Paul: Tea parties won't rebuild GOP By: Andy Barr January 7, 2010 12:27 PM EST
Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) said Wednesday night that despite the groundswell of grass-roots conservative energy, the tea party movement is not likely to revive the Republican Party.
“I don't think you can talk about the tea party as a party,” Paul said during an interview with MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow. “It’s made up of a lot of different people. And I don't even see them as being Republicans.”
“I think they're unhappy. They're unhappy with the establishment party. And that's made up of the Republicans and the Democrats,” Paul said. “If the Republicans don't catch on to that, they can't build their party.”
Paul is a favorite among the tea party crowd, but the former Republican presidential candidate suggested that the GOP should be wary of aligning themselves too closely to protesters who can be unpredictable in their actions and messaging.
Asked about a recent photo that has been widely circulated in the liberal blogosphere showing a prominent tea party organizer from Houston holding up a sign with incendiary racial language, Paul said the tea parties sometimes “act too angrily, and it doesn't come off well.”
“If they keep doing that, yes, it may not necessarily build the party,” Paul said.
Paul said the tea parties sometimes “act too angrily, and it doesn't come off well.”
I mean look at how the dems behave during a rotterdam town board meeting. They hoot and holler and laugh and snicker at people while they are speaking. They act like red neck hicks and yet the dems still have a viable party. What makes Ron Paul think that behavior would hurt the rep party. It hasn't hurt the dems!
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
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