FreedomWorks in Richmond With Dick Armey and John Taylor

The first official FreedomWorks Virginia event went off without a hitch tonight down at Europa Italian Cafe on E. Cary St. I highly recommend this resturant. Its easy to get to, plenty of parking less than half a block from the door. Go spend money and tell 'em FreedomWorks sent ya'.

We had about 100 folks in attendance, and some of those folks drove from as far as Rockbridge and Shennandoah County to hear Dick Armey, John Taylor, Nan Swift, and Tabitha Hale (SmartGirlPolitics) speak on issues near and dear to the hearts of Virginians. FreedomWorks is very lucky to have such talented, intelligent, motivated individuals

Doc was under the weather, but one of the best stand-ins ever filled in for him. Scott Lee from The Lee Brothers did the Emcee duties and he was, well, he was Scott Lee.

There may be a new segment on the Lee Brothers radio show on Saturday mornings. Seems Scott is a huge fan of good BBQ sauce, and since I happen to know where to get some primo, Scott came up with an idea. I'll let him develop it as he sees fit, but stay tuned. This may get sticky. ;)

Be sure to listen to Doc on Friday. He's going to have a film crew from the BBC in the studio with him. I met them tonight. A lot of Britons are going to get introduced to some real Americans when this documentary on Cap and Trade gets broadcast in England on BBC2.

Once the Virginia election is over, and we have a conservative majority back in charge, the real work begins. The mission is the re-affirmation of the sovereignty of the several states and the rights of those states to conduct business without unneccessary government regulations.

We need to stop cap and trade in its tracks. We need to drive a stake through the heart of domestic energy production restrictions. We need to push hard for the GA and the VA Senate to recognize that the federal government does not have the final word on the welfare of the citizens. The states have the right and obligation to defend the rights of its citizens.

It starts here. It starts now. In Virginia. Where it began the first time.

The Constitution of the United States is the Law.
Everything else is just a regulation.

Doug Hoffman Leads In Poll; Where's Cantor?

When will our 7th District Congressman, the House Minority Whip, Eric Cantor, finally back the ony true conservative candidate in the NY-23 Special Election?

When the Republican machine tells him to? You waiting for Newt to give you marching orders?

Or when the citizens have made their choice and elected a true conservative to New York's 23rd Congressional District? Its easy to be a rebel among rebels. Not so easy to be the first one, it would seem.

Congressman Cantor, as a constitiuent of the 7th District, I call upon you to buck the party machine and endorse Doug Hoffman; just as former House Majority Leader Dick Armey and former Alaska Governor Sara Palin have done.

Its time for you to decide if you represent the people or the party.

More From NY-23

The last paragraph says it all. We are not Republican, we are conservative Americans and we will not accept the status quo or the good ole boy BS any longer.

From Politico:
NY-23 race first test of tea party power
By: Alex Isenstadt
October 22, 2009 08:31 PM EST

Tea party activists from across the nation are rallying around the House special
election in upstate New York, viewing it as the first electoral test of the nascent conservative movement’s political muscle. Organizers up and down the East Coast report that activists are making their way into the campaign offices of Conservative Party nominee Doug Hoffman, with the volunteers focusing their efforts in Oswego, Madison and Jefferson counties. While tea party organizers say the election is a unique opportunity to hold the Democratic and Republican parties to account, much of their energy is being directed against Dede Scozzafava, the GOP establishment-backed nominee whom they view as a squishy moderate who represents all that is wrong with the Republican Party.

“I went here from Washington, D.C., saying, ‘Now what?’” said Jennifer Bernstone, an organizer for Central New York 912, a Syracuse-based tea party group that so far has about 300 members getting out the vote for Hoffman. “Well, here’s the ‘Now what.’”

Numerous anti-Scozzafava websites have emerged across the blogosphere.

Dana Loesch, a St. Louis-based activist, has launched “Dump Dede,” a site that tracks nationwide conservative opposition to Scozzafava and urges viewers to “throw your support behind conservatism, ladies and gents; the clock starts now.”

Michael Patrick Leahy, a Nashville, Tenn.-area tea party activist, has turned his Drudge Report-like TCOT Report into a constantly updated bulletin board of news and rumors slamming Scozzafava.

