Oy Vey-my latest email from the Tea Party Patriots

[w8liftinglady]

http://www.teapartypatriots.org

Freshman Orientation:
You are Being Heard!
Thank you for making calls to your Congressmen-elect urging them to attend our freshman orientation this weekend.

We have had reports from Congressmen-Elect's staff that they have received 500+ phone calls in less than 24 hours. When the Tea Party decides to make its collective voice heard all at once it's a bit like dropping a nuclear bomb. The government fears us, which is good for freedom. You are making your voices heard and they know that you are watching and will continue to do so.



For the moment, we are asking you to stop making calls.


It appears the freshmen have heard our voices. We have had several additional RSVPs from the people you called saying they will attend our event instead. Some people cannot attend due to previous commitments. We understand that. Several are working to change their schedules. We appreciate that.

We listed the contact information we had for these freshmen and we now know that some of it was personal cell phone numbers or fax numbers. This list was the best information we had at the time. We also understand that sometimes members of Congress find it annoying to receive numerous calls from voters. But we encourage them to remember it is part of the job and they asked to be hired. This will not be the last time.

Since we have made our voices heard, it is time to allow the freshmen a chance to change their plans and see how many are going to listen to what we had to say. (It is awfully hard to change your flight plans over the phone when the other line is ringing nonstop.) Additionally, we are asking that if you posted these phone numbers on your Facebook page or blog, let's remove them at this point. We will send a list of their official phone numbers and email addresses as soon as it becomes available.

We'd like to extend a special thank you to a few Congressmen-Elect who RSVPed early this week and to several who have RSVPed in response to your calls.



Also a special thank you to Tom Graves from Georgia, who has apparently been replying to almost every email he has received. He is attending and fully supports Tea Party Patriots and most importantly the Constitution. He cares enough about what you are saying to actually reply to your emails. We have received 100s saying he will be there. Another special thanks to Alan West. He has a previous commitment and told us earlier in the week he could not attend. He specifically said he supports Tea Party Patriots 100%.

We need to offer our sincere apologies to a John Koster, Jesse Kelly, and Keith Fimian who ran for office and did not get elected but we had them listed on our list of people to call. These are people who stepped up and were willing to serve the public. They lost their elections and need to be able to get back to their lives. We offer our most sincere apologies to you for having melted your phone lines.

The national media is watching this weekend closely; see this Wall Street Journal story as an example. And some are questioning whether we are unfairly targeting the Claremont Institute. To be clear, the Institute does and we expect will continue to do stellar work in the service of the cause of limited and Constitutional government. But to our disappointment and surprise, in this instance they have sided with beltway insiders rather than supporting --- or even simply not interfering with --- the truly historic meeting of grassroots activists with incoming freshmen that you have put so much work and energy into. We do not understand their reasons, but we can say with assurance that we tried very hard to engage with them and find a way to work with them, only to be summarily dismissed without explanation. They complain and say our reaction was over the top, but we offered many opportunities to avoid this. They failed to take advantage of those opportunities. The entire Institute and its many fellows is surely not at fault, but those many who deserve your respect at the Institute should be asking what happened here and why their leadership chose to undermine the unique coming together of Tea Party Patriots and new voices in Congress.

We close each email by saying you are the heart and soul of the tea party movement. That is not something we say lightly. The movement would not exist without you. Our Constitution will never be restored without you. Thank you for continuing to work so hard to hold the newly elected officials accountable. Together we can and will restore our founding principles.

[uppityperson]

1. "t's a bit like dropping a nuclear bomb"? The bitt where people are incinerated? Maybe the bit

where buildings are knocked down? Maybe the bit where there is a great need for continuing medical care due to long term cancers? Maybe the bit where a lot of people object to what you are doing, saying it is morally wrong?