Virginia Tea Party Patriots chairman responds to Allen’s Tea Party endorsements
By JR Hoeft | Tuesday, November 22nd, 2011 | PoliticsNorm Leahy posted earlier today that former Governor George Allen announced that he had the support of “Virginia Tea Party Patriots.”
That actually is a the name of an organization, chaired by Mark Kevin Lloyd.
“The Allen campaign has listed one-hundred folks from across Virginia that claim to be Tea Party activists. Some are members of the VTPP groups. But the VTPP has approximately fifty Tea Party and Patriot groups across the Commonwealth, representing an estimated 45,000 Tea Party activists,” said Lloyd via email. “[The Allen campaign has] only come up with one-hundred to support their campaign, and a large number are from the Richmond Patriots – a group chaired by Laura Alcorn who is a big Allen supporter. There are several others listed that are long-time Allen supporters, so it’s no surprise to see their names.”
“The bottom-line is it’s not a really impressive number,” he said. “One-hundred out of 45,000 doesn’t show much.”
Of course, it is something though. And it was intentional by Allen to attempt to undermine any of the other candidates who might be eyeing Tea Party activists as a base of support.
To flip this around, when it comes to endorsements from the GOP, Allen’s list reads like a who’s-who of the party, beginning with Governor Bob McDonnell, but also including folks like Prince William County Supervisor and potential statewide candidate, Corey Stewart.
Allen’s closest competitor, Jamie Radtke, has a handful of Republican endorsements. She lists approximately 60 “Republican and Community Leaders” who are supporting her campaign. The other candidates have even less GOP support.
So, based on what Lloyd said, the question still remains, despite Allen’s attempted inroads, what is Radtke’s – or any other candidates’ Tea Party support? And, will it be enough to convince Republican voters to give them the nomination?
Tags:
Contribute for Conservatism!
Share this post
About the author
Conservative to the core; liberal with his opinion! J.R. has been involved in politics for over a decade and has worked on several campaigns in Hampton Roads. He has served on the Executive Committee of the Republican Party of Chesapeake and the Central Committee of the Republican Party of Virginia. He is also the director of “Blogs United” in Virginia. E-mail J.R.. Follow J.R. on Twitter.
We're 75% there! Thank you to everyone who has so far contributed! Just $2000 to go!
Comments
54 Responses to "Virginia Tea Party Patriots chairman responds to Allen’s Tea Party endorsements"
So, supporting the Tea Party or associating with a Tea Party group makes you one of “45,000 Tea Party activists?” Uh-huh. By that calculation there are about 47 million “Republican activists” in the United States. I don’t think so.
But Allen would be smart just to ignore the Tea Party rather than try to compete with their inflated and exaggerated claims of importance. But being smart when he is way ahead has never been Allen’s strong suit.
“Allen would be smart just to ignore the Tea Party rather than try to compete with their inflated and exaggerated claims of importance”
Hey Rocky,
He Can’t. Despite being a moderate Republican he has to try to appear to have support from REAL Americans. He can’t just pitch the Tea Party overboard as he would like and it’s why he has created proxy groups such as the so called “tea party patriots for george allen”. He knows, just as the Republican party knows that they would NOT have control of the Senate were it not for the 20th and 22nd senate districts which were delivered by The Lynchburg, Bedford, Franklin, and Danville, Tea Party groups who were willing to work side by side with the Republicans. In other districts where we were given less principled candidates we didn’t work as hard.
Say what you want about the Tea Party…but statements like “Allen would be smart just to ignore the Tea Party rather than try to compete with their inflated and exaggerated claims of importance” only serve to show your ignorance. Keep pushing and give us guys like Allen and Romney and we will be happy to stay home. If you want to burn the ship to the waterline don’t expect us to stay on board with your lies that it is a pleasure cruise.
Yeah, What Kurt said.
What Team Allen seems to be ginning up is contrary to what Tea Party stands for and why it is not a branch of the Republican Party. Republicans, libertarians, independents and conservative dems can be a member of the Tea Party. The Tea movement a coalition of Americans fed up with the big government tactics by out of control politicians like George Allen specifically as it relates spending and debt.. what the Republican Party is supposed to be about. Calling Allen a Tea Party candidate insults the patriots who rail at his performance as senator.
