Mitt Romney Splits Tea Party Groups

WASHINGTON -- Leaders of one of the Tea Party's larger grassroots coalitions are hammering a rival group for saying the Tea Party will back whichever Republican wins the presidential primary, even if that candidate is Mitt Romney.

Tea Party Express Co-Chairman Amy Kremer made the offending comments on Fox News over the weekend, saying, "Whoever the Republican nominee is will have to have the support of the Tea Party movement -- the entire Tea Party movement."

She added, "If Romney is the nominee, I believe that we want to defeat Barack Obama."

The offering of support for both the GOP and the front-running Romney did not sit well with the Tea Party Patriots, which claims more than 3,000 affiliated local groups.

"A pledge of allegiance to the Republican Party, or any other party, violates what the Tea Party movement is all about and is completely out of touch with grassroots Americans," Jenny Beth Martin, a co-founder of the Patriots group, said in a statement.

"We've heard little support for Romney in the movement as we interact daily with local coordinators and activists,” added co-founder Mark Meckler. "We believe it's premature to say whether anyone would support him if he were the nominee, and anyone who says that Tea Partiers would support him is certainly not speaking for the movement at large."

Meckler was careful to add, "We don't presume to speak for all of the great Americans" involved in the Tea Party movement. "We listen and respond to what Americans, who have chosen to stand up for our core principles, think about issues and potential leaders -- not the other way around."

The public dust-up comes on the heels of a legal battle between to two groups in which a judge recently ruled in favor of the Tea Party Patriots, Politico's Ken Vogel reported.

In the case, a judge found Kremer in contempt for failing to turn over control of various websites to the Tea Party Patriots.

Comments

[glenn113]

02:36 AM on 06/12/2011

One more that should totally disqualifie the Mitster. Image this guy the Commander and Chief:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTAqUwYHnec&feature=fvst

[aveindustries]

05:07 PM on 06/10/2011

Everyone vote for "The Taxpayers' Best Friend" aka Ron Paul 2012

[novastarz47]

10:14 AM on 06/10/2011

We are not in Syria and Libya to free the people of a bad dictator as the people think.. we are there to keep china form developing the raw materials In Africa.. its not only oil ..its also uranium ..."yellow cake" Irma wake up .....run power plants.. and bombs !! do you homework on demand !! .. you're a joke wake up !!

[lageorgia]

09:31 AM on 06/10/2011

It does appear that the Republicans can not at this point quite get it together. There is time yet and remember this is the party of lock step. What concerns me more ( I do believe Obama will prevail) is on the state and local level. There, they are winning big time. They are like a spider quietly weaving its web( I have a spider phobia) and just waiting and watching. The Republicans are better organized, care less about the country, and are willing to implement plans that take years. A very long article but one very worth reading.

http://www.alternet.org/teaparty/151213/devos%2C_koch%2C_scaife%2C_walton%2C_alec%2C_afc%3A_the_corporate_royalists_and_right-wing_groups_propelling_the_gop%27s_assault_on_the_middle_class/?page=entire

I know some of the players ( I come from Michigan) and Prince of Blackwater fame went to my undergrad college, Hillsdale College, albeit we were two different generations. These people are not good people.

[novastarz47]

08:29 AM on 06/10/2011

Take a look at these controversial videos ... on you tube>>" Obama deception" and "Loose change" Via You Tube.... then do some of you're own research to cross check the videos .. millions of people are off main news ...

[marilyn 63]

02:12 PM on 06/09/2011

why does the media continue to push that hoax of Supermans not Clark Kent. the teabaggers are Republicans just the crazier uncles (if possible) they perpetrated that hoax in the midterms because the Republicans with Bush had almost demolished the country. so they knew they had to pull a fake to get reelected and the media fell for it and sold it to the public who were either whining about the new toy they didn't get from the Dems or Obama or low information voters or haters. and now they are showing who they really are Republicans who are trying to tear every thing down AGAIN!!

[wdw808]

12:05 AM on 06/10/2011

frustrating isn't it

laughing

[marilyn 63]

12:24 AM on 06/10/2011

well it gets better the tea-Republicans have shown their behinds and people are not amused. they are so over in 2012.

[novastarz47]

08:17 AM on 06/10/2011

look at "Obama deception " on you tube ... its all there ... then you can do you own personal Research .. you cant make this stuff UP ... I watched both videos and done my own research ...Its very clear ... I'm not a conspiritor ... I love my country but hate the politicians... they dont tell you the truth on wall street main news media ... its all lies ... millions of people are awake world wide

[marilyn 63]

12:39 PM on 06/10/2011

someones always trying to turn peoples heads the other way(Republicans) i look at what the person has done(Obama) and after the hot mes Bush and the Republicans left his administration to clean up THEY SURE DONT TELL THE TRUTH BUT 2012 WILL.

