Naples Tea Party Patriots

A Tea Party senator from upstate wishes John Boehner were more like Andrew Cuomo

Thu, 22 Dec 2011 13:46:31 -0500

State Senator Greg Ball believes his friends in the Tea Party would rather see the kind of bipartisan compromise forged by Andrew Cuomo in Albany than the firebrand opposition of the House Republicans in Washington.

“From a leadership perspective, it’s apparent that President Obama lacks the leadership skills of Andrew Cuomo,” Ball told me in a phone call this afternoon. “And it’s also apparent that the congressional Republicans have individual members that are more intent on blowing up the process, as opposed to our conference in the Republican [State] Senate, where we’re focused on moving the state forward through less taxes, bipartisan leadership, even if that means compromise.”

Ball, an outspoken ideological conservative and self-proclaimed Tea Partier who proudly calls the group his political base, was reacting to yesterday’s vote by House Republicans to reject an extension of the payroll tax cut that had already passed the Senate by a vote of 89-10. The vote puts the payroll tax cut in jeopardy, since Senate Democrats have already vowed not to return to session before the cut expires on January 1.

And while the Tea Party is largely credited for pressuring Speaker John Boehner into scuttling the deal, Ball said that obstructionist posture doesn’t reflect the group’s rank and file, and noted that even Tea Partiers don’t give high approval ratings to the House Republicans.
Read more at www.capitalnewyork.com

See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/a1l55s

Tea Party ‘super PAC’ going after Sen. Orrin Hatch

Wed, 21 Dec 2011 18:23:44 -0500

Amplify’d from www.tucsonsentinel.com

An outside spending group affiliated with the conservative Tea Party movement is targeting long-time Utah Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch in 2012 for not being conservative enough.

FreedomWorks for America is a so-called “super PAC,” meaning it can accept unlimited donations from corporations, individuals and labor unions and spend the funds on advertising and other expenditures aimed at electing or defeating a candidate.

On Tuesday, the group reported to the Federal Election Commission that it spent more than $43,000 on expenditures to oppose Hatch, including payments to a Utah communications firm for research, a D.C.-based polling firm, an Oregon-based yard sign manufacturer and a North Carolina online services company.

Hecker says his group is working to provide Utah-based activists with the resources they need to defeat Hatch, including polling, focus groups, online phone-banking, direct mail, door-hangers, and palm cards.
Read more at www.tucsonsentinel.com

See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/a1l1be

Enter Tea Party Sarah, Ron Paul Spoiler

Tue, 20 Dec 2011 22:10:59 -0500

Amplify’d from www.infowars.com

The republican establishment is frightened to death of the prospect of a Ron Paul win in Iowa and New Hampshire. They will do just about anything to make him go away.

“Conservatives and Republican elites in the state are divided over who to support for the GOP nomination, but they almost uniformly express concern over the prospect that Ron Paul and his army of activist supporters may capture the state’s 2012 nominating contest — an outcome many fear would do irreparable harm to the future role of the first-in-the-nation caucuses,” writes Politico today.

Prior to Iowa governor Terry Branstad saying that if Paul wins the caucus it should be ignored, Chris Wallace of Fox News said that if Paul wins it does not count. Establishment pundits and operatives seem to think that if you ignore Ron Paul he will disappear.

Less than two weeks before the Iowa caucus, Sarah Palin – who declared in October she would not run – arrives on the scene to shake things up. “It’s not too late for folks to jump in,” Palin told Fox News on Monday. “Who knows what will happen in the future.”
Read more at www.infowars.com

See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/a1kycs

Why a Tea Party conservative now supports Ron Paul...including his foreign policy.

Tue, 20 Dec 2011 06:54:25 -0500

Amplify’d from www.americanthinker.com

Ask any conservative about Ron Paul and you will usually hear the following statement: “I love him on fiscal policy but his foreign policy is naive and dangerous.” You can also throw in the obligatory “He hates Israel.” If someone had asked me about Paul from 9/12/01 through October of 2011, I’d have said the exact same things.

Something about my certitude always felt a bit uncomfortable, though, because I admired the “good parts” of Ron Paul (and later, his son Rand). Having participated in the Tea Party movement since its inception, and then witnessing the phony propaganda concocted to invalidate it, my BS meter began to pin whenever I heard (or spoke) harsh rhetoric denouncing Ron Paul. Since the contradiction bugged me, I decided to take the advice of my twenty-year-old son and read Ron Paul’s book, Revolution. This required me to consider ideas which were once unthinkable. I undertook the mission with the promise to think outside my conservative box.

