Posted on 03/28/2010 8:01:00 AM PDT by ejdrapes
Is the tea party movement being hoodwinked by the establishment? The one thing I take away from today's rally in Searchlight Nevada, is that the tea party is without question coalescing, and fiercely I might add, around a single Presidential candidate for 2012. . .Already. It's early in the game yet, and the whole idea behind the Tea Party movement was to objectively review all of our potential choices, so we would never be led down the path again. At least that's what I thought. After today, I'll never again look at the Tea Party movement as one made up of Constitutional Conservatives. They may be Conservative, but sadly, not my brand of Conservatism. Independent thinkers? I think not. Group thinkers? Indeed. After a rip-roaring reception for the Keynote Speaker, I was sadly disillusioned at the lack of criticism toward the former Alaska Governor and Republican Party "Cover Girl," Sarah Palin. Wasn't it just yesterday, she was in Arizona campaigning for the former "Maverick" suddenly turned rock-ribbed conservative "reach-across-the-isle" moderate "RINO" John McCain of McCain/Feingold, McCain/Kennedy fame? And who also voted for Amnesty for illegal aliens? That gang of 14 John McCain? The same John McCain who tenderly re-assured us during the 2008 campaign: "Barack Obama is a good man...If he's elected President you don't have anything to worry about." That John McCain? Yes, indeed Sarah Palin is supporting that same John McCain who sided with Bill Clinton against the Republicans and voted for the tobacco tax in the 90's that led to trial lawyers raking in millions at the expense of Americans. The same John McCain who voted in favor of campaign finance reform, and FDA regulation of vitamin supplements, the Patriot Act, and more. Sarah Palin spent Friday campaigning for John McCain against the true conservative and former Arizona Congressman J.D. Hayworth who has a true conservative record, and is campaigning on true constitutional values. Nothing conservative about that. Then she spent Saturday spouting conservative talking points like some kind of right wing warrior with Tea Partyers screaming like 12 year old girls at a Jonas Brothers concert. Nothing especially objective about that, or conservative as far as I'm concerned. I realized long ago that you can't listen to what politicians say, you have to watch what they do, and Sarah Palin's actions do not match her words. I never thought the Tea Party crowd could be so easily manipulated by the main-stream establishment machine. I only wish they would stick to true conservative values and consider the other candidates before they hitch their wagons to the apron strings of pretty ms. Palin. As I made my way through the crowd voicing my dis-approval of their irrational and exuberant support for Sarah Palin, I was yelled at and ridiculed by Tea Party attendees. I was subjected to near violence in one instance. I was told to "Get the hell out of here." and "You don't belong here boy." "Go back to Obama where you belong you commie." and other select less than flattering remarks about my looks and my political beliefs, and my sexual preferences. Striking behavior when you consider we are all conservative adults. The thought that was going through my head was: "Obama Zombies" only worse..."Palin Zombies!" It was the exact same group-think mentality with absolutey zero tolerance for my opinion. I was actually told that "I am the reason this country is so screwed up, and if I knew what was good for me I'd get the hell out of here..." I realized I was dealing with a group-think mentality who had already drunk the Koolaid. There was no reasoning with them. Apparently, Conservatives are so desperate for leadership, they'll line up behind the first pied-piper who comes along, regardless the consequences to the country. Sound at all familiar? The same machine that was behind the election of obama is hard at work drilling the brains of the Tea Partyers. Maybe not the exact same people, just the exact same political establishment machine... What did I take away from today's Tea Party rally in Searchlight? There's another "Hoodwink" coming in 2012 and it scares the hell out of me. Brian K. Shoemake
Brian Shoemake
Pahrump, NV
Part of that "herd mentality" I mentioned in an earlier post. People reacting instead of thinking is another....
Not that same old BS again. That partcilar canard has been taken apart and destroyed a thousand times on FR already. But trust the anti-Palin bots to drag that rubbish up every single bloody time.
Haley Barbour
Yep.
I’m not looking for perfection. This far from 2012 is the time to be looking at all possibilities. I DO vote in primaries & I do help candidates I agree with. The primaries are the time to be VERY discriminating.
