Friday, July 30, 2010
Politics Anticipating Far-Right Losses at Polls, Gill Disses Tea Party
Posted by Jeff Woods on Fri, Jul 30, 2010 at 8:09 AM
"What's really been happening in Tennessee politics is that rich guys win. Forget ideology. Just good fundraising isn't going to get the job done if you're running against guys who get their money at the Anytime Teller Machine. So I don't know that it's a really a battle of ideology as it is a battle of checkbooks. If Wamp or Ramsey had an unlimited bank account, we'd have a different race."
And here’s something we didn’t include in the dead-tree edition: Gill also dissed the Tea Party movement as all but inconsequential in Tennessee.
“The Tea Parties, quite frankly, are four or five guys who gather at the coffee shop and declare themselves the Tea Party of such and such and start issuing press releases. There’s no organization.”
Sounding very much like an establishment guy himself, Gill says the Tennessee Republican Party already espouses Tea Party views for the most part. The state GOP was taken over by its right wing during the horn-honking protests against the state income tax a decade ago, according to Gill.
“The Tea Party isn’t as big a factor in Tennessee as it may be in other places. We’ve had that movement already. The horn honkers are basically the same thing as the Tea Party. It’s a lot of the same players. The horn honkers moved into office. A lot of our legislators were folks who got their start out there in the horn-honking process. We didn’t form a formal horn-honking party or even a horn-honking wing of the Republican Party. All those people just gravitated into the party, and it became the anti-income tax party. It basically subsumed and took over the Republican Party.”
If all those right-wingers only had some cash …
Comments (16)
Showing 1-16 of 16
Steve Gill, Oh no, Zealot behavior did not completely turn me OFF to Wamp and Ramsey. You are correct, God wants me to be Gov, Guns in bars, AK's at my grannys is what reasonable people want, zealots running government.
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As usual Woods tells PART of the story, even when he is selectively quoting his own sources. In response to his question about whether a failure of Wamp or Ramsey to defeat Haslam would be a failure of conservative ideology I pointed out that money tends to win in politics, particularly when you have a divided conservative base. I gave him several other examples of big money winning in Tennessee, including Bill Brock, Phil Bredesen, Bill Frist and Bob Corker. Huge money has a tendency to trump indeology, and not just in this particular primary.
And as for "dissing" the Tea Party I made the specific point that some of the Tea Party organization endorsements would not translate into wide grassroots impact because some of them are a handful of people who declare themselves to be the Tea Party of Whereever and that in many cases there are not followers to the so-called leaders. The movement itself is NOT about being a member of the organization or some club, it is about ideology and connection to a cause. Thus the Tea Party is not new in Tennessee because the horn-honkers were a precursor...and did not involve into "organizations" built on personality or the development of a third party. Instead, the hornhonkers moved the GOP into majorities in the State House and State Senate with the primary gains coming in the ring counties around Nashville where the horn-honkers were most abundant. The horn-honker and tea party people remain remarkably powerful in Tennessee, but it doesn't require self appointed, and in some cases self focused, leaders who sometimes hurt the cause they supposedly promote.
Steve Gill
Unless Im mistaken, Haslem didn't donate much if any money to his campaign. So how does his wealth make a difference if all his campaign money comes from others?
Haslam dropped $1 million of his own in the most recent reporting period, on top of $400K in the one before that.
JR, perhaps No Easy meant "much" in relation to Haslam's actual wealth. In which case $1.4 million is to Haslam as the dollar value menu at McDonald's is to me.
To gilley: steve what you seem not to get is this is the vol state not hate state,we will push back every turn on hate mongers that try to pull us apart and destroy our moral fabric and spirit along with our constitution,people like you zelenik ramsey get the hate talking points from newt,hanady,rush,levin,bork,steve emerson,frank gafney,daniel piper and AIPAC etc and think you know it all,all you know is how to make us hate any one slightly different from self ,you people are the enemy within republican party and apple pie,your poison is anti american and anti tennessee ,STOP YOUR RADICAL GARBAGE,.
Mr. Gill,
We find your "coffee shop" comment to be rather disrespectful. Hearing these type comments coming from the left when they attempt to marginalize our efforts is one thing. Hearing it from the likes of you is another.
Steve, you say "The horn-honker and tea party people remain remarkably powerful in Tennessee" yet if that's so, how come they can't translate that into $$ for Ramsey or Wamp? Why is it that "If Wamp or Ramsey had an unlimited bank account, we'd have a different race"? Why don't they have more cash if the TEA people and horn honkers are "remarkably powerful?" As usual, your thought process is found lacking in logic.
Thanks, ETvf, that was very well said. Using hate to create fear as a motive for anger is right wing S.O.P. It is also evil.
""What's really been happening in Tennessee politics is that rich guys win. Forget ideology. Just good fundraising isn't going to get the job done if you're running against guys who get their money at the Anytime Teller Machine. So I don't know that it's a really a battle of ideology as it is a battle of checkbooks. If Wamp or Ramsey had an unlimited bank account, we'd have a different race."
You really have to wonder what Steve Gill's take is on the Altace Meglamillionaires from Bristol - John, Joan, Joseph, et al Gregory kith and kin - whose various campaign donations to Ramsey and his PACs helped Ron Ramsey buy the Office of Tennessee Lt. Governor through Ramsey campaign donations to other Tennessee Republican state senators and state senate candidates...
The reality is that Ron Ramsey cannot buy the popular vote across the Volunteer State as he can buy influence, power, and titles within the Tennessee State Senate.
Thanks tom,I just want these wing nuts out of my party ,they are turnning republican party into hate everyone party ,enough stupidity and ignorane,.
Believe me, it is not Bill Haslam's money that got my vote. It is the obnoxious spew coming from Ramsey and Wamp. It is Ramsey with his idiotic statements and Wamp with his god crap.
What? Who was it that was the headline speaker of the last teaparty I went to? I can't remember.. it'll come to me.. ooooh yeah
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cwage/3685439…
Unfortunately, Gill is right, there isn't very much organization in the Tea Party. The websites are kind of forlorn-looking. I wouldn't say that's a "diss" as the culturally aware Woods likes to put it.
This "ET vols fan", as in extraterrestrial, seems to think that white people who stand up for themselves and/or object to anything the government does are full of hate, and that's not the case. When you go to all caps, it's obvious who is full of hate. If we go along with everything you want to do to us, does that mean we love you?
To bill meyers:if you take your self away long enough from talking points that are fed to you by foreign owned media such as fox and think about what I am saying may be you will come to see that I am not EXTRATERRESTRIAL by pointing out reality ,also you will see that I am all for white people standing up for self and country on real issues not on trivial garbage created to distract and fool all of us while they are rubbing us,.
I didn't know Steve Gill was still alive. Are you guys sure that he is? I haven't heard anything from him or about him in years and years. I would question the source on this article. I really don't think he's alive and if he is, he's certainly not still around TN.
