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The teabaggers have managed to successfully turn the original Ron Paul Tea Party ideology — which opposed the corrupting influence of lobbyists in DC — into an incoherent mess that defends a GOP that does this:
A group of several dozen of the most influential business lobbyists in Washington is vowing to raise and spend whatever it takes to bankroll Norm Coleman’s upcoming appeal fight, in the wake of a three-judge ruling declaring that Al Franken defeated Coleman in the Minnesota Senate race.
The group of lobbyists, which calls itself “Team Coleman,” is made up of some of the biggest players in D.C.’s permanent lobbying establishment, and includes executives from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Federation of Independent Business, the National Restaurant Association and others.
“We will raise as much as is necessary,” Dirk Van Dongen, a leading member of Team Coleman and the president of the National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors, told me in an interview. “We’ll keep raising money as Norm needs it. We continue to be active in raising resources for Norm to carry out this fight to the end.”
No doubt Glenn Reynolds will soon be explaining how "grassroots" this is.
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I wonder how much of their own money they’ll throw into this snake pit.
er… So much for the Dems having the town locked up.
Nice work Schumer.
Oh, wait.
So I take it Coleman isn’t beholden to lobbyists and special interests…NOT!
So,
Elections are a matter of money? And power?
If I were going through law school now, I’d read the cases and the statutes and then ask, all right, how does the system really work?
The best answer would be, find out who has power. That person makes the rules.
I’m sure that Norm (we can call him “Norm”, right?) is in no way beholden to any lobbyists or special interest groups. On the contrary. He’s obviously a man of the people who simply wants to get to Washington so he can fight for the little guy.
Whew! That’s a relief.
What is the angle for the National Restaurant Association? I don’t get the connection. Is Normie (we can call him “Normie”, right?) deemed to be good for business at Denny’s and Sizzler? Classy guy.
What a shame; those are the very ’small biz’ groups who should be talking with Franken about the future of their issues.
Self-inflicted wounds…
I always thought the Chamber of Commerce was something to improve and promote their towns and cities and to help the business owners. What are they doing getting into something like this?
With enough money and given a corrupt and venal political system Norm Coleman will be seated as the Senator of Minnesota. It was a valiant effort by Franken but progressive forget what and who they are dealing with.
The Chamber of Commerce is nothing more than a “civic” arm of the Republican Party.
The Chamber of Commerce is at the heart of every state Rethug party apparatus. Stands to reason seein’ as how the Rethug party is the party of bidness. In FL CoC members/lobbyists write much of the legislation coming out of the legislature.
People! I just got home from a busy afternoon out and about, and this is what greets me. Could I just say that I am so frickin’ sick’n tired of Norm Coleman and his slime-mates? No offense, New Yorkers, but you can have him back. Don’t want him any more. What’s that you say? The Supreme Court is for sale, too? Oh. Well, then, never mind.
Dirk Van Dongen, a leading member of Team Coleman…
oh, come on….
why is every story about the repubs lately coming supplied with the punch line preceding the story?
What are they gonna do? Buy a judge?
Is Dirk Van Dongen a teabagger, too?
The hits just keep on comin’ with this crowd….
See my comment @ 12. Crikey!
I don’t know who this is, but it sounds like an X-rated movie star.
I would guess that the National Restaurant Association is deadset against their employees’ being able to more easily organize under the Employee Free Choice Act’s provision for majority sign-up. Just a guess, though….
From Marc Cooper in the LA Times Anti-Obama Taxpayer Tea Parties steeped in insanity
Maybe the Chamber of Commerce is sniffing glue too.
God, I have small town friends who are very active in the Chamber of Commerce, and they are Dems. I’ve never been able to figure that one out. I always get the feeling that if the Chamber is for something, I should definitely be against it. And, as it turns out, I usually am when I look into the topic.
Hi Jane ‘n Pups,
Brooklyn will not take Norm back, but I’m not so sure about Staten Island.
The hate and the stupid were deep but I made it through.
Tea Baggin’ on the Island.
Crowd of maybe 100- 125 and dense as a bowling ball as a pup stated earlier.
Roberts, for instance, was down there in Florida with the legal team installing Bush. And now he’s Supreme Court Chief Justice. Might not need to be bought. Actually he’s the head of the Supreme Court. I don’t know that he has anything much to do with justice.
That’s about the one thing they’re good for: A negative barometer.
