Thursday, May 19, 2011

Re: Save America by kicking all political rituals in the ass!

Guten Abend From Köln  John!
 
I wish that we could get you back in the Republican fold!  With your energy, we could in fact make a difference, and clean our Party up!  Yes, electing the right indiviuals to local, State and Federal office is a major step in that process!
 


 
On Thu, May 19, 2011 at 4:53 AM, NoEinstein <noeinstein@bellsouth.net> wrote:
A huge number of the naïve among us are probably supposing that the
USA can be saved if we can just elect the right President.  Our
Republican choices include those who have already sold their souls to
the lock-step rituals and the Pomp and Circumstance of Washington.
The same, typical, ego-maniacs, are content to form committees to
raise outlandish amounts of capital for waging months-long battles in…
the primaries.  None of those same presidential hopefuls have a enough
practical sensibility to see that pressing-the-flesh in as many states
as possible is more of a disqualification than a qualification to be
President.

As many as 18% of Americans are unemployed or underemployed.  The rock
hard, leftist Democrats for Obama are projected to be able to raise
over a billion dollars to get that traitor to America re elected.  If,
as I've proposed, presidential candidates spend no more than five
million dollars on their campaigns, *** there can be, literally,
billions of dollars that can remain in the pockets of the voters,
rather than going to our close-to-universally-corrupt media.  A huge
plus will be the suspension of the unconstitutional, spaced-out
primaries that give the most power to the voters of Iowa and etc.
When the primaries are suspended, there will be no more
unconstitutional party conventions such as gave us our Manchurian
Candidate, Barack Hussein Obama of Kenya.  Once and for all there will
be an end to the unconstitutional political parties which have 'split
the USA down the aisle' for far too long.

Voters should have no trouble choosing good choices for President
based simply on televised debates and fairly-formatted candidate
interviews.  The entire election process should span no more than six
months, and the candidates can stay rested, rather than being frazzled
by the stupidity of jetting back and forth on the pretext of being
better able to… 'serve' the people of the particular state they happen
to be in better than he or she can serve the citizens of a dozen other
states where the same dull speech was recited before.

With "give-'em-hell" Donald Trump out of the race, I'm not sure there
is a single presidential hopeful wise enough and practical enough to
Kick the Ass of the Entire Primary System!  It only takes ONE brave
candidate to do that.  Simply say: "The primaries give inequitable
power to the voters in the early primaries.  That makes the spaced-out
primaries unconstitutional, as it does the party conventions that
follow.  Nothing in the Constitution allows quasi-governmental bodies,
like our political parties, to have ANY say-so whatsoever in how
governmental processes are run.  In a Republic, like the USA is so
clearly mandated to be, there can be no LEADERS in Congress!  Every
representative, regardless of how recently he or she was elected,
shall have identical voting power.  To call Newt Gingrich "Mr.
Speaker" is to create ROYALTY in Congress that was so detested by the
founding fathers.  George Washington rejected the idea that he should
be king!  And George Washington would reject the notion that Czars
under the control of the President can bypass the powers granted to
Congress alone.

Thus far, the "Ritual" of the Secret Service protecting the (gag)
President is preventing them from asking this simple question: Is the
'long form' birth certificate of Obama—which was posted on the
Internet in digital form—a LAYERED *. pdf file?  If there are LAYERS,
then, that document is a definite forgery.  I repeat: Is the 'long
form' birth certificate of Obama—which was posted on the Internet in
digital form—a LAYERED *. pdf file?  If the answer is confirmed to be
yes, as I and thousands of other computer-savvy American's know is the
case, then Barack Hussein Obama won't be running for President in
2012.   He may be wishing that he had run from this country on any of
those… family "vacations" that he took, checking-out the climate for
fugitives from justice from the USA.

Kicking the ass of the political parties by first one, then, most of
the candidates; and/or having the Secret Service get off of its ass
and serve the citizens of the USA, will set this country right,
again.  Nothing in the Constitution or in any Law requires the S. S.
to look the other way to a non bona fide "president" in the White
House.  Victoria Jackson, the cart wheeling comic, said it best: "…
though I sound like a mouse… there is a Communist in the White
House!"  When is someone who's in the media's eye going to demand that
our Manchurian Candidate President be hanged for treason?  Answer: ***
When they love America MORE than they love the failed rituals of
government.  Patriots, pray that that day will come soon.

Respectfully submitted,


— John A. Armistead —  Patriot

AKA NoEinstein on Google's sci.phyisics.

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Re: LMAO!!!

I don't know what a Super Christian is.....I am a Christian,  not ashamed of it,  and I don't believe that May 21st is Judgment Day.
 
