsweek.com/id/232934/page/2

Originally Posted by topsecret10

Is Sarah Palin going to hijack the Tea Party movement on behalf of the republican party?
I like Palin, but she is a Republican at heart. So why is she the keynote speaker at an organizational meeting for the Tea Party. She doesn't want to leave the Republican party. It sounds like she is hoping to sway the Tea Baggers(of which I am one) to being duped once again by the republican party.

If you were in on the beginning you would see Sarah was there. She is a Republican! A Constitutionalist Republican.


The Tea Party is aware of Some Republicans trying to hang on their coattails. Only invited Republicans talk. She can bring a crowd unlike many of the other speakers.

I think either you are trying to cause trouble or you are a late comer to the Tea party.............

I think either you are trying to cause trouble or you are a late comer to the Tea party.............
Are you kidding me??? Did you read what I said above (probably not) that Sarah Palin Is going to campaign for Jaun McCain In Arizona ?? Do you really want Mr AMNESTY himself re-elected to the Senate with the help of Sarah Palin??? I think that you need to re-evaluate what you perceive Is REALLY going on here... McCain helped WRITE the 2007 AMNESTY BILL for heavens sake.... What are YOUR real motives ???

If we can get McCain out of there I think that would be the largest victory yet in reclaiming our Republic and could vault us back towards a better America...