After reading the book, I came away with a completely different understanding of Ron Paul and his philosophy. I’m hoping my Tea Party compatriots, fellow conservatives, and all Americans will step outside their own comfort zones to do the same. It is vital that our nation seriously consider the important constitutional concepts and defense of liberty that Ron Paul espouses.
Read more at www.americanthinker.com

See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/a1kwjc

WH Blames "Tea Party Revolt" For Likely Rejection Of Payroll Tax Cut

Mon, 19 Dec 2011 14:55:44 -0500

Amplify’d from www.realclearpolitics.com

White House communications director Dan Pfeiffer said it is a “Tea Party revolt” that would be responsible for the House rejecting a two-month extension of the payroll tax cut.

“Speaker Boehner’s position on Sunday was not the position that he had on Saturday when the 89 Senators came together to pass a two-month extension of the payroll tax cut. Let’s think on that. 89 Senators, the Republican leadership. You can’t get 89 votes in this day and age for apple pie, yet they all supported this. The did it with the understanding that the House would approve this two-month extension and Speaker Boehner got on the phone with his caucus, tried to sell it. He had a Tea Party revolt. He reversed his position and he’s now putting danger, a tax increase of a $1000 on 160 million Americans in like 12 days now,” Pfeiffer said on MSNBC.
Read more at www.realclearpolitics.com

See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/a1kvsz

Ron Paul Is Iowa's Sixth Poll Leader; Mitt Romney Reaches for Tea

Mon, 19 Dec 2011 12:40:32 -0500

Amplify’d from www.sunshinestatenews.com

Meanwhile, Ron Paul’s surge continues in Iowa, with a new Public Policy Polling survey showing the Texas congressman taking the lead there with 23 percent.

Paul’s first-place showing makes him the sixth candidate to lead the field in Iowa. At various times, Bachmann, Rick Perry, Herman Cain, Gingrich and Romney have topped polls in the Hawkeye State.

The loser of the week appeared to be Gingrich, who fell behind Romney in the latest PPP Iowa survey. Romney garnered 20 percent, while Gingrich had 14 percent. Bachmann, Perry and Rick Santorum were tied at 10 percent, and Huntsman trailed with 4 percent.
Read more at www.sunshinestatenews.com

See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/a1kvq5

Tea Party Patriots to host call, straw poll with candidates

Mon, 19 Dec 2011 12:32:43 -0500

Amplify’d from thehill.com

The Tea Party Patriots will host a phone conference with the Republican presidential candidates on Dec. 18, which will be followed by an online straw poll, they announced Tuesday.

Mitt Romney and Michele Bachmann have already confirmed they will attend, while Ron Paul has declined. The group, which claims 15 million members nationwide, touts itself as the largest grassroots Tea Party group in the country.

“This is a chance for candidates to make their case to the Tea Party, and for Americans across the country to find out who will represent and advance their principles in office,” said Tea Party Patriots co-founder Jenny Beth Martin. “Just as in 2010, candidates must prove to the Tea Party they will be fiscally responsible and protect the Constitution in the White House.”

Invitations went out Friday. Each participating candidate will have 10 minutes to answer pre-submitted questions from Tea Party groups around the nation. Afterward, participants will vote for their preferred candidate. The group is working with the other candidates on scheduling and expects more will participate.
Read more at thehill.com

See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/a1kvq2

Congress Spares Incandescent Bulbs in Victory for U.S. Tea Party

Sun, 18 Dec 2011 18:23:28 -0500

Amplify’d from www.sfgate.com

Congress spared the 100-watt incandescent light bulb from a government-enforced phaseout in a win for Tea Party activists over manufacturers who said they are already switching to more energy-efficient products.

Lawmakers cleared legislation today to fund the government through Sept. 30, with a provision barring the Energy Department from carrying out the elimination of the pear-shaped bulb. Groups backing small government urged Republican allies to block the requirement, calling it an example of regulatory overreach in keeping with the health-care overhaul and the Wall Street bailout.

The bulb provision is in a spending bill for fiscal 2012. The measure is H.R. 2055.
Read more at www.sfgate.com

See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/a1kum7

Ron Paul’s ‘Tea Party’ money bomb aims for $4 million in one day

Fri, 16 Dec 2011 16:25:06 -0500

Amplify’d from www.thestatecolumn.com

Ron Paul (R-TX), a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, kicked off his “Tea Party” money bomb Friday. Mr. Paul has set a fundraising goal of $4 million in one day. Mr. Paul’s “Tea Party” money bomb is the latest in a series of money bombs that have been conducted by the Paul campaign and the Texas congressman’s ardent supporters. The “Black This Out” and “Veterans Day” money bombs were wildly successful at pulling in the necessary funds to keep the Paul campaign going in the early voting states of Iowa and New Hampshire

On December 16, 2007, Mr. Paul set a fundraising record by raising more than $6.4 million in online contributions in 24 hours. Mr. Paul’s 2007 money bomb was purposely launched on the anniversary of the 1773 Boston Tea Party.