[RC81]

11:09 AM on 06/09/2011

That BS about the tea party having their own thoughts (separate or otherwise) has been floating in the right wing cesspool since they first put those three cornered hats on their pointed little heads.

[Forrester1]

11:03 AM on 06/09/2011

And who will be knighted king of the pparty??? Or should I say, prophet???

Get real Mr. Meckler. The dem candidate will be the President and the repub candidate will get all the pparty votes.
Don't worry, they won't catch on for another few election cycles.

[MountainPenelope]

10:59 AM on 06/09/2011

Okay. The TBags may or may not support Romney, who's certain to be nominated even though he has changed positions more than a New Orleans madam. So, who are they going to support? Maybe a Paylin-Godfather ticket.

I love it! No matter who they support they will bring the downfall of the GOPer ticket. Mainline GOPers won't support the Godfather, Paylin, Paula, or any of the other n utcases out there.

It's a win-win for the Democrats.

Let the Baggers and Baggettes fight it out among themselves. Great fun.

[Hoosierbrad]

10:46 AM on 06/09/2011

We've known virtually since the inception of the "Tea Party Movement" that it was merely an arm of the Republican Party, anyway. This statement is no surprise.

[RC81]

11:09 AM on 06/09/2011

Fav'd. Nailed it!

[ocrmom59]

10:43 AM on 06/09/2011

I don't think it will matter who the republican candidate is because by the time the main one get the nomination they will have downgraded their own party so bad that they will be lost at the gate anyway.

Unless something terrible happen, President Obama will get elected again and really get things moving. Things are improving, even with all the bad weather that have been happening. Jobs are being created and with all the weather disasters that have happen will create more jobs.

We cannot get a good look at the job picture because some jobs will never come and that always happen in a recession. People will have to be retrained for different jobs. This recession should teach companies to prepare for the future by looking to the future in training their employees and people need to always try to get training for different things.

[ethiopia1a]

10:41 AM on 06/09/2011

I was thinking of becoming a Teabooger but decided having my integrity amputated, heart removed, and brain sucked out through a beer can would be too painful!

[luzville]

10:20 AM on 06/09/2011

Tea Party motto: "I'm against socialized medicine and keep the government's hands out of my Medicare!"

BTW, currently many of them are drawing Social Security checks.

[neckozihp]

03:28 PM on 06/09/2011

I understand your point, and agree this motto seems absurd. The elderly and those in their retirement years have this view regarding Social Security and the Medicare program. Most have worked hard all their lives and paid into the system and therefore feel entitled to what they've contributed to the fund.
But at the same time they are against having the government being involved in their health care. The fact that the government spent what was supposed to be reserved for SS on other things, certainly makes them less trusting of the government.

My view is that these programs were a mistake from the beginning. Their purpose was to help those in need in their retirement years, but when implemented, life expectancy was much lower than it is now. Generations before were able to survive and take care of those in need. These programs have created an entitlement mentality which has become a detriment to our society.
I would much rather keep the money taken out of my paycheck for these programs and save it in ways I see fit to take care of myself, rather than trust the government to be responsible and look after my well being.

[WakeUp2021]

10:15 AM on 06/09/2011

Why don't liberals understand that Bush gave us the lowest tax rates in 60 years? If we mess with the Bush tax cuts it could undo ALL of the Bush economic record!

http://thepoliticalcarnival.net/2011/04/01/the-bikini-graph-is-back/

[Wallysmom]

10:30 AM on 06/09/2011

This graph is being IGNORED by both the media and the Republicans, because it shows growth...slow, but still growth. Instead this morning on MSNBC they are predicting Obama's demise in 2012. Too bad you can't post an actual picture of it here instead of a link. But we all know the truth. Thanks for posting the link.

[marilyn 63]

02:25 PM on 06/09/2011

sometimes MSNBC just shoots itself in the behind trying to shove Obama out in 2012 and with out thinking helping the very people tea-Republicans that got us in this mess they need to be showing Rachels bikini graph and get real we are steadily climbing out of Bushe's hot mess but it was so horrible it takes time. and this is what happened in the midterms sulking people and the media feeding their sulks.

[Furfles]

10:33 AM on 06/09/2011

I guess that is precisely the point, isn't it? Bush's economic record was to take a situation of surplus and change it to the massive debt, which the Obama administration inherited. I guess one could turn your question into 'why won't the Republicans understand who caused what and furthermore, some simple mathematics?' And I'll even dare to throw a possible answer here: because it's not politically convenient to their agenda.

[Wallysmom]

03:50 PM on 06/09/2011

Poor WakeUp2021 obviously has troubles reading the graph he is using as an avatar.

[Lee Harrison]

09:43 AM on 06/09/2011

Sounds like that old "What's My Line?" game show. Will the real Tea Party please stand up?