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."
The sooner the GOP establishment goes away the better.
He is part of the problem. The Tea Party is the solution. The RINO’s see this as their extinction event and they’re fighting it tooth and nail.
Too bad for them, they lost a long time ago.
It is the GOPe that demands their own brand of purity, the last thing they want is for us to elect conservatives that actually mean it.
The GOP establishment is what has hurt the Republican Party.
To my knowledge no rebuttal has appeared on these threads and the charges remain in the air.
Senator Johnson's criticism to the degree that it extends to finances might therefore be well taken. That, however, would have nothing to do with his betrayal of conservative principles since taking office due to the support of The Tea Party.
I seem to remember this guy was backed by the Tea movement, and now like Rand Paul he has moved like Paul did when he backed Mitch McConnell over Matt Bevin against the conservative base.
This is a party the GOP that has only 35% GOPe country club Republicans who are Rockerfeller/Bush republicans not Reagan republicans. The GOPe forgot how Reagan ran and won big on conservative issues. Since these weasels have run things we have had a string of losses. Dole,Bush SR., McCain, Romney.
I hope this guy reforms himself or losses. I would not go vote for someone who doesn’t go home with the person who was responsible for him being at the party
Frankly, this whole change it from within nonsense is, well nonsense. It’s fun to watch if only because it is so predictable.
Change is rarely voluntary.
The GOPe country club Republicans fought Reagan all the way. I believe they think the Reagan wins were flukes.
Businesses that don’t cull incompetent executives don’t survive long.
Is he sure he isn't mixing up the TEA Party candidates with the GOPe 10-15 termers seeking reelection?
“My guess is the Tea Party grassroots are maybe a little more flexible.”
My guess is that is a very poor guess. I also think that guessing is not a good way to run a political party. I also guess that he knows his guess is wrong and that he is trying to play the “Hey don’t we want to win an election” card - trying to pull people back to the center left.
Johnson is a pro-amnesty sellout:
Just like all the other GOP sellouts from WI.
I respond to the daily GOP begging for money (email phone and paper) with “No money for RINOs.”
A pity he feels the need to verbally assault free and thinking people.
I also remember the article and thread, and I was amazed at the very high rake offs some of these so-called financial responsibility groups were taking. If I recall correctly in looking at the list of Tea Party related groups, only one, the Club for Growth had a reasonable admin fee (something like 5 or 6%). The rest of the Tea Party affiliated groups were HORRIBLE! One or more even approaching what I’d call a scam operation.
Likewise, I have seen no rebuttals to this whatsoever, which resolves me to check very carefully into the mission, organization and financial disclosure statements of any of these groups before I give them money.
As for Senator Johnson, I could give a rat’s patooty if his establishment GOP is losing donors because of Tea Party sentiment.
,,,,, sounds to me like the rino estabs are beginning to get the message and they feel threatened .
Generally the dems will not attack one another in the primary election stage like the rinos are willing to do even if it cost us the election ,,, I have to say this really pisses me off to the “T” !!!!!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
