News – Politics – Opinion – Podcasts
In addition to Nat Healy and Dr. Joe Tarta, there were three more speakers:
Dan Itse (he of the tri-corner hat!):
Jack is BACK! was the name of the rally. Jack Kimball, founder of the original Granite State Patriot group, has returned to the Chairmanship of the following on organization, GSPLPAC. Message? You ask if he had a message?
Of course he did!
His answer to the question: where is the TEA Party?
Yesterday the ‘Grok went to the Granite State Patriot Liberty PAC (“GSPLPAC”) “Jack is Back!” TEA Party. Meant as the start of a rallying point, a number of conservative candidates and speakers talked to a crowd that was double that which was originally expected. Sure, most of the TEA Party rolled up its sleeves and went to work politically to effect the changes it knew had to be done – and the 2010 elections were the results. Even with that amazing result, the Dems and media kept kvetching about “well, where are you” (even as I kept saying “and the huge rallies by the Democrat / Socialist leaning Occupy Wall Street movement are – where?”.
We can be an obliging bunch. As I said here, the expectation was 100. I’ve been told by “official counters” that the actual attendance was just about 200 – far more than my lower range estimate of 150.
Sidenote: although not present at the rally, Jerry Delemus was mentioned often with many thanks for stepping up and stepping into the GSPLPAC Chair when Jack had his run at the NH Governorship. GraniteGrok extends its thanks to Jerry for taking on a hard job with no notice and getting the PAC into the fray!
This video is of the intro ceremony: Invocation, Moment of Silence in honor of the slain Greenland, NH Chief of Police (Michael Maloney who died protecting his men), Honoring our Veterans, Pledge to the Flag, and the singing of the National Anthem:
Right after that, Jeff Chidester (host of “NH Perspectives” and Conserva-tarian [Conservative / Libertarian] activist) stepped into the role of Master of Ceremonies and had some introductory remarks:
No one can accuse Ovide Lamontagne, candidate for NH GOP nomination for NH Gov., of sitting and waiting for that nomination to come to him. He doesn’t feel entitled to it – he knows he as to earn it. Here at Saturday’s GSPLPAC TEA Party, Friday night at the AFP/NH Conservative of the Year award for Kelly Ayotte – he’s working! He brought a message that fits the TEA Party philosophy (and the worst nightmare of Democrats / Socialists / Statists everywhere):
The TEA Party can always count on the support of Ovide.
There were also others looking for TEA Party support:
I am a double Blue Star dad which means that I have had two children serve in our Armed Services (the Eldest a Marine who did a tour in Iraq and the Youngest a tour in Afghanistan with the 101st Airborne). I consider myself lucky and blessed – they returned home safely with just some wear and tear….but they are home.
A Gold Star Mom (and Dad) is different, for their child made the ultimate sacrifice for our Country, and in Nat’s case, for his Navy SEAL buddies. Sr. Chief Petty Officer, US Navy SEAL Dan Healy didn’t have to go on that last helicopter ride to rescue his buddies on that Afghanistan mountain – but he did not hesitate. But let’s let Nat tell the story far better than I:
Dr. Joe Tarta, retired physician, also spoke on Obamacare and why it won’t work as President Obama has promised. He also talks about some of the practical bad outcomes that are already taking place and that are being noticed:
Over at WMUR Political Scoop, James has a weekly feature of Up and Down on which he comments on the political waves of the week past as well as what he can see from the top of yardarm (and we shan’t posit on the method by which he was hoisted up there); this week he … Read more
Granite Grok is Live at the Granite State Patriots Liberty PAC Tea Party Event at Guppy Park in Dover New Hampshire. Speakers include… Cliff Hurt Jack Kimball, Chair, GSPLPAC Ovide Lamontagne (Candidate, Republican nomination for NH Governor) Dennis Lamare (Candidate Republican nomination for Congress CD-2) Brendan Kelly (Libertarian Candidate Congress CD-1) John Hikel (Candidate Republican … Read more
Bumped: We getting ready to saddle up and head downrange to Dover for the event: BE THERE!
*****
From the Democratic Socialists of America in the language of Occupy Wall Street:
The 99% Spring Offensive is coming. Will you be there?
Groups from every corner of the progressive movement – inspired by the everyday heroes of Occupy Wall Street and Madison, Wisconsin – are planning a massive campaign of bold nonviolent direct actions to explain who REALLY brought on the Great Recession, and make the voices of the 99% impossible to ignore.