Taxed. Enough. Already.
So, kurt, you would have us believe that Allen can’t win the Republican primary with Radtke polling in single digits? And you would have us believe that Allen can’t win in the general election without the huge, monolithic, Tea Party support? Really? Who are you going to vote for in the general election when Allen is the Republican nominee? Kaine?
“In other districts where we were given less principled candidates we didn’t work as hard.” Bullshit. The Tea Party didn’t fail to support Republicans over Democrats at the potential of not gaining a conservative majority in the Senate. You simply attached yourselves to otherwise successful candidates like mildew to a wet dish cloth. You clowns are as delusional as the Occupy crowd in their overestimated sense of self. Get over yourselves. The only movement in the Tea Party is a bowel movement that wants to poop on winning candidates in the name of political purity.
I hope that I didn’t offend you. But if I did, tough shit.
Turbo,
Tired. Excuses. Always.
George Allen has not mentioned the Danville Patriots, Danville TEA Party. To claim support is wrong. He would do well to reach out to some of these groups, in reality as opposed just talking. He was in the Senate, along with other Republicans during the ’90s. They waltzed into power. They began to dance with the Democrats… way too far over the aisle! They chose to ignore the people then, the same people he and others want now for support. Yes, the same people. This time, however, he’ll have some new dancing parteners… I’d encourage him to discuss, with some of the winners, the victories realized in the recent Virginia election.
My name was used without my consent. I have not given George Allen’s campaign my endorsement in any way shape or form. while I am the leader of the Alexandria Tea Party, and am not associated with the NOVA TEA group, my tea party does not endorse candidates, we are an education focused group. If there is another Kerry Scott who is a tea party leader I have not heard of him/her in the two plus years I have been involved with the tea party movement. I have called Allen’s campaign office and demanded a retraction. I am requesting that you make your readers aware that Allen did not seek nor obtain my permission. I am a private citizen and am very unhappy with this situation. I can be reached at mail@alexandriateaparty.com
Rocky,
Let me clarify:
I will not stay home on election day but I will not vote for ANY Liberal be they Republican, Democrat, or other, if Allen is the candidate or Romney is the candidate I’ll still vote. Just not for either of them. Your stupid lesser of 2 evils politics is what has gotten us here. Stupid choices such as John McCain by stupid “we know better” people like you has destroyed the Republican party. This is the lesson the Republicans still don’t get from the Tea Party. They’ve read Atlas Shrugged and are shrugging. They will no longer perpetuate the 2 party myth that pretends there is a choice with the likes of Allen vs Kaine. Both Liberals, Both Idiots!
As far as the senate races go. We knocked on over 5000 doors in the Lynchburg area alone. Working with the College Republcians we helped make over 50,000 phone calls( We were around 20% of those but still…) Yet in your narrow mind that constitutes “You simply attached yourselves to otherwise successful candidates” Funny. It was people like BD’s Shaun Kenney and fools like you who said Tom Garrett had no chance. Oops!
To top it all off the list Allen put out had numerous people like Kerry Scott above that did NOT endorse him. Yet if this was a Radtke gaff you’d be all over her.
You should go back to whatever GOP rock you were under rocky!
Kurt,
You are new here, apparently. No one on BD has ever accused me of being a Republican, or of living under a rock for that matter.
So, you knocked on 5,000 doors? BFD. It is called “campaigning.” But, you still haven’t answered my question: if Allen is the Republican and Kaine is the Democrat, and if you don’t sit home on the sofa in your underwear sucking your thumb until you turn blue, then who are you going to vote for?
As for Allen’s gaffe, if you go back and read my first comment, I chastised his campaign for reaching too far and trying to claim Tea Party support. The difference between you and I is that I don’t believe that he needs to do anything to get the Tea Party vote except to not be Tim Kaine while you want us to believe that he can’t win without kissing your ass.
See, that is the problem that I have with you Tea Party idiots. You demand to direct the agenda but you don’t have the votes influence the outcome. And that is what I mean by an inflated sense of self. Pathetic.
