“Alexander and other Kentucky activists plugged into the movement insist tea partiers in the state overwhelmingly oppose bombing Syria. “The things I’m seeing and emails I’m getting from folks around the state, they’re not in favor of it,” says John Kemper, a Lexington-based activist with the United Kentucky Tea Party. “They’re posting anti-war messages and images on the their Facebook account and sending articles out about why we shouldn’t be over there.”
The Tea Party Patriots are chicken-shit when it comes to backing up our President in Syria. They want Obama to fail so they won’t have to pay taxes. They should be stripped of their patriotic props. I mean, look at these people! They look like they walked out of the Plant and Lumber Emporium where they maxed out their credit cards buying concrete stepping stones to their new storage unit where they keep their gardening tools.
“Please Mr. Obama. Please give us our tax money back so we can buy more bags of fertilizer for our rose beds!”
Jon Presco
Kentucky Tea Partiers to Mitch McConnell: Vote to Bomb Syria and You’re Toast
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patriotism
Patriotism is a cultural attachment to one’s homeland, excluding differences caused by the dependencies of the term’s meaning upon context, geography and philosophy. In a generalized sense applicable to all countries and peoples, patriotism is a devotion to one’s country
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patriot_(American_Revolution)
Patriots (also known as Rebels, Revolutionaries, Congress-Men or American Whigs) were those colonists of the British Thirteen United Colonies that violently rebelled against British control during the American Revolution and in July 1776 declared the United States of America an independent nation. Their rebellion was based on the political philosophy of republicanism, as expressed by pamphleteers, such as Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, and Thomas Paine.
Bobby Alexander, the chair of the Central Kentucky Tea Party Patriots, says McConnell’s refusal to take a clear position on Syria thus far has damaged him in the eyes of Kentucky tea partiers. Alexander notes that the McConnell campaign’s efforts to brand its candidate “Leader Mitch”—to emphasize his standing in Washington—has been undercut by McConnell’s refusal to speak plainly about his position on Syria. “Conservatives in Kentucky do not want us involved in Syria,” Alexander says. “When we take a position like that, we want our elected officials to support that position. So far, he has failed to do that.” (McConnell’s office did not respond to a request for comment.)
Alexander, who opposes McConnell, considers the minority leader’s ducking of the issue emblematic: “That’s a very common theme of his operation: See which way the wind’s blowing, see which way is most advantageous for his reelect, and once he’s figured that out, he’ll vote and say this is why I voted for it or against it.”
Alexander and other Kentucky activists plugged into the movement insist tea partiers in the state overwhelmingly oppose bombing Syria. “The things I’m seeing and emails I’m getting from folks around the state, they’re not in favor of it,” says John Kemper, a Lexington-based activist with the United Kentucky Tea Party. “They’re posting anti-war messages and images on the their Facebook account and sending articles out about why we shouldn’t be over there.”
That skepticism is shared by national tea party organizations with access to millions of volunteers and small-dollar donors. “In Syria, it’s very difficult to find an American interest,” Sal Russo, who runs Tea Party Express, told the Hill. “That’s what hits the nerve within the general tea party—excessive use of the president’s power.”
McConnell can expect much howling from the conservative grassroots in Kentucky if he votes in favor of bombing Syria. “It will probably motivate us and encourage us to step up our efforts to put him in the ‘Senator Retired’ line next year,” Alexander says. “Though I’m not sure that we could work a lot harder than we’re already working.”
John Kemper, the United Kentucky Tea Party activist who also opposes McConnell, says he could see Bevin, the wealthy, tea-party-backed Republican running against McConnell, making use of a McConnell “yes” vote in the Kentucky’s GOP primary in May 2014, the first competitive primary of McConnell’s 26-year Senate career. “If I was running against McConnell and he voted for these strikes, I would certainly make the case that Sen. McConnell is willing to send our young men and women into harm’s way even though we weren’t impacted by it,” he says. “It would be an unconstitutional use of our military.”
However the Syrian conflict plays out, Eric Wilson, who founded the Kentucky chapter of the Glenn Beck-inspired 9/12 Project, says he expects the Syria vote to be used as a political battering ram. Unlike other tea partiers in Kentucky, Wilson doesn’t think the decision to attack Syria breaks cleanly along partisan or ideological lines, and he says there’s no one clear answer for how McConnell should vote if he wants to appease his base. Polling shows that Republican voters nationwide are split on what to do in Syria.
Since launching his campaign, McConnell’s attempts to buddy up with Sen. Rand Paul complicate his position on Syria. The more Paul plays a prominent role in the debate—he has pledged to filibuster a vote in the Senate to authorize missile strikes—the less room McConnell has to maneuver.
If McConnell should choose to support a military action in Syria, it would be the third strike against him for the conservative base, asserts David Adams, a Kentucky activist who ran Paul’s 2010 campaign during the GOP primary and who wants McConnell out. The first was the deal he cut in January with Vice President Joe Biden, which raised the debt ceiling and increased taxes on wealthy Americans. The second was voting to fund the government in March, which included money for Obamacare. “The question is, is Sen. McConnell ready to run through this gauntlet where he betrays conservative principles three times in a row in very rapid succession?” Adams asks.




Leave a comment