Posted on 06/11/2014 9:49:43 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
A Tea Party candidate soundly defeated House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., on Tuesday, sending shockwaves through the Republican establishment and the Democratic Party.
And Dave Brat, the 52-year-old chairman of the Randolph-Macon College Department of Economics and Business in Ashland, Va., staged the huge upset without any help from major Tea Party organizations.
But this troublesome fact hasn't stopped certain so-called Tea Party groups from capitalizing on Brat's victory, declaring enthusiastically that Cantor’s defeat equals a Tea Party insurgency.
FreedomWorks president Matt Kibbe wrote: “Congratulations to Dave Brat on his huge upset. The statement from the grassroots could not be any clearer. It doesn't matter what office you hold or how powerful you are. If you lose touch with activists on the ground, then your seat is in danger.”
“The grassroots are taking their seat back at the table and returning accountability to Washington. Votes on Capitol Hill will be heard back in the district,” he added. “We are proud to stand with Dave Brat in his election and look forward to working with him to reform Washington, D.C.”
FreedomWorks has so far backed two losing primary candidates in 2014 and switched its endorsement in the Nebraska primary to Ben Sasse two weeks before the primary election. FreedomWorks later took credit for Sasse's victory.
Neither Club for Growth nor Heritage Action, two groups that "aim to pick off Republicans who stray from strict party orthodoxy," as the Wall Street Journal puts it, got involved with Brat's campaign.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonexaminer.com ...
We remember their inaction.
I’ll bet that Brat soon starts attracting much more money to his campaign.
I heard radio host, author and political commentator, Laura Ingraham, who campaigned for winning Tea Party Congressional Candidate (Virginia) Dave Brat, say on Fox last night that the head of the Tea Party Patriots organization, Jenny Beth Martin, would NOT help Brat, in fact she would NOT even take Brat’s phone calls.
This woman pays herself– using Tea Party donations– 9 times more than she spent on behalf of Tea Party Candidate Matt Bevin who lost to RINO Mitch McConnell.
She draws a salary as president of the Tea Party Patriots’ nonprofit arm — getting more than $272,000 in the 2012 fiscal year, according to the group’s most recent tax filing.
She also gets money for “strategic planning” ($120,000.00 between 7/2013 and 5/2014).
Before you donate to the Tea Party Patriots or any other so-called national Tea Party group, read the articles I’ve posted links to below. You could be giving your hard-earned money to a scam organization. Give directly to the candidate and/or your LOCAL Tea Party/Liberty group.
For more information on the Tea Party Patriots and other Tea Party groups, read these articles:
http://www.mofopolitics.com/2014/05/02/lets-face-it-tea-party-patriots-jenny-beth-martin-is-a-fraud/
Yeah, the only support the Tea Party offered was votes at the polling station. Imagine that.
Truth in the article, but I don’t think slamming Matt Kibbe is the way to go. Matt is the real deal, and an ally of ours.
the DC world loves to do the finger pointing game. Doesn’t matter. Most groups thought investing in a race against the 2nd ranking guy was a bad investment. Few saw this as a realistic possibility. None of these orgs supported Boehner’s opponent either.
Bottom line, groups like FreedomWorks have been moving the ball in the right direction and have helped motivate voters and train organization to help pave the way for this.
There does seem to be some bad apples among groups with Tea Party in their name...not that they are ill-willed but they have a lot of people profiting from donations and money is not getting to the grassroots. More scrutiny is needed in a few cases.
The establishment includes some national Tea Party organizations. They were endorsing McConnell in Kentucky or staying out of races. They didn’t vet or know some of the candidates who ran against Lindsey Graham, John Boehner and other races. They are not doing a good job of trying to win.
Thanks for posting this. I used to donate to TPP but no more. Esp. after learning how much coin JBM is taking home. Much more than I earn.
Much much more.
What we should remember is that you can't buy good candidates. Ernst, Sasse, McDaniels and now Brat won because they are clear, intelligent, and articulate about the cause of constitutional conservatives.
These groups can buy exposure to put a candiate on the radar screen. But then, it's up to the candidate to be better, MUCH BETTER than the competition.
Freedom Works is the way to go....and donating directly to candidates.
Just goes to show that some people still have no idea about what the Tea Party is or do not want to admit it. I just sent Chris McDaniel $25.00 for his Senate campaign in Missippi.
I am an independant Tea Party person, so I suppose this will not get reported as Tea Party support if it does not come from one of the so called Tea Party organizations.
I would suggest that any FReepers take a long, hard look at FreedomWorks before helping them in any way. This “grass-roots” organization is filled with lobbyists and I haven’t trusted them ever since Dick Armey got a 8 million dollar severance package from the organization.
I have NEVER believed the “Tea Party Patriots” or any affiliated like-named group would function as anything other than siphoners and thieves of TP contributions.
Sorry, I’ve gone full retard when it comes to assigning an upper limit on corruption in our system.
hey I’m jaded and even I got a kick out of Cantor packing his bags
Screw these fraudulent tea party groups...contribute only to individual Conservative candidates.
They still don’t understand what ‘grass roots’ really means.
There are tea parties in name only (TINOs) popping up to get votes for candidates shortly before election time. You have to know who is who by taking a deeper look into their officer’ background and past history.
“Just goes to show that some people still have no idea about what the Tea Party is or do not want to admit it. I just sent Chris McDaniel $25.00 for his Senate campaign in Missippi.
I am an independant Tea Party person, so I suppose this will not get reported as Tea Party support if it does not come from one of the so called Tea Party organizations.
“
Spot on. Worth repeating.
i felt the same way when i read about her... again, it is people starting out with good intentions and then power and big money comes into play--then the corruption starts seeping in... reminds a bit of Labor Union bosses... JBM is bringing in over 400k a year, and not taking Brat's phone calls?
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