The Floyd tea party — such as it is — endorsed Morgan Griffith for Congress last week.
Yeah, sure. They weren’t going to endorse Boucher. He’s a Democrat and far too moderate for the right-wing extremists of the tea party “movement.” Jeremiah Heaton? No way. Heaton makes Sharron Angle look well versed on the issues.
Of course they went for Griffith, who doesn’t even live in the Ninth District but claims he will once Virginia redistricts from the new census — an interesting act of precognition since the census figures aren’t even out yet.
Griffith, a GOP delegate and majority leader of the Virginia House, is no stranger to carpetbagging. He was born in Philadelphia.
He is, however, a stranger to ethics and sound judgment. Griffith aligned himself with Floyd County Commonwealth’s Attorney Gordon Hannett when the county prosecutor tried to run his office via email from Iraq while serving in the Army reserve. Circuit Judge Ray Grubbs thought that was illegal and improper and appointed an interim prosecutor. Hannett fought the judge’s action, taking his case all the way to the Virginia Supreme Court — where he lost on legal grounds — twice.
So Griffith put politics above the law and introduced legislation to bar judges from appointing replacements in the future. Didn’t help Hannett. Voters tossed him out and then the cops busted him for stealing hard drives from his county office when he left the job. The Virginia Bar Association publicly reprimanded him for his action.
So I guess it’s understandable that Floyd’s tea party would think Griffith is the right man for the job (the key word being “right” as in extreme “right wing”). Griffith is a product of the same extremist factory that gave us national embarrassments like Virgil Goode, George Allen and Eric Cantor.
And we should learn to expect these kinds of shenanigans from the tea party, a phony grassroots operation created by a Republican consultant for the Koch brothers who put a few millions of pocket change from their billions into trying to seize control of the government and keep the world safe for robber barons and energy companies.
Following the election, the Kochs will gather their faithful at the exclusive Ranchos Las Palms Resort and Spa in Rancho Mirage, California, to — as the invite letter says — “develop strategies to counter the most severe threats facing our free society and outline a vision of how we can foster a renewal of American free enterprise and prosperity.”
And who do they turn to to develop these strategies? Oh, people like Glenn Beck, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas (of pubic hair on soft drink can fame) and Sen. Jim DeMint, the primary spokesman for the tea party in the Senate.
I know more than I really care to about Charles and David Koch. They funded the GOP consultant — Eddie Mahe — who created Citizens for a Sound Economy, a faux grassroots campaign that morphed into the Tea Party with a little help from former GOP honcho Dick Armey and his FreedomWorks organization.
During my venture over the dark side (politics), I worked for Mahe and was involved in a number of Citizens for a Sound Economy projects. During that time — and much to my later shame — I created several sham grassroots operations for well-heeled clients. Some of them are still around, a sad fact that I’m not proud of. It’s no coincidence that I quit drinking and joined AA right about the time I gave up working in politics.
But wait! Isn’t the tea party a real grassroots operation of civic-minded folks who want to return control of government to “the people?”
Nope. The tea party is a gaggle of amateurs who think they are doing the Lord’s work but are really just rubes of the uber-rich in a conspiracy to control the political system.
And — surprise, surprise — another associate of Eddie Mahe’s old firm now runs the political action committee for Koch industries.
The tea party’s “grassroots” credentials are as phony as Demi Moore’s mammary glands.
Phony boobs. How appropriate.
