Posted on 06/01/2014 9:53:45 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) on Saturday railed against Tea Party groups for hurting establishment candidates and incumbents just to fundraise.
“That is a fact. It is not a conjecture, and so many of these groups it is basically donor capture. They are there to perpetuate themselves," he said at the Republican Leadership Conference in New Orleans, La., as recorded by The Daily Beast.
Johnson explained that he feels that some Tea Party groups don't actually represent the grassroots Tea Party movement, with which he identifies.
“I value the membership of the Tea Party movement. I am right there with them ideologically, I mean, ‘Taxed Enough Already.’ But the groups don’t necessarily represent all of the individuals in the movement. I think the individuals are now realizing they may have been led astray by an individual group or two and they really do understand that they have to win elections,” he said. “My guess is the Tea Party grassroots are maybe a little more flexible.”
The senator stressed that the party needs to be more reasonable in order to win general elections.
“I think the conservative movement may just be maturing a little bit. You can be very doctrinaire, you can demand purity, but in the end if you want to advance policy that you want enacted you have to win elections," Johnson said. "If you start out bombastic, if you start out with conspiracies, they aren’t going to listen to you."
As a conservative, I actually think he has a point - in that national ‘Tea Party’ groups fundraise endlessly, and are not contributing much of anything to the cause. For example, what is the difference on the Tea Party Express and the Tea Party Patriots? It seems to me that what is happening is that this employs some activist conservatives, and fundraising maintains their jobs. Perhaps someone here can explain this to me.
OTOH, I do endorse the local Tea Party movement. This is where the grassroots of the conservative movement, is and that is where the tea Party does the most good. Informing the local citizens of what is going on in the government.
a Republican Leadership Conference?
That must have been exciting to attend
anyone see any leaders?
I worked for the GOP for years volunteering. Many of us felt it always seemed to be campaigning against us. I am no longer a member of the GOP or help them.
Others can continue to run up against the GOP wall if they choose. I won’t any longer.
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