Their stated aims are aligned with Obama – the total transformation of the United States of America (where one goal is that Government, not Citizens, are in control). And they are energized and working hard at doing just that. Well, there is one group here in NH that is saying “Over our dead bodies!” – The Granite State Patriot Liberty PAC! Jerry Delemus, who took over the PAC (in addition to his shepherding of the Rochester (NH) 9/12 Project) as Chair when Jack Kimball decided to run for NH Governor, has returned those reins to Jack Kimball. And at a meeting of the GSPLPAC last night, Jack made it clear that the group is regrouping and come out fast and furious:
The Granite State Patriots Liberty PAC
sponsors a
Save-Our-Republic
Tea Party
Saturday, April 21
2-4 p.m.
Guppey Park
168 Portland Ave. (Rt. 4), Dover
ALL Patriots, Liberty Groups, 912 Groups,
And Tea Parties are invited to participate
For additional information
www.GSPLPAC.com
The ‘Grok will be there to cover the event – see you there!
Updated: a message from Jack Kimball, Granite State Patriots Liberty PAC Chair
Next to last question and again to the grassroots organization. As with the other interviews, the idea is to get a sense of what people in leadership within the NH GOP (as she is the Deputy Speaker) are thinking about the Liberty and Freedom groups that have a stand off view of the NH GOP. Can and will these pitches be believed – and should the L & F groups once again think there is a place for them other than as shock troops:
Your message to the TEA Party and 9/12 Project members?
Previous Questions:
Last Friday I announced that some changes were coming with the New Hampshire Republican Volunteer Coalition, the NHRVC. Well, they are upon us. Effective today, we have joined forces with the RLCNH, in an effort to create one of the largest Grass roots groups in the state dedicated to supporting and electing principled conservative and pro-liberty Republicans to office in New Hampshire.
Every member of the NHRVC is welcome to participate in any capacity that suits them, just as it always was with the NHRVC. And while I will be contacting everyone personally, I have provided links here to help you along.
For those interested in the joining the Facebook Group you can request to do that here.
Join the RLCNH Yahoo! Group here. (Much like the NHRVC Yahoo! Group but quite a bit more active.)
Please feel free to follow the RLCNH Twitter Feed here.
You can subscribe to the RLCNH Report and email updates here. The sign up box is on the right.
You can provide contact info and sign up as a volunteer here, to do the kind of on the ground, hands on work the NHRVC was created for.
You can even become a full Dues paying member by signing up here.
You decide your level of involvement, from Facebook lurker, to comment junkie, to full membership or anything in between, just like before. But whatever your speed is, I encourage you all to come an join us so that we may continue to find, support, and elect principled Republicans to office in New Hampshire.
[Updated – I added the RLCNH Yahoo! Email group]
The formal press release is on the jump.
THE RISE of a NEW POPULISM
A rising new populism can become the heart of an America rising anew. What, after all, do liberals and conservatives have in common? It’s the recognition of “We the People” as more than the opening lines of our Constitution. “Power to the People” is the title of a conservative book, not just a leftist line. “The American Way” and “The American Dream” resonate with those on both sides of the political aisle. Some commentators have recognized that there is a common core of concerns animating both Tea Party and Occupy movement activists. The core concern is failure of political “business as usual” to serve more than the “One Percent” of insiders, crony capitalists, the “Best and the Brightest”; and other elitists who frequent Wall Street, Washington, D.C. and foster the incestuous interconnections between and among them.
This is the last of the questions that Cliff Hurst that the ‘Grok asked – one near and dear to GraniteGrok and to many others that brings up the event where Jack Kimball was forced out of the Chairmanship of the NH GOP (even as technically, it was a resignation): What is your message to … Read more
“…those who cannot be co-opted are isolated and then destroyed.“I had seen mention of the use of IRS going against TEA Parties (Richmond TEA Party, Ohio Liberty Council, it seems that others are in process) over at The TaxProf’s blog (via Instapundit, much more here at The Daily Caller on what the IRS is demanding for information), but loyal reader Steven sent this link along from Big Government. Nice to see my US Senator Jeanne Shaheen all too willing to use the coercive force of Bigger Government (the IRS!) to silence her opposition! This proves the phrase that I have been using: “The Bigger the Government, the smaller the citizen”. We already have seen that Shaheen has no problem in using the force of the Federal Government:
The ‘Grok went to the Ovide Lamontagne reception last Saturday evening and the videos are here, here, here, and here). We also had the chance to do a couple of GrokTALK! Special interviews. First one was with DaTechGuy (Pete Ingemi) and being from Massachusetts, he wanted to discuss what he had just observed (his post … Read more
I just discovered that a reporter from the Dallas Morning News, with whom I had an phone interview last week, actually used a quote from me in his piece “Front-runner Romney hardly a tea party favorite“:
“Was the tea party movement, if we don’t nominate a conservative tea party candidate, much of a success?” said Skip Murphy, a tea party activist in New Hampshire. “My main goal is to beat Obama. If we stop the progressive administration and start to move toward more conservative values in this government, that’s something. It’s taken years to get where we are, and it’s going to take years to turn this around.”
