Hugo Drax has hijacked the tea party - swell.
Posted on 07/19/2010 7:30:17 AM PDT by kristinn
Mayhill Fowler has an extended interview with Mark Skoda, co-founder of the National Tea Party Federation, posted at the Huffington Post today.
Fowler notes that Skoda orchestrated the expulsion of Mark Williams and the Tea Party Express from the National Tea Party Federation, starting with a Facebook posting last Friday:
After reading the entirety of the [Williams] blog, I have come to the conclusion that a call for rebuke and removal is necessary. This is not the first time that Mark Williams has taken this approach. And while I can appreciate sarcasm, this "letter" is beyond the pale and reignites an issue that we were winning. I have already issued a press release from the Memphis TEA Party calling for his removal. As a leader he can either lead, or as an entertainer, entertain but he should not do both. This matter is too serious to let lie in such an incendiary environment."
Like Williams, Skoda is a local talk radio host in love with the sound of his own voice. Skoda now fancies himself as directing the movement
In an e-mail comment to Fowler this weekend, Skoda urged Nevada Republican Senate nominee Sharron Angle to follow his lead in dumping the Tea Party Express, the group that helped her secure the nomination:
"I don't think this will hurt Angle, however, she won't want to associate herself with TPE after the controversy. At least that's what I would divine from the status of things. Reid has done a good job of beating her up while she has been raising money. This will be a race to watch!"
Skoda will be disappointed to learn that Alaska Republican Senate candidate Miller has said he stands by the Tea Party Express, which has endorsed his candidacy against incumbent Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski:
Associated Press - July 18, 2010 10:54 PM ET
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) - A spokesman for U.S. Senate hopeful Joe Miller says the Republican isn't concerned with having the Tea Party Express advocating on his behalf.
Fowler writes the entire interview will be posted later at her site, MayhillFowler.com. A lengthy excerpt can be read at the Huffington Post.
Read the whole interview to form your own opinion of Skoda. Here's a sample of his verbosity to whet your appetite:
Just one final question. What would be a scenario where you think -- you talk about the need to get around balkanization -- a Tea Party group of leaders could come together and talk with a group of Daily Kos or MoveOn? Is that too pie in the sky?
I think that right now we're trying to fix the conservative movement, right? What I have found from my own experience is, when I was discussing things with the New York Times and several other more liberal papers -- one thing I was very clear about, and I felt I was treated very fairly in the interviews, the reflection of my comments in those interviews. One thing I didn't do was attack them or their institutions. I didn't have to, I didn't want to. I can disagree with you, but I can disagree graciously. And what I found was, in that opening, which I was very clear about in any interviews I took, is that people respected me for that -- I think. At least, were willing to have the dialogue. And reflect fairly my comments without making me to look like a cartoonish figure.
I believe that ultimately that is something that needs to happen. I think we are so polarized right now, it's going to have to happen later. It's going to have to happen under a different president. Because this president has very effectively balkanized this nation. Very effectively. In a way I don't think we've ever seen a more divisive figure. To go from what was "hope and change" with a lot of folks voting for him, 62 million folks voting for him, to where he stands today. Without having simply misled that group of people. And when you have imbued that level of emotion, and that level of expectation in an individual and that individual fails you, you -- I know a lot of people that were of that ilk -- they are hurt, they are unwilling to talk about it, they are unwilling to admit the problem. And until you get to that point, it is hard to have those dialogues. I would love to have a chance to talk, but just not right now. I think it would be good to have that dialogue -- not on the record, but to have that dialogue.
We talk about it here -- you and I had lunch in this city -- we have a very demographically bifurcated -- a very large African-American population here, and in South Memphis, and a very white population in the suburbs, although a number of suburbs like Cordova and Bartlett are not. It takes an effort to make those connections, to work together. It's something that we do on a local basis, that I do on a local basis. And so why wouldn't I want to do it on a political basis? But right now I have so much work to do in my quote unquote own party and the efforts I am undertaking, I don't know if I have enough energy or time for that today.
We are in a battle of hearts and minds, and I would like to say that the battle can be had in a way that is respectful but tough, very tough -- and we'll see how it turns out in 2010.
Have we sunk so low that many of our revered major political philosophers seem to be former disc jockeys (and high school dropouts)? To me this is a sign that the Republican Party is truly dead, or ought to be.
These guys boost their ratings by talking tough. In the meantime, our elected Republicans speak softly and carry no sticks at all. There's a lot wrong with that picture. In order for the Republic to be saved, conservatives must capture the Republican Party. Or a viable third party movement must gather the conservatives from both parties.
Neither of these events is likely. And neither is there a guarantee that our Republic would last forever. Or that there will never be another civil war.
Who cares what Mark Scrotum thinks.
Well, actually, Skoda-the-butt has been planting the seeds
of allegations of racism since like Feb. 2010.
“We’ve been called racists and Nazis, but we’re comfortable with what we’re doing,” Skoda says. “Our government has got to stop not listening. The majority is not being heard.
And then did it again, in April 2010:
He said the organization also hopes to rebut allegations about the movement: “Everything from calling the tea party members racist, that we are violent, that somehow we are fermenting another Kristallnacht. These accusations are indeed false and they won’t stand.”
http://www.japantoday.com/category/world/view/tea-party-leaders-announce-new-federation
^
misc., http://videos.onepakistan.com/pktube/video/NVbhW5RiZJw/The-National-Tea-Party-Federation-Is-a-Corporate-Hijacking-of-the-Tea-Party-Movement.html
and the plot keeps thickening
It's worth considering the possibility that the biggest threat to the Tea Party is not the Democrat Party, but the Republican establishment.
