Bill O’Reilly made some comments about the Tea Party movement on February 16, 2010.  Some I agree with.  Some I don’t.

I certainly agree that our movement is unorganized and should be careful about organizing into a separate political party that might challenge both the Democrats and the Republicans in the November election.  This would be a mistake.  It would only divide the conservative vote and elect more progressive candidates.

I also agreed with O’Reilly when he commented on the threat a formal party might make because currently the makeup of this movement is composed of Independents, Republicans and Democrats who have become disenchanted with an unresponsive government that is not listening to the people.  A formal political party would merely lose the support of those who consider themselves to be Republican or Democrat. 

I did separate from O’Reilly on comments he made about our makeup:

1.       The makeup of the party is largely Independent.  I don’t really know how he could say this without the Tea Party being a formal political party that maintains an active membership.  It is my belief and it can only be a belief that the makeup of the Tea Party is citizens who desire for our government to play within the rules.  We have a Constitution.  We want it honored.  This statement can be made of any member of any political party.  Overwhelmingly I believe we are conservative and we are Constitutionalists.  We also want our government to live within its means and demonstrate fiscal responsibility.  This can be true of Republicans, Democrats and Independents alike. 

2.       There is a fringe element of the party who are far right wing radicals.  A reference was either made in O’Reilly’s talking points or afterward during his interviews with guests that identified persons who could spell trouble for the Tea Party in that they want to overthrow the government.  I personally know of no such reference in anything that I have seen or read to suggest that any material contingent might exist that would suggest sedition.  I do believe we have a lot of angry people who see our Congress, our Courts and an occasional president violate the limits on their power and declare things to be Constitutional that clearly are not.  I am sure there are people present who might want to secede or who might be willing to fight but I do not believe this element is of any significance. 

3.       Similar to the comments identified in item 2 regarding fringe elements in the party he expressed disgust to Sarah Palin regarding the table that was at the recent convention in Nashville that was manned by “Birthers” who espouse a belief that President Obama was not born in Hawaii but instead was born in Kenya.  I am not a “Birther.”  At the same time I see no reason why any candidate for public office should not have to present certifiable evidence of their birth.  I don’t know all the arguments of the Birthers and I do not know all the evidence that has been presented by those who argue with them but I do believe it entirely reasonable for Obama to be asked to prove his eligibility for his office and I find it entirely unreasonable for him to continually demonstrate an unwillingness to do so.  As such I believe the Birthers have every right to participate in the Tea Party movement and I think O’Reilly is off base in identifying them as kooks.

4.       Continuing on the same theme, I agree that there are some radical elements that could hurt the Tea Party by their involvement.  I believe it safe to state that if skinheads or the Ku Klux Klan were to attempt to gain sway in the Tea Party that even if they are driven away, our propagandist media would be quick to portray them as mainstream when we all know that nothing is further from the truth. 

5.       O’Reilly stated a belief that the Tea Party, even if it does not formally present candidates does need to project a core belief as to where those in the movement stand on issues of the day.  He considered it to be a weakness that we do not have a platform.  This is precisely what I am attempting to achieve in this web log.  It is also my belief that we need to have a published platform that we can all build together and comment on positively and negatively to provide those candidates running in the November election a means to identify what they must do to earn our votes and that also will tell them how we will measure their success once we send them to Washington D.C.