Posted on 03/31/2011 3:17:49 PM PDT by Qbert
A small but vocal group of Tea Party activists gathered outside the Capitol on Thursday to urge House Republican leaders to hold the line and push for deeper spending cuts in the federal budget.
Chanting, “Cut it or shut it” and “We want less,” the activists directed their ire at Senate Democrats, arguing that the cuts they have demanded are not “extreme,” but necessary to right the nation’s fiscal ship.
House GOP leaders “are doing the right thing in changing the direction of spending, but they’ve got to go further,” said Colin Hanna, president of Let Freedom Ring, a conservative group. Titled the “Continuing Revolution,” the rally was timed to the looming deadline for Congress and the White House to strike a budget deal to avert a government shutdown after April 8.
Numbering no more than a couple hundred people, the rally paled in comparison to the masses of Tea Party activists that have jammed the Capitol grounds and the National Mall in the past. Cold and wet conditions might have dampened the turnout. At its outset, it seemed as if there were nearly as many reporters and camera crews as activists.
Speakers at the rally pushed Republicans to demand at least the $61 billion in cuts the House approved in February, even if meant shutting the government down.
“If it does shut down, just remember: It’s the government’s fault. It’s Congress’s fault,” said Jenny Beth Martin, national coordinator of the Tea Party Patriots, the rally organizer.
A parade of conservative members of Congress addressed the rally, including Sens. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) and Reps. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), Steve King (R-Iowa) and Jim Jordan (R-Ohio).
“If Harry Reid wants a fight, let’s give it to him,” Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.) said to cheers, referring to the Senate majority leader.
There were repeated calls from the crowd to defund the healthcare law, Planned Parenthood and NPR.
"Some Republicans sought to downplay the importance such a rally would play in the final agreement. Ohio Rep. Steve LaTourette, an appropriator close to Boehner, said, “I don’t think it has any effect one way or another.”
“A lot of people have come to Washington and stand outside and make noise, but they all understand how the government works,” LaTourette said Wednesday. “That’s the great thing about the country: They’re going to express their views, but in terms of is it going to change what Boehner does? No.”
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0311/52270.html
They want to make the TP to Repubs like the Blacks are to the Crats. NO WAY JOSE!
But we do understand how government works because we can see the results. That's why we're protesting. When you say it doesn't matter after we just replaces a whole bunch of people that's when we start saying that YOU don't understand how govt works and we redouble our efforts to THROW YOU OUT and put in someone who will do what WE THE PEOPLE have asked them to do.
(“A lot of people have come to Washington and stand outside and make noise, but they all understand how the government works,” LaTourette said Wednesday.)
Oh we know how it works. You do what we say or we vote your sorry ass out next election. Now do YOU know how it works?
Free ride lifetime political jobs are coming to an end.
I say it is open season on all RINOs. Let’s go after these guys now and remind them at every event their job is in jeopardy and that I will do everything I can to see that they don’t get re-elected.
I have lots of free time to go to public meetings with these congress critters and eat a free meal and remind them that I am STILL THEIR BOSS.
But we do understand how government works because we can see the results. That’s why we’re protesting. When you say it doesn’t matter after we just replaces a whole bunch of people that’s when we start saying that YOU don’t understand how govt works and we redouble our efforts to THROW YOU OUT and put in someone who will do what WE THE PEOPLE have asked them to do.
John Boehner is looking like a huge disappointment - as many feared he would be - based on his decades of time spent in the House as a practitioner of the arcane rules that thwart any serious action that the GOP fears might hurt their re-election chances with the coveted 'independent' vote (which usually votes Democrat, anyway). I'm disappointed but not shocked. We're dealing with politicians here and you know how they are.
“Some Republicans sought to downplay the importance such a rally would play in the final agreement. Ohio Rep. Steve LaTourette, an appropriator close to Boehner, said, “I don’t think it has any effect one way or another.”
Oh, really, Steve? Did you actually say that the demonstration has no importance, or is that Politico quoting you out of context?
Either way, the RINOs will be hearing from the people soon enough. We’re ticked off and aren’t going to take it anymore!
586 days UNTIL election day.
It is rare to find independence and gumption in career politicians. If they had those traits they would have succeeded as a civilian.
I agree that now is the time to start going after these guys. Pence was on today showing some spine but he was about the only one. Boehner is a complete waste. They need to understand that the end of "go along to get along" is not just a little joke we're making, we want some bare knuckle negotiation leading to major successes.
We no longer want to end up with 1/3 of a tiny fraction of what this Republic needs to get done, like it looks like we'll get with 33B only in cuts. Not 60B. Certainly not 100B.
Why? Because we negotiate like first year cub scouts asking permission to go to the restroom.
Pathetic feckless lumps of waste. Where are the adults? Where are the men? Where are the effective people who actually accomplish things? Are there NONE with an R behind their name?
It never ends...
This LaTourette sleaze is also currently working with Democrats to help unions on a FAA reauthorization bill:
“...Unions have begun to mobilize behind an amendment to the bill offered by Reps. Jerry Costello (D-Ill.) and Steven LaTourette (R-Ohio) that would protect the new NMB rule from repeal.”
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2697607/posts
If the Tea Party is really interested in lowering costs, they should first start with ending our role as World policeman. Reducing money spent on American citizens should come later.
More objections are raised to spending money on Americans. We seem to have unlimited money for the rest of the world.
“It’s maddening to see Republican congressional representatives acting arrogant just 5 months after the election that, we thought, would usher in a new era of smaller government. Instead, we’re getting babble about ‘process’ and an obvious disregard for the Tea Party agenda because they aren’t impressed with the relatively small group protesting Republican timidity when it comes to cutting the insane federal budget.”
—Yep. The GOP elites treat the Dems, who have been hurling insults at them non-stop, with more respect and courtesy than Conservative members of their own party.
And it’s really hard to brush this off as some “fringe” group- these were Conservative all-stars in attendance at this rally.
Until yesterday I have firmly resisted any thoughts of going third party. But now, the way things are playing out, it only makes sense to start wondering if the GOP isn't committing suicide and whether those wanting a third party will start coming out of the woodwork with rather strong arguments.
The thing is that a feckless GOP is going to end up re-electing a marxist (zero or hillary) anyway, so maybe - just maybe - we ought to split our parties now and get a conservative GOP or a new fresh conservative party started with this election.
This is just extremely preliminary thinking. I don't honestly know what I really think about the wisdom of it at this point but I'm starting to wonder...
Yeah, it’s a tough question.
I think the best thing would be to work within the party, and just take out every single member in the primaries that vote for this garbage, especially if they are from red, red-ish districts. (A third party would split too much of the vote in most cases.)
Watch these people like hawks; track their every vote and have viable Conservative candidates ready to challenge them.
Conservative Republicans who stand together will be rewarded- the rest will fall (just like the Blue Dogs got massacred in the elections).
And a big part of the problem of course, is the leadership- it’s the weakest link. People are afraid to speak their minds (even many Conservatives), because once they do, they get ostracized and turned down for key committee positions, like the leadership did to Bachmann. Boot the Establishment leadership out, and replace them with real leaders like her, and it’s a different ballgame.
We don’t need another party....we just need to rename the current ones:
DNC...Damned Near Communist
RNC...Rino Now Conservative
Agree with everything you say. And, no shennanigans when it comes time to vote for speaker again. They should not have voted for Boehner before the tea party arrived. That was bogus.
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