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The Tea Party is struggling to find leaders. AP Photo
The Tea Party got a very fast start in American politics. After being non-existent a year ago, the party now has a loyal following of approximately 15-25% of the population (polls vary). The party has prided itself on being a "grassroots" movement without an true leaders. While this sounds nice, the fact is: Every political party needs some leaders if for no other reason than to have someone to run for office. In their struggle to find some leadership, the Tea Party is now getting some negative attention.
Today a report from WNYMedia.net revealed some embarrassing details about Carl Paladino, the Tea Party candidate for Governor of New York. Evidently, Paladino received and forwarded emails which included, among other things, depictions of President Obama as a pimp, with the First Lady dressed as a prostitute, frequent use of the the term n***er, and last but not least hardcore pornographic videos. When asked about the emails, Paladino did not deny their existence, or even condemn them, but rather blamed the whole story on an alleged scheme of the Democrats to get him (video below).
In addition, the St. Louis Tea Party leadership has now come under fire from another conservative. Jan Simpson, an anti-health care reform advocate, claimed that the St. Louis Tea Party leadership was corrupt and covering up a conflict of interest. Specifically, Simpson claims the St. Louis Tea Party is selling ads to companies like Ford and endorsing candidates for money. The St. Louis Tea Party leadership has denied the claims and shot back at Simpson by accusing her of spreading lies to favor another candidate.
As the Tea Party grows and tries to establish itself, more of these stories are likely to emerge. The Tea Party has benefited by largely operating on offense by attacking liberals, big government, and pork barrel spending. When scandals such as those involving Sen. John Ensign (R-NV) and Rep. Charles Schumer (D-NY) came out, the Tea Party was able to claim that they were the clean ones because they had no such incidents. However, now the party is being forced to put out some of their own leaders. History has shown that some political leaders will fail, and the Tea Party now is starting to face that reality with some of their own.
Comments
Most 'tea partiers' don't consider it a 'political party'. It's a grassroots movement of patriotic believers in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights created to protest the ridiculous spending/corruption/& overreaching of the federal government.
Why that would be considered contraversial, can only be understood by the 'progressive mentality'. The Congress is way more contrversial than the Tea Partiers if you look at the polls.
Every effort is being made by the lame stream media to smear them. That's how you know they are a doing a good thing for the country and are a threat to the left.
Wait a minute. Is it the lame stream media or the state run media?
I think the leader should be Glenn Beck. I think the official uniform should be Lederhosen. I think the official anthem should be " I Want My Rhythm Back". I think the official handshake should be kept secret.
Frumpy,
This is the lame stream media. They are the state run media wannabes.
Little Buddy,
Good thing the tea partiers don't care what you think.
the tea party is going to have to find some real solutions, not just bashing the establishment, if they want to be good leaders. The hippies were really good at anti-establishment rhetoric but not many still abide by their principles.
lg,
They've got a real solution. It's called: Elect Conservatives(not old style republican sell outs)-Defeat Progressives.
When progressives are gone, we can restore our country & our economy with common sense!
Explore every energy source.
Enforce our immigration laws.
Repeal the unpopular Health Care Bill (or refuse to fund it).
Reduce taxes/cut spending!
Either do what it takes to win the wars in Afghanistan & Iraq or bring our boys home!
That would be a good start!
I think Olbermann is going to put on his red shirt and run for president. His campaing theme will be, "Million for the Gulag but not one red cent for defense." It will be a glorious victory against the stupid capitalists.
Isn't it interesting that "EVERYONE" wants to tell the Tea Parties what to do, how to do it, and who to be..!!!
Teabaggers. What a bunch of racist, xenophobes.
RG,
A xenophobe is someone who has a dislike for that which is different from himself. I'd say that discribss you perfectly. (Dislike might be a little mild....leaning more toward hatred)
I played the xenophobe in the high band but gave it up when I joined the young Republicans club.
Little Buddy,
Can't be true. You'd have to be smart enough to use the dictionary (to look up xenophobe) and have the desire for the information in the first place before you'd intellectually question politics enough to change parties.
Just stick to what you do best: Make obnoxious, distracting comments.
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