And he also quoted fellow TEA Party activists Jerry DeLemus, Jane Aitken, Ken Eyring, and Brad Winslow. In fact, the quote from Brad reinforced what I had been trying to emphasize with the reporter, Wayne Slater :
Brad Winslow, a software designer from Salem, agreed that while the tea party might fall short in putting a staunchly conservative budget hawk in the White House, its impact would be felt in local and state politics.
“We’re changing school boards and we’re getting local officials elected. Certainly at the state level of New Hampshire, we’ve made gains,” he said. “Have we solved our problems with RINOs [Republicans in name only]? … It’s going to take a while to weed that out.”
Get that last part? About “We’re changing school boards and we’re getting local officials elected. So true.
The knock on the Presidential Primary campaign is “oh, the TEA Party is broken and old news” because there is no clearly identifiable TEA Party candidate in the running (a la Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL). The Republican Establishment is happy, the Left is saying ‘whew!” and the media is supporting both. Yet, all three are missing the point of what the TEA Party is and what it is all about.
William Tucker over at Boo-hoo Hampsters is trying to make the case that the TEA Party is done and going (to which I have some remarks here):
An NBC News/Marist poll released late Friday showed that for the first time, 53 percent of likely Republican primary voters said they are not supporters of the tea party, while 40 percent said they are supporters and seven percent were unsure.
OK, given the rain of call of “extremists!” (er, simply for wanting to actually following our Constitutions??) by the Progressives / Liberals / Democrats, I could see where there was some erosion of support. But given that self-identifying Liberals only make up 20% of the population and self-identifying Conservatives has been climbing to now reach 40%, I’ll take that!
The Tea Party, now a well-known but poorly understood American populist movement, has attracted so much attention because it truly rose from the grassroots passions of Americans who love their country.
To clearly understand the grassroots nature of the Tea Party, it’s important to note that the movement has never been controlled by any one central authority?besides, perhaps, the rule of law and the constitution. This decidedly libertarian-conservative political movement has really grown up around a loose network of patriots united around a core set of issues. And around those issues, groups of people act with distinct autonomy based on the will of their members.
Despite this decentralization—or perhaps because of it—the movement has managed to focus the American political conversation on concerns and objectives of lasting importance to the American Republic: overspending, debt, and crony capitalism on the one hand, and government accountability, sound money and national sovereignty, on the other. But more than that, the Tea Party has sought to restore those timeless principles that were once cherished by all Americans: limited government, individual liberty, personal responsibility, free enterprise and equal protection under the law chief among them.
Free money from the Feds, from the State, from the County…..Free! Free! Free! Hey, grab it, because that money is FREE to our taxpayers – it doesn’t cost US a thing! But those that wish to spend it, that lust after it, they hate it when the obvious truth comes out – er, it’s not free. The money that they are so eager to lay their hands on has to come from somewhere – and the only answer is “from other taxpayers”. As the money comes in, with such soothing dulcet tones “think of all of the things you can give to your constituents, your taxpayers – your voters” as they wave the wads like a hypnotic pendant: spend me, spend me – and make yourselves look like heroes.
Yeah, heroes – as the Feds pile up a $15 Trillion debt by which our present “leaders” are indenturing our great grand-kids. Heroes, indeed – just call them the “elected gimme group” (as opposed to regular special interest gimme crowd).
Yet, there may be hope – that I am not alone! In fact, there is one town whose Leaders are being true leaders and not participating in the bankrupting of America. Even as all those around them castigate them for not taking the money, they show their wisdom by seeing the big picture that others refuse to see (or do not dare to see because of a lack of courage). The folks in Troy, Michigan have had the courage to do just that.
Michelle had this little beauty (emphasis mine):
Mitt Romney said today he’s “the ideal candidate” for the Tea Party movement because his stance on issues lines up “pretty darn well” with the movement he says will soon realize that GOP frontrunner Newt Gingrich isn’t their best option for president.
“I recognize that the speaker has a big lead here,” Romney said of Gingrich in a press conference in South Carolina. “But I think as people take a closer and closer look, they’ll recognize that I reflect more effectively the positions which they hold on key issues.
Um, okay. Everybody has a different definition of “ideal,” I suppose.
Yes, this is a NH House legislator. Those of you who are “NH political junkies” can probably decode the House Vanity plate and already know whose car this is. For those of you who are not, the answer is after the jump.
The bumper stickers? Revealing:
(H/T: loyal ‘Grok reader, Jean, who nailed this the day of the Right To Work override vote)