Go figure.
 


 
On Thu, May 19, 2011 at 3:53 PM, plainolamerican <plainolamerican@gmail.com> wrote:
only two days left until JUDGEMENT DAY

http://www.npr.org/2011/05/07/136053462/is-the-end-nigh-well-know-soon-enough

c g (cdgraves) wrote:
If May 22 comes and all the superchristians are gone I'd say the rest
of us are ones who went to heaven.

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Bill Clinton: Create Internet Agency

Bill Clinton: Create Internet Agency

"Bill Clinton doesn’t like all the misinformation and rumors floating on the Internet. And he thinks the United Nations or the U.S. government should create an agency to do something about it."

“It would be a legitimate thing to do,” Clinton said in an interview airing Friday on CNBC.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0511/54951.html

"How long can the Internet stay the way it is? What will it be like in 50 years?"

Video (6:58):

http://www.forbiddenknowledgetv.com/page/1729.html

Alexandra Bruce
Forbidden Knowledge TV
http://www.ForbiddenKnowledgeTV.com
--

Freedom is always illegal!

When we ask for freedom, we have already failed. It is only when we declare freedom for ourselves and refuse to accept any less, that we have any possibility of being free.

"The great object is that every man be armed; everyone who is able may have a gun."
- Patrick Henry

Fwd: Stop Obama's Worst Judicial Nominee: Goodwin Liu



View this Email as a Web Page

Stop Radical Goodwin Liu's Judicial Nomination!

Goodwin Liu thinks the Constitution "should not be a guide to judicial decisions." Instead he thinks the key to judicial decisions, says Liu, should be "our collective values," "evolving norms," and "social understandings."

And Obama wants him on the federal appeals court for the 9th District based in California. Obama's last poorly qualified federal bench nominees were nothing compared to uber-radical Liu.

Harry Reid has set up a cloture vote (a vote that will cut off ALL debate about his sketchy past) for this week. Obama's buddy wants Liu appointed - no matter who he has to step on or what rules he has to break. The vote will be on Thursday and it will take 60 votes to bring Liu's nomination to a vote. We don't have much time left to stop Liu's nomination!

Stop Radical Goodwin Liu's Judicial Nomination!
SELECT HERE NOW TO TELL THE SENATE TO STOP LIU'S NOMINATION!

Having NO trial experience, Liu does not even meet the standards set by the American Bar Association. Liu is a hero to the left for opposing the nominations of John Roberts and Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court. If Liu is confirmed he WOULD BE FAVORED FOR THE NEXT SUPREME COURT VACANCY!

Liu believes that the Constitution should NOT influence legal decisions. Instead he said the key to judicial decisions should be "our collective values," "evolving norms," and "social understandings," rather than the Constitution as written or the laws passed by Congress.
 
What else does this raving radical believe?

  • We have a Constitutional right to welfare
  • Government assistance should have equal Constitutional status
  • There should be reparations to slavery
  • We need extreme quotas to prevent 'societal discrimination'

Liu is a Liberal warrior who helped lead the fight against the Roberts and Alito Supreme Court nominations. In an op-ed he wrote that Roberts was an "ideological agenda" hostile to the environmental workplace and consumer protections. Liu testified at Alito's confirmation hearing that the "America envisioned by his (Alito's) record is not the America we know, nor is it the America we aspire to be."

Stop Radical Goodwin Liu's Judicial Nomination!
SELECT HERE NOW TO TELL THE SENATE TO STOP LIU'S NOMINATION!

There it is -Obama and his cronies continue stuffing our courts with Liberal ideologues with questionable pasts- and Liu is the most dangerous of them all!

THEY JUST DON'T GET IT -- but they WILL "get it," if the American people make their voices heard LOUD AND CLEAR again!

And that's just what we've set up our website to enable you to do! You can send Blast Faxes to EVERY SINGLE MEMBER of the U.S. Senate, AT ONCE, letting them know we demand they vote "NO!" on the Liu Senate cloture vote and stop his nomination!

As a member of the board of the American Conservatives Union (ACU), we are working together to stop Goodwin Liu's nomination dead in its tracks.

DONATE AND FAX TODAY. Get my new book Black & Blue as my gift to you and the country, and say - "I'm As Mad As Hell, And I'm Not Gonna Take This Anymore!"

Black & Blue: How Obama And The Democrats Are Beating Up The Constitution

The compelling story of how the Obama Administration and progressive Democrats are warping and contradicting the Constitution to make it fit with their radical agenda.

The book covers Barack Obama's Chicago and Saul Alinsky days were he learned to "game the system" to bypass the rule of law. The book details how the progressive Democrats use groups like Acorn to gain power to force their socialism on the American people.

