Posted: September 8, 2010 at 12:18 pm
Tea Partiers Demand Reinstatement of Leader After Ousting, MT GOP Remains Supportive of Tea Party
The day after Big Sky Tea Party tried to distance itself in the press from the remarks of its former leader Tim Ravndal by removing him as leader, Tea Party members convinced the board to reconsider the decisions, the Helena IR reports:
At a frequently contentious meeting, many of the approximately 30 members in attendence blasted acting board chairman Roger Nummerdor and chairman Jim Walker — absent because he’s hunting in the Crazy Moutains — for stripping Ravndal of his position and membership without giving him a chance to defend himself, and for announcing the move to the press over the Labor Day weekend.
In the end, Nummerdor said the available board members would meet soon to consider reinstating Ravndal’s association membership, although he did not specify a date for that meeting.
There can no longer be any doubt about who these people are, and what they stand for.
And yet the Montana GOP and its legislative candidates continue to be strong supporters of the tea party in Montana. Are we to take their continued solidarity as tacit support for violent bigotry? The silence is deafening.
Even Rehberg, who is facing his first real opponent in a decade and who expressed support for the ousting of Ravndal, remained supportive of the Tea Party overall saying the movement was “bigger than one person”, in spite, apparently, of the membership’s call and the board’s decision to reconsider the Ravndal dismissal.
Here’s the thing Denny. The movement is more than one person, and so is the support for violence against gays.
UPDATE: The Beaverhead County Dems have a great summary of the history of Rehberg’s homophobic behavior.
Brief history of Rehberg’s homophobia (from the Beaverhead Dems site):
Rehberg supports a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. And in 2007 he voted against the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act, a bill amending the Federal definition of hate crimes to include gender identification and sexual orientation.
Rehberg’s long-standing homophobia caught the attention of Newsweek fifteen years ago when AIDS was considered a “gay disease.” In the Dec. 26, 1994, issue he was quoted as saying,”The problem with AIDS is you get it, you die, so why are we spending [money on] any people that get it?”
So it shouldn’t come as a surprise to learn that on May 27 Rehberg voted against repealing the military’s “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” policy. Catering to his homophobic base is more important to him than preventing competent and even superior gay members of the military from being drummed out of the armed services solely on account of their sexual orientation.
One of the planks in the Montana Republican Party’s 2010 platform reads, “We support the clear will of the people of Montana expressed by legislation to keep homosexual acts illegal.” The legislation referred to has been found unconstitutional at both state and federal levels. But Rehberg doesn’t care about such a nicety. Ever a crime-fighter, he wants all those queers busted!
looks to me like denny rehberg certainly has ample credentials to be a leader of the montana tea party. thanks mr turner.
any nominations?
but, of course if the montana tea party votes against the ouster and reinstates tim in power, perhaps denny rehberg could apprentice under tim’s tutelage regarding violent hatred toward gays and develop his skillsets homophobe-wise?
The GOP likes the Tea Party because of the campaign $$$…they support local candidates to help them beat opponents. I don’t have proof, so I won’t name names, but I was told by someone in the campaign that a rural Montana candidate for HD got $17K from the Tea Party to run his campaign – far and away more than any local donations to the Dems or GOP. This was national money for a state seat, and three times what could be raised locally. They can’s say no to the deep pockets of this populist craze.
Let’s be clear: The TEA movement is really about the right to consume.
The Twelve Steps recited by Overeater’s Anonymous that should be appearing in the meme coming out of the demi-political phantasm self-identifying as the TEA Party is an admonishment of Caesar mewled by the widest, most pernicious Americans. It quickly becomes apparent that the consumption of resources without the bounds of government (We the People, right?) should be unrestricted, guided only by one’s own personal responsibility, entitled by the supernatural, and described by a badly-translated, two thousand year-old work of literature, caveat emptor.
As oil coats the Gulf of Mexico with the results of human greed it seems increasingly obvious to most that if government was really the problem, corporate independence would likely have ended life on Earth by now. The Ugliest Americans are those that insist that, “Time is Money” and that the end justifies the means. These people aren’t patriots, they’re gluttons using language that enables their own insatiable compulsion to have more, consume more, and weigh more than the other poor slobs. Or, in other words, these people are just crackers for their TEA.
Democrats=safe food, safe water, safe shelter, safe sex.
Republicans=cheap food, cheap water, cheap shelter, cheap sex.
I, too, feel you are stretching the connection between the “Tea Party Movement” and the Montana GOP. The GOP is just using the momentum of this supposed “movement” to further thier own goals. Don’t expect any kind of lasting connection there after the election.
Worse, you are characterizing the thousands of people that “support” the Tea party by the actions of a few nutcase members.. Would you guys like to be characterized by the nutcases that support your agenda?
Don’t get me wrong.. these nutcases are scary but they will be marginalized by thier own actions. The call for smaller, more fiscally aware government will continue with or without the Tea party movement or the actions of these nutcases and if you want any support at all for your candidate, you will have to understand that. Plenty of Conservatives and Republicans in this state have quite publically condemned the anti gay plank in the Republican Platform. I am somewhat surprised you haven’t reported on that.
@Moorcrat;
Re your “plenty of conservatives and Republicans condemning the anti-gay plank” comment…
Well, maybe; except for the most powerful one….(Rehberg)….
I have posted here and elsewhere that I have exactly zero respect for Reburp. The “R” after his name only indicates his riches, not that he is a decent conservative or Republican. Richy Reberg serves only one master – himself. I will not vote for him in November (and haven’t ever voted for him) though he will probably win by a fairly large margin. The only question is whether I can be convinced McDonald isn’t another stuffed shirt trying to make his fortune on the public dime.
Dude, you’re missing the talking points. According to the Republicants, McDonald is already a *rich* mob lawyer. He doesn’t need to make his fortune on the public dime.
And in truth, he really doesn’t. So what was your complaint again?
Tea Baggers = nutjobs
In a literal sense too! ‘Course, these are the morons that labeled THEMSELVES teabaggers, and then took offense when someone called them teabaggers because that term was offensive! I mean, how stupid can these folks get?
It’s funny that they think teabagging is something gay people do. Shows the level of knuckle dragging from this bunch.
I was also wrong about the tea party movement until I joined a great site that made me understand it better. I met alot of friends on the site and must say I was impressed with the way they think. I thought they were all crazy people then I found out why they are the tea party movement. It was because they worry about the United States and the constitution.