Correction: Tea Party schism leads to mistaken identity
So many tea parties, so little time! I owe an apology to Glenn Ellerbe and the Acadiana Tea Party for falsely linking them to the Tea Party of Louisiana in my Monday blog, “Reserve to get some TEA Monday,” detailing a road trip by members of the Acadiana Tea Party to Reserve, La., where four cabinet secretaries from the Obama administration hosted a town hall meeting on rural health care. It turns out there is a schism in the Tea Party movement in Louisiana; there are in fact two Tea Party groups based in Lafayette — Ellerbe’s Acadiana Tea Party and the Tea Party of Lafayette, whose spokeswoman is Joyce Linde and on whose July 13 press release the mistaken identity is based. Doppelgangers they are not.
The Tea Party of Lafayette, Linde’s group, is linked with the Tea Party of Louisiana and its founder, Chris Comeaux, who, according to Ellerbe, went rogue and was booted from the more mainstream Louisiana Tea Party due to his controversial opinions — opinions which can be gleaned by viewing videos like “The Obama Deception” posted on the TPL’s Web site. The Acadiana Tea Party is associated with the Louisiana Tea Party. Confusing? You betcha!
“Joyce Linde, months ago, was a part of my organization,” Ellerbe says, “but since then she went off on her own.” Two competing visions for the Tea Party movement — mainstream, grassroots activism (Louisiana Tea Party) versus freeper-birther paranoia (Tea Party of Louisiana) — led to the split. The Ellerbes of the movement say Comeaux expropriated the Tea Party name to lend legitimacy to his conspiratorial cause, and the confusion is not lost on the Acadiana Tea Party. “Basically [we’re going to] put out a press release, and send an e-mail statement and phone calls to let everybody know the truth behind Chris Comeaux. Basically, it’s one guy who got kicked off of Baton Rouge (Louisiana Tea Party) because he’s got his own agenda and it is not reflective of the Tea Parties. He’s very divisive and he’s doing nothing but harm to the reputation and the message of the Tea Parties.”
... written by Republican , July 22, 2009 - 01:36 am
This is slander. If Chris Comeaux reads this, he can hold ppl liable.
... written by Not Really , July 22, 2009 - 10:28 am
It's only slander if it's not true, and since Chris has positioned him self as a leader of a political organization, there is some leeway given towards criticizing him.
... written by Just some person commenting , July 22, 2009 - 02:25 pm
Quite frankly, don't care who Chris Comeaux is or his agenda. Yawn.
... written by Solutions? , July 22, 2009 - 03:05 pm
It's not slander for the Ind. They are only quoting a named source. Either way, the TEA party stood for "Taxed Enough Already." I know that my reason for not participating in the rallies, even though I supported their mantra, was due to the idiotic misconceptions from some of the protesters. They took a good cause and hijacked it to accuse the government of trying to take guns and create a socialist government. Get back to the roots, stop taxing us. When you do that, I'll paint some signs and hand out leaflets.
... written by Clifford , July 22, 2009 - 07:37 pm
Tempest, meet teapot...
You hit the nail on the head, 'Solutions?'. Which is why I got involved - to un-hijack the movement and keep it focused on it's reason d'etre. We need support from folks like you.
... written by Citizen K , July 22, 2009 - 09:46 pm
Yea the fellow who I believe is Chris and two others constantly attacked me for being GOP through and through when I objected to the Truther hijacking of the BRTP. Good riddance to bad rubbish.
... written by truepatriot , July 23, 2009 - 07:38 pm
Wow, unbelievable. Attacking a man because of jealously and that it what this is all about. Comeaux is the hardest working person in the Louisiana liberty movement. Im not using the words "tea party", because contrary to what some of you think, this IS about more than taxes, but keep your eyes closed. This country is going down fast and its people like you that are going to allow it to happen, because you fight over petty crap like this. Im n a former member of the BRTP and I got out because of the LACK of action and the direction it was going. Contrary to Citizen K's comment, it was absolutely a GOP/neocon driven social group. Nothing more, nothing less. Comeaux had the idea of protesting outside of Charlie Melancon's office to get him to support Hr-1207 (audit the Fed) and Ms. "President" Robin suggested that that was too "radical." Since when did any major changes in history come about from people sitting back being scared to challenge the system?? If that is what you people want to do, fine, but nothing will EVER change and if you think the only problem in this country is you getting taxed too much, you are truly a blind, brainwashed fool. This is a smear campaign against Chris because he is having more success with bringing people to the LIBERTY movement and because of a particular project he has going on right now. Jealously rules ladies and gentlemen and the BRTP is nothing but a joke. They are playing what a true believer of liberty is totally against; they are playing the game of smear politics. Robin Edwards would do well in Washington D.C. As for Citizen K commenting about a "truther" hijacking, sir, do you have a problem with people asking questions or is this Nazi Germany?? Get over yourself. Chris, keep doing what you are doing. These spineless citizens will get what is coming to them.
... written by ∞ PUNK ∞ , July 23, 2009 - 07:52 pm
Chris Comeaux is not a conspiracy theorist. He is a self-proclaimed patriot, and guilty of many things, but not being 'conspiratorial'.
I've actually tried to get him to consider things like 9/11 being an inside job (which it was), and also to awaken him to things such as chemtrails (which are real), to no avail.
The fact is that you people are saying a whole lot of nothing. Politics has become little more than a distraction to keep us occupied while the people in control do whatever they want.
The tea parties (all of them) started as a grassroots movement with the best of intentions, and was hijacked by Sean Hannity and the GOP. Now, if you're not a white, middle-class republican, your ideas are not welcome.
You all need to wake up and stop wasting your time pointing fingers at everyone else and look at yourselves. I know that I'm wasting mine now, trying to convince you of anything other than what you want to believe, and the opinions that you've borrowed from other people, but I truly, truly care about each and every one of you, and I don't want you to die confused and disoriented.
I want you to know the real reason why your son died in Iraq, or why you're losing your home to foreclosure, or your sister died of cancer. Sadly, your fragile little minds couldn't handle that sort of information, so it's best that most of you stay here and fight amongst yourselves, to the death if need be.
Think for yourself. Question authority. There really is a war going on for your mind.
... written by Liberty 1st , July 23, 2009 - 08:14 pm
The GOP ran "tea" parties like BRTP are a joke and although they claim to be non-partisan they are truly partisan , Iknow I sat on the committes, and would not exist if Mcain were in office.BRTP and their "directors" spew the idea of freedom, but when they were called to order on their partisan agenda they shut down the forums on the website and claimed it was do to space. I applaud Chris for his truly NON-partisan stance to the liberty movement and the rest of you just come with the same ole GOP talking points and get lost in the mix. Chris will continue to rally support while the rest just fizzle.
... written by Republican , July 23, 2009 - 08:38 pm
Rishi Vyas and C4L confronted Kathleen Sebelius ab Bilderberger in Reserve and she ACTUALLY ADMITTED SHE WAS A MEMBER ALONG WITH REPUBLICAN RICK PERRY!!! Conspiracy theory?!?!? I've seen the youtube video. It is on tape! Actions speak louder than words. Those are the type of actions we need.
... written by Republican , July 23, 2009 - 08:39 pm
The criminals must be exposed.
... written by ∞ PUNK ∞ , July 23, 2009 - 11:38 pm
rishi vyas for president!
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