Posted on 7/20/2011, 11:44:04 AM by bobk333
"I really don't know," DeMint said. "As I move around, people are telling me they're out there and they're engaged, but since the election they have not had as much of a focus."
In 2009 and 2010, thousands of people took to the streets in cities around the country under the tea party banner to protest President Obama's legislative agenda. But since Republicans took control of the House and beefed up their ranks in the Senate, participation at tea party rallies—and the number of rallies themselves—has waned. Republicans in Congress are now embroiled in a debate over reducing federal spending in return for a vote to raise the debt ceiling. DeMint has led the charge in the Senate, demanding a constitutional amendment that would force the federal government to balance its budget annually. But he said it's crucial for the tea party to pressure other Republicans looking to compromise.
If they don't, DeMint suggested, it could be an indicator that the tea party is losing steam.
"We've got well over 100 outside groups and well over 100 tea party groups that are focused on this Cut, Cap, Balance and we'll see in the next few days if they still have the energy and the passion to affect policy here in Washington," he said. "If we can't move some votes in the House and Senate with that, it's going to be a little bit discouraging right now. It's not only make or break time for Republicans, it's make or break time for the tea party."
"I'm looking for some signals that they're not only still awake, but that they've gained power," he said. "Hopefully we'll see them."
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(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
But DeMint is right -- it is a crucial time in history and Tea Party members need to get off their butts and do everything they can to support their Tea Party members in Washington D.C., who are putting up a heroic fight not only against Obama and the Democrats -- but sadly, also against their own party.
The Old Guard Republican senators *are* the problem. If we look back over the past two decades, their cowardice, stupidity and corruption is evident. It is now clear that they are the cause of our country's problems, the state of our government and the state of our economy.
There are now *39* Republican senators who are co-sponsors of the Cut, Cap and Balance bill in the Senate.
When asked if they are for CCB, they all say, with the most earnest faces they can conjure up, "Of course! I full support Cut, Cap and Balance, in fact I'm a co-sponsor!"
But actions speak louder than words. Most all of the co-sponsors are being deceitful. These co-sponsors have not, in any way, made any moves to present a unified front for the bill. Instead, they sit in the background, silent in the battle. They let the Democrats know that they are willing to vote for a "back-up plan" that is a complete surrender. They support a Gang of Six proposal that is completely smoke and mirrors with no details, similar to the agreement they caved-in to during the Clinton years that destroyed the "Contract with America" movement in the nineties.
The Republican members of the Gang of Six (e.g. Mike Crapo) are saying that their proposal is a long term solution to the bigger debt crisis that is completely independent of the debt ceiling problem and should not be viewed as a solution for the short term stalemate. But the Democrats want to make it the debt-ceiling solution; in fact they would very much like to combine it with the McConnell Surrender Plan. And the Republican leadership is, inexplicably, going along with them. The Democrats, once again, can't believe their luck.
These people, almost all of the Republicans in the Senate, are slimy. They are total cowards. They are a disgrace. They don't care what happens to the country as long as they satisfy the special interests who fund their re-elections.
The difference between them and the handful of heroic Tea Party senators -- Mike Lee, Rand Paul, Pat Toomey, Marco Rubio, Ron Johnson, Jerry Moran -- is tremendous.
If the Old Guard Republicans can muster up any political courage and will, this battle is easily winnable. The public is strongly on their side on the core issues of cutting spending and the size of government. They should not let the media get away with putting the onus on the Republicans, making it their fault if the debt ceiling isn't raised. It is just as much the fault of the Democrats if *they* choose not to raise the debt ceiling instead of accepting the only clear and detailed plan to solve the country's debt problem.
The Old Guard has no fight in them, no integrity. Instead of turning it around on the Democrats, they cave. They let the Democrats get away with saying that CCB has no chance in the Senate, but they never say that anything that breaks the tax pledge -- including cutting tax deductions with no reciprocating tax rate decreases -- would never pass the House. The leadership, instead of presenting a unified front and fighting for the principles of the Republican Party, has purposefully sabotaged Cut, Cap and Balance.
The senior Republican leadership has become the main obstacle to reform in this country. It's time for the Old Guard to get out of the way and let the young reformers lead.
