Avoid Social Issues, GOP Urged (Homosexualists, Pro-Aborts Co-opt Tea Party Movement)

Politico ^ | Sunday, November 14, 2010 | Ben Smith and Byron Tau

[kristinn]

A gay conservative group and some Tea Party leaders are campaigning to keep social issues off the Republican agenda.

In a letter to be released Monday, the group GOProud and leaders from groups like the Tea Party Patriots and the New American Patriots, will urge Republicans in the House and Senate to keep their focus on shrinking the government.

"On behalf of limited-government conservatives everywhere, we write to urge you and your colleagues in Washington to put forward a legislative agenda in the next Congress that reflects the principles of the Tea Party movement," they write to presumptive House Speaker John Boehner and Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell in an advance copy provided to POLITICO. "This election was not a mandate for the Republican Party, nor was it a mandate to act on any social issue."

The letter's signatories range from GOProud's co-founder and Chairman Christopher Barron — a member of a group encouraging Dick Cheney to run for president and who has been known to post images of his bare torso to Twitter — to Tea Party leaders with no particular interest in the gay rights movement.

As of Sunday evening, the letter had 17 signatories. They include tea party organizers, conservative activists and media personalities from across the country, including radio host Tammy Bruce, bloggers Bruce Carroll, Dan Blatt and Doug Welch, and various local coordinators for the Tea Party Patriots and other tea party groups.

"When they were out in the Boston Harbor, they weren't arguing about who was gay or who was having an abortion," said Ralph King, a letter signatory who is a Tea Party Patriots national leadership council member, as well as an Ohio co-coordinator.

King said he signed onto the letter because GOProud seemed to be genuine in pushing for fiscal conservatism and limited government.

"Am I going to be the best man at a same sex-marriage wedding? That's not something I necessarily believe in," said King. "I look at myself as pretty socially conservative. But that's not what we push through the Tea Party Patriots."

That indifference is essentially the point of the gay conservative group.

SNIP

TEXT OF LETTER

Dear Senator McConnell and Representative Boehner

On behalf of limited government conservatives everywhere we write to urge you and your colleagues in Washington to put forward a legislative agenda in the next Congress that reflects the principles of the Tea Party movement.

Poll after poll confirms that the Tea Party’s laser focus on issues of economic freedom and limited government resonated with the American people on Election Day. The Tea Party movement galvanized around a desire to return to constitutional government and against excessive spending, taxation and government intrusion into the lives of the American people.

The Tea Party movement is a non-partisan movement, focused on issues of economic freedom and limited government, and a movement that will be as vigilant with a Republican-controlled Congress as we were with a Democratic-controlled Congress.

This election was not a mandate for the Republican Party, nor was it a mandate to act on any social issue, nor should it be interpreted as a political blank check.

Already, there are Washington insiders and special interest groups that hope to co-opt the Tea Party’s message and use it to push their own agenda – particularly as it relates to social issues. We are disappointed but not surprised by this development. We recognize the importance of values but believe strongly that those values should be taught by families and our houses of worship and not legislated from Washington, D.C.

We urge you to stay focused on the issues that got you and your colleagues elected and to resist the urge to run down any social issue rabbit holes in order to appease the special interests.

The Tea Party movement is not going away and we intend to continue to hold Washington accountable. Sincerely,

Christopher R Barron
Chairman of the Board, GOProud

Andrew Ian Dodge
Coordinator, Maine Tea Party Patriots

Pam Stevenson
Coordinator, Arizona Tea Party Patriots

Dianna Greenwood
Executive Director, New American Patriots (Ashland, OH)

Jim Mason II
Chairman and State Coordinator, Nebraska’s Tea Party Patriots

Ralph King
Co-coordinator Cleveland Tea Party Patriots
Co-coordinator State of Ohio Tea Party Patriots

Jack Lien
Coordinator, Tea Party Patriots of Great Malls (Montana)

Tammy Bruce
National Radio Talk Show Host

JP Weber
Coordinator, Annapolis (Maryland) Tea Party

Doug Welch,
Blogger and member Southern Illinois Tea Party

Bruce Carroll
Conservative Activist and Blogger

Pam Stout
Coordinator, Sandpoint Idaho Tea Party Patriots

Dan Blatt
Conservative Activist and Blogger

Everett Wilkinson
Coordinator, Florida Tea Party

Jimmy LaSalvia
Executive Director, GOProud

Paul Crockett
President Santa Clara (California) Tea Party
David Thor Andreasen
Cumberland County (Maine) Tea Party

[WaterBoard]

Nice try at revisionism though, twit.

No need for personal attacks. You should know the rules by now.

But, if you followed current events you would see that the first widespread mention of "Tea Party" was on February 19, 2009 by CNBC Business News editor Rick Santelli complaining about mortgage derivities. No mention of abortion or gay issues.

The Tea Party genesis was with Americans standing up the bailouts on Wall Street, the car unions, the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008,the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, and a series of healthcare reform bills.

No where, I repeat no where was a platform on abortion or gay issues.

You are dragging social issues into the Tea Party history where the never existed in the first place.

[EBH]

Actually, you make a very good point.

Define what “secure those Rights and morals” means?

If Rights and Morals already exist, which our founder’s acknowledged these existed without government...

“that to secure those rights ...governments are instituted amongst men.”

[Altura Ct.]

Avoid Social Issues, GOP Urged (Homosexualists, Pro-Aborts Co-opt Tea Party Movement)

So it's all about money? The golden calf...

[EBH]

PS...

So, if we are missing the Godly morality we have no ability to secure our Rights.

