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Grassroots Leader: GOP Establishment Failed to Defend the Tea Party

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“The tea party has been pushed into a corner and labeled as the greatest threat to the United States of America, which is the most ridiculous thing on earth.”

That’s the view of Allen Roth, president of the foreign policy advocacy group Secure America Now, which was targeted by the IRS in 2012. Roth’s group seeks to unify Democrats, Republicans and independents through shared ideals about American values and foreign policy positions.

“This labeling of the tea party as terrorist is not only outrageous, but it really shows where this administration is coming from,” Roth told The Daily Caller in an exclusive interview.

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And the State with the Greatest Number of Tea Partiers Per Capita Is…

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Photo Credit: Institute for Research and Education on Human Rights

Photo Credit: Institute for Research and Education on Human Rights

Maybe it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that Alaska, a state known for its independent streak, is a hotbed for tea partiers. It’s home to the most members per capita, according to data from a new report.

The states with the largest populations were, of course, home to the most in absolute terms, with the South leading the nation by region. The data was part of a larger report on the status of the movement produced by the Institute for Research and Education on Human Rights, a liberal group based in Kansas City, Mo. (Sources for the report’s data included political contributions and the Web sites of several tea party organizations.)

The movement lays claim to a small slice of the nation, with its more than 450,000 members accounting for a 0.14 percent share of the population…

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As Tea Party Becomes More Viable, Democrats And GOP Establishment Plan Attacks

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Photo Credit: AP

Photo Credit: AP

Perhaps in response to recent buzz that Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.), a perpetual Tea Party favorite, may be on the verge of becoming the GOP’s most viable 2016 Presidential contender, Senator Charles Schumer is digging up tired Tea Party smears in an effort to turn voters against the small government movement which has embedded itself into the Republican Party.

Schumer argues that Democrats can exploit the Tea Party ties to big money donors in an effort to turn blue collar voters against fiscally conservative candidates within the GOP who eschew big government spending.

“The tea party elites, with little rebuttal, have been able to make government the bogeyman,” Schumer said during a speech at the liberal Center for American Progress in Washington, D.C. “They have convinced too much of America that government is the explanation for their ills.”

Schumer also said that Democrats must double down on their support of government programs.

“We must stop playing defense and go on offense when it comes to the need for government. We must state loudly and repeatedly that we believe government is often a necessary force for good,” said Schumer.

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Schumer Calls on Obama to Use IRS to Curtail Tea Party Activities

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Photo Credit: AP

Photo Credit: AP

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) proposed using the Internal Revenue Service to curtail Tea Party group funding during a speech on how to “exploit” and “weaken” the movement at the Center for American Progress on Thursday.

Arguing that Tea Party groups have a financial advantage after the Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United decision, Schumer said the Obama administration should bypass Congress and institute new campaign finance rules through the IRS.

“It is clear that we will not pass anything legislatively as long as the House of Representatives is in Republican control, but there are many things that can be done administratively by the IRS and other government agencies—we must redouble those efforts immediately,” Schumer said.

“One of the great advantages the Tea Party has is the huge holes in our campaign finance laws created [by] the ill advised decision [Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission],” Schumer said. “Obviously the Tea Party elites gained extraordinary influence by being able to funnel millions of dollars into campaigns with ads that distort the truth and attack government.”

The Obama administration proposed new IRS restrictions on campaign related activity by tax-exempt groups last November. The rules would crack down on “candidate-related political activity,” which includes advocacy “for a clearly identified political candidate or candidates of a political party” and communications that are “made within 60 days of a general election (or within 30 days of a primary election) and clearly identify a candidate or political party.”

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We Told You So: McDonnell, Christie Dumped Tea Party Long Ago

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Photo Credit: AP

Photo Credit: AP

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell were the first victors in the Tea Party wave, riding fresh conservative enthusiasm–and outrage over Obamacare–to victory in November 2009. The left, predictably, is trying to link Christie’s bullying scandal and McDonnell’s corruption indictment to that Tea Party support. The truth, however, is that they dumped their Tea Party principles and supporters long ago.

There were several minor scuffles between these governors and the conservative grass roots, including a fight over some of Christie’s judicial appointments, and McDonnell’s tax hikes. Yet the major falling-out occurred over Obamacare–specifically, the decision of these two governors (among others) to renege on their promises not to expand Medicaid in accordance with the Affordable Care Act (and its generous federal handouts).

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Report: Tea Party Expands Influence Even in Democratic-Leaning Districts

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Photo Credit: fibonacci blue

Photo Credit: fibonacci blue

Despite national polls showing dwindling voter support for the Tea Party, House Republicans are embracing the movement’s issues tighter than ever, setting up a potential clash with voters in districts that lean Democratic, according to a new study of key House votes.

