FreedomWorks, one of the largest and most influential national Tea Party groups, is planning to devote its considerable resources toward uniting the grassroots "movement" behind whoever emerges as the most electable alternative to former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, the Huffington Post reports.
“I don’t think I’ve met any groups or any local activists that like him or want him to be president,” Tea Party activist Brendan Steinhauser said. “They just don’t believe he’s authentic. That’s the biggest problem in addition to the health care thing.”
If Freedom Works does not want Romney to win the nomination, their best move would be to get all but one of the dozens of conservatives running in the primary to drop out. By focusing their attention against Romney, all they'll achieve is to unify the other factions of the GOP to seek Romney as the alternative to the Tea Party. The libertarians who think they run Freedom Works are nothing but trouble, and seem to prefer attacking their fellow Republicans than actually winning elections. Dick Armey and Brendan Steinhauser are not part of the libertarian wing, but have jumped onboard because they see it as a vehicle to ever more power, the same way they jumped onboard the Tea Party movement. I have video of Brendan claiming that in Franklin . Click here to see it. Before the meeting started, I approached the leader of the local Freedom Works chapter about what I should do in order to create a local Tea Party. He eventually locked me out of the process and made it a creature of his organization.
One would hope that they'd follow Reagan's 11th Commandment or perhaps his advice on political compromise. Like children, they seem focused on an all-or-nothing attitude that has previously been the position of the crazy Ron Paul Supporters.
Competing for power does ugly things to people and organizations. This is a train wreck that may end up costing the eventual nominee of the party the election.
I see nothing good coming out of this move because they will try to take ownership of the whole thing...and they'll be responsible for the chaos and destruction a second Obama Administration will sow in our Republic. I am nervous about the eventual implementation of ObamaCare and think that most people have no idea that insurance rates will soar higher than they ever were before because of the government interference in the free market. I don't know if elected Republicans will have the spine to stand up to him. Time will tell.
As for me, I believe that Mitt Romney will be the nominee of the Republican party. If that happens, I will work as hard as I can to get him elected....because, despite his shortcomings...he would be a better choice that Barack Obama. Anyone who can't see that is a fool who deserves to live under a second Obama Administration.
The host of my favorite radio show, The John Batchelor Show, interviews Kate Zernike, the author of Boiling Mad: Inside Tea Party America, about the Tea Party and the de facto leader of that movement, former Congressman Dick Armey of Freedom Works. The interview is a little over 8 minutes long and well worth your attention.
One of the interesting things discussed in the interbiew is her description of Armey as a Libertarian and not so much of a Social Conservative. . The audio: I know that many Republicans have been taken in by this man, but I believe that he is poison to the movement, and he has raised up people like him who are equally poisonous to certain state and local chapters. Someday, I may tell the story of my experience with these people when I tried to start a local Tea Party. Since then, I have shunned all things Freedom Works.
I've got over 6 hours of video from the last two budget meetings of the Macon County Commissioners to process, and I won't be able to blog or tweet as much as I usually do, so I'm going to post a few links of interesting stuff I've found that might be interesting to you while I edit video and give my laptop all the extra clock cycles it needs...
Last night, WLOS paid a visit to franklin to report on a couple of child molesters being sent away for a long, long time. I happened to see the satellite truck at the Court House while I was on my way to the County Commissioners budget meeting, and took a couple of photos and posted to TwitPic, here and here. Watch the video of Charu's report on the WLOS website. I am not sure how long the video will be archived at WLOS, so check it out now before it is gone.
Randy's Right has an interesting article about Glenn Beck selling out to Freedom Works. [Read it]
I've personally had a bad couple of run-ins with Freedom Works, mainly at the local level where their leader has no interest in coalition building. I've had reports of the same thing happening to other people who tried to organize local Tea Parties only to find that the local Freedom Works group ready to destroy them. Randy's article got me to thinking, and looking for other article and videos.
Michelle Malkin has an article entitled "In response to amnesty stooge Dick Armey" [Read it]
Here is the money quote from Dick Armey in the article:
“When I was Republican leader, I saw to it that Tom Tancredo could not get on a stage because I saw how destructive he was,” Armey said of the anti-immigration former congressman. “Republicans have to get off this goofiness.”
