I'll reserve judgment for now as I do respect and admire at least a few names on the list, but I must admit having some suspicions in line with yours. I think these folks have seen the inbound tidal wave of the tea party, and are like surfers looking to catch a ride. If they want to lend their voices to the cause, more power to them, but if they think they can lead simply by jumping to the front of the parade, they are wrong.
I had read Mount Vernon was devised to shut out social conservatives, to say the movement is only about economics, but from the little this article says, that does not seem to be the case.
“I think these folks have seen the inbound tidal wave of the tea party, and are like surfers looking to catch a ride. If they want to lend their voices to the cause, more power to them, but if they think they can lead simply by jumping to the front of the parade, they are wrong.”
I believe the soon to be rebranded GOP will attempt to do the same this summer.
Ex.
http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0210/McCain_on_Hayworth_Litany_of_lies.html
“Senator McCain has never supported amnesty, and continues to fight every day to secure our borders first and find solutions to solve our immigration problem”
I think they are genuinely upset with the state of the conservative movement and the political state of our country, but I think they made a mistake in thinking that this was a good time for anyone who might appear to be entrenched or “elite” to claim to be speaking for the movement. Then again, maybe they recognized that problem and thought that it needed to be done, in spite of that.