Steele to Meet With Tea Party Leaders at RNC Headquarters

[elbamba]

Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele plans to sit down with about 50 Tea Party leaders Tuesday in the first such meeting of two wings of the conservative movement that could be either vital partners or bitter rivals.

The meeting is part of a broader effort by national Republicans to reach out to Tea Party activists rather than risk their hand-picked candidates being run over by the movement.

"The chairman believes it extremely important to listen to this significant grassroots movement and work to find common ground in order to elect officials that will protect these principles," RNC spokeswoman Katie Wright said.

But one Tea Party activist who traveled hundreds of miles to attend the meeting at RNC headquarters in Washington, D.C., said sparks could fly.

"Steele wants to try to co-opt us, but we're coming to tell him he doesn't get it. We want to return the Republican Party to its roots. We're expecting some fireworks," the activist said.

Tea Party supporters identify far more with the Republican platform than the Democratic Party's, but they have not been shy about voicing their discontent with elected Republicans and running against the party's favored candidates. They threw an upstate New York congressional race into disarray last fall when they backed a third-party candidate over Republican Dede Scozzafava, forcing her out of the race. Democrat Bill Owens won the special election.

Tea Party activists have since targeted multiple Republicans they don't feel are conservative enough, such as Florida Gov. Charlie Crist and Utah Sen. Bob Bennett.

There is no single Tea Party group or individual in charge of the activists, but the movement has been trying to become more organized and focused. Tea Party organizers from across the country attended a national convention two weeks ago in Nashville, where they discussed strategy for this year's midterm elections.

Some Republican figures, including former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, view the movement as a major force in the upcoming elections that Republicans in some districts will have to court if they want to win.

Fox News' Jake Gibson contributed to this report.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/02/16/steele-meet-tea-party-leaders/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%253A+foxnews%252Fpolitics+%2528T ext+-+Politics%2529

[ElNono]

Why would the movement meet with this guy? After the photo ops, the Dems will try to tie them together...

[boutons_deux]

dumbfuck teabaggers, trigger-happy "Patriots", murder-minded militiamen, pitbull bitch gonna takeover Repug party and gut its chances of electoral success.

[George Gervin's Afro]

Wait a minute..I thought the tea party was not affiliated with any party.... they were just avg everyday Americans.. both democrat and republicans..

[elbamba]

I thought that this was an interesting meeting. Most people do not know that the Republican party was formed in less than a year. At the time, the two parties were generally Whigs and Democrates. The two main players in these parties for a generation were Henery Clay for the Whigs and Andrew Jackson for the Democrates.

The Whigs, only won a couple of elections (1840, 1848). (I am not including John Q. Adams as a Whig). The Democrates dominated the 30's and any election excluding 40, 48 until Lincoln.

Prior to receiving the nomination, Lincoln, fresh of his loss to Douglas began correspondents with Whigs, radical "Republicans" (abolitionists), and pro-union democrates to form the 1859 Republican party, which challenged and ultimately won Buchanan's seat. The Republicans have dominated since 1860 18-10 on the presidency.

I do not know much about the tea party movement. My feeling has been that the Tea Party is made up of ex-republicans who no longer want to call themselves republicans. I am not really sure what their platform is. I know one person who has come out and announced that he is a member of the "Tea Party."

I have two questions:

1) Are we at a point in history that could support the birth of a third party which will ultimately swallow one of the living two?

2) Can anyone will real knowledge shed some light on the Tea Party movement? What their platform is? (Something beyond lower taxes and smaller government). I am not interested in what FOX or MSNBC has to say. I want to know from someone who has actually attended the movements.

[Wild Cobra]

2) Can anyone will real knowledge shed some light on the Tea Party movement? What their platform is? (Something beyond lower taxes and smaller government). I am not interested in what FOX or MSNBC has to say. I want to know from someone who has actually attended the movements.
It is just that simple. Smaller government, lower taxes, less government authoritarianism.

They are not a formal party. Just a movement that slowly started about a decade or so ago. More of a slogan of protest that turned into what it is today.

I went to my first Tea Party, formed by Lars Larson, at the Oregon Capital steps. I think it was April 2001. He had his listeners from across the state come with Tea Bags, collected them all, in protest of Salem trying to raise taxes again.