From the start the Tea Party movement has attracted a fringe element.
Photo by Robin May
The conservative reaction to President Barack Obama and Democratic policy initiatives — the Tea Party movement — is alive in Republican-voting Acadiana. But don’t assume for a second as we did at first that the movement is monolithic or homogeneous; a recent case of mistaken identity at theind.com revealed a tipping point on the right’s ideological spectrum separating the whites from the yolks, or, the whites from the crackers.
This ideological fissure was revealed in an INDsider blog last week concerning a field trip by members of Acadiana Tea Party to Reserve, La., to give the business to four Obama cabinet secretaries appearing at a town hall meeting on rural health care. The article mistakenly drew an affiliation between the more mainstream Acadiana Tea Party and Baton Rouge-based Tea Party of Louisiana, whose Web site features a video, “The Obama Deception,” that likens Obama’s rise to power to that of Hitler and characterizes every U.S. president since LBJ as a pawn of the dreaded Illuminati. But it turns out, ATP and TP Louisiana couldn’t be further apart, and in fact there are two Tea Party groups representing Louisiana as well as two in Lafayette — Glenn Ellerbe’s ATP and Tea Party of Lafayette, whose spokeswoman is Joyce Linde. It was an earlier press release by Linde in which she details “joining forces” with TP Louisiana that led to the mix-up.
“Joyce Linde, months ago, was a part of my organization,” Ellerbe says, “but since then she went off on her own.” Tea Party of Louisiana was founded by Chris Comeaux, who, according to Ellerbe, was dismissed from the Louisiana Tea Party, with which ATP is loosely affiliated. Confusing, we know. The TP Louisiana Web site features several other paranoid videos meant to fan the fears of the fringe. Take for the example the claim made in the video, “Please Don’t Riot — It’s Just What ‘They’ Want”: “The global economic collapse is designed to trigger a stream of ‘benefits’ to the Illuminati agenda. One ... is to use this as an excuse to impose a global economic dictatorship controlled by a world central bank.” The video is from British writer and professional paranoia peddler David Icke, whose central theme in several books is that the world is secretly run by reptilian humanoids he calls the Babylonian Brotherhood. It’s way-out-there stuff, and Ellerbe, for his part, is incensed that ATP may be linked to TP Louisiana and its founder. “Basically, [Comeaux] 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.” Efforts to contact Chris Comeaux were unsuccessful; TP Louisiana has no listed telephone number, and the group didn’t respond to an e-mail inquiry seeking one.
The Tea Party got brewing in Lafayette, as it did around the country, on the Internal Revenue Service’s April 15 tax-filing deadline, aka Tax Day. Initially, the movement operated under the acronym TEA (Taxed Enough Already) and was originally promoted and bankrolled to an extent by a trio of conservative free-market political action committees: FreedomWorks, dontGo and Americans for Prosperity. But the movement has since taken on a life of its own and lowered the case to emphasize that plucky colonial protest against British taxation in 1773. But even in April there were divinations of a split to be read in the tea leaves: At the April 15 rally at Parc Putnam downtown, residents with anti-tax paraphernalia were joined by a guy with a sign that read “Joey Durel is a fascist.” While more or less mainstream, the movement has from the start attracted those from the margins, and therein lies the problem for ATP.
Last week Ellerbe issued a press release to local media seeking to distance ATP from TP Louisiana. “Acadiana Tea Party is NOT associated with the Tea Party of Louisiana,” Ellerbe writes. “The views and opinions and message of the Tea Party of Louisiana are not in line with that of Acadiana Tea Party and the overwhelming majority of other tea parties around the state. That organization is not to be confused with the Louisiana Tea Party, which is only a very loose association of the various tea parties spread across the state. Presently, Acadiana Tea Party is loosely communicating with many around the state. But not the Tea Party Of Louisiana. Acadiana Tea Party is in the process of discussions with the Tea Party of Lafayette to explore areas in which we may be able to work together.” In Ellerbe’s view, Chris Comeaux expropriated the Tea Party name and idea to advance his own fringe views of the world.
Tea Party of Lafayette’s Linde downplays the kooky factor with the Tea Party of Louisiana. In a e-mail to the Independent issued in the wake of revelations about the Tea Party schism, Linde writes, “We are an independent group and our goals are to inform the citizens of the critical issues that are in the current political arena. In that way they can evaluate and act upon these issues as they choose.” Indeed, TP Lafayette has hosted two town hall meetings with a focus on the so-called “Cap and Trade” environmental bill as well as financial regulatory legislation. Linde did not, however, return a call seeking a clarification on whether she or the Tea Party of Lafayette endorse some of the more out-there ideas advanced in videos on the Tea Party of Louisiana’s Web site.