Roy Beck of Numbers USA has the numbers on Dick Amrey's time in Congress spent supporting amnesty. His numbers are in the bottom 10% of current Republicans. [Read it]
In other news, American Power has an article on fraud at the US Census. I'm shocked, just shocked! [Read it]
Fausta has the latest on Nancy Pelosi's strange religion of The Word. I've swiped the video and posted it below, but you can see it and read her commentary on Fausta's Blog. [Read it]
Notice how Nancy squirms uncomfortably when she tries to pretend that she is a Christian, or a follower of Christ? Those of us who are can recognize that she is lying and knows that it is wrong to do so. She is being convicted by the Holy Spirit. We should keep her in our prayers. Wouldn't it be wonderful if she came to be saved? Just think how much good she could do. Think about how screamingly mad the progressives would be at her?
Since we are on a religious note, I'll point out an article called "From Marx to Mohammed" at my favorite Counterjihad website, Gates of Vienna. [Read it]
And since we are now on the subject of Islam...I'll point you to Gateway pundit, where there is breaking news that 40 of the "peace activists" on the Gaza Terror Flotilla are members of Al-Qaeda. That figures and does not surprise me. If Lefties, Anti-War Activists and Islamic Terrorists share one thing in common, it is a hatred of Israel. [Read it]
Here is a video of President Obama's Secretary of State, the HildaBeast, condemning Israel for taking action to protect itself:
Nothing good can come of this. Nothing at all. So, I'll direct your attention to the latest installment of LOLBAMA at IMAO for some much-needed comic relief... [Read it]
Asheville bloggers have taken on the lefty bias of local media outlets, including the Asheville Citizen-Times and WLOS-TV in Asheville. I was alerted to this story via Twitter by @LiberT who also has a blog called Fr33 Asheville.
Previously, Freedom Works held a Health Care protest in front of Blue Dog Democrat Congress Heath Shuler's office in Asheville, and the Asheville Citizen-Times did not send a reporter to cover the event (despite giving copious amounts of coverage to lefty rallies & protests), and the WLOS story focused more attention to the opposing side, and most of the coverage they gave the protest was focused on advocating FOR Government-run health care. Witness the video below:
A new Asheville blogger [since October 2008], Jane Q Republican, has noted the activism of one of the Asheville Citizen-Times reporters, Leslie Boyd. Here is an excerpt:
For evidence of whether Ms. Boyd’s involvement has influenced the news, I refer you to last week’s rally in opposition to Nationalized Healthcare. On Friday, July 17, over 250 area citizens gathered at the Asheville office of Heath Shuler (D-NC11) in opposition to the proposed government takeover of healthcare. The Asheville Citizen-Times did not send a single reporter or photographer. To date, not a single word in Asheville’s only daily newspaper has been devoted to this event.
When Ms. Boyd became a journalist, she made the choice to be an impartial observer and reporter of the news. She promised to uphold a code of ethics which prohibits her from entering into public politics and activism. This was a career choice that she made and, judging by the name she has made for herself at the Asheville Citizen-Times, it was a good one. If she has now changed her mind and wishes to enter the political activism arena, that is indeed her prerogative. What she may not do, however, is straddle the fence between the two occupations. She may not make the news and report it too.
At least, not if she is held to the standards of her employment contract . That remains to be seen.
Source: Jane Q Republican (read the whole article, which includes email exchanges between the blogger and the newspaper)
Another blogger covering this is Tim Peck. This is a portion of what he has to contribute:
Asheville Citizen-Times reporter Leslie Boyd has violated the code of journalistic ethics by participating in partisan political events as an advocate while also covering the story for her employer. Boyd is pictured on the WNC for Change website as the keynote speaker at the recent Healthcare Reform Rally held at Pritchard Park in Asheville on June 20, 2009.
Source: Tim Peck (he goes on to provide links and photos of the Moveon Rally...which Boyd was unable to attend at the last moment).