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Sounds to me like Sen. DeMint is issuing the “call to arms”...
> If the Old Guard Republicans can muster up any political
> courage and will, this battle is easily winnable. The
> public is strongly on their side on the core issues of
> cutting spending and the size of government.
“Old Guard Republicans”, aka RINOs, are as much our enemy as DemoncRATS. The people who elect these domestic enemies, and allow “Republican” election committees to foist them on us, are asleep at the wheel.
In the end, RINOs and DemoncRATS differ only in the speed at which they will drive us over the cliff.
Yes, this is a call to arms.
I know we are in the middle of the summer in an off-election year, but everyone needs to do *something.* Send emails — to your senators and congressmen; to the Tea Party members telling to keep up the good fight; and to the slimy Old Republican Guard telling them to knock it off and for once in their lives, to do the right thing.
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The intent of the RINO establishment was to De-Focus the Tea Party. Well done. I did not work to get stuck in a stupid ill conceived plan to go after the rate of social security in 20 years. At this point I have absolutely no use at all for the GOP. None. Rush is wrong for once. We will not reform it. Ain’t gonna happen. It never really was a Party anyway. The tipping point has been reached.
Amen, brother.
This is a crucial turning point. C'mon people, get mad, get involved. This battle is winnable.
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If the Republicans don't get their act together and they screw the Tea Party in the primaries, I am all for forming a third party.
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You want to see a call to arms? Let the PUBs cave in and refuse to curb spending and there will be no place on Earth to hide. Tea Party groups have issued the warning - Don’t cut spending and you get a zero. Tea Party is actively seeking candidates who will run against RINOs.
Some form of that is going to happen. If Obamacare is still around next year I am just going back to the Fun Party. Libertarian. Dabbling with the GOP was no fun and a waste of time. Unless a real Tea Party comes along. GOP....Nahhh. Just me. McConnell was the last straw.
I sense Sen. DeMint is calling the TP movement to carrying on the fight, and to hang on in there.
There will be hell to pay, but as Jim DeMint is saying, let's not wait, let's give them a big piece of that hell right now.
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The time has come....the time is now...the solution is(drumroll)....GRIDLOCK!!! how do we accomplish this? Simple, if you think outside the box...list the “ good ole boys” in the senate by name..if this a$$hole happens to be your senator, VOTE FOR THE DEM.... but you need to cast your vote in the house for the conservative...result, we keep the house, where ALL spending bills originate, and the dems get the senate for 2 years, resulting in gridlock..now here is where it gets good..the house will pass responsible spending bills, including cuts to departments across the board, and excluding any “revenue enhancements”...the senate will reject them...they will then be labeled the obstructionists, and will OWN this title..the house must be a rock, solid and unmovable..the resulting gridlock will ensure the situation gets no worse than it is...then in 2 years, get the tea party senators elected, using the old gridlock argument...short term pain equals long term relief..
I sense soon there will be a declaration of WAR against any and all RINOS by the TP movement.
We are NEVER going to fix this mess in D.C. until Conservatives March on D.C. 3 to 4 million strong - stand in the streets and just stay there for a few weeks... shutting D.C. down...
It's not a waste of time. The Tea Party needs the Libertarians and vice-versa.
Be patient. Rand Paul will one day become President as a Tea Party candidate.
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Demint needs to run for prez in 2012, with Michelle Bachman or Marco Rubio as his VP.
I am for that! May be too late though. Another Obama term will end it.
exactly- like a coach trying to extract every ounce from his star player by questioning their commitment....done with good intentions...
Protests and the strength thereof are born of necessity and the urgency of that necessity. After the great midterm victory it was natural for the TP members and followers to sit back and see what their chosen reps would accomplish. If not enough then they will again rally and this time the lame stream media will not be able to dismiss them as a “small unimportant group of fanatics”
Why am I not at tea party rallies? Well, let’s see ...we’re in deep credit card debt, and unlike Congress, we are working VERY hard, sometimes working overtime, trying to pay it off, as well as save and prep for the upcoming economic armageddon that is basically assured at this point.
That’s where a lot of us are right now ... and also waiting, in hope, for the 2012 election.
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