Tea Party Protest Signs: RNC Blacks Out Its Involvement (PHOTOS)

Last week, The Daily Caller's Alex Pappas reported that the Republican National Committee was "paying for signs and political buttons used by Tea Party groups" for today's "Code Red" protests against health care reform.

The items, paid for by the RNC, were on full display at a Friday press conference of Tea Party activists in Washington. At the afternoon event at the Capitol Hill Suites, activists in town for the "Take the Town Halls to Washington" project passed out the red-white-and-blue buttons and signs emblazoned with the words "Listen to Me!"

As Pappas pointed out, the RNC's involvement here was a bit of a thorny issue, given that the Tea Partiers haven't been quick to allow themselves to be subsumed within the greater Republican establishment. But if you see the signs today, you might end up missing the connection to the RNC entirely. That's because the RNC took the unusual step of covering up its involvement. David Weigel of the Washington Independent reports that a black sticker has been placed over the RNC's label at the bottom center of the signs. Apparently, this is a cunning enough stratagem to keep protesters from discovering the RNC's involvement.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

RELATED:
Tea Partiers distribute signs paid for by RNC [The Daily Caller]
RNC Blacks Out 'Paid for by RNC' Line on Tea Party Signs [The Washington Independent]

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Comments

[mistajefferson]

09:09 PM on 03/20/2010

Here's some help for Tea Baggers to make their protest posters! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEZBk267cxY

[MaybeMilo]

04:52 PM on 03/18/2010

Shills.

[Kelly Cloud]

09:01 AM on 03/17/2010

I don't get their strategy. Split the party? Or trying to rename themselves because the RNC reputation is toast? Whats weird is , all the talk about taking down gov. (Obama), is sedition, right. Not really punishable until one of the nutties does something illegal. RIOT is a prosecutable crime. Remember the yippies?! Terroristic threatening is another. Follow the money when something happens and I bet their house of cards could come crumbling down. Thats if the dems. are smart enough to bust them.

[Actongue]

08:36 PM on 03/20/2010

Republican Strategy? I do not think it exists. I was talking to a tea partier and he was complaining that Caterpillar and other companies were going to pack up and move to another country to save money on health care for its employees.

I asked him if he thought they might be going to Canada or a European country and he said it would not suprise him.

I then had to inform him that,all those countries had Single payer that he had propsed for their moves. Needless to say, he shut up and had no response.

[Jennifer]

08:54 AM on 03/17/2010

Gullible protesters whipped into a frenzy, yet again, by corporate and political interests. Whatever the Pied Piper tweets they go racing off the cliff.

[AmericanDreamWarrior]

05:17 AM on 03/17/2010

The GOPs' desperation seems to be showing through the black paint. They want the TPers votes but don't want to claim them under the remaining 21% of its tent. The TPers are to republicans what Nader/Green party was to democrats, cubed.

This is rather sad. The TPers haven't shown themselves to be critical thinkers, so I think the repubs are safe from any backlash, for now.

Psssst... think we should tell them that the repubs are using them, in a pretty cynical way?

Naw... should be more fun to sit back and watch this all unfold.

[fr33d0mhawk]

07:27 AM on 03/17/2010

The GOP, or Ultra Right Wing, know they are being used and enjoy it. They know they are fed silly lies, but the quality of the lie is not important. The only thing that is important to a neocon Tbag is for a respected authority to tell the lie so the Tbagg can get all up in arms about it, get angry, plot revenge against America, go buy Smith and Wesson and all the ammo he can afford, and if things go badly, he can blame his leader, saying he had trust in his leader, he was just following orders, the SS excuse if you will.

[OnAndOnSOH]

04:12 AM on 03/17/2010

Way to hold your head high, GOP.

[Phreejazz]

03:14 AM on 03/17/2010

Hmm. Doesn't that violate 11 CFR 110.11?

"(a) Scope. The following communications must include disclaimers, as
specified in this section:
(1) All public communications, as defined in 11 CFR 100.26, made by
a political committee; electronic mail of more than 500 substantially
similar communications when sent by a political committee; and all
Internet websites of political committees available to the general
public."

( http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/cfr_2009/janqtr/11cfr110.11.htm )

The entire purpose of such laws is to let the world, even teabaggers, know whose interests are being forwarded by the communication in question.

[Kelly Cloud]

09:09 AM on 03/17/2010

Whose responcibility is it to investigate this? Who makes the decision to prosecute?

[cascot]

01:25 AM on 03/17/2010

Soapington, that's your best shot? Pretty lame... Have to resort to name-calling, huh, when you don't have substance?

[soapington]

01:34 AM on 03/17/2010

Sorry, your persistent silliness got the better of me, but... if the cap fits, Sparky...

[BobSacomano]

09:04 AM on 03/17/2010

The story is quite clear and factual regarding connection to the RNC and the the blackout on the signs. Where is the name calling and lcak of substance you're referring to?

[gwensgal]

11:50 PM on 03/16/2010

In light of the past year's antics from both the RNC and its prodigal movement the Teabaggers, I'm scratching my head wondering how anyone of good conscience, moral rectitude, and Christian faith could be associated with any part of the modern conservatives.