Leading up to the “Tea Party” money bomb, the latest Iowa polls have been mostly good news for the Texas congressman. A Public Policy Polling poll of likely Iowa GOP caucusgoers released Tuesday found Mr. Paul tied with former House Speaker Newt Gingrich for 1st place. However, a Rasmussen Reports poll of likely Iowa Republican caucusgoers released Thursday found Mr. Paul several percentage points behind former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and Mr. Gingrich.
Read more at www.thestatecolumn.com

See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/a1kqjk

Tea Party Passions

Fri, 16 Dec 2011 16:21:58 -0500

Amplify’d from harvardmagazine.com

The Tea Party is a marvel of modern American politics. What began in February 2009 with a CNBC commentator’s tirade against federal support for borrowers with underwater home loans quickly built into a movement that altered the 2010 congressional elections and is now shaping the 2012 Republican presidential field.

In a new book, The Tea Party and the Remaking of Republican Conservatism (Oxford University Press), Thomas professor of government and sociology Theda Skocpol and graduate student Vanessa Williamson offer one of the first comprehensive, empirical analyses of this phenomenon, which Skocpol calls “an innovative version” of “recurrent populist upsurges on the right.” The authors draw on existing surveys of Tea Partiers and observation of their events, as well as on the in-depth interviews they conducted with dozens of Tea Party activists. Unlike surveys, which Skocpol says ask questions with “precooked” answers, these hour-long interviews allowed Tea Party members to speak for themselves. The researchers could note the words and phrases interviewees used repeatedly, such as “freeloaders” and “take our country back.” She and Williamson could also “hear the emotion,” she adds. “You hear what they’re afraid of, what they’re hopeful about.”

But the Tea Party is more than these grass-roots activists. Skocpol and Williamson include in the movement conservative media outlets, such as Fox News, and an elite group of big Republican donors and well-funded free-market advocacy organizations, such as Americans for Prosperity, co-founded by billionaire David H. Koch. These parts “sometimes work at cross purposes and sometimes work together,” Skocpol explains. Thus grass-roots members may support Social Security, while the advocacy groups seek to radically restructure social programs. Skocpol says such groups associated themselves with the Tea Party to capitalize on the grass-roots enthusiasm, but promote their own agendas.
Read more at harvardmagazine.com

See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/a1kqjb

One More Anti-Green Energy Win for the Tea Party

Fri, 16 Dec 2011 16:17:47 -0500

Amplify’d from www.thestreet.com

NEW YORK (TheStreet) — Chalk up one more victory for the Tea Party muscle within the Republican Party in its battle against all things green energy. On Thursday night, omnibus spending legislation approved by the House and Senate to avert a government shutdown removed light bulb efficiency standards that would support the adoption of higher-efficiency bulbs.

The light bulb issue — the government plans to require higher-efficiency bulbs that would lead to greater adoption of compact flourescent and LED bulbs starting next year — caused a light bulb to go on above the heads of the Tea Partiers, who realized late in 2010 that it was one more way to call President Obama a totalitarian dictator: The man had the gall to dictate what kind of light bulbs Americans use in their homes. Not on the Tea Party’s watch!

As Daniel Weiss of the Center for American Progress noted in a previous conversation about the politics of the light bulb (when this issue first came to prominence last year) the “totalitarian light bulb state” is just one more wedge issue in an election cycle, in the same way that the right to bear arms is a great way to get the masses excited, or to get people out to the polls or for the big oil and gas lobby to raise money for the Republican party ahead of elections across the country. The right to choose your own energy-sapping, outdated light bulb is at the heart of the basic tenets of the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness on which this nation is founded, at least according to the Tea Party.
Read more at www.thestreet.com

See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/a1kqip

Tea Party group defends depicting Obama as skunk

Thu, 15 Dec 2011 19:20:57 -0500

Amplify’d from www.cbsnews.com

A tea party group in Kansas says its depiction of President Barack Obama as a skunk is satire, not racism as the leader of a civil rights group alleges.

Hutchinson-based Patriot Freedom Alliance says on its website that like the president, the skunk is “half black, half white, and almost everything it does stinks.”

The Hutchinson News reports local NAACP president Darrell Pope sees no humor in the depiction, which he calls a blatant statement of racism.