Be sure to MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD TODAY! Thank you!


Defend America,


Paid for by AmeriPAC, a federally-authorized and qualified multicandidate political action committee. Contributions to AmeriPAC will be used in connection with federal elections. Maximum contribution per individual per calendar year is $5,000. Contributions from foreign nationals and corporations are prohibited. Contributions are not deductible for federal income tax purposes.




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When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying the cross.

Sinclair Lewis

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Democrats plan for high Gas Prices: Drill less, Tax More (Video)




Democrats plan for high Gas Prices: Drill less, Tax More (Video)

watch?feature=player_embedded&v=4JmSz4whCR0

More proof that Democrats want Americans to pay higher gas prices (ask President Obama and Energy Sec. Steven Chu) and stay dependent upon foreign oil. Their answer? Drill less and tax the America taxpayers more.

Senate Democrats voted down a bill that called for more drilling and the issuance of more drilling permits. Remember this each time you fill up your tank.

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Obama plans $1 Billion (more) Mideast aid

Otraitorbama gives our money to our enemies.


Obama plans $1 Billion (more) Mideast aid

To promote economic growth no less, via American Thinker Blog: Obama plans more Mideast aid. via Wall Street Journal: Mr. Obama met Tuesday with King Abdullah II of Jordan, who has been pressing U.S. officials to take a more aggressive role in the peace process, according to Arab diplomats. After the meeting, Mr. Obama said [...]

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AARP Swimsuit Edition




 


 Been to the beach lately?



--






Hope you laugh as much as I did!!!
 
 
  
                      
AARP  SWIMSUIT EDITION
cid:1.3838350172@web125708.mail.ne1.yahoo.com
      
cid:2.3838350172@web125708.mail.ne1.yahoo.com



cid:3.3838350172@web125708.mail.ne1.yahoo.com

 


 

cid:4.3838350172@web125708.mail.ne1.yahoo.com

 
 
 


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FACT CHECK: Gingrich Sketches a Too-Rosy Past

FACT CHECK: Gingrich Sketches a Too-Rosy Past
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=13591617

Republican presidential aspirant Newt Gingrich is hitching his star to the era of economic growth in the 1990s when he was House speaker, declaring "We've done it before. We can do it again." But his account of what he did before is inflated.

The economy wasn't as rosy during his time in leadership as he's claiming — his numbers are off. And he appears to be taking all the credit for actions that were at least as much the doing of the Democratic president, Bill Clinton, as they were his own.

A look at some of Gingrich's statements about the past and the present, made in his presidential campaign announcement video this week and subsequent Fox TV interview, and how they compare with the facts.

GINGRICH:

—"And for four years, we balanced the budget and paid off $405 billion in debt. We've done it before. We can do it again." — Presidential campaign announcement.

—"This country has an enormous potential ... to balance the budget as we did for four years when I was speaker." — Fox.

—"We then balanced it (the budget) for four consecutive years." — Fox.

THE FACTS: First, the national debt went up, not down, during the four years Gingrich was speaker. In January 1995, when he assumed the leadership position, the gross national debt was $4.8 trillion. When he left four years later, it was $5.6 trillion, an increase of $800 billion.

As for annual deficits, he did not preside over a four-year period of balanced budgets. In the 1996 and 1997 budget years — the first two budget years he influenced as speaker — the government ran deficits. In 1998 and 1999, the government ran surpluses.

Washington achieved surpluses for two years after that, making for four consecutive years of black ink. But Gingrich only had a hand in the first two.

————

GINGRICH: "As speaker of the House, I worked to reform welfare, to balance the budget, to control spending, to cut taxes, to create economic growth. Unemployment came down from 5.6 percent to under four." — Campaign video.

THE FACTS: When Gingrich became speaker in January 1995, the U.S. unemployment rate was 5.7 percent. When his tenure ended four years later, the rate was 4.3 percent. It didn't decline to 4 percent until a year later, in January 2000.

———

GINGRICH:

—"If you really are serious about balancing the budget, you can do it. We did it.... Nobody thought we could do it when it started. We did it." — Fox.

—"We undertook welfare reform. We brought in all the governors and we had a tremendous team effort." — Fox.

THE FACTS: The unacknowledged partner in Gingrich's "we" is Clinton, who drove for a welfare overhaul as a defining element of his presidential campaign and claims budget surpluses as part of his legacy, too.

Gingrich's account of fiscal reformation does not mention that he cut a deal with Clinton forcing Republicans to swallow a major new entitlement, the largest expansion of taxpayer-financed health insurance coverage for children since Medicaid began in the 1960s.