The vitriol (like being so allergic to losing the White House and Senate majority that you literally try to destroy the entire country) and the divisiveness (like repeatedly calling Obama a socialist, a Muslim, and a foreigner), the outright lying (like everything Sarah Palin has ever uttered and the RNC pretending it knew nothing of its own fundraising strategy that came to light a few weeks ago), and the moral cowardice (like using black paint to disown one's part in a fearmongering hatefest) are baffling to me in their apparent power to attract folks who too often claim to know God.

This mess goes against all I was ever taught about the character of the Divine, and the way we are supposed to behave as reflections of His character.

Somebody brave, explain it to me. I'm perplexed.

[thinking4]

12:11 AM on 03/17/2010

Your points are what many people think. We sort of scratched our heads at the beginning and thought they were just a few crazies, but we all need to pay attention to how this plays out because the TP is like the early 1930s after FDR was elected. That brought the kooks out of the woodwork. Look up Father Coughlin.

[Greg Petty]

01:14 AM on 03/17/2010

The Republicans blacked out their name on the day of the tea social , the same day,they dropped you like you were nuclear waste, Your astroturfing bit the dust quick, looked awful white also your club is not that exclusive

[cascot]

10:47 PM on 03/16/2010

Why is this even a story? Big deal that the RNC paid for some signs... HOW IS THIS ANY DIFFERENT THAN THE DEM SIGNS OR OBAMA/WH PAID FOR SIGNS??

[soapington]

11:12 PM on 03/16/2010

Well, you see, the Democratic Party pays for signs that support the Democratic Party. In this case, the Republican Party paid for signs that support a rabble of hopeless thugs with ideas that a water-vole would balk at.

[cascot]

11:32 PM on 03/16/2010

Who cares? If the RNC sees a grassroots organisation that is supporting many of the GOP tenets and decide to help them, whose business is it anyway?

Uhm...let's see...DNC money used to support ACORN? There are a myriad of examples...
The RNC has a big enough tent for these people. This is just goading the Dems and they have to make something of nothing...

[Alexander-Y]

11:19 PM on 03/16/2010

The Tea Baggers claim to be grassroots and not affiliated with any party, remember?

[cascot]

11:34 PM on 03/16/2010

The Tea Bag people are closest to the actual platform of the RNC. I do not mind them trying to turn the party around to support it's most important tenants.

[Matt Osborne]

10:28 PM on 03/16/2010

The RNC has always been at war with Eastasia.

[iMissMollyIvins]

12:32 AM on 03/17/2010

That's located between Euthanasia and Echinacea on GOP intelligence maps, isn't it?

[HawaiiSteve]

07:31 PM on 03/17/2010

Osama Bin Laden is the Emmanuel Goldstein of the 21st century!

[pallmallguy]

10:19 PM on 03/16/2010

here's a fun thing to do, go to one of these tea party loveins and yell

"AWFUL LOT OF WHITE PEOPLE HERE...."

[John Ison]

07:36 AM on 03/17/2010

Awesome - I'm going to do it!

[JamesinDentonTX]

10:12 PM on 03/16/2010

Tea partiers have always been nothing more than amped-up republicans. They didn't want to admit they were republicans, so they re-branded. Now that the tea party has become the embarrassment, they will go back to calling themselves republicans again. Gotta have all your bases covered!

[MrBadExample]

10:12 PM on 03/16/2010

Ummm.... how long do the Repubs think they'll be able to co-opt the teabaggers? They've already thrown an election to the dems (NY 23) and their vitriol is nearly as strong against the RINOs (which seem to be everyone except the wingnuts) as it is against Dems. If the baggers dictate the GOP candidate rosters in the fall, there's a possibility that independents will sit home or vote Dem (the libertarian minded independents aren't going to sit still for people who want to set up a theocracy or put the US on a gold standard).

[Talossa]

02:20 AM on 03/17/2010

I keep wondering, as a Democrat, shouldn't I be sending donations to the teabaggers? Every wingnut who wins a Republican primary helps elect a Democrat in the general.

[WakeUp2021]

08:26 PM on 03/16/2010

The republicans are now attacking and 11 year old African-American boy who lost his mother because she could not afford capitalist health insurance premiums. That is all you ever need to know about the republican party.

http://harvardscience.harvard.edu/medicine-health/articles/new-study-finds-45000-deaths-annually-linked-lack-health-coverage

[Xarnego]

08:39 PM on 03/16/2010

Great link,

Thanks!

[Photofarm]

09:50 PM on 03/16/2010

What a crock of baloney. The problem is the Doctors are having to charge so much for several reasons. Health Insurance is not the problem.

[thebirdstheword]

09:53 PM on 03/16/2010

health insurance is not the problem? i don't know whether to laugh or cry.

[JamesinDentonTX]

10:05 PM on 03/16/2010

If you have been paying for insurance and get sick, that is the last insurance you will ever have, and you probably won't have that for long, because you will be priced out, or simply refused renewal. If you are over 30 and don't get insurance thru your job, you will not be able to find anyone willing to cover you. After denying coverage and claims, these companies turn around and hand out golden parachute sized bonuses. Health insurance is not the only problem, just the worst one. You sir, are a crock of bologne.