Local tea party supporter Chuck Sankey says former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin has been the target of worse insults than what’s on the website.
Read more at www.cbsnews.com

See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/a1kma0

What Occupiers and Tea Partiers Should Fear Most

Thu, 15 Dec 2011 19:13:41 -0500

Amplify’d from www.theatlantic.com

It’s not taxes. It’s the passage of a new bill that would allow people on both sides of the political divide to be detained without trial.

Sixty-four percent of Americans consider big government the biggest threat to the country, according to Gallup, but who knows what they mean by big government? Do 64 percent of Americans oppose the biggest big government threat in our history — the virtually omniscient, omnipotent national-security state?

I doubt it, and neither the president nor many members of Congress seem fearful of public opposition to post-9/11, big-government authoritarianism. Instead, they cringe at the prospect of seeming soft on terrorism and rush to enact the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA,) including provisions that would arguably allow the indefinite detention without trial of American citizens, seized on American soil.

I won’t repeat here the many urgent critiques of this bill emanating from the left and right. But I do want to stress that opposition to the NDAA spans some of the usual left/right divisions. Opposing the indefinite detention of American citizens, Tea Party Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.) sounds like a speaker at an ACLU convention.
Read more at www.theatlantic.com

See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/a1km94

Tea Party grassroots army readies for battle

Thu, 15 Dec 2011 06:34:15 -0500

Amplify’d from www.reuters.com

Tea Party grassroots army readies for battle

Interviews with activists across 20 U.S. states indicate that Tea Party groups, far from fading, have evolved into an increasingly sophisticated and effective network of activists. They are working to unseat establishment Republicans who they believe have betrayed the principles of lower taxes, limited government, and free markets.

“Those who think the Tea Party is on the wane are in for a gigantic surprise in 2012,” says Debbie Dooley, co-organizer of the Atlanta Tea Party. “We have built a grassroots army and we will be a fine-tuned machine next year.”

The goal of these loosely affiliated but fiercely independent groups nationwide is to hone their electoral skills and build a “farm team” of public officials who can ascend through the ranks of government. It’s a long-term strategy that looks past the 2012 election to a takeover of the Republican Party and the U.S. Congress.
Read more at www.reuters.com

See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/a1kiis

Ron Paul: The Alternative Candidate is a force to be reckoned with

Thu, 15 Dec 2011 06:33:17 -0500

Amplify’d from www.washingtonpost.com

He’s also a force to be reckoned with in this presidential cycle. He has passionate followers from across the political spectrum, a good organization, a distinct libertarian message and plenty of money. He could be a game-changer if he decides to run as a third-party candidate.

No one has ever accused Ron Paul of being a flip-flopper. He has been saying the same things for 35 years. Now world events have conspired to make him look increasingly on point.

Paul is the Alternative Candidate, someone who subscribes to an alternative history of the world. Paul believes that powerful and secretive forces (the Fed being the best example) have manipulated human events and bankrolled wars. He fears that the nation is turning into an Orwellian police state. (“Sometimes it seems as if we are living in a dystopian novel like ‘1984’ or ‘Brave New World,’ ” he writes in his most recent book.)
Read more at www.washingtonpost.com

See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/a1kiit

Leadership Bid Reflects Growing Tea Party Influence in World's Greatest Deliberative Body

Thu, 15 Dec 2011 06:11:37 -0500

Amplify’d from michaeljohnsonfreedomandprosperity.blogspot.com

The tea party movement began in an unassuming way: A series of March 2009 conference calls of a couple dozen conservative and libertarian activists from across the nation. How far it has come. Yesterday, after taking back the U.S. House of Representatives in November 2010 and growing its rank and file members into the millions in less than three years, the movement made a bold but ultimately unsuccessful bid for a leadership position in the United States Senate.

With tea party support, U.S. Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) challenged U.S. Senator Roy Blunt (R-MO) for vice-chairman of the Senate Republican Conference. With all 47 Republican Senators casting votes, Blunt won the vote narrowly, 25 to 22. But the tea party-supported Johnson challenge proves important symbolically as a demonstration that, while tea party-affiliated members of the U.S. House of Representatives have proven hugely influential in guiding the direction of that legislative body, support for the tea party movement and its policy agenda is growing in the U.S. Senate too.
Read more at michaeljohnsonfreedomandprosperity.blogspot.com

See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/a1kifz

The Senate’s Mr. Tea

Tue, 13 Dec 2011 05:11:48 -0500

Amplify’d from www.theamericanconservative.com

Lee founded the Senate Constitutional Conservatives Fund, a leadership PAC modeled on the one DeMint used to raise money for conservative primary candidates in 2010. He would like to start an associated “super PAC,” which can essentially raise unlimited funds, pushing the envelope of the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision. Whether federal legislators can establish super PACs remains an open legal question. What is not open to question is whether Lee would target GOP incumbents. He told The Hill: “It would be hypocritical of me if I were to say never, ever under any circumstances would I try to support someone trying to come here the same way I came here.”

