A statement from Tea Party Express Chair, Amy Kremer:
On Saturday, I did an interview with Fox News about the tea party movement. As a result of that interview, my comments have been twisted and turned to sound as if I am selling out to the GOP and supporting one candidate. There is nothing farther from the truth. I am sorry for the confusion over my comments, but they have been now taken totally out of context.
First and foremost, as I stated in the interview, for full disclosure, I was/am neutral in the Presidential race and waiting to see which candidates are finally in. Then I will support the strongest viable tea party conservative in the race. No one has my support or the support of Tea Party Express at this time.
Last election cycle, Tea Party Express took on the establishment and worked hard to send true conservatives to Washington. We challenged the Republican party time and time again because we stood on principles and did not waiver. We were not willing to accept any RINO or Obama-lite. We were no longer going to accept what the Republican party was trying to shove down our throats, even supporting Doug Hoffman in the New York special against the liberal Republican. That will not change. No tea party group has taken on the Republican establishment more than we have, and that will not change. We are totally committed to tea party principles of smaller government, less taxes, an end to deficit spending and free markets. Over 99% of tea party organizational support to winning tea party candidates came from the Tea Party Express so no group did more to elect tea party candidates.
In the interview, I stated, "Well, I think that whoever is the Republican nominee, they are going to have to have the support of the tea party movement, the entire tea party movement." This statement is reflective of my confidence in the strength of the tea party movement, which specifically means that I don't think a candidate can win the nomination without our support, much less win the general election.
My point was that the "cream will rise to the top," meaning that a true conservative will gain our support in the primaries and we will work together to defeat Obama. I believe in this movement and the people of this movement. I feel sure that once again, the tea party movement will work hard to send true conservatives to Washington, just like we did in 2010. I don’t believe a Republican can win without the strong support for the tea party movement. So when I say that we will support the nominee, I mean that we will support the nominee because he or she has won the nomination because of tea party support. I didn’t mean we will accept whatever is thrown our way.
In 2012, we have to defeat Barack Obama. This country will not survive another four years of his big government, socialist policies. Look at what has happened in only 2.5 years when Obama knows he has a reelection in 2012. Can you imagine another 4 years of him when there will be no reelection and has nothing to lose? He is the worst President that this country has ever had. We must remove him from the White House in 2012. We are now stuck with Kagan and Sotomayer. If Obama wins and appoints more justices, we will have no chance of turning back the march to socialism.
By the time that we have a nominee, I think the movement will have already spoken loud and clear and the nominee will have received the nomination with the support of the movement. If the nominee does not have the support of the movement, they cannot win the election. I have said that for months and months now and I firmly believe that.
Last election cycle, TPX was kicked and abused because we got involved in the primaries. We were told we needed to stay out of the primaries because engaging in campaign activity was the politically incorrect thing to do in the tea party movement. We jumped in anyway because we did not want to settle for the lesser of two evils in November. Tea Party Express will be doing the same after the presidential debate in September. We will be supporting the strongest and best constitutional conservative that emerges in the field.
While some may doubt the movement, I have full faith in the people across this country and know that we will have a significant impact in the primaries. We proved the strength and power of the movement in the primaries of 2010 and again in November of 2010. I think the same thing will happen again in the primaries of 2012 and again in November 2012.
The bottom line is this...you need to fight like a dog now in order to impact who the Republican nominee will be. The Tea Party Express national bus tour starts on August 20th and we have invited the candidates for president to give us their best shot on how to restore America to strength and prosperity. It culminates in the Tea Party presidential debate on September 12th in Tampa, Florida. I believe this process will start to unify the tea party around the strongest conservative candidates.
Tea Party Express has been the only tea party group that has put our money where our mouth is and supported true conservatives. I can promise you that will not change!
If you want to make a difference, then get involved in the primaries. That is the time to support the true conservative. What have you done to support your true conservative candidate today?
If you haven't seen the entire interview, you can watch it here: http://video.foxnews.com/#/v/976326533001/tea-partys-role-in-2012/?playlist_id=87937
Did you NOT say this?
ReplyDelete"Whoever the Republican nominee is will have to have the support of the Tea Party movement, the entire Tea Party movement," Chairwoman Amy Kremer said.
You may or may not speak for Tea Party Express, but you do NOT speak for "The Tea Party" (actualy parties, but's that's another story.)
If the GOP nominatees another McCain, that will be its death knell. We will ensure that, if they do.
facebook posting on your interview:
http://www.facebook.com/#!/permalink.php?story_fbid=206113316098885&id=595278065
nice looking theme your title and the and theme both are same . so it is good effort
ReplyDeleteParty Baus Orlando
Amy,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the clarification. My concern is that the Tea Party won't be able to unify behind a single candidate because I believe it has already been co-opted by the far right. Your statement talks about RINOs when at one point, the Tea Party was 40% Democrats & Independents combined. There was already plenty of great conservative organizations, it's too bad the Tea Party has now become one of them. Our next successful Republican president will be one that can sell non-conservatives on conservative principles.
Chris Gadbois
Amy,
ReplyDeleteWatched your appearance on Fox & Friends this a.m. and heard the clarification. I took more issue in the original interview when you were asked to speak for the Tea Party if Mitt Romney were selected. Rather than stating that the Tea Party would support the candidate selected, it would have been better to state that one individual cannot possibly speak for the Tea Party MOVEMENT. The pool of candidates to oppose Barack Obama is far from chosen, so another answer would have been to stick to the statement 'our strongest efforts will be to defeat Barack Obama' without any statement regarding support for any candidate whatsoever. Bottom line, as you have done here, stick with the position that you cannot possibly speak for all Tea Party activists. No one can - that's the beauty of a grass roots movement! We have strongly supported the Tea Party Express and will continue to do so. Please, please be more careful in interviews!
Amy, as a prospective member of the tea party, I need you to answer a question before pledging any supprt, I need to know if the Tea Party is going to activily persue the eligibility issue of obama, exspecially in light of all the proof the 2 documents he's provided are bothe determined to be clear forgeries, I dont care about being labled a "birther" what I do care about is getting to the bottom of this, and being played a fool by obama, and many who dont seem concerned with this issue makes me more than angry, the only actual document that could be associated with obama is a Kenyan Birth certificate with a right foot print, who ofcourse the left says is a fake, yet no forensic proof of that exists, yet the Hawaiian documents are deemed forgeries by many authorities, and one was a former Adobe software engineer, I need to know this issue is or is not a priority, since I wont support ANY party who isnt going to persue this.
ReplyDeletethe reason Trump had such a good following was his lack of concern for media opinion, he was toe to toe with obama and thats why his numbers shot up, if the tea party doesnt have someone like that, it isnt going to be anything but a run of the mill support group for a John McCain type, which goes NO where, we all know the Media isnt going to like ANYTHING we do, or anything we say, we can NEVER make them Like us, what we can do is use them like they do us, we MUST pursue his eligibility, and force the truth out at all costs, if that means making blacks mad, let them get mad, the Constitution MUST be enforced, if the Tea Party wont do it, then more people will fragment off and pursue the issues they see as Important, there is NOTHING more important, than Humiliating obama out of office, restoring faith in this Nations Goivernment, and Constitution, and embarassing the democratic Party, I also feel we have a LOT of ammo we arent using, "The Missing 52 Years of Democratic History" are one very good place to start.....it's a Wall Street Journal article by Jeffery Lord....just google it "The Missing 52 Years of Democratic History"....we cannot beat the Left, unless we attack them on at least as many fronts as they are attacking us, picking and choosing isnt going to get it done.....we are ALL In, or ALL Out....
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