My name is JoAnn Abbott, and I was the organizer of the first Tax Day Tea Party in Washington DC. I live in northern VA, and am not a member or organizer of the Richmond Tea Party Patriots. As far as I know, I am the only JoAnn Abbott in this state who is a Tea Party Patriots member. I did not give permission for my name to be used; my first name was mis-spelled and my group affiliation is wrong. I have not yet determined who I will be giving my personal support to at this time, but should I do so it would only be as an individual, not as a representative of the Tea Party Patriots since we are an educational group which does not promote candidates as a group.
Rocky: oops, your condescension is showing.
Without the tea party, Bill Stanley and Bryce Reeves wouldn’t have won their elections, and the VA senate would remain in the hands of democrats. Please continue to denigrate the tea party supporters…its sure to be a winning strategy.
VA Patriot,
I am typing this very slowly since I know that you can’t read very fast. Who are the Tea Party voters going to support if not Republicans? Democrats?
That is not condescension. That is reality, something that the Tea Party seems to be sorely lacking a sense of. I am a moderate Independent, but I throw in with the Republicans most of the time because they are so less odious than the Democrats. I understand the dilemma of the Tea Party. You can’t form your own majority party. But you can’t dictate the agenda of the Republicans any more than I can. Pick a side. Or, form your own minority party and then watch your votes get flushed into the toilet while your most objectionable political opponents gain the majority. And you think that is “a winning strategy?”
Rocky,
I think many in the TEA party will vote for Radtke, or another candidate instead of George Allen. You ask who they will vote for if George Allen wins the nomination ? Many will vote for Radtke, or another candidate instead of George Allen, as a write in. It isn’t one or the other, you can vote for who you want to vote for, who you think would best do the job.
I think there are a number of people here who would be thrilled to see George Allen lose by 1% to Kaine, with 2% of the vote going to a write in candidate. Because what would it matter if George Allen wins for the Republicans if he’s just going to go out and do stuff that the TEA party doesn’t like ?
Why vote for someone you don’t believe in ?
Hello Everyone,
This angst between Republican activists and Tea Party folks must stop. Yes,many of us have been involved for years (12 years in my case) and have earned credibility and position in the Party. That in and of itself should not label those of us who have done so as the enemy from Tea Party folks and vice versa.
The way I view it, the silent majority has come alive in the form of the “Tea Party” and figured out that just showing up at the polls is not enough in this digital age. No longer do they think that knocking on doors and making phone calls and helping conservative candidates is a job for someone else. Some of us die hard Republicans have been doing this for years….every election cycle. The fact that the Tea Party has discovered this over the last few years is Manna from Heaven as far as I am concerned.
The Democrats are laughing at us all the time because we are fighting so vociferously amongst ourselves.
Do we have Republican elected thst have disappointed us and not kept to conservative priciples? YES-That is certainly true. However, I do not sway from my belief ever since I started on this in the fall of 2000 that the Republican Party is still the best vehichle for preserving the country I grew up in, and is the Party of American traditions.
I have so much enjoyed working with Tea Party folks this election season, and am seriously concerned that those good relationships continue.
Let’s all have a blessed Thanksgiving & Christmas and then get on to the task of defeating Barack Obama in 2012.
The country wec grew up in depends on it.
Sincerely,
Pam
[...] you can read the actual text here. But I think I caught the gist of the [...]
Temporary,
Thank you for proving my point. You would rather see George Allen lose even if it means that Tim Kaine represents Virginia in the US Senate. After all, it is not about right-of-center political representation. It is all about not being slighted by the “Establishment Republicans” and, by God, punishing them if they dare to do it. How very mature of you.
And you have to wonder why mainstream Republicans don’t take the Tea Party seriously? Maybe because you are self-destructive nut jobs?
Rocky,
I’m done with Ford vs. Chevy politics.
I am going to vote for who I want to win.
You may see that as sour grapes, or whatever makes sense to you from your own perspective, it doesn’t much matter. The reality is that the lesser of two evils just doesn’t work for some of us anymore.
Ford and Chevy just haven’t been getting it done.
It’s time for something else.
Good luck getting that Kia selected as the Indy 500 pace car, bub.
Rocky: Your needless overt display of vitriol is…..interesting and not at ALL unhinged.
