Yes, Rick Santelli christened the name but by and large the movement was already underway during Paul's presidential run.
Ron Paul? Sheesh, his minions need to give it a rest.
Say what you want about him but he was the only Republican to bring in younger voters and small gov't voters back into the GOP.
Only? That's a stretch. And using small government and GOP in the same sentence is nearly an oxymoron. ;^)
"You can accomplish much if you don't care who gets the credit." - Ronald Reagan
"It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit." - Harry S Truman
"No man will make a great leader who wants to do it all himself, or to get all the credit for doing it." - Andrew Carnegie
"The world is divided into people who do things, and people who get credit. Try, if you can, to belong to the first class, there is far less competition." - Dwight Morrow
Ron Paul, Rick Santelli, Glenn Beck, Dick Armey with FreedomWorks, The whole gang at Americans for Prosperity...etc. Tell me which one of these could have done it all alone. Give the Paulites credit for what they've been doing for years. Rick Santelli's rant was a spontaneous and dramatic. Glenn Beck's 912 project was named for 9 principles and 12 values but just happened to be the date of the largest rally of the many as we marched on the Capitol. FreedomWorks was a major player in the big rally. AFP has been doing this since 2004.
If folks sharing the issue advocacy are being excluded I have a problem with that. If folks are trying to hijack the movement to float their party platform they are dead to me.