“Breitbart’s BigGovernment.com, Washington Times, National Review, RedState Join Growing Avalanche of Other Conservatives Calling for Scozzafava to Withdraw from Race in NY 23rd,” blared the site’s headline Thursday afternoon. “They’re all making a concerted effort for Doug Hoffman, and they are making New York 23 a last stand,” said Erick Erickson, who has been urging tea party activists for months to ramp up electoral efforts against the Republican Party on his influential conservative blog RedState. “New York should be a hill to die on for conservative activists.”

Scozzafava faces Democrat Bill Owens and Hoffman in the Nov. 3 contest to fill the vacancy left by the resignation of Rep. John McHugh (R-N.Y.). In New York, tea party activists have emerged as the ground troops for the small, grass-roots-oriented Hoffman campaign.

Bernstone, the CNY912 activist who in her day job works as an acting coach, said she now participates in nightly 9:30 p.m. conference calls with Hoffman campaign aides. “We are helping his organization get out the vote for what we believe is the better of the two candidates,” said William Lamar Wells, who heads up CNY912. “This is rapidly elevating.”

“We’re seeing a lot of tea party people coming into the office,” said Rob Ryan, a Hoffman spokesman. “In a very competitive election, they’re providing a lot of manpower to put Doug Hoffman over the top.”

For the tea party activists, the special election represents the next big event for the loosely confederated movement, which began earlier this year with local Tax Day “tea parties,” followed by town hall protests and a Sept. 12 March on Washington. “I think, nationally, the tea party movement to a person is supporting Hoffman,” said Leahy.

On Thursday, former House Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-Texas), chairman of FreedomWorks, an organization that has played a role in coordinating tea party activities, personally endorsed Hoffman and implored his conservative followers to get on board.

“You’re sitting right in the eye of the storm. This country is at a crossroads,” Armey told supporters, according to an account in the Syracuse Post-Standard. “We have a special election. This is the game-changer. We’ve struggled with a Republican Party ... that has lost its way. They don’t remember about [President Ronald] Reagan. ... They don’t remember about small government. They let their thinking be controlled by self-serving political objects. And frankly, they made a lot of fools out of themselves.” FreedomWorks is now set to launch an aggressive effort to educate voters on what it says are the differences between Hoffman and Scozzafava.

Adam Brandon, a FreedomWorks spokesman, said the organization would have hundreds of members on the ground in the closing days of the contest and will distribute call lists to members across the country who can’t make it to upstate New York.

Armey himself is set to embark on a whistle-stop and media tour with Hoffman and will headline a fundraiser for the Conservative Party nominee. On Wednesday, Armey huddled with tea party activists who are playing a role in the race. According to an Oct. 15 Siena Research Institute poll, Owens has the support of 33 percent of likely voters, followed by Scozzafava at 29 percent and Hoffman at 23 percent. But Hoffman’s numbers were up 7 points during a two-week period, and Democratic and Republican insiders told POLITICO that Hoffman has now moved into second place ahead of Scozzafava, according to internal polls.

Asked to assess how much credit the Hoffman campaign would give to tea party activists in the event the Conservative Party candidate wins, Ryan said, “We would owe them a great deal of credit.”

For Scozzafava, the ramped-up tea party opposition has coincided with a rough campaign stretch. On Monday evening, she came under fire after reports circulated that her husband had called police after a Weekly Standard writer peppered her with a series of questions. Two days later, on Wednesday, Scozzafava, appearing exhausted, staged an awkward photo op in front of Hoffman’s campaign headquarters — surrounded by a sea of Hoffman supporters waving Hoffman campaign signs behind her.

“I think, whether it’s tea party folks or any other group, they have a right to support who they feel best represents them,” said Matt Burns, a Scozzafava spokesman. “I think it’s a healthy thing when there is political involvement from people at any level.”

Tea party activists, who maintain they are independent of either major party, say their involvement in the special election is proof they aren’t aligned with the Republican Party. “We’re not a part of the Republican Party, and I think that’s beginning to show to people,” said Wells.

Asked how his conservative-oriented organization felt about taking on the Republican Party, Brandon, the FreedomWorks spokesman, responded without missing a beat, “I feel as pure as can be. I have a smile on my face.”

“For those who criticize us as an arm of the GOP, I hope those folks are watching,” added Brandon.

