Seems the Tea Party Party got off to an auspicious start yesterday. Tancredo opens Tea Party Convention with a bang Nashville, Tennessee (CNN) – Tom Tancredo opened what's being billed as the first Tea Party Convention with a bang. The former congressman from Colorado and 2008 Republican presidential candidate blasted President Obama, saying "people who could not even spell the word 'vote', or say it in English, put a committed socialist ideologue in the White House. His name is Barack Hussein Obama." Tancredo made his comments as he gave the kickoff speech for the convention, which is being held at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel and Convention Center in Nashville. Tancredo's speech received polite applause among the 600 attendees at the convention. "So the race for America is on right now. The president and his left-wing allies in Congress are going to look at every opportunity to destroy the Constitution before we have a chance to save it. So put your running shoes on. Because I'll tell you, I've heard we need a revolution. My friends, we already had it. We lost. I mean, what happened to us in that last election was a revolution," said Tancredo, discussing the 2008 presidential contest. Tancredo also slammed that election's Republican presidential nominee, saying "thank God John McCain lost the election." The former congressman known for his strong opposition to illegal immigration also attacked "the cult of multiculturalism, aided by leftists, liberals all over who don't have the same idea about America as we do." A spokesman for the Tea Party Nation, the group that organized the convention, said Tancredo's speech may provide some red meat but termed it problematic. "It doesn't further the dialogue," said Mark Skoda, a businessman and founder of the Memphis Tea Party, who is also serving as spokesman for the convention. Tancredo ended his speech telling the crowd that "this is our country" and urged them "to take it back." ----------------- Take it back from what Tom?
They are still better than these dbag fruitcakes. <object width="640" height="505"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/APs76Cd6fbI&hl=en_GB&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/APs76Cd6fbI&hl=en_GB&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="505"></embed></object>
Was this guy there? http://www.theonion.com/content/news/area_man_passionate_defender_of Area Man Passionate Defender Of What He Imagines Constitution To Be ESCONDIDO, CA—Spurred by an administration he believes to be guilty of numerous transgressions, self-described American patriot Kyle Mortensen, 47, is a vehement defender of ideas he seems to think are enshrined in the U.S. Constitution and principles that brave men have fought and died for solely in his head. Kyle Mortensen would gladly give his life to protect what he says is the Constitution's very clear stance against birth control. "Our very way of life is under siege," said Mortensen, whose understanding of the Constitution derives not from a close reading of the document but from talk-show pundits, books by television personalities, and the limitless expanse of his own colorful imagination. "It's time for true Americans to stand up and protect the values that make us who we are." According to Mortensen—an otherwise mild-mannered husband, father, and small-business owner—the most serious threat to his fanciful version of the 222-year-old Constitution is the attempt by far-left "traitors" to strip it of its religious foundation. "Right there in the preamble, the authors make their priorities clear: 'one nation under God,'" said Mortensen, attributing to the Constitution a line from the Pledge of Allegiance, which itself did not include any reference to a deity until 1954. "Well, there's a reason they put that right at the top." "Men like Madison and Jefferson were moved by the ideals of Christianity, and wanted the United States to reflect those values as a Christian nation," continued Mortensen, referring to the "Father of the Constitution," James Madison, considered by many historians to be an atheist, and Thomas Jefferson, an Enlightenment-era thinker who rejected the divinity of Christ and was in France at the time the document was written. "The words on the page speak for themselves." According to sources who have read the nation's charter, the U.S. Constitution and its 27 amendments do not contain the word "God" or "Christ." Mortensen said his admiration for the loose assemblage of vague half-notions he calls the Constitution has only grown over time. He believes that each detail he has pulled from thin air—from prohibitions on sodomy and flag-burning, to mandatory crackdowns on immigrants, to the right of citizens not to have their hard-earned income confiscated in the form of taxes—has contributed to making it the best framework for governance "since the Ten Commandments." "And let's not forget that when the Constitution was ratified it brought freedom to every single American," Mortensen said. Mortensen's passion for safeguarding the elaborate fantasy world in which his conception of the Constitution resides is greatly respected by his likeminded friends and relatives, many of whom have been known to repeat his unfounded assertions verbatim when angered. Still, some friends and family members remain critical. "Dad's great, but listening to all that talk radio has put some weird ideas into his head," said daughter Samantha, a freshman at Reed College in Portland, OR. "He believes the Constitution allows the government to torture people and ban gay marriage, yet he doesn't even know that it guarantees universal health care." Mortensen told reporters that he'll fight until the bitter end for what he roughly supposes the Constitution to be. He acknowledged, however, that it might already be too late to win the battle. "The freedoms our Founding Fathers spilled their blood for are vanishing before our eyes," Mortensen said. "In under a year, a fascist, socialist regime has turned a proud democracy into a totalitarian state that will soon control every facet of American life." "Don't just take my word for it," Mortensen added. "Try reading a newspaper or watching the news sometime."
