Posted on 03/20/2010 9:24:17 AM PDT by Extremely Extreme Extremist
On a bright, brisk afternoon in mid-February, with snow still thick on the ground from storms that had battered Washington the week before, Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele met with more than 50 members of the Tea Party, the Twitter Age conservative movement that is reshaping the U.S. political landscape.
Steele, RNC chairman since January 2009, had invited them to the plush Capitol Hill Club, built as a clubhouse for the party's top brass next door to RNC headquarters.
According to several accounts, not long into the meeting JoAnn Abbott, an activist from Virginia who calls herself the 'Tea Party Grandma,' raised her hand to ask a question.
She asked about a web page on the RNC site where visitors could send their member of Congress a postcard with a tea bag. On the tag at the end of the string were the letters 'RNC.'
"Respectfully, sir, while we do not have a trademark on the tea bag, you are well aware that people associate it with the Tea Party movement," Abbott, 50, recalls saying to Steele. "If you co-opt that image, you damage our brand and weaken our movement."
Lest there was any confusion, she added: "It does not belong to you, it belongs to us as an independent movement."
Abbott said within an hour of the end of the meeting the page (www.teaparty.gop.com) was gone -- and the Grand Old Party was finally aware of conservative frustrations she and others felt with Republican leadership.
"The GOP now knows we're not asleep anymore," Abbott told Reuters. "The giant has been awakened."
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
Asked and answered.
Methinks someone has some wishful thinking going on here.
Boy, going all the way back to Feb to write a hit piece on the TPM/RNC family feud.
Reuters. Figures. It writes itself.
That might have worked back in the days when the socialists dominated the 3-4 networks, and real Americans had no other source of information.
Go after the liberal and RINO Republicans, but, as a group, the GOP deserves great praise for the job they are doing, right now!
3rd Party types, who have accomplished NOTHING but have helped Democrats, immensely, love to sit back and criticize!
A large percentage of Democrats are in or support the tea party movement. This is why painting the tea party members as racists and using slurs has backfired.
It is my hope that the movement awakens Americans. F@&k the party elite!
Methinks your right! Of course most people that hang out here are right!
I’ve always been open to the idea of 3rd parties, and I’ve been disgusted with the GOP at times in recent years.
Having said that, the dems will most certainly remain in power if there is a conservative 3rd party splitting the vote. The stakes are too high for people to let their emotions get in the way of pulling the Gavel from Pelosi’s hand. This year’s election is crunch time. It’s our ONLY real opportunity to put a real check on the 0bama agenda. To squander that opportunity by splitting the conservative vote with a 3rd party would be totally foolish, bordering on political suicide.
Stop modern communism and deal with difference later.
Nice try, Reuters. It may have worked in the past but forget about it now.
Don’t fall for this.
United we stand. Divided, Barry 0’s party will win in November.
Key phrase “the giant has been awakened”....I pray that is true, and that it isn’t too late!
And now for the Rooters wishful thinking translation: “We really wish the Tea Parties would turn on the Republicans so that after this fiasco of a healthcare bill passes there will be no adverse consequences for the democrats. Yeah, thats the ticket, the Tea Party movement really is more about hating them Republicans than it is about the democrats.”
LOL, well sure. it’s the republicans’ fault for refusing to take part in the process. JUst like pelosi says./s
I have sent many letters to the RNC, explaining my reasons for not supporting them financially. I prefer, in view of the fact that the RNC has moved far to my left, donate to individual candidates across the country who better represent my conservative standards. The RNC, just as Congress today, has completely ignored what I have said to them. INO we now have a one party system. To preserve our Constitution We definitely need a two party system. If the RNC doesn’t want to stand for a traditional conservative platform, the American people , one way or the other, be the loser.
Instead of starting friction with real conservatives, RNC Chairman Michael Steele should be spending his time knocking the stuffing out of Miss lindsey Graham and other Progressive subversives within the Republican party to get them focused on opposing rather than promoting democrat "progressive" initiatives.
Short strategic goals should be to blunt and later destroy the ability of the Propaganda media to brainwash the American People.
Mid range strategic goals should be to destroy the NEA and stop marxist indoctrination in our public schools. Kudos to Texas for taking a giant first step in that direction correcting their text books. Well done.
Long term strategic goals should be the restoration of Constitutional rule of law and the repeal of the socialist programs enacted since Wilson's time.
This is the way to approach doing what we need to do. Not starting a third party.
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