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Dick Armey Plans Purge of Moderates From GOP

http://thinkprogress.org/2009/11/03/armey-disruption-memo/

Armey Meets With Author Of Town Hall Harassment Strategy Memo To Plan
Purge Of Moderates From GOP

By Lee Fang on Nov 3rd, 2009

In late July, ThinkProgress first reported on a memo detailing how
conservative activists can successfully disrupt Democratic health care
town halls.
http://thinkprogress.org/2009/07/31/recess-harassment-memo/

The memo, authored by a Tea Party Patriots volunteer named Bob
MacGuffie, was distributed on a listserv controlled by FreedomWorks —
the corporate front group run by Dick Armey that is dedicated to
organizing tea parties and other anti-Obama efforts around the
country.

A member of the listserv, Jenny Beth Martin, blasted out the memo on
June 13th, declaring, “We here in CT have developed a strategy for
holding our elected officials accountable. We show up en mass at the
‘town hall’ meetings they have!” The tactics included:


– Artificially Inflate Your Numbers: “Spread out in the hall and try
to be in the front half. The objective is to put the Rep on the
defensive with your questions and follow-up. The Rep should be made to
feel that a majority, and if not, a significant portion of at least
the audience, opposes the socialist agenda of Washington.”


– Be Disruptive Early And Often: “You need to rock-the-boat early in
the Rep’s presentation, Watch for an opportunity to yell out and
challenge the Rep’s statements early.”


– Try To “Rattle Him,” Not Have An Intelligent Debate: “The goal is to
rattle him, get him off his prepared script and agenda. If he says
something outrageous, stand up and shout out and sit right back down.
Look for these opportunities before he even takes questions.”


In town hall after town hall during August, the strategy was used to
target members of Congress who are considering support of health care
reform.

Although Armey disputes his relation to the memo, both Rolling Stone
and Talking Points Memo have verified that FreedomWorks staffers, like
FreedomWorks Florida coordinator Tom Gaitens, control the Tea Party
Patriots listserv which distributed the memo.

Armey has gone so far as denying even knowing Gaitens, who has worked
for FreedomWorks for years and can be seen in the last ten seconds of
this ABC News segment handing a microphone to Armey.

Now, the Courant is reporting that Armey plans to go to Fairfield, CT
on November 11th for a “strategy session” with conservative activists
and MacGuffie, the original author of the town hall harassment
strategy.

An announcement sent out by MacGuffie proclaimed that he, like Armey,
has actively supported Doug Hoffman’s bid to rid the NY-23 special
election of moderate Assemblywoman Dede Scozzafava (R-NY).

Now, both Armey and MacGuffie are planning to purge the Republican
Party of more moderate politicians.

MacGuffie has declared that Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Sen.
Olympia Snowe (R-ME) are RINOs (Republicans in name only) who “have
routinely abandoned or betrayed us.”

Similarly, the next step of Armey’s agenda appears to be an
intensified crusade to challenge moderate Republicans in primaries.

The Politico reports that Rep. Bob Inglis (R-SC), Gov. Charlie Crist
(R-FL), former Rep. Rob Simmons (R-CT) and other Republicans who have
strayed from rigid party-line positions face primaries from candidates
inspired by the tea parties and town hall disruption type tactics.

________________________________________________________________

Dick Armey, what a guy.

Harry

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