Related articles
- The tea party: A conspiracy by the uber-rich to control America (capitolhillblue.com)
- Odds favor another term for Boucher (blueridgemuse.com)
- Kevin Grandia: Video Disputes Billionaire Koch’s Claim that he is not Involved in Tea Party (huffingtonpost.com)
- Frank Rich’s Connect-the-dots Errors, and Our Very Own “Libertarian Whore” (reason.com)
- Footage Emerges of David Koch at Americans for Prosperity Gala (crooksandliars.com)
- David Koch Has Direct Contact With Tea Party Astroturf Organizers At Americans For Prosperity Event (desmogblog.com)
- David Koch and the GOP/Tea Party Notion of Freedom (iflizwerequeen.com)
- Former prosecutor Hannett ‘publicly reprimanded’ by Virginia Bar Association (blueridgemuse.com)
- Tea Party Inc.: The Big Money and Powerful Elites Behind the Right-Wing’s Latest Uprising (alternet.org)
- Stanley Kutler: THE TEA PARTY: DUPED SERVANTS OF POWER (capitolhillblue.com)
25 thoughts on “Tea party endorsement of Griffith a meaningless act by a sham group”
My favorite aspect of the Tea Party movement is that it doesn’t matter whether you think that Obama is a communist, a socialist, a nazi, a Kenyan, or the anti-christ…nobody will laugh at you.
I think you should give the local tea party a little more respect. For the most part they are a group of local citizens who are trying to have an impact on what they see as a out of control government. Most have no involvement with the local GOP. I am happy to see people on both sides getting off their rear ends and doing what they think is right. A well involved public will make for better government.
I’m sorry Lauren but I can have no — I say again “no” — respect for any group that allows itself to be used as pawns by the Koch brothers.
And endorsing a GOP party hack like Griffith does little to establish any credibility as an independent group. They are just following the playbook.
I’m no fan of Boucher but at least he breaks with his party from time to time. Griffith does whatever the GOP leadership tells him to do.
If the tea baggers want to prove they are really thinking they should say flat out that no candidate deserves endorsement. That would be something worth respect.
You have to understand that I’m not speaking to the tea party at large but simply the Floyd tea party. I don’t know everyone who is involved but those I know are not as you describe the national tea party. They are average people who are fed up with the way things currently are being done. I attended the night they had invited the candidates ( only Griffith showed up). I set to the side and just observed ( yes its hard to believe I didn’t run my big mouth). They were fairly hard on Griffith asking him hard questions and I don’t think they completely agreed with all of his positions.
One other point, both Boucher and Griffith are in senior members in the bodies they serve in and thus are part of the leadership of their parties. Both men have a very large say in what their party leadership supports so I don’t find it unusual that they vote party line.
The only time that I can think of that Boucher has voted against his party is on healthcare. I would be curious what progressive democrats think of that vote. I’m sure there are some on here reading this.
Bottom line, I know I am biased. I would describe myself as a libertarian republican who is involved in the republican party. I see a lot of nut cases in every party including the republican, democrat and tea party’s. I just don’t think the Floyd tea party was formed because of the same reasons some of the larger ones may have been started. I see a group of concerned citizens who are trying to find a way to have a voice.
If these “concerned citizens” want to have a voice then I suggest they do so as an independent group that is not aligned with a sham organization like the tea party. Their reasons for forming became irrelevant once they affiliated themselves with the tea party “movement.” That decision made them part of the grander scheme of things (and “scheme” is the perfect way to describe the tea party).
The decision to align with the tea party shows either incredible ignorance on their part or a hidden agenda to be an active member of the tea party scam. Either way neutralizes any respect or serious consideration of their motives.
There’s an old cliche about the road to hell being paved with good intentions. They are on that road and — whether willingly or not — they must face the consequences of their actions.
Doug, Jim, Yvonne, Annie and Danny:
Your utter condescension is sickening. I have watched for the last 40 years while self-hating elitists such as yourselves have systematically torn down the America I love and was was raised with.
Just who do you think you are? You snotty trust-fund Obama supporters are the real “pawns” in the leftists plan to wreck my country, and I’ve about had it! Talk about a “party hack”, Mr. Boucher fits the description so well, his picture should be in the dictionary.
As far as “scams” go, how about Cap & Trade, “Global Warming”, SEIU, ACORN, the Tides Foundation, and Mr. Soros? Have you no shame? How dare you accuse anyone of scamming?
The one thing I really like about you libs is that each and every one of you think you are the smartest one in the room, and you spend all of your time trying to prove it, rather than getting anything done – keep it up! As for me, I’ll vote for cheap gasoline, big cars, Guns, God and Freedom every trip of the train, and if you don’t like it, tough, go tell it to the Marines!