———

GINGRICH: President Barack Obama, "telling the Brazilians they should drill while we don't drill, is the wrong outcome.... He thinks we want Brazilian energy." — Fox.

THE FACTS: Obama didn't tell Brazilians to drill and Americans not to. Brazil recently discovered huge oil reserves off its coast and the president said the U.S. will want to be a "major customer" of those supplies. Despite new curbs on offshore exploration after last spring's disastrous BP oil spill, U.S. oil production rose to a seven-year high last year.

———

GINGRICH: "When the president spoke from the National Defense University about Libya, he cited the U.N. and the Arab League eight times, and the U.S. Congress once."

THE FACTS: The tally should be no surprise because the speech was about the multinational campaign in Libya. But Gingrich was playing on claims by some conservatives that Obama is servile to foreign interests and not a tough enough practitioner of American unilateralism.

Missing in Gingrich's remark, though, was any acknowledgment that he, too, had endorsed action by Libya's Arab neighbors, and that his overall position on Libya had flipped.

Gingrich had initially criticized Obama for not intervening in Libya, then did an about-face two weeks later, after the president had sent in U.S. war planes to support the rebels fighting the government. "I would not have intervened," he said in revising his position. "I think there are a lot of other allies in the region that we could have worked with. I would not have used American and European forces."

———

GINGRICH: "I worked with President Ronald Reagan in a very difficult period. We got jobs created again, Americans proud of America, and the Soviet Union disappeared. As speaker of the house, I worked to reform welfare..." — Campaign video.

THE FACTS: Most Republican presidential candidates — and some Democrats — associate themselves with Reagan as much as they can, and Gingrich certainly served in the House during the Reagan years. But in compressing his biography, Gingrich may have left the impression with those unfamiliar with presidential history that he was speaker during Reagan's presidency. The only president Gingrich worked with as speaker was Clinton. Gingrich's first Republican leadership position, as minority whip, began when Reagan left office, in 1989.

———

Associated Press writers Jim Drinkard and Jim Kuhnhenn contributed to this report.
--

Freedom is always illegal!

When we ask for freedom, we have already failed. It is only when we declare freedom for ourselves and refuse to accept any less, that we have any possibility of being free.

"The great object is that every man be armed; everyone who is able may have a gun."
- Patrick Henry

Fwd: News Alert: Obama Backs Mideast Plan Based on 1967 Borders

    Of course Israel should just go back to what was theirs before they were attacked so often by the Palestinians.  No problem with just committing suicide as a nation if it makes Obama feel better.  The man is a real fool just as Israel would be if they accepted this.

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: News Alert: Obama Backs Mideast Plan Based on 1967 Borders
Date: Thu, 19 May 2011 13:05:52 -0400
From: NYTimes.com News Alert <nytdirect@nytimes.com>
Reply-To: nytdirect@nytimes.com
To: rhomp2002@EARTHLINK.NET


Breaking News Alert The New York Times Thu, May 19, 2011 -- 1:04 PM ET -----  Obama Backs Mideast Plan Based on 1967 Borders  Declaring that "the dream of a Jewish and democratic state cannot be fulfilled with permanent occupation," President Obama said that a settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict must embody two sovereign states based on pre-1967 borders.  Read More: http://www.nytimes.com?emc=na   About This E-Mail You received this message because you are signed up to receive breaking news alerts from NYTimes.com.  To unsubscribe, change your e-mail address or to sign up for daily headlines or other newsletters, go to: http://www.nytimes.com/email  NYTimes.com 620 Eighth Ave. New York, NY 10018  Copyright 2011 The New York Times Company    