The left has been very clever. They understood this and many on the Right still have not figured it out.

How did they remove our Rights?

They removed the One thing that gave us those Rights. God.

Government doesn’t secure God.

[EternalVigilance]

"We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge or gallantry would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution is designed only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate for any other."

-- John Adams

Which in no way obviates the sworn duty of every officer of government, in every branch and at every level, to protect the unalienable rights to life, liberty and private property of the people.

It's not "either/or." It must be "all of the above" to work properly.

[Big Giant Head]

My view is that this election was nothing more than a gigantor STOP IT! sign to anything done by the Democrat owned Congress and Obama agenda, whether it be social, economical, shrinking back the government, reinforcing our military and US sucurity, or what have you. That includes protecting the sanctity of life, so push it.

But the primary motive is to save the country from financial collapse. If we go down, the world goes with us, and we won’t be so worried about social issues. But don’t mistake this for a free ride on social issues. Push it.

[Opinionated Blowhard]

There is a big difference between “avoid” social issues and “emphasize” social issues. I agree that this Congress needs to emphasize cutting spending and thus, should not emphasize social issues. However, that doesn’t mean go liberal on social issues. You don’t need to vote in amnesty, gun control, gay marriage and approve Lib judges in order to cut spending.

[Ron H.]

After reading much of this thread so far it would certainly appear that the GOP Proud, Log Cabin Liberal Republican and many Libertarian trolls are out in force here trying their best to sow disharmony and blowing smoke up our arses as often as they can. Beware the infestation of the morally and mentally deficient pro homo anti-family anti-God trolls.

[Ron H.]

For a troll you take yourself way too seriously. Go back to DU and take your perverted opinions with you, you depraved moron.

[John Leland 1789]

It is your analogy that is ridiculous, Sir.

What you hope to do is save a morally bankrupt nation with fiscal conservatism---this is what Libertarianism (properly libertine-ism) seeks to do---but it can't be done. You seek to ignore the truth that NO economic system survives decadence.

The people of Boston, had sodomites been parading in their streets, would have addressed both issues simultaneously. They would have kept their spiritual and moral house in order as well as their fiscal house. The same writers of that day who quill-whipped King George, would have been taking aim at sin in their society, as well. They would have been in agreement with the Christian pastors of Boston and Massachusetts.

Further, the people involved in the Boston Tea Party would have, much more likely than not, been faithfully in their Christian churches on Sundays and whenever the church doors were open for meetings, because their convictions, both about fiscal management and social moral well-being came from the Bible, the Christian Scriptures. They were in their generation a devout Christian people of fundamentalist Bible stock.

Those people had much deeper convictions about what was right and wrong in life as a whole; they didn't worship money or an economic system.

[GeronL]

That is a sure way to lose.

[metmom]

Here is an excellent you tube video on different forms of government.

It’s about 10 mins long but well worth watching. It made it a lot clearer to me.

Different forms of government
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DioQooFIcgE

[Dead Corpse]

All they can do is divide us and have us beat ourselves.

Yep. And we are so VERY good at that.

As for gay rights, Gays aren't asking for "equal" Rights any more. Like every other special interest group, they want extra-privileges. I'm sorry, but you can't be FOR limited government and still want that same government to give you something more than anyone else gets.

As for abortion, if it is human... Killing it is murder. End of story.

All of that being said, Nanny Staters do need to be careful. They start labeling every act they don't approve of as "vice" or "sin", without fixing the rest of government first... We'll lose the general public. You don't ride in on a "pro-freedom" horse and start restricting freedom on your first go around.

Get our economic house in order, cut the abusive regulations stifling our economic freedoms, axe all of the Federal agencies that don't line up with Art 1 Sect 8, enforce the Bill of Rights...

Then we can worry about everything else. We don't fix the big problems first, the social agenda isn't going to matter.

[redgolum]

Do that and the GOP will loose 2012

[longtermmemmory]

Politico = homo dating rag for the political staffers of DC.

[longtermmemmory]

what tea party?

not how the log cabin (old name) and goproud (new name) are both the same group but one is fightng DADT in the courts and the other name is trying to divide the conservative as a nuance.

conservative is conservative

homosexual behavior is too expensive for government subsidies from the taxpayers.

[hejahale]

We will not stand for anymore of the normal Washington “ rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic”.

[Responsibility2nd]

Well! Who knew Sunday nights at FR could be so volatile?

Thanks for the pings you guys. I’ve spent a few moments browsing this thread and the vanity Jim Rob posted.

And I’ll spend even more time later looking at the posts where liberals have been zotted.

This is very encouraging. It looks like the moral and socially conservative side of Free Republic has made significant progress.

I, for one, will bookmark Jim’s words here and happily cut/paste for the benefit of liberal FReepers attempting to espouse their gay tolerant messages.

[frogjerk]

How many Tea Party candidates that were elected were pro-abortion or pro-homosexual rights? Actually, we don't know, because it was never brought up. Nor should it be.

BS. That is not an answer to the question. Just because the pro-life issue was not as prominent as in previous election cycles does not mean the overwhelming majority of candidates having Tea Party backing weren't pro-life, pro-marriage, pro-God. Look it up.

[LomanBill]

>>No mention of abortion or gay issues.

Yeah, no mention on CNBC of the underlying DEMORALIZATION of society that was RESPONSIBLE for the poor character required to perpetrate FRAUD on a massive scale, either.

CNBC? LOL. Riiggght. Only a libertard TWIT would rely upon CNBC to define what the Tea Party was about.

So no sale, TWIT.