Senseless people like yourselves will be the ruination of my country, and, by God, we loyal and hard-working Americans will not stand by and let you and your ilk ruin the country. America has been awakened and will not sit still for your crazy socialist ideas.
“Meaningless act by a sham group?”, we will be heard next Tuesday, November Second.
God Bless America, the Commonwealth of Virginia and Delegate Morgan Griffith, onward to Victory!
Lauren and Will – Next time, I’ll let ’em know how I REALLY feel . . .
You know, Mr. Smith, it is just your type of knee-jerk, hysterical ignorance that showcases just how this nation got into this mess. You come on here and call me a “trust-fund Obama supporter,” which proves you don’t have the slightest damn idea what you are talking about. It doesn’t take much research to discover that I am not a fan of Obama. On Oct. 15, I wrote the following on my political web site:
The fact that Obama’s 23 point lead over Bush in public approval ratings is gone showcases what a monumental failure the great black hope has been at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Of course, he has had help — sheer incompetence from the so-called Democratic leaders in the House and Senate — but Obama’s complete and utter failure as President proves that great campaign speeches don’t make great leaders.
Obama continues a tradition of voter incompetence when it comes to picking leaders. No President in recent times will be remembered as a great head of state. Obama will go down in history as a black Jimmy Carter, Bush as a despotic President who lied his way into an impossible war, Clinton as a philanderer who preferred blowjobs to policy and Bush the first as a liar on taxes who said “read my lips” and ended up a one-termer when Americans did exactly that.
America is a screwed-up nation, led by screwed-up Presidents with help from a screwed-up Congress elected by screwed-up voters.
As for “trust fund”, I grew up on a farm here in Floyd County, worked a full time job while going to school full time and worked my ass off all my life to get where I am. Don’t give me the self-righteous “hard working Americans” crap. We’re all hard-working Americans here. Some are struggling to get by. We’re just smart enough to know that the answer doesn’t lie in a phony grassroots organization created by “trust fund” billionaires like the Kochs.
Your ignorance of who I am or where I come from proves my point that tea party followers are rubes ripe for the taking.
Bob:
Suffice it to say that your utter lack of veracity is stunning….Doug did his homework and gave an accurate assessment of the “Tea Party Movement” nothing more, nothing less.
I’m thankful that Doug has provided some objective insight into what really makes this group tick since it can get a little confusing.
According to one local teabagger, only “leftist pseudo intellectuals who slouch around wearing Che Guevara tea shirts or keffiyehs” would dare question their integrity…how can you argue with THAT logic?!
I gotta say the Tea Party isn’t going to get anyone elected, but,
The Democrats have had their chance and totally blew it, I’m not a party follower but I want this country back on it’s feet and I really think our only chance as voters is to get Republicans back in charge.
Spending is totally out of control and if you think your going to get something for nothing it’s not going to happen with the Democrats.
I’ll be voting pretty much straight Republican these next two elections Tea party backed or not, Boucher only did one good thing in office and that does not qualify him to remain.
You have got to be kidding. The republicans have led us down the path to no tax but keep the spending going. The only chance we have is for the Democrats to get their heads out of the sand and charge full steam ahead.
My first visit to southwest VA was in 1980 and it was a very backwards place, thirty years later it is moving along with the rest of the nation because of Congressman Rick Boucher. Water in Floyd, sewers, grants to get the town hopping and businesses making money, tax revenue… We need to decide to stop listening to the mega wealthy whose agenda’s are quite different than the average citizen.. Do your research and get the facts, don;t rely on agenda driven media.
The Democrats have had less than 22 months to solve the problems created by Bush and his cronies. To expect an instantaneous solution displays a limited knowledge of economics, and of the workings of both government and the business sector. At least we are coming out of a recession, and are not in the middle of a second Great Depression — toward which, two years ago, it certainly seemed we were headed. The stimulus plan is comparable to preventive medicine… No one knows for certain what would have happened, otherwise, because it was prevented.
