Tea party will ‘absolutely’ back Romney in general election, says movement leader

The Daily Caller ^ | April 24, 2012 | Jamie Weinstein

[St. Louis Conservative]

Though the tea party wasn’t particularly enthused about Mitt Romney’s presidential candidacy during the primary, one tea party leader who was present at the inception of the movement says the tea party will get behind the former Massachusetts governor going into the general election.

“Absolutely, the tea party can and will support Mitt Romney in the general election, and with great energy in the door-to-door ground game,” said Michael Patrick Leahy, co-founder of The Nationwide Tea Party Coalition and author of the recently released book, “Covenant of Liberty: The Ideological Origins of the Tea Party Movement.”

“It’s important also to note that this is a strong sentiment at the local level — among the 3,000-plus local tea parties.”

“Though on the core values, Mitt Romney’s not as aligned with us as Michele Bachmann, he’s far superior to Barack Obama,” Leahy added.

“Our job in the tea party movement is to cautiously but vigorously befriend Romney, while reserving the right to encourage him — continuously — to align more closely with our core values. This encouragement to align has already begun, and it will continue through and beyond election day.”

Leahy also pushed back against the notion that the tea party is becoming increasingly irrelevant.

“[T]he tea party’s grassroots get-out-the-vote activities will be the deciding force of the 2012 presidential election,” he contested.

[libdestroyer]

This bears repeating!

a vote for, say, the Constitution Party candidate will be recorded as a vote against both unacceptable party candidates and that is the statement I wish to make and for the elites to know.

[libdestroyer]

Romney won a majority of tea party folks over Santorum during many of the primaries.

I call BS

[JRandomFreeper]

Nothing could be worse than the way things are now.

I heard the same wailing and gnashing of teeth when Clinton was going to be re-elected, running against another squishy GOP liberal.

/johnny

[libdestroyer]

They realize that if Obama is re-elected that it means the end of the constitution, the end of this country.

Obama is certainly the worst president in history but he won't end the constitution in 4 years! That's just the type of panic the GOP wants in order to get you to fear Obama enough to stomach voting for Romney. We would do just fine by waiting til 2016 for a real conservative!

[JRandomFreeper]

I think the stupid ones are the ones that enable to GOP to push more and more liberal candidates, because they know the stupid "Anyone but Obama" crowd will vote for them.

/johnny

[longtermmemmory]

Leader?

the reason the left can attack the tea party was because there is no leader to attack.

ala the sons of liberty.

[From The Deer Stand]

Retard? Wow, that’s Freeper friendly. Seems to me that if we don’t vote for the Republican nominee, whomever that may be, we will be voting for Obama and guaranteeing him four more years of socialism promotion. I’m with Sarah Palin who said, “Anyone but Obama.” I suppose she’s a retard as well?

[fieldmarshaldj]

I don’t vote for pathological liars or Socialists. That rules Willard out.

[SoConPubbie]

So they won't vote at all or they'll vote for Dear Leader?

Stupid is as stupid does.

Nope, stupid is voting for a lying, left-wing Progressive Liberal after professing yourself a conservative because he is just a little better than Obama.

Even more stupid, is making jackass statements that conservative Christians would ever vote for a Crypto-Communist like Obama.

ANd the most stupid, are those pretend conservatives who are pushing a lying, left-wing, Progressive Liberal like Mitt Romney, when there are still 46% of the delegates to be won and there is still a viable conservative candidate in the race like Newt Gingrich.

Those people are both stupid and without conservative principles.

[SoConPubbie]

Good looking kid Capt.

[Varsity Flight]

Mandate-Mitt is the PERFECT fit for what the 15 trillion Federal-Bloc wants.

An “emergency-crisis” 15 trillion anytime.

Federalites, Bill, Hill., Joe, and the gang, will not be voting for the Coffee Server, they’ll pull the lever for their Mandate-Man.

[BO Stinkss]

The “tea party” label has been hijacked.

[Oak Grove]

I will not vote for Romney. Never. Ever.

If Romney should become President, we would probably have eight more years of liberalism. Remember, Ford’s defeat gave us Ronald Reagan.

[aruanan]

The “tea party” label has been hijacked.

No, the "tea party" knows that some things, however unpleasant, are to be preferred to another term of Barack Obama, the pleasure of the moral masturbation of "I'm not voting for Mittens" notwithstanding.

[Varsity Flight]

If the Federal Bloc Mandate-Mandate Mitt gets “his Federalite APPOINTMENT” everyone with assets or savings be prepared.

[libdestroyer]

there’s a conservative talk radio show in CALIFORNIA?
Wow, I feel like there’s hope for this country :)