The official Republican Party no longer has an ideological basis. It is simply a minority party that would like to be stronger to guarantee its place at the table for the interests it represents ... which in many cases are the same interests already more than ably represented by the Democrats.
So, Republicans have trained themselves and those of us who vote for them as the lesser of two evils, to never EVER make any waves that might disturb the Democrats, who have become the American default party.
Furthermore, government is organized, as are non-profits, schools, and media outlets, to financially support democrats, whether they are in power, or or temporarily on the sidelines.
The Federal Government is a Democrat life support system.
I totally agree. I was involved with the Tea Party movement from the get-go, and now I spend more of my time involved with our local Republican committee. The Tea Party concept befuddles a lot of liberals because they keep looking for a traditional party structure to attack. The strength of the movement is in its ideas and broad-based awakening. Structure is good, but ideas and love of country are paramount.
He looks like a man who would never leave a stick of butter behind.
Indeed it does. I was always amused by the Skoda cars.
There is no "leader." This guy has self appointed himself king - I'd ignore him, totally, and move on.
Political party organizations do tend to attract megalomaniacs who dream of occupying the Oval Office some day... Most of them are nuts...
I don't know anything about this Skoda person but I do about Mark Williams.
My opposition to him has nothing to do with being a talk show host....it's that he's a jerk.
Williams got fired from KFBK in Sacramento (which is the same station that helped to launch Rush and where Tom Sullivan had his radio program).
At one point, he even got involved in a public and online fight with another radio host from a competing station that was just plain idiotic and immature. He became an embarassment to the station.
When I went out to the Searchlight Tea Party, I was very disappointed to see that Williams was affiliated with the TPX.
IMO, it was just a matter of time before he did something that would get him "fired" again.
I've listened to his program in Sac. and he was an idiot then and got fired because of it.
Just because he's conservative doesn't mean he gets a pass for saying stupid things.
His satire was poorly timed and did no good for those of us that are trying be heard.
I am the Tea Party and I do not know any of these people...
So he admits that the NAACP accusation of racism is correct and he expels TPE and Williams and thereby identifies them as racists. This is more damage than Williams could ever do by anything he says.
You are right on the money. Why are we so stupid in recognizing what the Left excels at?
I’ve got your back, you’ve got mine. Pretty simple.
Eagles up, FRiend.
FYI - bifurcated is not appropriate in this context, since it implies a forcible split rather than 2 mutually exclusive groups.
Absolutely correct Old Bill... Rand - an historical education, Santelli a recent inspiration - but the core of arousal was as you say ... At that time in ‘06-’07 Millions Americans were galvanized to save this country... thus providing the core of the Tea Party membership nationwide...
You said it and said it well Old Bill...
“The Tea Party is a movement without a founder. If there was a seminal moment that could be traced as the origin of the Tea Party, it is not Santelli’s rant. It was the attempt by the rulers in Washington of both parties - Bush, Kennedy, McCain, Rove, Pelosi, Reid - to push through an amnesty for illegal aliens in 2006-2007.
“With 70-80% of Americans in violent opposition to an unwanted invasion, public outrage melted down the switchboards and Outlook boxes in the Senate and forced them to back off the amnesty program that cheap labor Republicans and Hispanic vote grabbing Democrats wanted to shove down American throats.”
You could not be more on target Old Bill... pay attention folks...
It was the first example of people power, and it awakened a vast majority to the fact that the people did have it within their power to take back the country. Santelli just got caught up in the wave - he didn’t create it. And the Tea Party’s future lies in remaining a spontaneous, popular (not populist) movement.
I distinctly pray that there will never be another Civil War. When I was a child, my grandfather told me stories about *his* grandfather, who has been brought in as an able-bodied worker from NJ to find and bury (or re-inter) the bodies at Gettysburg. He was horrified by the waste of men’s lives -w what he considered to be America’s great wealth - and he raised his children to be horrified by it as well.
If we are all brothers in the family of the United States, then we can work out humane ways to disagree and come to some compromises - without having to slaughter each other.
I agree that it is pathetic how low the GOP has sunk. Radio talk show hosts are driven by ratings, first and foremost. If they weren’t, the station owners would kick them off the air. I wonder how truly devoted these guys are to the causes they espouse - and how much they laugh at the “chumps” that take them seriously. I would much prefer to see a leader arise from the People themselves, out of pure belief.
Hugo Drax has hijacked the tea party - swell.
I’ve listened to his program in Sac. and he was an idiot then and got fired because of it. ...His satire was poorly timed and did no good for those of us that are trying be heard.
If you are concerned about the quality and timing of his satire, you must be concerned that we might play into supporting the accusation being made against us. This concern is what gets us into trouble. By taking action against TPE they have made a big mistake playing into the accusation of racism. Who will they next chastise for being a racist? Do I need to submit my blog posts to them for screening?
The ultimatum they issued is one of the stupidest management decisions I’ve come across. It goes like this— Let’s agree that there is racism in the tea party movement, but it’s OK, we’ll plead guilty with an explanation. We’ll sacrifice our most active group. We’ll issue an ultimatum that if Williams (who obviously must be a racist or at least a patsy because we are singling him out)is not fired, then Tea Party Express is kicked out. This will cause everyone in the tea party groups to be more careful what they say so they don’t embarrass us moderates who want to compromise. If they keep it up we’ll find some other person to target and expel. In the end we won’t have any member groups left in the TPF, but maybe that’s what we intended to begin with.
The better idea is for the TPF “leaders” to fire themselves and return the movement to what it actually is, individuals expressing their political views the best way they know how without being censured by self appointed ultimatum makers.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.