I'll add my two cents worth to the kitty by noting what Leslie Boyd has posted herself online regarding how she sees her job and her advocacy for the nationalization of healthcare.
From her Ning Network blog (created by the Asheville Citizen-Times):
Things here have been pretty bleak. We had layoffs yesterday. Rob and I escaped, but we had friends who worked here a long time who got cut. I feel like I'm watching the demise of an entire industry. But it's more than just an industry, and being a reporter is more than just a job. We felt like we had a higher calling: to be watchdogs of government and big business, to dig out the truth and to inform the public. We have been the children of the First Amendment. Now most papers have too few people in the newsroom to do any investigative reporting. We can report on government meetings, but we can't dig any deeper. We can write about the new office building being put up, but not on the dealings that helped it get permits in spite of height restrictions or zoning laws.
In the end, government and big business will be able to do what they want, unfettered by the press looking over them. Actually, they pretty much do already.
Source: WNC Mom I lifted the whole post in case it gets tossed down the memory hole.
And another, on her advocacy:
WNC for Change had a health care rally in Asheville this morning and 300 people came out. That's almost twice as many as came out last fall. People are getting worried that this won't get fixed after all, and they want to tell Congress that's not acceptable. I was the keynote speaker, telling Mike's story and noting that he was one of about 30,000 who died last year. Rep. Heath Shuler met with about 50 of us this afternoon and assured us he wants to fix it too, but the law says it has to be defecit neutral. I can think of a few ways to raise the money, but none of them will happen because corporations are more important than people in America. I'm not sure how we'll take it back, but I'm working on it. If you want to see photos of the rally and of Heath Shuler, visit here: [AC-T]
Source: WNC Mom Again, I lifted the entire post for the same reason as the last.
As Jane Q Republican and Tim Peck have pointed out, she covered the rallies for the Asheville Citizen-Times events at which she herself was a speaker and organizer.
A lefty blog had this to say about Leslie Boyd's keynote address at the rally, which the War Resister's League billed as "Asheville Calls for Health Care Revolution":
By far the most powerful speaker was local reporter and health care advocate Leslie Boyd who spoke with “righteous indignation” about her son’s death due to denial of critical health care. She founded the group Life o’ Mike to commemorate her son and to advocate for health care for all.
I have, so far, been unable to locate online video of Boyd speaking at any of these events. If you know of an example, please let me know in the comments, and if you are in possession of such video, let me know in the comments, and I will help you get it posted online.
It is time we held "journalists" accountable. And they wonder why they are held in in low regard by their fellow Americans. I would tell them that their lefty bias has turned a significant portion of their audience off. I quit buying papers from the AC-T over two years ago because I couldn't just take it anymore. Due to the recent cutbacks at the paper, as reported by AshVegas, I have not been the only one.
It would be more acceptable to me if they would come right out and admit that they are lefties instead of pretending they are unbiased.
Let this incident serve notice to the various news media outlets of western North Carolina that they can no longer serve as Gate Keepers of the news, nor can they set the agenda as they have in the past. They should come clean about their biases, as most bloggers do.
When bloggers report on events or news stories, they usually aren't afraid to come right out and tell you what side they are on, and then they proceed to tell you why they believe as they do.
**Note...I have preserved the original spellings in the posts I excerpted for use here.
**9.03am**
As an example of a lefty paper, I give you the Mountain Xpress. Everyone knows they are lefties, and they don't hide it. And the thing is, they often provide better coverage of Asheville in a weekly free paper than the Citizen-Times does with a daily paper.
Here are three videos from last night's Tea Party in Franklin. I'll have the rest up Monday. Right now, I have to go give a seminar on precinct building...
There were about 300 people at the Tea Party who enjoyed listening to Bluegrass music and speeches given by several people concerning high taxes and the loss of our Constitutional Rights.
Here are the seven videos of the speeches given by people invited by FreedomWorks to speak during the Tax Day Tea Party in Franklin, NC on April 15, 2009:
Part One
Part Two
Part Three
Part Four
Part Five
Part Six
Part Seven
I will be working on the other videos from the Tax Day Tea Party in Sylva, NC, where everyone was welcomed to participate in their protest.