Fwd: John Boehner Stuck Between Tea Party And A Hard Place


John Boehner Stuck Between Tea Party And A Hard Place

John Boehner Tea Party
First Posted: 05/17/11 11:40 AM ET Updated: 05/17/11 12:04 PM ET
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DAYTON, Ohio (Reuters) - This John Boehner was not the John Boehner that Tea Party leaders in the room thought they knew.
Compared to the Boehner who talked tough on spending ahead of last November's elections, the one who showed up at Club 55, just off Interstate 75 in Troy in southwestern Ohio, struck them as timid.
The private April 25 meeting was convened by the Speaker of the House of Representatives at the request of Tea Party leaders, who were seething over recent Republican compromises, most notably on the 2011 budget.
One of the 25 or so leaders, all from Boehner's district, asked him if Republicans would raise America's $14.3 trillion debt limit.
According to half a dozen attendees interviewed by Reuters, the most powerful Republican in Washington said "yes."
"And we're going to have to raise it again in the future," he added. With the mass retirement of America's Baby Boomers, he explained, it would take 20 years to balance the U.S. budget and 30 years after that to erase the nation's huge fiscal deficit.
That answer incensed many of the Tea Party activists, for whom raising the debt limit is anathema.
"You could have knocked me out of my chair," said Denise Robertson, a computer programer who belongs to the Preble County Liberty Group. "Fifty years?"
She said "my fantasy now" is someone will challenge Boehner in the 2012 Republican primaries. "If we could find someone good to run against him, I'd campaign for them every day," Robertson said.
"I am sick of the tears," she added, a sarcastic reference to Boehner's famous propensity to cry. "I want results."
Fed up with "broken promises," some Tea Party activists have already moved beyond the fantasy stage and aim to "primary" Republicans who have let them down -- that is, challenge them in primaries. Some talk of long-shot attempts to unseat leaders like House Majority Whip Eric Cantor.
Led by Boehner, Republicans in Congress are at odds with Democrats and the White House over how to raise the limit on how much debt the United States can afford. President Barack Obama's administration warns of global financial chaos if lawmakers do not increase the current cap of $14.3 trillion.
Boehner, in a May 9 speech in New York, did insist that any increase to the debt limit include "cuts in trillions." But conservatives expect the Republicans will not uphold his demand.
If the Republicans lose the debt limit battle, more Tea Party groups say they will aggressively seek candidates to challenge establishment figures in the 2012 primaries.
"At this point, all of them are potential targets," said Dawn Wildman, president of the SoCal Tax Revolt Coalition, who lives in San Diego. "All the way up to Boehner."
FAILURE AN OPTION?
Born in the days after Obama took office in early 2009 in a wave of conservative anger at corporate bailouts and hefty government spending to stem the Great Recession, the Tea Party movement has come a long way in just two years.
After failing to halt the passage of Obama's health reform bill, Tea Partiers staffed phone banks, knocked on doors to get out the vote and played a major role in gaining 63 seats for the Republicans in the 2010 elections.
The biggest midterm election year swing since 1938 delivered a large House majority for the Republicans and made gains in the Democratic-controlled Senate.
Flush with victory, Tea Partiers dived headfirst into local and state politics in 2011 -- the results of which are expected to affect the state and national elections of 2012.
Their primary foe is still America's progressive left -- it is a given in Ohio, for instance, that the top target for 2012 is Democratic U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown.
But now more than ever before the full force of their ire is directed at the Republican Party establishment.
Dozens of interviews with Tea Party activists across the country paint a picture of a conservative movement whose members gave the Republican Party in Washington a chance to prove it was serious about fiscal responsibility after years of running up deficits under Obama's predecessor George W. Bush.
And many Republican politicians promised to uphold the Tea Party's central tenets -- constitutionally limited government, lower taxes and the free markets.
"They certainly talked the talk before the election," said Tim Dake of the Wisconsin Grandsons of Liberty. "They told us what they knew we wanted to hear and sought us out."
After the election, not so much. "All of a sudden they stopped taking our calls and were no longer interested in what we had to say," Dake said.
Hoping for meaningful change, they watched as either the same people -- Boehner and Cantor -- or party loyalists took up leadership positions in the House.
Then came the first real battle of the new Congress that mattered to the Tea Party -- cutting spending in the 2011 budget. Instead of $100 billion in cuts the Republicans promised in their "Pledge to America" unveiled last September, Republicans and Democrats agreed on $38 billion.
When the Congressional Budget Office said the real spending reduction was $352 million that set many Tea Partiers boiling.
"They volunteered that damn promise of $100 billion, we didn't ask for it," said Randy Keller of the Bowling Green Southern Kentucky Tea Party. "They seem to think that we can't handle simple math. We in the Tea Party are so angry we can't stand it."
Not raising America's debt ceiling has now taken on even greater importance for Tea Party groups.
