Tea Party leader: Tea Party 'is not a wing of the Republican Party!'
Washington (CNN) - Echoing comments from Rep. Michele Bachmann, the head of the Tea Party Express insists that the Minnesota Republican's response to the State of the Union is not meant to compete with the official Republican response from Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin.
But Express Chairman Amy Kremer also emphatically told CNN on Tuesday that "the peoples' voices" need to be heard - and that the Tea Party "is not a wing of the Republican Party!"
Kremer's comments come amid intense attention being paid to Bachmann's planned response to the president's annual address.
An Express email, sent to reporters on Tuesday, blared out the headline: "Bachmann to counter Barack Obama – TONIGHT!"
Despite the hyped-up headline, Kremer insisted that Bachmann's Tea Party response is "being blown out of proportion" - and was not meant to take on Ryan.
"This has absolutely nothing to do with Paul Ryan," Kremer said.
It may not be personal with Ryan but there's no dispute the Tea Party Express wants to counter Obama's message Tuesday night independent of the GOP.
Kremer noted that she first approached Bachmann, either in November or December, about possibly speaking for Tea Party activists. The Express wanted someone closely aligned with the Tea Party movement to kick off its weekly broadcasts on TeaPartyHD.com, Kremer noted. She added that Bachmann's staff immediately liked the idea.
Kremer said that, when the idea was conceived, they did not know who would deliver a Republican response to the State of the Union.
"This has to do with the Tea Party movement, and our supporters – and who have aligned themselves with the Tea Party movement."
Kremer called Bachmann "an obvious choice," noting her popularity with Tea Party activists and her founding the first House Tea Party Caucus.
At the same time, the carefully choreographed Tea Party response is designed to send another message to lawmakers.
"Our focus is to bring conservatives to Washington. Not Republicans," Kremer said.
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M. Bachmanld should not be called a Republican any longer but a Tea Party member. She clearly acts and speaks for the Tea Party and not the Republican Party. I bet she can't win re-election if she ever ran as a Tea Partier. She wears two faces doesn't she?
These wing nuts are so extreme, even the most conservative Republican Party in a generation is not good enough for them.
These folks are not Republicans I agree-they are really anarchists.
They want no government so they can cheat, pollute, swindle, discriminate, collect heavy armaments, teach religion at public tax payer expense, turn back the clock on religion, and tell women they have to bear children.
They are truly a threat the the very Republic they claim to revere.
Yeah, right, the Tea Party is not part of the GOP.. No it is the the GOP. Tea Partier leaders are former GOP congresspeople, lobbyists and staffers. they share office space with the GOP and they vote with the GOP. How are they not part of the GOP?
Tea party is a racist organization PERIOD
"and that the Tea Party "is not a wing of the Republican Party!"
LOL Yep, and Tea-Partiers believe in keeping government out of our personal/private lives, lol... Unless it's about women's rights, minority rights, gay rights, religious rights, etc.... then, it's totally cool to allow the govt into our homes and lives, right?
Hey, Tea-Party – I'll tell you the same thing I tell Republicans:
Stay. Out. Of. My. Uterus.
And out of my bedroom.
And off my deathbed.
Those TPers who haven't figured out they have been/are being used and abused by the Republicans by now will be tuning into Michelle Bachmann tonight for sure.
NO!!!!! The Tea Party is a bunch of radicals and old racists who will being or want to bring us something like National Socialism. NAZI'S!!!
You have got to be kidding. When you voted, the were listed as Republicans. Please, how many folks believe this?
Peace 🙂
Ms. Kremer: Please provide a list of all of the conservative Democrats the Tea parties have "brought to Washington." How long is the MSM going to brook this semantical gamesmanship? The Tea parties are a faction of the Republican Party and no serious argument to the contrary can be made.
Amy Kremer can spin this topic however she wants. Bottom line: the Tea Party is definitely the far White Wing of the Republican party. Need further evidence? Look at the picture located above the article. These people do not represent the America or anyone that I know. Where's the melting pot? They represent a group of bigots that long for the days when African Americans sat at the back of a bus and definitely did not reside in the WHITE House and women had little or no rights. Sorry, Regressives/Birchers....but times have changed.
