"We're from the Tea party and we've come to take our country back ... zzzz"
by digby
The Tea Party lives. Bless their hearts. And they are turning to their One True North, the man who represents everything they believe in to deliver their message to the people. Well, except for the drug stuff. And the ending of Social Security, Medicare and the American empire stuff. But when it comes to taxes, he's their guy:
Tea party leaders are turning to Sen. Rand Paul, R-Kentucky, to deliver their message following President Barack Obama's State of the Union address, a speech that will compete with the official Republican response.
Paul will make his remarks soon after Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Florida, wraps up the GOP response Tuesday night, a Paul spokeswoman confirms to CNN.
"We are giving a voice to the tea party movement when the mainstream media and the Republican establishment wants to write us off as dead," said Amy Kremer, chairman of the Tea Party Express. This is the third year in a row that Kremer's organization has sponsored the tea party response.
[...]
Paul will deliver his remarks before an audience at the National Press Club, which is located just a stones throw away from the White House.
"We expect many of our supporters and many of Rand Paul's supporters, freedom loving, liberty loving Americans to be there because this is our time to be heard," Kremer said. "We are proud that Marco Rubio is giving the official Republican Party response because he is a tea party conservative and one of our own. But the Republican Party doesn't necessarily speak for all conservatives and the tea party movement has its own voice and this is our chance to be heard."
I'd say it was kind of cute except that they've shown they have some real teeth. If the Kochs and other Big Money Boys turn off the spigot they could be less successful in Senate races in the future, but they'll still be able to deliver in the House. And it sounds like they're going to be able to tap into that rich vein of right wing victimization to keep their movement going for a while. There's nothing quite as powerful to these folks as the idea that they're being persecuted from all sides.
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