The tea party may not have the votes to direct the agenda, but it can certainly win or lose elections…which DOES kinda set the agenda. Perhaps the “tea party idiots” realize that in many cases the republicans are taking us to the same place as democrats, albeit just a BIT slower.
Now please, add some more insulting rants. It makes you look so much better than the rest of us.
Each Tea Party organization can demonstrate an active membership of 900 people?
Interesting…
Seems to me folks on here want to act like they own the word / idea of patriotism. Last time I checked the Constitution still says “We the People…” not “We the people who pay money to a party to vote in non open elections” Yes I said party too…
You folks that are willing to stay home over your so-called “principles” and really your petty egos and not vote are giving your implicit support to a liberal who would destroy this country or at best pervert it into something the founding fathers never intended. I seriously question your patriotism. It’s about America folks. Either you stand with her or against her.
I am a founder of Northern Virginia Tea Party and a Board member of NOVA TEA, and I’ve never heard of the “nova tea party” listed as the tea party affiliation for a number of these Allen supporters. Most of http://www.nova-tea.com ‘s board and leadership support Radtke. None support Allen.
I’m betting there will be more Kerry Scott like incidences and that there isn’t as much to this as the hype would suggest.
A lot of misrepresentation from the Radtke haters. What next? False allegations of Jamie being a drunk? Oooops. That one has already been used.
Um thats still 99 people Britt? vs her what 60?
If she was so well supported there shouldn’t be ANY.
Her campaign is dying and may even has already passed. Denial is one of the stages of grieving. How long before you get to acceptance?
His Excellency former Senator George Allen has a monopoly on establishment endorsers from the GOP empire. Elitist sympathizers among the colonists sucking up to the monarchy was a problems we had in 1773, Lee. This is so deja vu all over again.
This BS claim of phony Tea Party activists and organizers on the part of the Allen campaign has met resistance. What is this telling you people about His Excellency King George?
Anyone who feels that they are Taxed Enough Already is in the TEA Party.
You don’t need to belong to a group, attend meetings, elect Committee Chairs, or join the Federation to be in the TEA Party.
It was the TEA Party that changed the elections last November, 2010. It was thousands of individuals who wanted change, not a organized group, like the SEIU or CPUSA, or a Federation.
Radtke has self ordained herself and the Federation as the only ‘true, certified, validated, Tea Party in Virginia’. This of course is not true. She started this top down mandate governed group to promote herself.
We should call it what it is: The Radtke Federation.
I am an organizer of two tax day TEA parties in Reston, VA. I am also a board member of NoVA-TEA ( http://www.nova-tea.com ). I do not and have not endorsed former gov. Allen. My choice is mine alone and is no reflection of the fine members of NoVA-TEA.
VATEA,
If you will pardon me for saying so, that is a rather preposterous assertion. Other than Warren Buffet, I don’t know anyone who thinks that they need to pay more taxes. So that makes everyone except for the Oracle of Omaha a member of the Tea Party? By that criteria, anyone who supports a strong military is a Republican while anyone who supports a social safety net is a Democrat. Lots of overlap there.
The problem the Tea party patriots have is the extremist are leaders in some areas.When you have leaders telling members to send a rope or get your guns ready to shoot starving kids that come to your home looking for food.People don’t like you even Tea party members think you are a idiot.This from the same person that thinks George Allen isn’t a true conservative but doesn’t have any problem going bankrupt leaving the people who extended credit to him hold a empty bag.What a hypocrite.
Lee Talley, if you want to support George Allen, you go right ahead, but don’t bother putting weak crap like that out. Did you see the other person specifically from Nova Tea? It isn’t just one person involved here. Additionally SOME of them are likely not Tea Party at all, but George Allen supporters playing the part.
Yes, I know actual Tea Partiers are also in that group. I know some of them. That doesn’t change the fact that this is a misrepresentaion of the facts and being hyped by Allen supporters. So you and Occupy Wall Street can take your 99% claims to someone willing to listen to such stories.
Look, if you were so right, why bother with any of this? Why not just go to sleep on Radtke? “Her movement is dying” and Allen is automatic right? Well, you argue against those points when you go to so much effort to talk about Radtke and spin like there’s no tommorrow.
Stop talking about her. Go to sleep. We’ll wake you up after the primary.
