Erick Erickson Has a Change of Heart at National Tea Party Convention (Video)
Posted by Jim Hoft on Saturday, February 6, 2010, 12:54 AM
Popular conservative Erick Erickson has a change of heart at National Tea Party Convention.
Early in January RedState blogger Erick Erickson slammed the National Tea Part Convention. Erickson compared the convention organizers to Nigerian scam artists.
Let me be blunt: charging people $500.00 plus the costs of travel and lodging to go to a “National Tea Party Convention” run by a for profit group no one has ever heard of sounds as credible as an email from Nigeria promising me a million bucks if I fork over my bank account number.
I am led to believe a number of the sponsors who lent their names early on have grown wary of the event. That lines up with what I am hearing.
The tea party movement was always about the unorganized masses of concerned, passionate Americans uniting together with a common voice to protest the direction of the country. From that passion, others have sought to make money off the tea party movement. Some have done it for good. Many have not. And more and more we are seeing some people rise up to claim the mantle of “leader” of the tea party movement. Many of us who have been around for a while just want to know who the heck these so called leaders are.
But Erick Erickson had a change of heart. Today he is not as suspicious of the event. The RedState blogger actually was impressed with the convention and thinks it may bode well for the future of the tea party. We caught up with Erick earlier tonight:
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BA commented:
Sounded to me like he was still mostly critical.
Sad, if he thought he could have done a better job, maybe he should have. But then I’ve never been fond of people who are so quick to tell everyone else what they did wrong. Especially when it’s a sort of volunteer type effort.
Jim commented:
I’m glad to hear this thing is turning out to be legit. Protesting on street corners goes only so far. You eventually have to form a powerful lobby or king/queen making organization to displace these crooks.
Imagine, a tea party lobby as powerful as the ACLU or labor unions, and in control of the GOP. That’s what its ultimately going to take to stop this, reverse course, and manage to hold power long enough to make progress.
M Conservative Operative commented:
Erick Erickson, who the hell is he?
Toni commented:
Erick needs to get over himself.
Texmom commented:
Tea Party groups must be very careful not to tear each other up, especially without being fully informed. Many sources said this was a profit venture, but it doesn’t sound like that was ever the intention.
Enjoy the big Palin speech tonight, Jim
Opus #6 commented:
If you wait to find the “perfect church”, you will never get started.
JustSayNObama commented:
Red State? Who reads Red State?
Of course there are going to be those with questionable motives; it doesn’t mean every Tea Partier has questionable motives. God willing, they will disappear as momentum develops.
anonymous commented:
I agree with Erick Erickson. He did right thing to slam the Tea Party. I think he was the one wanted to see Gov. Mitch Daniels of Indiana to run for President in 2012. I just can’t see Palin run for President. She is hurting the Republican conservatives because she has endorsed these Republican moderates like Sen. McCain and Rand Paul of Kentucky who are running for office. I have quit reading her website and Fox News Network. I have been keeping up with Michelle Malkin and Rush Limbaugh.
HENHOUSEFOX58 commented:
Guess he grew a pair. Got to pay for the meeting place. Just sit in the middle of the road and do your thinking Mr. Erickson. This is a teaching convention isn’t it.
brooklyn commented:
It is sad, as we see again, folks more concerned with their own aggrandizement. Those who have only aided the disastrous Democratic Partisan offering, with the most vapid concepts, including the running away from the GOP after 2004 which enabled the Pelosi-Reid folly of 2006.
There are many with great intent. The Tea Party Protests were a nice display created by many sincere Conservatives – Republicans who were outraged at the Democratic Partisan sophistry.
We see a number of the sideliners try to exploit these fine efforts. It was so easy for those following fashion to equate the Parties, which is utter nonsense.
Tea Party as as Party, is only going to waste much time and energy. For a larger part of the mindset is simply anti-establishment, which will eventually develop into a rejection of the Tea Party itself. It is a life style of living outside the game. But fun practice to watch those who sat cynical on the sidelines to learn a little reality of the difficulty of the entire experience.
Too bad the effort isn’t simply, defeat the disastrous Democrat corruption, empower the Republicans with better policy and representation, and return the USA to sanity.
But ego and ambition will drive many to make huge mistakes, like the Reform Party, which gave us the nightmare of the Clinton Malfeasance.
exceller commented:
I get the feeling that Erik Erickson is pretty high on himself, like we’re all hanging on his every word.