You know, I think a third party would be great. It could break this partisan situation we currently have in our government. But the Tea Partiers are too zany for me. There's just too many people that believe the crap as quoted above.
Well, at least Tom Tancredo is attempting to open up the Tea Party to a very broad array of political beliefs. I bet thumbs will be so proud to associate himself with this man of the people. I hope his tea party message is carried on every network. Repeatedly.
That was a lot more creative than the idjits yelling about socialism in healthcare town halls last year.
Its some kids from Berkley protesting in song and dance at a Whole Foods for some comments the CEO made.
More topical, more relevant, and more accurate. More gay, yes, but it is Berkeley, what do you expect?
My My! Sounds like things are getting off to a rough start for the Tea Party Party -- Tea partiers skip prayer and Pledge of Allegiance at opening of national convention. The convention's first day lacked the orchestrated staging of most modern political events. The convention host delivered a meandering welcome speech without notes, saying he misplaced them. Former congressman Tom Tancredo (R-Colo.) offered a fiery defense of Judeo-Christian faith and traditional American values, but there was no prayer or Pledge of Allegiance to open the convention -- nor was there an American flag in the convention hall. (Skoda blamed the oversight on the hotel staff.)
So Meowgi, are a few fringe Berkeley kids starting a political movement and organizing a big convention? I'll take my answer off the air. Thank you, love your shtick-- er, show.
"And let's not forget that when the Constitution was ratified it brought freedom to every single American," Mortensen said. I seem to recall Millions of Black "Americans" had the freedom to be whipped, bound, and had the great fortune of being bought and sold to work for white AMERICANS and not get paid for it. Sounds like freedom to me
You could see Sarah Palin, Rudy Guliani, Lou Holtz, and Colin Powell in Houston in the Toyota Center, your whole office for $20
In time it did, unlike Africa. "Constitution of the United States, standing alone, and construed only in the light of its letter, without reference to the opinions of the men who framed and adopted it, or to the uniform, universal and undeviating practice of the nation under it, from the time of its adoption until now, is not a pro-slavery instrument." Frederick Douglass March 16, 1849
I'm proud of most but not so happy with others. Is there anyone here who is happy with every member of the Democratic Party or every member of the Republican Party? Me, too. I could only wish for such a personal megaphone.
Definitely not, but having the guy shred Obama in his first sentence, when so much of the language has been "this isn't about Obama," makes his talk especially strange and inappropriate... unless, as many of us suspect, about 1/2 the tea party movement is about hating Obama, give or take his policies. (e.g. health care measures championed by 1990's conservatives, tax proposals more generous than those of Reagan, etc.)
B-Bob, I wish you knew how fed up I am with aspersion politics. I may disagree with a policy or many policies or all policies of a politician, but I find no reason to disparage that person for his or her origin, religion, gender, sexual orientation, beliefs (unless criminal like kiddie rapists) etc. etc. I pretty much figured the showboats and demagogues would dominate the convention, but most of the tea party advocates are pretty down to earth, mainstream Americans who have no desire to be the focal point of the press. However, the press finds the "norm" too dull for prime time. Also, unlike the crazies the norm doesn't fit into their agenda -- sort of like the "inconspicuous truths" that the global warming folks chose to omit since they skewed their "findings."
