Posted on 03/19/2010 7:27:00 AM PDT by rabscuttle385
MANISTEE, Mich./WACO, Texas/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Some Tea Partiers say they can pinpoint the precise moment when they made it clear to the Republican Party they had no intention of being its lapdog.
On a bright, brisk afternoon in mid-February, with snow still thick on the ground from storms that had battered Washington the week before, Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele met with more than 50 members of the Tea Party, the Twitter Age conservative movement that is reshaping the U.S. political landscape.
Steele, RNC chairman since January 2009, had invited them to the plush Capitol Hill Club, built as a clubhouse for the party's top brass next door to RNC headquarters.
According to several accounts, not long into the meeting JoAnn Abbott, an activist from Virginia who calls herself the 'Tea Party Grandma,' raised her hand to ask a question.
She asked about a web page on the RNC site where visitors could send their member of Congress a postcard with a tea bag. On the tag at the end of the string were the letters 'RNC.'
"Respectfully, sir, while we do not have a trademark on the tea bag, you are well aware that people associate it with the Tea Party movement," Abbott, 50, recalls saying to Steele. "If you co-opt that image, you damage our brand and weaken our movement."
Lest there was any confusion, she added: "It does not belong to you, it belongs to us as an independent movement."
Abbott said within an hour of the end of the meeting the page (www.teaparty.gop.com) was gone -- and the Grand Old Party was finally aware of conservative frustrations she and others felt with Republican leadership.
"The GOP now knows we're not asleep anymore," Abbott told Reuters. "The giant has been awakened."
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
“Some Tea Partiers say they can pinpoint the precise moment when they made it clear to the Republican Party they had no intention of being its lapdog”
Like the man said:
“Lead, follow or get out of the way!”
Frankly I've read more than one story that some of Reuter's reporters are literally in bed with Democrat members of Congress.
Nothing worse than a sheep stampede!! 2010 is going to be interesting, to say the least. Throw ALL of them out.
Good! The GOP has no business usurping the Tea Party organization or convoluting their message. No one needs to come (Dick Armey included) and derail this train!!!!!
Let's continue to ignore the MSM on this issue, and work hard to reform the Republican Party from WITHIN, while still doing our Tea Party thing. The more we are visible, speaking our message of smaller, less intrusive government and lower taxes, the more pressure the Republicans will feel. The Democrats will continue to put us down in derogatory terms, but we can just continue to ignore them.
Such tension is ALWAYS there, when the GOP is gaining power, VS the Democrats.
I have been politically active for 30 years. This is easy to understand:
Political Parties, at the County level, are often dominated by the Municipal Bond and Road Construction types, the Court House folks.
Issues, of ANY kind, tend to gum up the works for them.
I would urge the Tea Party folks to run for local precinct offices, fight the “old guard” Party hacks, in the primary, and WIN -—
But I would also encourage you, after the Primary, to reach out to the SAME “old guard” and convince them that we can be honest and competent on local issues, as well!
“Steele, RNC chairman since January 2009, had invited them to the plush Capitol Hill Club, built as a clubhouse for the party’s top brass next door to RNC headquarters.”
The invisible man speaks...screw him.
The GOP is getting too Old. Hopefully the Tea Party will mean death to the GOP, to be replaced by a party that cares about the Constitution.
Hey Steele how’s that book tour going A$$ Hole
The RNC is a corrupt entity that has no interest in the reforms necessary to get America back on the correct path. Micheal Steele (who I supported after Blackwell conceded) has turned the RNC into a personal slush fund for himself and the rest of the Country Club Republicans.
Until there is real change from the top all the way down to the people that answer the phones the RNC should be considered as much an enemy of the state as Barack Obama...
(And to think that I was a proud RNC contributor only 2 short years ago.)
good, Lindsay Graham in particular needs to feel a little tea party tension
The Republican Party has not had an original thought in well over 30 years. They are the MINORITY PARTY for a reason.
“Good! The GOP has no business usurping the Tea Party organization or convoluting their message. No one needs to come (Dick Armey included) and derail this train!!!!!”
Indeed! Armey, Steele, and too many GOP are opportunists and the problem. We can’t clean out the democrats until we have the courage and honesty to clean the scum out of the republican party.
No, they're not.
They are. The only way the Dems can beat back the potential butt kicking next November is to drive a large wedge between the Tea Party movement and the Republican party.
The government media will do anything to help them. Watch for a big push for a third party by supposed tea party members.
The GOP will be taken over by the Tea Party ideology, but will remain the GOP in name.
I don’t think McCain and Specter hate the country as it was founded like the 0bamites do.
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.