Tea party leaders anxious about extremists
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) - Organizers of tax-day tea parties are preparing for their biggest day of the year Thursday, as thousands of demonstrators participate in local rallies against high taxes and big government spending. But the leaders are striving to keep the rallies from presenting another image: one of fringe groups, extremists or infiltrators obsessed with hateful messages.
Sensitive that poor public perception could sink their movement, some rally planners have uninvited controversial speakers, beefed up security and urged participants to pack cameras to capture evidence of any disruptors. Organizers want to project a peaceful image of people upset by what they consider to be a growing and burdensome federal government.
“We don’t want to be misrepresented, whether it’s by someone who is not part of the group and has their own agenda, or whether it’s by some fringe extremist who may actually be a racist,” said Jim Hoft, a political blogger and tea party activist who is one of the speakers for a rally in suburban St. Louis.
The National Tea Party Federation, a newly formed coalition of regional tea party groups, estimates that between 1,700 and 2,000 tax-day rallies are occurring Thursday in communities across the country.
“What’s at stake is showing various government officials of both parties that people are concerned,” said Tim Hagle, an associate political science professor at the University of Iowa. “That’s why it’s important that you don’t have distractions from people who are interlopers of one sort or another.”
Full Story Here:
Tea party leaders anxious about extremists
Be polite. Be professional. Be prepared! Common sense wins out every time.
There will be media coverage and you can count on the fact that the moonbats will be there trying to get on camera as they disrupt peaceful TEA Party events and generally make fools of themselves as they claim to be TEA Party members themselves!
Take pictures, shoot video, get them, their faces and their actions on camera. The video evidence may prove invaluable to the legal proceedings that follow. The police can use video evidence as a form of irrefutable proof in court, and we can use it to disavow these fools!
Also, should any of these clowns actually cause any physical harm to TEA Party attendees, should they engage in ANY acts of battery against TEA Party members, the tape will stand in testament that you only acted in self defense, should it come to that.
The tea party took a recent publicity hit when three black Democratic congressmen said they heard racial slurs as they walked through thousands of health care protesters - many of them tea party activists - outside the U.S. Capitol on March 20. Some conservatives and tea party leaders insist it never happened.
To the best of my knowledge, this incident is a complete fabrication.
But it’s not the only racially charged incident. A photo posted on Flickr, which has attracted Internet chatter, shows a white man carrying a sign that says: “Obama’s Plan White Slavery.” The photo claims to have been shot at a tea party rally last year in Madison, Wis.
This is the 1st time I have heard of such an supposed incident. If it did happen, and I don’t say it didn’t, but if it did, I would bet the person carrying the sign is one of the aforementioned disruptors.
At a tea party rally Tuesday in Jefferson City, a couple of people wore T-shirts depicting President Barack Obama in white face paint above the word “Joker” - a reference to the villain in a Batman movie.
Quite likely VERY true. I have personally seen those shirts all over the place, and the picture has flooded the ‘net.
The Waco, Texas, tea party started hiring off-duty police officers and renting their venues so that they could keep extremists out of their main events. The change happened after a group showed up with racist signs in a gathering in a public park.
“They tried to insist they were tea party members,” said Toby Marie Walker, president of the Waco Tea Party. But she added: “Our tea party people would not hold signs like that.”
Toby Marie is correct, TEA Party people are not doing things like that.
But I do know this, 1st hand, the Waco TEA Party is very paranoid right now. I sent them an official Rowlett TEA Party email recently, and it took 3 or 4 attempts to get them to realize that a “Hi, how are you guys doing, is this still your active email address?” was not some covert attempt to subvert, infiltrate, or attack their organization, or add them to some radical moonbat site or list.
Yes, I am very serious. The paranoia is that strong in a few TEA Party groups.