No one is going to be 100% - but if a person is saying things they don’t really mean, that knocks them down the list in my book.
This early in the game is the time for open, constructive debate - but everytime someone says something you don’t like about Sarah Palin - you all launch full-out attacks. This is not productive.
Yeah, the writer of the article shouldn’t have been trashing Sarah at that rally - but he makes some valid points in the article. Can you not accept anyone disagreeing with you?
I see. So now you, who is not even a member of the Tea Parties, presume to dictate to the Tea Parties who they should and shouldn't invite to their rallies? You need to get off whatever you are smoking dude.
Excellent example of precisely what I’m talking about.....
Big money draw? Please show me where Searchlight made money from this. I’ve seen PDS before, but this thread takes the cake.
jeez ..... 3 years to election time. I am damn proud she is rallying the troops. Some of yoos are way paranoid. I love Sarah, no I don’t have to have her as prez. But she is the ONE who has been standing up to bambi etal since August. Thank God and greyhound.
I sort of agree.
There was no such thing as a “tea party” until that guy on CNBC (Rick Santelli) did his rant about where we were and used the two words together. He tapped into a vein of built up frustration and the words “tea party” went viral.
Over the summer the “town hall” events also became “tea party” events and “tea partiers” more or less morphed into words for average Americans who had real economic concerns and real concerns about the direction the country was headed.
Then, somewhere along the way - the two meanings of the word “party” became conflated. The original Boston Tea Party was a “party” more in the sense of a birthday party than it was a “party” in the sense of, say, the Whig Party.
But all of a sudden people speak about “The Tea Party” as a nascent 3rd party movement. How we changed from one meaning to another was never made clear to me.
But my overriding concern is that (as Rush as said) the “Tea Party” plays right into the goals of the RAT communist party. Whatever we gain in terms of activating the base, we’re sure to lose more due to the fragmentary effects of a third party. The RATs and the State run media know this and play it up for all it’s worth.
I’m with Reagan who say the path to real change as being through the Republican party, which unlike the “tea party”, has at least a shot at effecting said change.
Only thing is, Sarah Palin actually has had executive experience, and was actually born in this country, and we know did NOT pal around with terrorists like Bill Ayers and race baiters like Jeremiah Wright all her life. Palin and 0bama are not even close.
“That scares me”
Good! I am not going to lose any sleep if someone who spews out as much garbage as you do about Sarah Palin, is scared.
I agree with him on this much—I am wary of seeing any one person, no matter how much I might agree with her principles, being raised as the “messiah” of the right. It just doesn’t make sense to invest that much into one person. It’s nothing against Sarah Palin, I know that I agree with her stances more often than not. I just think people set themselves, and her, up for a big disappointment by putting all this on her.
could we all just, please, stop fighting about Sarah?
this is 2010. we have a war against communism to fight. we are fighting to save LIBERTY.
First congress ... then the whitehouse in 2012. sarah hasn’t even said she’s running
FOCUS !
What makes you think I’m not a member? I’ve helped organize events for my local TEA group. That’s not enough to qualify as a member?
Second, where did I dictate? I stated my opinion that they shouldn’t have invited her because she endorsed McCain, but that is far from dictating anything. Or are people not allowed to criticize the TEA Party in your world?
If that’s your America, no thanks.
Are you the author of this article?
Personally, I'd prefer Duncan Hunter as president, but I'm willing to celebrate a Palin victory as well. :)
And, regarding the Tea Partiers being focused on a single candidate - more rubbish. There are plenty of offices we want to fill with non-RINOs.
No one is perfect, and campaigning for McCain is a mistake. However, I’ll wait to reserve judgment on Sarah. She has too much potential to toss her out with the bathwater right now.
Who are the Palin haters? You sound like a McCainic. Is this an alinsky like smear that McCain used when he called Americans against amnesty - “racists.”
I like her and she “gets it” on energy. She has guts. She just needs to get the h*ll away from that disgusting McCain.
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