The April 25 meeting with Boehner and inside accounts of others between House Republicans and Tea Partiers in their districts hint at a party trying to manage expectations ahead of the real debt limit debate. The trouble is while compromise is a trademark of Washington politics, to many Tea Partiers it is a dirty word.
According to Ned Ryun, head of American Majority, which provides training for conservative activists, the Republicans' problem is they mistook their November victory as a sign the Tea Party backed them because its members are conservatives.
"The Republican establishment suffers from a weird belief that somehow the Tea Party will fall in line because it is an adjunct of the Republican Party," he said. "But the Tea Party is not and never will be an arm of the Republican Party."
That leaves Boehner stuck between the Tea Party and a hard place. If he pushes too hard on cuts, that will rattle the Republican Party's powerful Wall Street wing, potentially roiling the markets and unsettling the broader electorate.
But backing down will also hurt him. "After accusations he didn't do enough in the budget battle, Boehner has to have something real to take back to conservatives or he's in trouble," said James McCormick, a professor of political science at Iowa State University. "He's boxed in between two components of the Republican Party. Obama knows that and is not under the same pressure."
If the Republicans falter, the search for establishment targets will kick into a higher gear -- with freshmen, or those elected in 2010 seen as the easiest to unseat as they are new.
"The Tea Party will almost certainly primary those they want to get rid of," said Larry Sabato, a politics professor at the University of Virginia. "They are not out to rebuild the Republican Party. They are out to take over the Republican Party and make it more like the Tea Party."
"If it takes some Republican defeats along the way to make that happen, then that is what they'll do," he added.
'SCREW UP A FREE LUNCH IN A SOUP KITCHEN'
When night fell on election day last November 2, Tea Partiers across the country were flat out exhausted.
Most activists in the amorphous movement are unpaid. Many have full-time jobs as well as volunteering for the cause.
In the run-up to the election an army of volunteers learned the mechanics of electioneering: from manning phone banks to knocking on doors to get people to the polls.
Ana Puig of the Kitchen Table Patriots in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, says her group staffed a "Liberty Headquarters" 12 hours a day for four months, made 36,000 phone calls, knocked on 20,000 doors and handed out 5,000 yard signs, helping to elect conservative Pat Toomey to the U.S. Senate.
"The Republicans would not have been able to achieve those results by itself," said Puig. "We reached the folks the Republican Party could not."
This is the real power of the Tea Party in its raw form: the ability to get voters to the polls.
Tea Party activists in many states describe with contempt an "atrophied" Republican Party machine that in some places they have taken over or ignored entirely.
"The Ohio state Republican Party would screw up a free lunch in a soup kitchen," said Ralph King of the Cleveland Tea Party, a sentiment echoed elsewhere, though less colorfully.
After the election, Tea Party groups in many states immersed themselves in local and state politics -- a task made easier by massive Tea Party-infused gains for Republicans at the state level.
Groups in states like Wisconsin, Indiana, New Hampshire and Ohio have pushed "right to work" bills to take on the unions.
Others have backed voter identification bills, under consideration now in 25 states, which conservatives say would prevent voter fraud. Democrats say these bills would lower the turnout for minority, low-income and elderly voters. In Texas, Tea Parties have pushed hard for cuts to the state budget.
Social conservatives have used new Republican majorities in state houses to pass some bills targeting abortions. Others are pushing gun rights legislation.
And in many states Tea Party groups have pushed back against Obama's healthcare reform -- dubbed "Obamacare." In Ohio activists are nearing the 386,000 signatures needed for a statewide ballot in November challenging the mandate that individuals obtain health insurance.
"We needed time to breathe," said Chris Littleton, head of the Ohio Liberty Council, who said he is happy control of Washington is divided in the short term because it has allowed Tea Party groups in Ohio "to build up infrastructure."
"By not having a federal agenda flying at us, we have been able to focus more on local and state politics in 2011," he said, "before we go back to federal politics in 2012."
There has been some media attention devoted recently to the fact that attendance at Tea Party rallies, the hallmark of the early days of the movement, has dwindled.
But Tea Partiers say they are too busy learning how the political system works -- prior to 2009 most had little or no political experience -- and that rallies produce few results.
"Rallies get people off the couch," Wisconsin Grandsons of Liberty's Dake said. "But the return on investment from all the work and money that you have to put into them is not very high. What we've found is that people want to have an impact, even if it is just at the local level."
Though the anger may burn with a lower intensity than the white-hot rage of the early days, it still burns -- and the Tea Party is trying to put that to good use.
"You can't sustain that kind of anger for long, it drains you," said Jim Lefler of the Southwest Michigan Tea Party. "We've learned to channel our anger to get results."
'OUR WAR NOW IS WITH THE REPUBLICANS'
Irrespective of their immersion on local politics, however, the Tea Party movement has maintained its laser focus on the national political scene.