Is Faux the only “organization” covering the Tea Parties? The only mention I’ve found so far is the DC event’s encounter with the Secret Service and National Park Service. Seems they didn’t get certain permits. I did find this story, however, and it sure beats teabagging.
National Restaurant Association is obviously suffering from sympathetic-acronym-syndrome….
You know, I wish they would cough up tens of millions of dollars for Norm. I really do. Because coughing it up for something that is really starting to piss off even us normally-patient Minnesotans will not only NOT make Norm Coleman a senator again, but it’s also just the perfect recipe for guaranteeing that Tim Pawlenty loses his bid to stay on as governor next year — which means that a Democrat gets to decide which of Minnesota’s congressional districts goes bye-bye after the 2010 census is done. (Hint: Michele Bachmann shouldn’t get too comfy.)
I keep looking for some common sense and wisdom of forethought
Oops my bad
What are the people there saying about this situation in every day conversation? Are they angry or have they given up?
They are angry. They have not given up. Assuming “the people” are the Dems. And really, that goes without saying, doesn’t it?! Though Scandinavians are not very practiced at spewing, I believe we are approaching the projectile vomiting point. Fed up and rising. Might even end up saying out loud, “Gosh darn it, that’s enough!”
Oh. Duh. That makes perfect sense. Thanks.
A growing number, including Republicans, are saying that it’s time for Norm to pack it in. He can’t win, he looks like an idiot, and he’s just wasting time and money. The Election Contest Court dismissed his recount lawsuit “with prejudice”, meaning that he and his legal team pissed them off so badly that they’re making him pay court costs as well as Team Franken’s legal bills, in addition to what will likely be a hefty fine for the Pamela Howell witness-tampering stunt they tried to pull.
And we wouldn’t want everyone from our chefs to waitstaff to have health care. *cough*
I like the way you think.
Probably, they are the National Restaurant-Chain Association.
Wow, on Hardball, the young man who is the grassroots organizer of the Chicago teabaggers just said he did all the organizing on his spare time from his job at a free-market thinktank. Yeah, right.
Also, Mike Pence is an IDIOT.
Mike Pence thinks Rush PRAISED President Obama for his rescue of the pirates, clearly missing Rush’s sarcasm about Jonah Goldberg’s praiseful column!
You mean the “spare time” he had from about 8 to 5? Makes sense.
The Election Contest Court dismissed his recount lawsuit “with prejudice”, meaning that he and his legal team pissed them off so badly that they’re making him pay court costs as well as Team Franken’s legal bills, in addition to what will likely be a hefty fine for the Pamela Howell witness-tampering stunt they tried to pull.
actually, the “with prejudice” part just means that he can’t re-file on this issue.
The rest of it means that he pissed them off.
That collection of teabagging photos will give me nightmares. Very good job. Scary, but good.
Thanks, Jane.
There may be a silver lining in NRSC/CoC lobbyist interference in local elections. The harder the republicans push to nullify Minnesota’s senate race result, the more intense the blowback could be in consolidating recent DFL gains. We’ll see if Pawlenty commits political sepuku by denying Franken his election cert after MNSC upholds the ECC decision.
“Team Coleman”
I guess thats what the GOP means by “Economic Stimulus”.
good job! i appreciate those photos!
the older fotos at the end are from last yrs.n.y.c. firepup meetups.
they helped to ease the burn from the tea bag pix.
RE #40 – The golden lining would come from tens of millions in freeper contributions flushed down Colman’s doomed, but continuing legal challenge, which won’t be available to fund other political battles.
It might just prove to be another Erin Brockovich moment where the most money and political connections can’t prevail over the facts and the rule of law.
Here’s a little thought for doe-eyed optimists that continue to have the delusion that the U.S. can be “reformed” from within I pose this simple question. Will there be meaningful healthcare reform when the major networks receive much of their funding during their “news” programming from big pharma?
it’s the least i can do for you pups.
can’t begin to tell you what all of you here have done for me. :-)
Barbara, Phoenix Women and others:
I was born in Minnesota and moved to Iowa when I was 16. I have lived everywhere and most of my relations are Minnesotans. I have endured Iowegian jokes forever but may I pose this question.
While we Iowans were granting civil rights to all people you Minnesotans can’t even elect a Senator? *G*
barbara & greenwarrior:
I know. It was a dark comment that I made, it was………
Like these judges, K?
YUP. I sat up half the night faxing against Alito’s confirmation…did it do any good? NO!
We are owned