“So, based on what Lloyd said, the question still remains, despite Allen’s attempted inroads, what is Radtke’s – or any other candidates’ Tea Party support?”
Yes, of the 44,900 remaining Tea Party members, how many have endorsed Radtke?
There is a conservative I know who explains why “voting for the lesser evil” is always wrong. The “lesser evil” here would be voting for a liberal statist not-overly-bright Republican over a liberal statist not-overly-bright Democrat (an Allen and Kaine matchup). Choosing the lesser evil is wrong because:
1) The lesser of two evils is still evil.
2) You cannot get to victory by rewarding people and parties who vote against your principles.
3) It demoralizes our own people (as seen in the ongoing rift between Party and real constitutionalist conservatives/Tea Party), and
4) The “lesser” evil may actually be far more dangerous to a of us. The devil always approaches as your friend and ally, and it is hard to fight, and easy to accomodate. The more obvious evil-doer is one you can more effectively understand and fight.
Britt
At the end of the day you support a candidate who rails against the debt that supposedly George Allen voted into being all by his lonesome yet the simple debt she has direct control over, her campaign debt, continues to skyrocket. I firmly believe if you can’t manage the portion given to you then why do you deserve a bigger portion.
At the end of the day, Lee, I am supporting a truly insurgent candidate that is running against a well financed campaign with all the bells and whistles that come with past history in powerful positions. At the end of the day, anyone taking on the George Allens of the world have to leverage debt against future funds. It is that simple and easily understood by most. This is an old arguement already defeated.
@ Craig, you were a voice of reason not long ago. You seemed to indicate talking about Jamie Radtke was a waste of time. So why the change?
And the Radtke team is not obligated to prove support to you. She already has plenty of public endorsements that unlike this recent fake by the Allen campaign that are not being contested by the endorser or organization.
The proof will be on election day.
[...] And her reference was to a quote on Bearing Drift from Mark Lloyd: [...]
Lee, His Excellency George Allen railed against S.R. Sidarth. Allen knew the guys real name having been introduced at prior events and in spite of that he called the guy “Macaca” with the intent to single him out and ostracize. Isolating a 20 year old kid is something Allen would do under a little pressure from a camera. Just imagine what conservative principles pressured him to make that forced error that affects all of us.
And that error was voting for more debt was it not, Lee?
Turbo… REALLY you have bring that up. I love how folks think George Allen single handedly destroyed America. I mean I think the man is a talented individual but really. Come on. Be serious for once. This dying on the altar of your principles is pure horsecrap. This race for purity is just absurd. George Allen has done the job, will do the job, and will be doing the job when you have found some other hobby than politics and leave this important business to adults who understand how things work.
Go to Somalia and try blowing yourself up for the concept of no government. If dying on the altar for your principles is more important that exercising them to best you can via our Republican Government then I’m sure they will let you blow yourself up over there quite nicely.
George Allen has not “single handedly destroyed America”. What he did do while in Congress was consistently take votes that did not advance the cause of liberty and constrain the federal government, because the ossified Republican Leadership of the last decade told him to do so. Has he given any indication that he would do any differently if sent back to the Senate? The next few Congresses will be some of the most important in History and Senators will be called to vote against their leadership (and perhaps call for new leadership) AND the opposition on matters of the most pressing importance for our Commonwealth and the Nation. Allen has to acknowledge his Senatorial failures in order to persuade voters and he hasn’t done that. For the GOP to nominate him simply because he has called in favors from his 20+ year political career won’t do this time. He needs the refinement of a tough primary.
I tough primary is one thing… fair enough but this jihad some folks are on isn’t about primaries or elections its all personal grudges.
Correction: A tough primary… my bad
Lee and everyone else. I do not know George Allen personally. The “grudge” I hold is due to his voting record. I do take what that man did in the senate personally, I guess.