Despite their fervent opposition to Obama's health reform, few appear impressed by the symbolic vote in January in the House to repeal the law -- it never stood a chance in the Democratic-controlled Senate, let alone reached Obama's desk.
"That vote was just so Republicans could go home and campaign by saying they voted to repeal Obamacare," said Paul Keith, chairman of the Bowling Green Southern Kentucky Tea Party. "That vote was meaningless, it was crap."
"The things that matter to us are what the Republicans control. Where if they don't cooperate, there is no deal."
The fiscal 2011 budget was one such thing. In their "Pledge to America" the party promised spending cuts of $100 billion "in the first year alone and putting us on a path to begin paying down the debt, balancing the budget, and ending the spending spree in Washington."
Not only did Tea Party members around the country note which Republicans voted for the 2011 budget -- especially those who ran as fiscal conservatives last year -- they are also aware of the 59 Republicans who voted against it.
Tea Party members in Ohio, for instance, know three House Republicans held the Tea Party line -- Jim Jordan, Steve Chabot and Jean Schmidt -- while nine did not, including Boehner.
For some Tea Party groups the budget was too much. So they want to target RINOs -- Republicans In Name Only, a pejorative term conservatives use for moderate Republicans.
"There isn't any urgency among the establishment Republicans," said Phillip Dennis of the Dallas Tea Party. "They just don't get that we elected them not because we love them, but only because they weren't Democrats."
"Our war now is with the Republican Party," he added. "We need to send home a whole boatload of RINOs."
So far the only high-profile attempt to "primary" a moderate Republican in 2012 is Indiana, where conservative state treasurer Richard Mourdock is challenging Senator Dick Lugar, who has steadfastly refused to change his views.
But others are mentioned as possible. Utah Senator Orrin Hatch is one, though no challenger has yet come forward. Tea Party groups in a number of states are eyeing potential candidates for House races, but say their searches are still in the early stages.
Perhaps the highest-profile member of the House whom Tea Partiers hope to unseat is Eric Cantor. Karen Hurd of the Virginia Tea Party Alliance is working on a two-pronged strategy to challenge him. The House Majority leader is considered conservative by many, but Hurd says he is a RINO.
Hurd is compiling an "information campaign" highlighting his record, including voting for the unpopular 2008 bank bailout. If the campaign gains traction, Hurd wants to find a challenger, though she acknowledges that is a tall order. Cantor's is a safe seat and he can raise a lot of money.
"Right now Cantor is impregnable, but if we can make him vulnerable then he can be primaried," Hurd said. "A few years ago challenging Cantor was inconceivable. The big change now is that while it's a huge challenge, it's not impossible."
Others, like Dake of the Wisconsin Grandsons of Liberty, are waiting to see how their Republicans vote in the near future. The more they stray from the fiscal conservative line, the more likely they will be challenged.
"It's still early in the year," he said. "We'll give them a couple more votes before we decide."
'NOT ONE HAND WENT UP'
Tea Party leaders who attended the April 25 meeting with John Boehner -- a member of his office confirmed much of the account given by those who spoke to Reuters -- recall he put on a nice spread: quiche, fruit, some "nice cheese" and such.
But the assembled leaders found his answers on raising the debt limit unpalatable.
Ron Musilli, 62, a native of Troy, recalls asking Boehner what leverage points the Republicans planned to focus on in debt limit talks with the White House and Senate Democrats.
"We haven't figured that out yet," he recalls Boehner replied.
Musilli says that was "a little disconcerting. My kids will be retiring in 50 years, so I like to see a plan to reduce the deficit before then."
When someone asked what happened to the bold-talking John Boehner of October 2012, the Speaker became frustrated and responded with a question: "Would you have the United States default on its obligations?"
For many, the short answer is yes.
Gene Clem, a spokesman for the Michigan Tea Party Alliance, says at a meeting of 120 activists from 12 Michigan counties at the end of April he asked who wanted to raise the debt limit.
"Not one hand went up," he said. "Not one."
Others want the Republicans to force the Democrats to agree to major cuts before they raise the debt limit. Boehner and other Republicans have talked tough in recent days about slashing spending. Now the onus is on them to deliver.
The University of Virginia's Sabato said the Republicans' predicament is they cannot do enough to please a movement that wants drastic cuts and dislikes compromise.
"The Tea Party wants to take it (the debt limit debate) to the brink," he said. "The Republicans won't go there because they know the price will be too high for them."
The Republicans' corporate wing would prefer a mix of gradual spending cuts and tax increases, which conflicts with the Tea Party's ideals of both lower taxes and spending.
Matt Kibbe, CEO of FreedomWorks, which has provided logistical support for some Tea Party groups, said corporate support for the banking sector bailout, the stimulus package and even for healthcare reform had been unpopular with Tea Party activists.
That has created what Kibbe called "a growing divide" between the Tea Party and corporate America.
'NOT QUALIFIED TO BE DOG CATCHER'
Tea Party groups learned some tough lessons in the 2010 election. First, they often split the vote between them when going up against establishment figures.
Hoping to avoid the same mistakes, the Michigan Tea Party Alliance, a coalition of Tea Party groups across the state, is working out guidelines to agree on one challenger per seat.