I love the idea of the TEA Party, I would never tell a lie concerning another group, I would never deliberately denigrate another group for personal gain or any other reason, but I will blast OFF on a group that has people like John Cornyn as their keynote speaker as they tout this guy as being the VOICE of REAL Conservatism. From last July 4th, Sen. John Cornyn to headline “Take Back America”
TEA Party groups need to be very careful of embracing a person like Cornyn, and calling him a strong voice of Conservatism in Washington, I addressed that very topic a while back, with a bit of great citation. Sen. John Cornyn is NOT a CONSERVATIVE
Alabama attorney John Eidsmoe, who has spoken previously to white supremacists, withdrew from a tea party rally in Wausau, Wis., after organizers questioned his views. Coordinators of a tax-day rally in Pleasanton, Calif., rescinded the speaking invitation of Orly Taitz, an attorney who has filed lawsuits claiming Obama was not born in the U.S. and is ineligible to be president.
I don’t know John Eidsmoe, never heard of the him. Orly Taitz, on the other hand, is very well known in the anti-Obama circles. She is often refered to as a BIRTHER by those on the left, for her efforts to force Barack Hussein Obama to show the USA his REAL birth certificate.
I will say this, speaking for ME, and not as a representative of the TEA Party, I wish her much good luck in that quest, I hope she is as successful as she is dedicated!
Tea party leaders also are concerned that opponents may pose as tea party participants and cause a ruckus to damage the reputation of the movement. A Web site has urged people to “crash the tea party” to draw attention to the party’s least appealing qualities.
The National Tea Party Federation is urging rally participants to point cameras at anyone acting obnoxious or hateful. The intent is to reprimand true tea party activists, disavow fringe followers or reveal the people as plants by opponents.
Cindy Maves, who put together a tea party rally at a park in Rochester, Minn., said organizers have brought in more security and put local police on alert. “We just want to make sure the press isn’t covering these people thinking they’re us,” she said.
And that pretty much sums it up. Be polite, be professional, be prepared. You can determine exactly what level of personal preparedness that needs to be embraced… 😈
I don’t see a problem with the Joker one, he’s freakin’ half white, the good half if there even is one.
Fred, I do know John Eidsmoe. He may well have spoken in times gone by to White Supremicists. He is not one, however. John holds five degrees in law, theology, and political science. He is professor of Constitutional Law at the Thomas Goode Jones school of law at Faulkner Univ. He is also a high ranking officer (or was) in the USAF Reserve and has taught at numerous Christian seminars. He is likely most famous for his 12 part video series The Institute on the Constitution.
I see little problem with the signs visible at the Tea Parties. I they become too politically correct they will become just like any other group. Essentially they will become what they are fighting. The Tea Party must realize they are unique and not worry about what those in the MSM say about them. As for infiltrators, I honestly can’t see them having any effect especially since they have been exposed. Heck, they blew their own cover!
Wish the fall elections were tomorrow. I’m very excited about the fall elections and wish I were young enough to join the crowds on the greens of our great country. In my life time I’ve suffered many defeats and many victories and nothing, absolutely nothing beats winning. As Patton once said, “Americans love a winner” and we will have some in November.
Thank you Fred for your efforts in the Great Tea Party Movement! In my book that makes you a patriot!
Stopped by Temecula Tea Party this afternoon. Good signs, great attitudes, wonderful support from passers by, and Doug Gibbs as the key note speaker articulating the constitution and the failure of the federal government.
At the Tea Party in Manchester I am happy to report that nobody infiltrated the event to the best of my knowledge. There were rumors that a former Democrat state committee chairman was trying to recruit people to go as Tea Partiers and bring racist signs, but I saw none of that. A couple of the speakers even made note of the fact that the effort didn’t pan out.
There was no violence and it was a friendly atmoshpere, a good time was had by all.
Yeah, those TEA Party people, what racists! You know, even AFTER Andrew Breitbart posted first a $10,000 then a $100,000 reward for evidence of Congressmen or -women being called the N word about a month ago by horrible protesters —
Huh. No takers. No evidence.
And the idea of cameras and videocams used by TEA Partiers themselves -? GREAT idea.
Overall, I didn’t hear or read of much “crashing” yesterday.
BZ