Sarah Palin and Rand Paul are having a Tea Party

http://caivn.org/article/2010/02/04/sarah-palin-and-rand-pau...

Long before the Tea Party movement sprang up in the early days of President Obama, the liberty movement was catching fire. Dedicated to a pro-constitution, fiscally conservative, and anti-war GOP presidential candidate, the liberty movement barnstormed the nation with an explosion of grassroots enthusiasm. When Texas Congressman, Dr. Ron Paul, challenged the GOP establishment in 2007-2008, tens of thousands of supporters organized record breaking, one-day "money bombs", catchy YouTube videos, massive sign waving events, and even a blimp, without any assistance from special interests, party elites, or network celebrities.

Then, in early 2009, a few weeks after Obama's inauguration, the Tea Party movement began to show its head, enflamed by the bailouts and record government spending. Little did many people realize, however, that the "Tea Party" concept originated in December 2007, when over 58,000 grassroots supporters donated a one-day record of $6 million to Dr. Paul's presidential campaign on the anniversary of the original 1773 Boston Tea Party.

As the Tea Party began to slowly emerge, the "Liberty movement" was already in full swing. Dr. Paul had inspired a whole slate of grassroots candidates to launch campaigns for the 2010 elections. Candidates such Dr. Rand Paul (his son), Peter Schiff, Adam Kokesh, RJ Harris, Jake Towne, and Debra Medina began gearing up to run for various offices. And as the Tea Party rallies began to spread throughout the nation in 2009, many of these candidates were invited to give speeches and make appearances at Tea Party events.

But, as the Tea Party movement began to unfold, a troubling phenomenon started to emerge. Fox News, GOP elites, network personalities, and powerful special interests began to slowly, but insidiously take the reins. Seeing their opportunity, GOP strategists began to exploit the budding grassroots movement for their own political gain. Suddenly, the movement became obsessed with excorciating the Democrats and President Obama, when, in fact, the "shredding of the Consitution" by President Bush and a largely Republican Congress is what inspired the earliest tea party supporters in 2007 & 2008. As a result, disaffected Democrats and open-minded Independents strongly rejected the Tea Party's partisan invective.

Now, the Tea Party movement is battling for its soul. With $100,000 payments to Sarah Palin, $500 tickets to attend a "grassroots" convention, and Republican strategists such as Sal Russo pulling the strings behind the scenes, the Tea Party movement is fighting the onslaught of a full-fledged, GOP establishment hijacking.
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