It looks like it will take a while for the video from Franklin's Tax Day Tea Party will take a while for the software editor to process.
The bad thing about HD Video is that it takes SO LONG to process. Even on a 2.2 Ghz Machine with a Gig of RAM. Just the Graphics calculations to load the 3.6 GB video file has taken over 20 minutes...
**8.52am** I have finished adding titles and will be offline until the video finishes mixing down. I have another post scheduled for 11.37am. It's Naptime!
**9.49am** I scratched the HD Version due to time limits. I have to meet a client in Franklin at 3pm, so I am processing it at a lower quality than HD, and will do the HD version later.
In this video clip, Brendan Steinhauser tells what was going on at the beginning of the Tea Party movement...how a number of things came to together at the right time to spawn a movement that has taken a life of its own across the nation:
He was in Franklin, NC last night giving a seminar to help local grass roots activists learn how they might become more effective in their activism, and ways they can have fun doing it. Brendan Steinhauser is the Director of Federal and State Campaigns for FreedomWorks, and he gave a speech that was motivational...and planted a seed that will bear First Fruits in a Tax Day Tea Party in Franklin, NC.
If you are in or around Franklin, we will be setting up an event website (an old one that I don't use) and an associated Facebook Page (for those who have high-speed Internet). You can contact us at franklinteaparty@gmail.com and get plugged into our network. If you are on twitter, you can follow @MaconTea or @ThunderPig. We plan for this event to be a marriage of tried and true shoe leather organizing power and Web 2.0 collaboration.
Perhaps it is time to bring back the first motto of this blog..."Blogging the Conservative revolution in West Carolina."
**10.22pm** It's official, we ARE having a Tax Day Tea Party in Franklin!!!
Freedom Works will be offering training seminars around North Carolina on March 6th (today) and 7th (tomorrow).
Brendan Steinhauser, Freedom Works Director of Federal and State Campaigns, will be sharing how grass roots activists can build a more powerful and innovative movement in their communities.
Here are the details of our three seminars:
March 6th (tonight) 7pm Macon County Facilities Building 1288 Georgia Rd (Hwy 441) (Google Maps) Franklin, NC (FREE) RSVP Don Swanson 828-524-2960
March 7th (Saturday) 9am Golden Corral Hanes Mall (Google Maps) Winston-Salem, NC Dutch Treat - (FREE to attend) RSVP Joyce Krawiec 336-817-4601 or Allen Page 336-213-1167
March 7th (Saturday) 6pm Reagan Dinner (Brendan will be speaking during the annual dinner) Crystal Coast Republican Women Leon Mann Enrichment Center (Google Maps) 3820 Galantis Dr Morehead City, NC *$20.00 per person (Please bring your check or cash at the door) RSVP for tickets: Sue Verdon 252-393-2349 or Mary Marks 252-342-1397
If you have questions about any of these events, or if you would like to request a future training session closer to you, please call Allen Page at 336-213-1167.
Freedom Works will be offering training seminars around North Carolina on March 6th (Friday) and 7th (Saturday).
Brendan Steinhauser, Freedom Works Director of Federal and State Campaigns, will be sharing how grass roots activists can build a more powerful and innovative movement in their communities.
Here are the details of our three seminars:
March 6th (Friday) 7pm Macon County Facilities Building 1288 Georgia Rd (Hwy 441) (Google Maps) Franklin, NC (FREE) RSVP Don Swanson 828-524-2960
March 7th (Saturday) 9am Golden Corral Hanes Mall (Google Maps) Winston-Salem, NC Dutch Treat - (FREE to attend) RSVP Joyce Krawiec 336-817-4601 or Allen Page 336-213-1167
March 7th (Saturday) 6pm Reagan Dinner (Brendan will be speaking during the annual dinner) Crystal Coast Republican Women Leon Mann Enrichment Center (Google Maps) 3820 Galantis Dr Morehead City, NC *$20.00 per person (Please bring your check or cash at the door) RSVP for tickets: Sue Verdon 252-393-2349 or Mary Marks 252-342-1397
If you have questions about any of these events, or if you would like to request a future training session closer to you, please call Allen Page at 336-213-1167.
