Posted on 11/14/2010 3:38:40 PM PST by 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
“This election was not a mandate for the Republican Party, nor was it a mandate to act on any social issue.”
I agree and I will write or fax my reps.
These guys are jerks. I think we need to keep an eye on them. It was good of them to give us a list.
No, the Boston Tea Party wasn’t concerned about gay sex, because they knew it was wrong. And they weren’t concerned about abortion because they knew THAT was wrong.
They were not big on baby killing or sexual perversion.
Taxed Enough Already is the name. One could just as easily argue that social conservatives are co-opting the TEA party movement.
They can’t beat us. All they can do is divide us and have us beat ourselves.
homosexualty and abortion are not “social issues”. They are moral and ethical issues (issues of right and wrong) which cannot be overlooked because they undermine and attack what America is and stands for.
A real social issue? How do we treat our poor?
“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.”
...and we want to be first in line!
Talk about perverting a message...
“When they were out in the Boston Harbor, they weren’t arguing about who was gay or who was having an abortion,”
That’s because even Jefferson believed that homosexuality was a crime.
Spot on!
If there was no mandate to act on any social issue, then you frigging butt pirates and homosexualists, there’s no reason to listen to ANYTHING YOU HAVE TO SAY ABOUT ANY SOCIAL ISSUE THE NEXT TWO YEARS.
Go back in the log cabins.
FUGOPPROUD!
Immigration is a social issue with dire fiscal consequences. Look at California.
“Screw the babies. I want a tax cut!”
Sure.
Kill ‘em fast (abortion) or kill ‘em slow (AIDS), the most important thing is whether the check book balances.
I will NEVER support an pro-choice or pro-abortion candidate, AND I will NEVER support a candidate whose position on that issue is unknown or vague.
Period.
If they can’t get the most basic right, life, correct, then why should I trust that politician with power? That means they’ll cave in to anything.
I would like to stick with federalism. Let’s debate the social issues at the state level and fiercely guard state sovereignty. We will certainly have a much better chance of advancing conservative social causes at the state level.
If the states want to change the US Constitution through the amendment process, then so be it.
We must also figure out some way to purge the courts of activist judges. This would be the most immediate and effective way of advancing the conservative social agenda.
The perverts want the Repubs to remain silent while the liberals are given free reign to open the sewers. Traitors.
The real Tea Partiers are complete conservatives. The vistories were a rejection of the entire left agenda that the D.C. Establiblishment is pushing. By trying to eliminate Tea Party influence on “social issues” what you are really trying to do covertly is eliminate opposition to the promotion of the sodomite agenda and murdering babies in the womb.
Ditto!
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