That isn’t entirely true, the democtrats had control of congress through the last years of the Bush administration. Nothing happened during that time without democrat support. While I agree Bush hold some of the blame for the current mess the democrats do as well.
But, let’s face it, they were sold a ‘bill of goods’ (WMD, for openers) – if that hadn’t been on the table, how would have things been different?
15 months of growth… We cannot get this country on track with the notion of no tax and spend. It is ok to give up taxing but we have to make tough choices as to what we don’t want. Do we cut defense, education, transportation, homeland security…. The answers are not easy. We can and will come thru this like we did in the 90’s.
Doug wrote: “The tea party is a gaggle of amateurs who think they are doing the Lord’s work but are really just rubes of the uber-rich in a conspiracy to control the political system.”
Does this make them any different than the two major parties? I am not a Tea-Party guy and think they have been co-opted by Republicans and social conservatives, but I see the involvement in the process by more people as a good thing.
Rolling Stone said it best. The teabaggers are like dogs responding to the inflection and not the meaning:)
Yvonne, I really hope you are kidding most of the real economic mess we are in is because of Clinton and the messes he made mostly being NAFTA
being the loss of most of the jobs , sending them out of the States
by the time he left office our military was in such bad shape we were not even ready to go to war or even defend ourselves, don’t believe me ask anyone that was in the military, \
We are still VERY close to the second Great Depression, this President has spent more money then ALL the previous ones,
Unemployment looks better because it is based on how many are drawing, for most, unemployment has ran out and they still can’t find work, so typical policy is hey it’s getting better when it is not.
Wake up 22 months and nothing-22 more you probably will see that Depression!!
Bob: You wrote…
>>being the loss of most of the jobs , sending them out of the States<>this President has spent more money then ALL the previous ones,<<
I hope you're not implying all the previous ones combined, considering we already had a $9 trillion national debt when Obama took office, compared with the $13 trillion now.
>>and the messes he made mostly being NAFTA
being the loss of most of the jobs , sending them out of the States<<
For some reason part of my last message got chopped off, so I'll rewrite it here:
The Republicans are equally culpable for the job losses due to their support of the global economy, based on the theory that globalism is better for corporations and thus better for everyone.
As for NAFTA, I remember quite well that conservative talk show hosts of the 1990s supported it, with Rush Limbaugh in the lead. Limbaugh said in particular that NAFTA was one of only two times he supported something Clinton did (the other being one time that Clinton bombed Iraq).
The NAFTA argument is an interesting one… the North American Free Trade Agreement didn’t include China, India, Vietnam, etc. which is where most of those jobs are now… and even if we add up all of those jobs lost to these countries, is Free Trade in general more responsible for the majority of job losses or is it technology? Going back quite a bit further we lost the farm jobs due to technology (took less farm hands to grow crops), so they moved to the towns and worked in the factories, then factories started working leaner and taking advantage of technology and that cost jobs. Today you can tour a auto plant and see robots doing the job that used to employ 4 people, automation is replacing secretaries/operators/check out clerks; computers, internet, and software replacing map makers, accountants, printers, newspaper staff, etc. etc.
8. “The Democrats have had less than 22 months to solve the problems created by Bush and his cronies”…and as someone else said, since 2007, a Democrat controlled Congress.
‘Phony boobs’…I just love to see people with whom I pretty much agree be glibly insulted. So clever. The Tea Party is not a Republican party but yes, as opposed to the Democrats,,,and we have a two party system…Republican candidates tend to espouse the views of small government, less spending, less taxes, less federal and more state controls that the tea party is about.
But it is so much easier to just call name than discuss real issues.
You think that the Republicans are for those things but their actions show something different.
Why does he go on ignoring the enterprises in the stimulus package that are intended to spur the output of some other green engineerings and products to be exported? Obama wants us to head the populace in solar, wind, and biothermal ahead some other countries get the jump on us. Some already have. And I enjoy jab about world-wide warming. Doesn’t he acknowledge that global warming is causing the ice caps to fade hence the seas are lifting and cooling? It has little to do with atmospheric condition. It’s about widespread climate shift.
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