A Message from Our Friends at FreedomWorks

Armey’s Axiom says that a little man can whip a big man every time if he’s in the right and keeps on a-comin’. That’s why I believe that grassroots Americans still can defeat the biggest threats to our freedoms now moving through Washington, D.C. But now is no time to be subtle, or to be timid.

Late last week, the U.S. House left the confines of the Beltway for its month-long August Recess. Next week the Senate will follow suit. Congress is closing up shop for the summer. Think of this as “half-time” in this year’s fight against the Obama agenda and the good news for freedom-loving limited government advocates is that the momentum is on our side.

Right now liberals are literally scrambling. Moderate Democrats in the Senate as well as members of the House Blue Dog Caucus have been brought to the White House on an almost daily basis to take their licks for not rubber stamping the Obama wish-list. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid seem out of touch with the Democrat rank-and-file as they present their aggressive timelines for passing controversial reforms only to be stymied by members of their own caucus time and time again. Unable to muster the necessary votes on health care, both the House and Senate have delayed floor votes until after their August vacation. To top it all off, Obama’s approval rating has just slipped to below 50% for the first time.

That’s a long way from our New Year’s hangover that saw a newly strengthened and emboldened liberal Congress and radical left-wing president crowing about their ambitious plans to grow government. True, Obama did pass the disastrous stimulus bill, driving deficits to record highs. But the fact remains: Obama’s machine has been shocked by effective opposition from conservative activists.

Beginning with the Tea Party demonstrations in the spring and translating into massive grassroots outcries in the “cap and tax” and government takeover of health care policy battles, hard working volunteers like you took to the streets. As a result, these two key goals of Obama’s socialist dream are now heavily bogged down despite early claims that both would be passed before August. Card check, the union power grab that liberals expected to pass by now, and another crown jewel in the Obama agenda, isn’t even on the schedule any more.

For the liberal left, August will be a time for regrouping and strategizing on how best to jump-start their big government agenda. To counter their efforts, FreedomWorks will be activating grassroots networks all over the country and mobilizing activists to attend literally hundreds of legislator town hall meetings and listening sessions. In addition, our volunteers will be setting up district office visits, staging protests, and hosting letter-writing parties to reinforce pressure against their socialist schemes.

At the top of the to-do list for Pelosi, Reid, and company when they return in September: the government-run health care and cap and trade legislation they originally thought they could do before summer’s end. That makes the stakes for FreedomWorks’ 9-12 Taxpayer March on Washington that much higher. To date, thousands have registered and to my knowledge, there has never before been a conservative, limited government gathering of this magnitude in Washington, D.C.

Here is the breakdown of events:
Thursday, September 10, will be a day of grassroots training, issue education, and lobbying on key issues like health care and cap and trade.

Friday, September 11, will continue training and lobbying in the afternoon, and we will host a reception for our best activists that night.

Blogger Note: I must insist that anyone not going to the reception, please make the trip up to Walter Reed Army Medical Center at 7200 Georgia Ave NW and join the members of DCProtestWarrior, DCFreeRepublic, Gathering of Eagles, Band of Mothers, and other patriotic Americans as we continue the weekly Friday night tribute to our brave wounded soldiers and Marines reovering at WRAMC. I promise you will not be bored. Festivities begin at 1800 and end around 2200. That's 6PM to 10PM for you non-Marines.

Saturday, September 12, is the big march down Pennsylvania Avenue culminating with the rally on the West Lawn of the Capitol.

I would love to be there to see the look in House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s eyes when she steps out onto the balcony of her office on the West Side of the Capitol. As the saying goes: “Priceless.”

I hope I can count on you to be here in Washington, D.C., for the 9-12 Taxpayer March, but today I also ask you to commit to recruit others to take part in this historic event. If you could bring five or even ten additional people from your community who also understand how important it is to stop Obama and the left’s socialist agenda, it will help us reach our goal of flooding the Capitol lawn with freedom-loving activists from all over the country.

We are making great gains in our efforts to beat back the left, but now it’s make or break time.

Thank you again for everything you’ve done. Keep up the pressure on members of Congress over the August Recess against government-run health care and the cap and trade energy tax, and I look forward to seeing you here in Washington, D.C. in September when these battles heat up once again.

Matt Kibbe