‘Peculiar’ Tea Party happenings blamed on ‘dirty’ Dem tricksters
http://rawstory.com/rs/2010/0809/peculiar-tea-party-happenings-blamed-dirty-dem-tricksters/By Ron Brynaert
Monday, August 9th, 2010 -- 10:40 am
Could paranoia end up being the self-destroyer of the Tea Party movement?
Or, as the tagline for the new AMC series Rubicon puts it, perhaps it's true that "not every conspiracy is a theory." Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they aren’t out to get you.
A Fox News article claims,
In New Jersey, a "Tea Party" candidate surfaces but local activists haven't heard of him. In Michigan, a Democratic operative appears closely tied to a slate of candidates running under the Tea Party banner. In Florida, conservative activists are locked in court over the right to use the Tea Party name.
The list of peculiar Tea Party happenings goes on and on.
As the midterm election nears, allegations are surfacing across the country that Democrats are exploiting conservatives' faith in the Tea Party name by putting up bogus candidates in November -- the claim is that those "Tea Party" candidates will split the GOP vote and clear the way for Democratic victories.
The theories may prove to be more than just conspiracy talk. Some of the allegations are coming directly from local Tea Party activists who are trying to flag the media and election officials as soon as they smell something fishy on the ballot. And they say they've got proof.
Last Friday, Politico reported, "Nationally, Democrats say they intend to campaign against the tea party movement. But locally, Democratic officials and activists in at least four states now stand accused of collaborating with tea party candidates in an attempt to sabotage Republican challengers in some of the closest House races in the nation."
“The Democrats have come to the realization that they can’t win on issues, and with their flawed candidates, so they are forced to skirt the rules by running candidates who they hope can split the vote with Republicans,” said Paul Lindsey, a National Republican Congressional Committee spokesman.
Democratic officials deny there is any grand conspiracy.
"The DCCC has nothing to do with this," said Ryan Rudominer, a spokesman for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee
Politico's Jeane Cummings reports, "But the evidence of campaign tampering in at least two states is hard to dismiss. In Michigan, the party chairman in suburban Detroit’s Oakland County now concedes that one of his top aides played a role in helping nine tea party candidates get onto the ballot for various offices across the state — including the open 1st Congressional District and the 7th Congressional District, held by vulnerable freshman Democratic Rep. Mark Schauer."
At US News & World Report, Robert Schlesinger argues, "Shouldn't the sturm und the drang be directed against the Tea Partyers here?"
Even Fox News concedes, "Tea Party activists since the beginning of the year have been trying to get a judge to declare that candidates running under the "Florida Tea Party" have nothing to do with other Tea Party activists in the state. They've accused local lawyer Fred O'Neal and former radio host Doug Guetzloe of trying to 'hijack' the movement by creating the Tea Party group. They claim the defendants are trying to leverage the Tea Party group to make money but also cite alleged ties between the founders and Democratic Rep. Alan Grayson."
This is the problem with mentality that's driving a lot of Tea Party activists (and a disturbing number of progressives, including, apparently, Rep. Henry Waxman who recently suggested he wouldn't miss some conservative Democrats likely not to be returning): an emphasis on ideological purity that makes losing nobly preferable to winning but achieving less than 100 percent of one's objectives. When you get into that mind-set, sabotaging a party nominee in order to "send a message" seems pretty reasonable. And by extension it's better to be a pure minority in Congress than a broad majority.
So don't blame the Democrats for handing over bullets when conservatives are forming up into the proverbial circular firing squad.
Dean Chambers, blogging at the Examiner, believes, "What can and should be done in every instance of the fakers, is for the Real Tea Party groups to out them as the fakes they are and inform their supporters to NOT be fooled by the imposters. And in addition to and while doing that, they should educate the public on the trickery Democrats are willing to use to FOOL the public into electing their candidates again. It’s more than time for the public to learn their lesson. Knowing this, are you still going to vote for the Democrats again?"