I posted the following 10 easy steps to organizing your own “Tea Party” protest on my blog, The Conservative Revolution. If you would like some more ideas, just drop me a line!
1. Pick a location, date and time in your town. I’d suggest main street at an intersection with lots of traffic.
2. Tell your friends, family, co-workers and everyone else you know about the protest. Build an rsvp email list so that you can provide quick updates if something changes. You should also create a facebook group so that the group can communicate with one another.
3. Make 5-10 signs with legible slogans that send a clear message to the public and the media. Write in BIG LETTERS.
4. Call your local talk radio hosts and ask them to announce the location, date and time on the air for a few days leading up to the protest. Send a letter to the editor of your local newspaper announcing the protest. Email the bloggers in your area and ask them to post a notice about the protest.
5. Write a press release and email, mail and fax copies to the local tv stations, radio stations and newspapers. Call the reporters that cover local events or politics and leave messages on their voice mail.
6. On the day of your protest, show up with your group, be loud, visible, happy and engage the public. Wave your signs, make lots of noise and move around to get attention. If reporters interview you, give them some good sound bytes for their stories. Stay on message and keep your answers short and coherent.
7. Bring sign-in sheets to capture the names, emails and phone numbers of everyone who attends the protest and/or says that they support what you are doing. You will then have a big list of people that can plan the next, much bigger and louder, event. Also bring handouts with one page of quick facts about why you are protesting in the first place.
8. Add your pictures, video and an after-action report to your facebook group, and send this stuff to the bloggers and reporters that you originally contacted. Ask them to post the photos, story and video.
9. Thank everyone who attended via email and phone, and set up a meeting to plan your next event. Now you have a list of people in your community that can help make the next protest huge. Encourage everyone to commit to bring at least one friend to the next protest.
10. Organize a carpool and go find a friend in your neighboring town or county and help them organize a protest there. You and your people are now veterans and should be able to keep the momentum going around your area.
Email me if you have any questions or want some ideas for signs. bsteinhauser @freedomworks.org
Good luck!
It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people’s minds. — Samuel Adams
Some members of the Buncombe County Chapter of Freedom Works visited Congressman Heath Shuler's Asheville Office to deliver an earmark pledge for the Congressman to consider signing.
Local video producer, and co-host of Sound Off Buncombe (check URTV for air times) was also there to record the event.
Bill Lack gives an explanation of what Freedom Works is about at the end of this 10 minute preview of a 30 minute program to air in June.
To submit releases for publication, email me here. This includes Guest Commentaries. If you have a photo that you wish me to use with your press release or article, please send it to me, otherwise I'll use whatever I feel best fits your article.
Letters to the Editor
Send Letters to the Editor to editor@MaconMedia. Limit is one submission every seven days. You may include photos, video or audio. Submissions will be edited for vulgarity or similar reasons. Limit submissions to less than 10,000 words. LOL
For a quicker response, send me a message on Twitter or add me to a circle on Google Plus and send it just to me.
If you have been sending me press releases via my private email address, that will continue to work just fine. The Twitter or Google+ account will get my attention quicker.
NON PROFIT OR CIVIC EVENTS
Macon Media will promote nonprofit or civic events if contacted by an organizer of the event. This includes rallies, protests, community forums, and parades. Messeanger Link http://m.me/MaconMediaNews
If you're of a mind, and can afford it, a dollar a month (or more) from enough people will make a huge difference in improving the quality of coverage of local meetings and events, as well as allowing remote weather stations and weather cams to be deployed throughout the county that you will be able to access online.
Currently, 20 people have pledged $99 a month. This is a tremendous help. Please visit www.patreon.com/MaconMedia for more information on how to contribute.
Businesses can underwrite this coverage by day sponsorships, surplus equipment donations, etc. Inquire at editor@maconmedia.com for more information.
Donations accepted for the purpose of supporting this blog and activities related to improving it's operations and my coverage of local festivals and local government meetings.
Posts