This isn’t about “purity”. I think we would have forgiven and forgotten a few mistakes. You can’t even be a Tea Partier unless you can accept differences to a reasonable degree. You work with people that are opposite you on some issues. If Allen only screwed up badly by loooking the other way on Freddie & Fannie, I would support him. If he only was a champion “ear marker” and said he had to fight for Virginia’s share, I would throw that up to a difference of opinion and at least understand the arguement. If he only voted against us on the assault weapon ban, I would let it go. If he only was mistaken on some subsidies like ethanol, I would forgive him for being human. If he only looked like a bullying racist pig of a man when he tried to intimidate the tracker calling him “macaca”, I would have been deeply embarrassed, but at the end of the day hoped he learned to be a real human again and stand by him. If he only had a past that suggested possible racial intolerance (nooses, flags, and accusations of uttering slurs) I would put that up to youthful idiocy that he surely grew out of.
The problem with George Allen isn’t that he isn’t “pure”. He has been a perfectly bad example and was fired for the sum of his performance. This isn’t even close to being quibbling over a few votes. He was TERRIBLE!. It wasn’t even close. How some of you blindly support him and apologize for his record baffles me. It is truly sad if we are forced to reward Allen with another shot after what he did. We can’t do better? I wish I could believe what Coby Dillard believes. That G. Allen realizes the errors he has made and has learned. See, at least Coby doesn’t bs or apologize for what Allen did. He recognizes it. I just disagree with Coby because to me, George Allen is a proven fraud of a conservative given his RECORD, so I can’t trust a fake when he says he is really a conservative, an “insurgent candidate”, a Tea Partier before it was cool, and now reformed. If he gets nominated and elected he gets another shot (undeserved) to earn my support. Until then, he has earned my disapproval based on past performance.
Ok Britt give me the top 10 bills on which he so egregiously sinned. Plain and simple… give me the top 10 “legislative” sins. I’m not going to respond to the other crap but lets get down to brass tacks. Give me the bills he was bad on.
I am particularly concerned about Allen’s votes on the debt ceiling increases, there were more then one but to be nice, we’ll just say it was one vote (there are plenty more items for Lee’s Top Ten List). This is important because its not at all clear that the current leadership can move forward on this as we’ve seen this year where McConnell and Boehner caved to yet more debt. Can Allen be counted on to vote for new leadership or buck the current leadership on new debt ceilings? His past history suggests he will be a compliant and safe “yes” for the current weak-willed leadership. Virginia needs a conservative Senator willing to say NO.
Whit Sours,
I imagine that your question is a rhetorical one as the best gauge for future behavior is past behavior. He cannot be counted on for that all important vote.
It isn’t that Boehner and McConnell are caving…they are big spending, big government Republicans. We will continue to see the debt continue to rise until they quit lending it.
March 16 2006 – HJ47 Debt Limit Increase Resolution Vote:Yea
March 2 2006 – HR 3199 – PATRIOT Act Reauthorization
Vote: Yea
etc..
Wow Turbo.. 2 whole bills… and one of them the Patriot act… come on… bring some meat thats a bunch of gristle.
Lee,
Do you think Allen will vote to stop borrowing/spending as statist Republicans have for the past three decades ?
Republicans are happy to cut social programs, etc, to balance the budget, but when the time comes to make the hard choices and cut defense spending, can we count on George Allen to cast that vote and other unpopular difficult votes just like it ?
Lee,
A couple of our biggest issues are TSA assaulting citizen’s at the airport and our debt, how many more crisis do we need?
Pick the issue and we’ll most likely find George Allen on the wrong side of the vote.
TSA HAHAHAHA
Really. I’ve flown many times and never been groped… its inconvenient at times but its pretty neat when the plane doesn’t blow up.
This country has only been in the black once and that was under Andrew Jackson. Without deficit spending we wouldn’t have won the cold war either. Yeah we need to trim it down, absolutely. Still not a reason for the hate you people are spewing. Next!
Lee, our debt could succeed where our most dangerous enemy failed..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwJHg9UBNPE
Lee, nobody is spewing hate.
You are the only one here who seems to be angry.
Here is a little more for ya Lee..
Allen voted Yea on Daschles bill: http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d107:SN2578:
Allen voted Yea on Frist’s bill:
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d108:SN2986:
Hey Lee, maybe you can fill us in on how ole Georges endorsements from DeMint and Viguere are coming?
Want more, Lee?
I am warning you, stay away from this: https://www.facebook.com/james.h.cohen/posts/171884686241993#!/pages/Tea-Party-Against-George-Allen/132166593556368
I said don’t do it but you didn’t listen well.
Leave your response