On average, said the study provided in advance to Secrets, House Republicans in Democratic-leaning districts or those that voted for President Obama over Republican Mitt Romney in 2012 sided with the Tea Party about 81 percent of the time on key votes like defunding Obamacare, blocking an increase of the debt limit and supporting a government shutdown.


“When swing Republicans grumble that [House Speaker John] Boehner should stand up to the Tea Party caucus they should be looking in the mirror,” said Brad Woodhouse, president of the progressive group Americans United for Change, which sponsored the study.

“The beauty of this report,” he added, “is that it doesn’t take an ounce of spin — it comes straight from their own votes and those scored by what are undoubtedly Tea Party groups.”

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Conservatives Question US Chamber’s Plan to Spend Millions to Defeat Tea Party-Style Candidates in 2014

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Photo Credit: Reuters

Photo Credit: Reuters

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce says it will back “pro-business” candidates against Tea Party-styled opponents in this year’s elections, largely in response to conservative lawmakers fueling last year’s partial government shutdown fight.

“In 2014, the chamber will work to protect and expand a pro-business majority in the House and advance our position and our influence in the Senate,” Chamber President and CEO Tom Donohue said Wednesday. “We will support candidates who want to work within the legislative process.”

Donohue, in his annual State of American Business speech, didn’t single out the Tea Party specifically but said afterward the chamber’s frustrations are with the movement’s extreme faction and politicians who have linked themselves to the Tea Party.

“It’s people who don’t want to play,” Donohue told Fox Business, referring to last year’s budget stalemate that partially closed the federal government for 16 days and the ensuring debt-ceiling negotiations that almost resulted in the same outcome.

“The Tea Party has lots of good ideas,” Donohue said. “But those people are not helping us.”

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Significant Obama Donor to Head IRS Tea Party Targeting Investigation

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Photo Credit: AP

Photo Credit: AP

The attorney heading the internal investigation into potential unfair targeting of conservative groups by the IRS is a frequent and significant donor to both the Democratic National Committee and President Obama, Rep. Darrell Issa revealed today, in what he calls a “startling conflict of interest” that jeopardizes the investigation.

Rep. Issa, Chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, sent a letter today to Attorney General Eric Holder revealing new information that reached the committee on who is conducting the internal investigations at the IRS regarding the inappropriate targeting of conservative groups. Seeking an explanation as to why the FBI has been unresponsive to the committee, Rep. Issa noted that current and former IRS officials revealed Barbara Bosserman, a trial attorney within the IRS’s Civil Rights Commission, is leading the internal investigation.

Bosserman’s leadership raises all sorts of questions about the investigation’s fairness. Rep. Issa’s investigations revealed that she has been a loyal financial backer of the DNC since 2004 and has donated multiple times personally to President Obama’s two campaigns. Her personal donation total reaches $6,750 to both the party and President Obama.

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Britain’s Version of Tea Party Rocks Political System Across the Pond

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Photo Credit: Reuters

Photo Credit: Reuters

The often stale British political system is being rocked by its very own Tea Party.

The UK Independence Party (UKIP), formed in 1993 opposing Britain’s entry into the European Union, failed to make an electoral dent for a long time. However UKIP has built up steam in recent years and is spearheading a seismic shift in the British political spectrum.

In this year’s local elections – the British version of midterms — UKIP took a stunning 23 percent of the vote, up from the 3.1 percent they won in the 2010 national election. Their leader, Nigel Farage, is buoyed by their recent success.

“We want to take back our country, we want to take back our government, and we want to take back our birthright,” Farage told FoxNews.com in forthright language rarely seen in British politics.

Farage has good reason to be confident of UKIP’s potential. Since he took the party’s helm for a second time in 2010, the party has been revitalized, capitalizing on dissatisfaction with the Conservative Party’s shift to the center under current Prime Minister David Cameron.

Read more from this story about Britain’s version of the tea party HERE.

Ordinance Challenged for Targeting Pro-Lifers

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Photo Credit: WND

Photo Credit: WND

A team of pro-life advocates who like to try to intervene when women head for an abortion business in West Palm Beach say they unfairly are being targeted by police because officers enforce a noise ordinance only against them.

Not passersby. Not Wendy’s. Not a Pollo Tropical restaurant. And not the abortion business itself.

On appeal to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, Susan Pine and Marilyn Blackburn are asking that a noise ordinance be struck down, or otherwise changed to make it constitutional.

Right now, Pine and Blackburn, who offer to help women facing crisis pregnancies outside the city’s Presidential Women’s Center abortion business, say the city’s enforcement of an ordinance is selective.

According to officials with Liberty Counsel, which is representing the women, the city ordinance “bans all ‘shouting’ and amplified sound within 100 feet of the [abortionists’] property line, regardless of the volume or whether the sound causes any disturbance.”

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