Lee drafted a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution before he even took office. A large part of his book The Freedom Agenda is dedicated to explaining, as the subtitle says, “Why a balanced budget amendment is necessary to restore constitutional government.” Lee called up Chris Chocola, the former congressman who heads the Club for Growth, to pitch the amendment almost as soon as he got to Washington. “We need a permanent structural limitation on Congress’ authority to borrow and spend,” the senator tells me.

Lee was one of just a handful of senators who supported Rand Paul’s budget proposal, which contained $500 billion in spending cuts in a single year even without touching entitlements. Lee indirectly supplied a second vote for Senator Paul’s budget as well, with Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch—likely afraid of going the way of Robert Bennett—giving an aye. (The other surprise vote in favor came from McConnell, who had unsuccessfully backed Paul’s primary opponent in their home state of Kentucky.) Hatch also supported Cut, Cap, and Balance and has ended his career-long practice of voting to confirm Democratic Supreme Court nominees.
Read more at www.theamericanconservative.com

See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/a1k78n

Establishment Tea Party Activist Supports Romney Presidential Bid

Mon, 12 Dec 2011 18:29:46 -0500

Amplify’d from www.prisonplanet.com

A prominent activist for the hijacked Tea Party in New Hampshire has declared he will support Mitt Romney’s bid for president. Tom Thompson is the son of the late Meldrim Thomson, former governor of New Hampshire and an anti-tax activist. Tom Thompson is the chairman of New Hampshire’s Americans for Prosperity.

“I was a Tea Party activist before it was cool,” Thomson told the Union Leader. “And as a Tea Party person, I believe the best avenue to the White House is through Mitt Romney.”

The Tea Party was created by libertarians as part of Tax Day protests. In 2007, supporters of Ron Paul used the anniversary of the original Tea Party in Boston as a fund raising event for the 2008 primaries. They advocated an end to fiat money and the Federal Reserve System, ending the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and supporting states’ rights.

Americans for Prosperity is a Koch brothers outfit. It worked to roll Tea Party activists into the Republican Borg hive and convert the formerly libertarian Tea Party into a cheering section for the GOP platform of endless war, bloated government and the suicidal fiscal policies of the bankster elite.
Read more at www.prisonplanet.com

See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/a1k4sm

Tea Party Effort to Overturn Dream Act in Home Stretch

Mon, 12 Dec 2011 10:03:01 -0500

Amplify’d from lomalinda.patch.com

It can be said that the Redlands Tea Party Patriots’ push to repeal the Dream Act is in the home stretch, said group member Lane Schneider.

“We’ve already gotten some (pages) completed,” Schneider said a few hours into a signature drive Sunday. “We’re getting some good response.”

Schneider sat with Suzanne Owens at a table in front of Stater Bros. near Alabama Street and Barton Avenue. Petitions and voter registration cards were spread out in front of them. A banner draped in front of the table featured a photo of Assemblyman Tim Donnelly (R-Twin Peaks).

A former Minuteman, Donnelly has opposed AB 131 since its introduction by Assemblyman Gil Cedillo (D-Los Angeles). With the strong backing of the Redlands Tea Party Patriots, Donnelly is now leading the effort to repeal the bill, signed by Governor Jerry Brown on Oct. 8, through an effort he’s calling Stop the California Nightmare Act.
Read more at lomalinda.patch.com

See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/a1k2nv

Tea party, capitalism, not socialism, will revive nation

Mon, 12 Dec 2011 09:59:44 -0500

Amplify’d from www.bradenton.com

In response to all the Occupy and left-wing socialists, I’d like to point out a little about capitalism.

Instead of spending all your time whining about the 1 percent, do something to become one of the 1 percent! If you spent as much time working on ways to make money as you do standing on street corners asking the “gummet” to help you, maybe you’d become one of the 1 percent. You are picketing in the wrong place. You need to be standing in front of the White House, Senate or House office buildings.

The problems we have were mostly orchestrated by Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) and his supervision of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which encouraged (read “forced”) the banks to finance houses for people who couldn’t afford them. This eventually resulted in a failing housing industry and caused the current recession. Yes, the banks were equally responsible but only as directed by the government.

Stand with the Tea Patriots and we’ll clean up the mess brought on by both parties.
Read more at www.bradenton.com

See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/a1k2mv