[Civilrecordzz]

TPM:
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2...ng.php?ref=fpa

On Friday, the Tea Party Patriots lived up to just about every stereotype about the movement that its critics have about the tea party insurgency. In a single email, the Patriots acted paranoid, attacked fellow conservatives, alienated Republicans, sounded unhinged, got their facts wrong and had to sheepishly apologize to all involved. They also dished out the personal cell phone numbers of many incoming freshmen -- leading to a bombardment of calls from angry tea partiers.

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Here's what went down: just days before the Patriots' orientation was set to kick off here in DC -- to the tune of $100,000 in spending on speakers, space and other costs, according to the Wall Street Journal -- the Patriots got wind of another conservative freshman orientation scheduled for the same days.

But to the Tea Party Patriots, the Claremont event was nothing short of sabotage. "DC insiders, the RNC, and lobbyists are already trying to push the Tea Party aside and co-opt the incoming Congressmen," the group wrote in an email to supporters.

The Patriots then laid out their conspiracy theory in the email, following the money at the Claremont all the way up to former Mike Huckabee campaign manager and failed RNC chair candidate Chip Saltsman. Huckabee, of course is one of the potential 2012 presidential candidates tea partiers tend to like, but hey -- Claremont was stealing the Patriots' mojo and there had to be a reason for it.

"[I]t's a lobbyist / political consultant event for the Freshmen," the Patriot email reads, disdainfully.

So the Patriots provided their membership with a list of contact information for Republican freshman and told them to start calling Reps-elect to keep them from going to Claremont. Trouble is, in many cases the contact info they shipped out included the personal cell phone numbers of the very incoming members they were trying to keep close.

The members seemed miffed as their cellphones blew up with calls from angry Tea Party Patriots.

[JaK_MarkoV_Pi]

Meanwhile, Dick Armey and his FreedomWorks group beat both of them to the punch, holding an event in Baltimore on Thursday and Friday.

Most prominently, FreedomWorks, the Washington advocacy group that was active in building the Tea Party movement, held a day-and-a-half retreat here on Thursday and Friday with about 25 new Congress members and one newly elected senator, Mike Lee from Utah.

Among the topics: how to get your legislation passed; guidelines to undoing the health care law; Monetary Policy and Economic Theory 101; and tips for keeping your family together while you are in Washington, as told by Dick Armey, the former House majority leader who now leads FreedomWorks, and his wife, Susan.

“There will be pressure for all legislators to hear the mandate of the people,” said Matt Kibbe, the president of FreedomWorks, while new members met on their own for an hour, impromptu, to map out their agenda for working in concert. “All of us feel an obligation to follow up on what’s been promised.” The group represents about one-third of incoming freshmen.

Mr. Kibbe said his organization’s goal would be to support the newly elected officials — whom he refers to as “legislative entrepreneurs” — with help from grass-roots groups on their pet causes and, if need be, pressure from those same groups to stay on the Tea Party page. “Our primary role is connecting legislative entrepreneurs with outside groups who have the same values,” he said.

Other groups are trying to exert a similar influence. Tea Party Patriots, an umbrella group for Tea Party groups across the country, has accused another group, the Claremont Institute, of claiming to be the official orientation for new Tea Party-blessed lawmakers and derided the group for planning a function at exactly the same time as its own. Other groups are also organizing training sessions of sorts. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/13/us...er=rss&emc=rss