Posted on 06/24/2011 6:57:20 AM PDT by Hawk720
The anybody-but-Mitt Romney faction developing within the tea party may pose a problem for the former Massachusetts governor’s presidential ambitions, but some tea party organizers worry it could also backfire against the movement itself.
Romney, the current Republican front runner, is viewed skeptically – at best – by many tea partiers. And disagreement over whether to actively oppose him threatens to undo the uneasy truces forged in the run-up to the 2010 midterms and undermine the fledgling movement’s influence in the GOP.
The possibility of Romney winning the nomination is even reviving debate about whether activists should embrace, or even form, a third party – an idea that until recently had been dismissed as harmful to both the movement and the GOP.
“I honestly don’t know whether the movement will perform well” in the presidential election, said Mark Meckler, co-founder of the Tea Party Patriots, a national coalition of local groups. “I don’t think anybody is looking for a third party candidate, but anybody who would count out that possibility, I just think is ignorant.”
Another tea party leader, Matt Kibbe, president of FreedomWorks, describes the presidential election as a potential “Achilles heel” for the movement, which arose in 2009 in opposition to what its activists saw as unchecked government spending and expansion under President Barack Obama.
“Our power comes from the fact that we’re not dependent on anybody to be the leader,” Kibbe told POLITICO, conceding the tea party’s diffuse and decentralized nature may be better suited to congressional races than presidential politics.
(Excerpt) Read more at politico.com ...
My goal is not to “stop Palin and Bachmann.”
My goal is to honestly appraise every candidate, of any party, according to the plumb lines of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, and then to share that appraisal honestly with any conservative who will listen.
If I came here to talk about our party, you would just attack me for that. Quit being a hypocrite.
What should the Tea Party do about Willard?
Refuse to vote for the Janus-faced loser, that’s what!
Of course your goal is to stop Palin, that is what you spend so much time doing here, I posted to your dismissive of Palin and Bachmann on this very thread.
My simple post was to inform the thread who you are, and how you are posting as a party official, I just never dreamed that I would be paying such a heavy price for it.
Look, some of us refuse to be bludgeoned into supporting candidates we don’t believe in. Live with it. And quit whining.
That's how we ended up with McCain. He was the farthest-left option on the scorecard - but with so many real conservatives to choose from, the dominating conservative vote got split.
Say there's candidates A, B, and C. A & B are pretty similar; C is very different. A&B supporters chant "anybody but C!". A&B split 60% of the vote. C, despite the majority sentiment and a paltry 40% of votes, wins.
We're gonna end up with Romney if conservatives don't consolidate behind ONE candidate who can attract more votes. All this "I like A a little more than B, but can't stand C" vs. "Well, A is ok but I'm voting for B, but yeah C sucks" gets us C.
Very slippery again.
As a Party Chairman you are here officially bludgeoning Palin as a part of your party’s campaign against her, I just wanted to let the people here know that you are doing this professionally.
I’ve never “bludgeoned” her. I’ve simply pointed out the facts of her political words and record. Of course, y’all never want to talk about that. That is why you have to constantly resort to personal attacks to take the focus off the principles that are involved in examining and vetting these candidates. It’s a really transparent ploy.
It is not my job to strategize for the Republican Party Candidates. I am an independent. I resent getting unwanted calls on my MOBILE PHONE from anyone.
I agree that the Republicans will run whoever they want. Just remember that many independents do now owe the GOP any votes. If you want mine, you better run someone that agrees with my principles.
oops. “Do not OWE the GOP any votes.”
Sounds like a plan to me.
Revealing that you are here working as an actual Party Chairman is not a “personal attack”.
As the Party Chairman, can you give us any hint, or information, or “transparency” on the possibility of Alan Keyes running for President?
You didn’t reveal that. I did. Remember?
As I told you, I have no compulsion to tell you anything I don’t want to tell you, no matter how many threads you harrass me on.
The real reason I became an independent (lower case i) is because in North Carolina our primary was a waste of time. At least as an independent I could vote AGAINST the front runner in the Democrat Party. But in 2008 the GOP Primary here was a total waste of time and money because the nomination had been given to the anointed McCain.
It’s a rigged game.
Ahhh, no, you were posting away, doing your professional Party Chairman work in obscurity, when I revealed you in post 53.
I pointed out that your tag line at least, should reveal who you are.
Yes, and after Bob Dole and John McCain, I choose to not participate in that sort of rigged game.
Who do you think you are? I can put anything in my tagline I want. It’s mine, not yours.
Why should all information, of any kind, on the possibility of Alan Keyes being your party's candidate, be treated with such hostile secretiveness, and a total wall of silence?
LOL, you seem to be admitting that people instantly seeing that you are here professionally, is something that you will fight tooth and nail, my suggestion should not upset you to that degree.
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