The other main drawback in 2010 was that Tea Party neophytes often chose candidates whose track records or background made them unelectable.
Possibly the prime example of that was Christine O'Donnell, who beat a moderate candidate in the Republican primary for the U.S. Senate seat in Delaware, but whose campaign foundered in part over embarrassing revelations of dabbling in witchcraft. Some establishment Republicans claim poor Tea Party choices cost them the Senate.
"Let's face it, we had people who were solidly unqualified for dog catcher, let alone the office they were running for," said SoCal Tax Revolt Coalition's Wildman.
"The other thing we are learning now is what happens when naive people get into high office," she added of some of the freshmen the Tea Party helped elect.
"So we are learning how to vet candidates properly."
While being a complete outsider was seen as a plus last year, Tea Party groups are now looking for conservative candidates with a track record and name recognition.
Some in the movement have run or plan to run for office at the local level. But they will not be ready for primetime until they have worked their way up the political ladder, which is some years off at best.
"The biggest challenge we are facing is finding people to run," said Ken Emanuelson of the Dallas Tea Party. "We need an experienced person with a political track record. It may take several cycles to get the right people in place."
But even an unsuccessful run can be bad news for an establishment candidate, forcing them to spend time and vast sums of money, plus move further to the right to win the primary. In short, incumbents fear primary challenges.
"I get a lot of feedback from people locally and from around the country and it's pretty clear the Republicans do not want us to influence the primaries in 2012," said Jane Aitken of the New Hampshire Tea Party Coalition. "They hate us, but they are terrified of us too."
"But whether the Republicans want us to or not, we are going to influence the primaries next year."
American Majority's Ryun says he expects a few high-profile Republicans may be beaten in primaries next year.
But the Tea Party is expected to find easier targets among the freshmen of 2010. After two years their name recognition will not be that high and many of them are in marginal seats.
Even if challenges for high-profile establishment figures prove unsuccessful, they will get the attention of others.
"It would send a message to all other Republicans," the University of Virginia's Sabato said. "If it could happen to someone as powerful as, say, Eric Cantor, it could certainly happen to you."
WINNING THE PARTY'S SOUL
How that plays out in the general election is an open question. While the Tea Party will have an out-sized impact on Republican primaries, its success in November 2012 will depend on how acceptable its candidates are to the broader electorate.
The fierce battles going on at the state level over collective bargaining rights or spending cuts are also a factor to watch, as, thanks in part to the Tea Party, those fights are further to the right than the debate in Washington.
"There is very little doubt in my mind that establishment Republicans are very worried," said James Henson, a politics professor at the University of Texas. "They are having to watch their right flank and may end up leveraged in the middle."
"A lot of people are thinking in the abstract that cutting taxes and spending is good," he added. "But the question is what challenges the reality poses for the Republicans."
Henson also says "divisions the Tea Party has created within the Republican Party have already complicated the party's presidential race," as some candidates will wait until the battle for the party's soul has been decided.
That leaves what almost every Tea Party activist interviewed described essentially as a lackluster field.
Conservative New Jersey Governor Chris Christie's name was the only one mentioned consistently with any excitement in informal polling for this article, even though he says he will not run. Another candidate who has raised some interest is Herman Cain, a political outsider and former pizza chain CEO.
Minnesota Representative Michele Bachmann has courted the Tea Party actively, but her name was barely mentioned.
In one small survey of 68 Tea Party leaders in Ohio conducted in April by the Ohio Liberty Council, in which respondents were asked who they wanted for president, Christie won with 15 votes. Bachmann got four votes, level with real estate tycoon Donald Trump, who said on Monday he would not run.
At the back of the pack, alongside former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum and Barack Obama, was former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney with zero votes. In general polls, Romney currently leads the Republican pack, but the health reform he passed in office -- dubbed "Romneycare" -- is despised by conservatives for its similarities to Obama's health reform.
"Romneycare is the kiss of death for his campaign," said Christen Varley of the Greater Boston Tea Party.
Just how bad is the divide between the Tea Party and the Republican establishment? "Could the Tea Party harm the Republicans?" said Stuart Rothenberg of the Rothenberg Political Report. "If it pushes too hard then it could fracture the Republican Party."
For some people on the ground like Colleen Conley of the Rhode Island Tea Party, a bit of party fracturing might not be a bad idea.
"If the Republicans can't come through on their promises," she said, "maybe the party needs to be blown up."
(Additional reporting by David Morgan, Corrie MacLaggan and James B. Kelleher; Editing by Jim Impoco and Claudia Parsons)
Copyright 2010 Thomson Reuters. Click for Restrictions.









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