And CNN???? Shame on you for giving these bigots any publicity and a platform to "spew their venom!"
Ms. Kremer needs to come here to Nebraska and see who the Tea Partiers are. Most of them are racists, birthers, and half-wits who can't form a proper sentence in the English language or spell the words in their protest sign correctly, let alone understand what the Constitution means. Unfortunately, all of them are Republicans.
Sorry, but the Tea Party Express has no standing to deliver a response to the SOTU address. The political party opposite the President represents a collective voice of elected representatives of that policital party. The TPE is a movement and no Member of Congress lists Tea Party as their party affiliation. Freedom of Speech guarantees that the TPE may do as it wishes as far as representing their views, but it has no standing to utilize national media for their purpose. I agree that they have the right to post their response, but firmly believe the Internet, rather than the national media, be their vehicle.
Let Michelle speak. Then we'll know what the people on Mars think of the SOTU. Does anybody really care anymore, regardless of what party is in thw Hite House? It's a night out for Washington insiders, and a better night to watch some good NBA or college basketball somewhere.
Cool. So the Tea Party lies as badly as the Republican Party. Great bedfellows.
I'm sure the message will offer practical, non-doctrinaire solutions to the many problems facing this country.
Tea Party = The Poor Mans Replicans
If that the case , why was all the people back by the Tea Party were Republican. Not one democrats. The Tea Party Is NOT a Political Party, so they shouldn't have any T.V. time. I all so don't think It Improper for Michele Bachmann to have a response to President State Of The Union Address. I all so like all these people line up to response to his speech, you never know he may say all the right thing. I think the TEA PARTY Is nothing but Racist and they spread hate. I would never vote for anybody back by the Tea Party.
CNN should have another responser from the Democratic side of the aisle. Giving the Republican's 2 resposes is rediculous.
I have had it. I will not watch your channel anymore. it is not news but hyperbole.
not a wing of the Republican Party, huh? They just happen to caucus with them I guess. Well if they are NOT a wing of the Republican Party then where o where were they the last 4 years GW Bush was in office running up the debt? I don't recall seeing any mass Tea Party protest back then....in fact the only Tea Party talked about during the Bush years was the one in "Alice in Wonderland". There may have been a dumbing down of America in process the past few years where some folks just followed like sheep groups such as the Tea Party without first doing any fact search on them, BUT not everybody fell for it and more and more are coming out of the fog and seeing it for what it really is. The TP approval rating is falling as fast as Obama's approval rating is rising.
The Tea Party is NOT the voice of the people. They are a racist nazist type of "not grass roots extremist" group. It does not speak for me. Thank God.
The tea party is not a wing, it is the Republican .
Sure couldn't tell it from how they voted....
The Tea Party "is not a wing of the Republican Party!"
Uh, huh...and the Earth is flat.
Cool! You and your 1-2% of the registered voters go ahead and run a third party candidate and watch the "Nader" effect on any chance of a Republican getting elected first hand.
I understand you want lower taxes, smaller government, etc. But you have no credibility or believability because everything you've been yelling about.........W and your beloved Reagan.........did the exact same things but much much worse. You've hollered and yelled and elected the same people who've been doing, are doing, and will continue to do the same things you've been rallying about. The leaders you've chosen have proven in their past actions that your all basically mad about one thing and one thing only and it's definitely NOT the white half of the President. You can tell me this and tell me that with false numbers and fake facts, but the lack of yelling when your phones were being tapped, the lack of yelling when the the VP's former company he was the CEO of getting contracts and stating "deficits don't matter", proves it. I believe that last guy in charge stated "I don't want to hear about the damn constitution" yet you "miss him" and he "kept you safe".
Imagine for just one second this. Joe Biden used to be the former CEO of Aetna, Obama invaded Myanmar based on information that they bought yellow cake from India and over 4K troops died and billions spent, W left us with a surplus and the HCR costs aren't included in the budget........how hard would you be yelling then? Exactly! "they are what we thought they were" – Coach Dennie Green
Did anyone notice the faces of the Tea Party in this picture. I wonder if any of them related to David Duke!