... written by Tom Clark , July 29, 2009 - 02:18 pm
The Tea Party got brewing in Lafayette? I would think not. It was a widespread spontaneous gathering of like-minded individuals, who saw the say as an outlet to vent their frustrations with the current administration's policies. Loosly organized groups formed with mostly the same goals in mind, some of whom decided to formally organize, while others loosly, in the spirit of keeping it a grass roots movement, remaining non-partisan. Some are ruled by committee, others by an elected "leader", and others are a matter of someone putting up a web site as an open forum. When egos and posturing get in the way, along with party affiliation (despite some of the "non-partisan" statements, that is when the spirit of the "movement" becomes muddied. As for TPL, there is no self appointed "leader", as far as I can tell, and the mission, as a matter of concensus, the same as any other group. All information that may be of interest is disseminated, thought the the fact that it is, does not necessarily mean it is "preached as gospel", and to be taken as food for thought. As adults, one can draw their own conclusions about the material presented. TPL, from what I can tell, is meant, as is LTP, to be loosely based means of a gathering in numbers, with other localities with their own set of issues, most of which are like minded, affiliating themselves in order to prioritize issues on the larger scale, and take actions as a collective, while the local groups discuss issues that pertain to their own localities. I personally cannot see how someone can get "fired" from what a truly grass roots movement. No one group invented the idea of gatherings, nor has any one particular "group" invented the idea of planning events and rallying citizens together.
As for the rest of it, to me, it is a matter of ego's, personalities, and posturing that appears to be destroying the spirit of what was intended to be a truly grass roots oriented movement.
... written by Michael Ride , July 29, 2009 - 03:31 pm
Yeah, maybe constantly denigrating conservatives will drive us away......maybe....I wouldn't count on it. The only people who read your stuff are the brain-dead demo followers and the savvy neocons who like to see what the fringe left is up to.
... written by Nicholas del Giudice , July 30, 2009 - 05:13 am
As a precinct leader for C4L, I can tell you this. we need all of you to make the change that is much needed. I estimate that all but about a half dozen members of Congress are either corrupt or fachist-socialist. In otherwords Republocrats. There are real important issue coming up including the 2010 elections. I fear if we the people don't take America back by then it may be to late. So please don't argue with each other and save your power and energy for activism
... written by JP , July 30, 2009 - 01:09 pm
Actually, the TEA party thing got started under Ron Paul's campaign last year. There were TEA parties going on then, but they weren't covered by the media because Ron Paul was virtually ignored. Those were truly grassroots and truly non-partisan. It recognized that there is essentially no difference between Democrats and Republicans when it comes to squeezing money out of the middle class.
When Obama got elected, the TEA parties were hijacked by partisan hacks who did a good job at making it look spontaneous and grassroots. If you dig a little, you'll find that a lobbying group called FreedomWorks, headed by Republican hack Dick Armey, was behind it all...getting their cohorts on Fox News and other outlets to advertise it ad nauseum. So Tom, TEA parties did not start "under the current administration," but they did get more popular due to a very subtle, very clever push by Republican operatives.
... written by OhMyGaaaaawd , July 30, 2009 - 07:21 pm
How much more evidence do you fools need to show you that Obama is just another proxy for the corporate, Wall Street dictatorship we have in this country - just like Bush?
Can we grow up a little bit and stop making this about left vs right?
Look at the Obama Deception film. It clearly shows how Obama is manufactured, who the playerz are behind Obama, how he wants to introduce "youth brigades" as big and as well funded as the US military. The bills have already gone through for this.
The wars continue. The wiretapping continues. The torture continues. The secrecy continues. The looting of the treasury continues for the benefit of the big banks. Nothing Bush introduced has been repealed: Patriot Act, Military Commissions Act, John Warner Defense Authorization Act, plus the countless executive orders.
It's not all about Obama. The federal government is much bigger than Obama.
... written by NORTHSIDIAN SHOTGUN , September 24, 2009 - 07:44 pm
OBama was elected cuz he'd knew how to play ball.
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As for the rest of it, to me, it is a matter of ego's, personalities, and posturing that appears to be destroying the spirit of what was intended to be a truly grass roots oriented movement.