The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

Where Credit Is Due

Posted on | February 13, 2012 | 11 Comments

It is always better to be too generous than to risk being regarded as selfish or possessive or, Heaven forbid, thievish.

While following up with people I’d met at CPAC, I had a long conversation with Stella Lohmann, who told me the sad story of the lawsuit over the “Tea Party Patriots” name. Believe it or not, this was the first I’d heard about this ugly feud, as I’ve been rather busy tending to my own business. And when I read an article Stella wrote about the lawsuit last November . . . oh, my.

When I read that, I called a friend who is active in the Tea Party movement, who said, “You should find the articles that Mother Jones did.” So I  found this article, and then I found this article, and this article, and . . . oh, my.

The friend I called explained that most Tea Party activists know about this ugliness but say nothing about it, because they don’t want to call attention to an affair they consider a stain on the reputation of the entire movement.

In the past, however, I have discovered that minding your business can actually be dangerous neglect, as when so many conservative bloggers tried to ignore Charles Johnson’s jihad against Pamela Geller. And considering just what little I’ve read about this “Tea Party Patriots” imbroglio, I would strongly suggest that people stop trying to ignore the problem and start speaking out in an effort to resolve it.

Meanwhile, and on a completely different subject, I want to acknowledge Left Bank of the Charles for his Jan. 27 post, “Newt Gingrich Suffers His Gettysburg in Jacksonville Debate“:

The Civil War raged on for 22 months after Gettysburg. The end in Florida will come when voters go to the polls on Tuesday, January 31. If Newt loses, the Gingrich campaign isn’t over. But I suspect the moment before the debate opened in Jacksonville will be Newt Gingrich’s high water mark.

Bingo. He hit the nail on the head, the day after the debate, and saw what I didn’t recognize at the time. Romney dealt Gingrich a fatal blow in that debate — a blow all the more deadly because there would be a gap of 26 days before the next debate (Feb. 22 in Arizona). Gingrich had flourished in debates, but when he found himself cleverly mousetrapped, suckered into an attack he couldn’t sustain, he suffered a loss of morale that looks to be beyond hope of recovery.

And so I want to give credit to Left Bank of the Charles for seeing what I didn’t see, and for having the graciousness to point out my previous neglect in the comments of the preceding post. It would be less than courteous if, having chided others for their neglect of my work, I did not extend recognition when I was similarly guilty of neglect.

Courtesy is the essence of diplomacy, you see. And there is still an island nation in the South Pacific in need of my diplomatic skills.

Category: Newt Gingrich, Tea Party, Vanuatu

Comments

11 Responses to “Where Credit Is Due”

  1. Adjoran
    February 13th, 2012 @ 5:11 pm

    I wasn’t aware of the nastiness or the lawsuit, but I’ve been saying all along that these so-called “Tea Party” groups – TPP, TPX, TPA, Freedom Works – are self-appointed people who have usurped the movement’s name and reputation for financial gain.

    There is nothing wrong with making a buck in America.  There is much wrong with claiming you represent me and millions of others who never heard of you before you suddenly became “the spokesperson” for the Tea Party movement.

    I have no dog in the legal fight – a pox on both their houses – but I do recognize Jenny Beth Martin as the TPP spokesperson who appeared on Fox Business Channel for interviews during the debt ceiling fight.  I remarked at the time that if you were going to represent your organization on a national network, it might be a good idea to gain a working knowledge of the subject at hand first. 

    The woman came across as completely ignorant – I was embarrassed for her:  she was incapable of fielding even the sympathetic softballs Cavuto served up.  She hadn’t a clue what default even was, what bond ratings mean, nothing.  Her entire argument was basically, “We’re the Tea Party, and we’re against debt.   Debt is bad and stuff.  Oh, and did I tell you we don’t like debt?”

  2. Evi L. Bloggerlady
    February 13th, 2012 @ 6:11 pm

    It is complete nonsense.  I am all for “property rights” but the term “tea party” is in the public domain.  No one owns it.  And I have never given to the “tea party” because it is not a political organization, but an idea.  I give to groups that represent tea party ideals (limited government, less taxes, constitutional authority, etc.).  I know then by their platforms and the candidates they endorse.   I assume when someone calls for the “tea party” that is a scam.  And given this lawsuit, I was correct in believing that.  

  3. TR
    February 13th, 2012 @ 6:37 pm

    Yeah yeah the tea party is an amateur outfit.  So is Stacy McCain. 

    However, when it comes to 70’s pop songs, I just wanted to give Stacy a link to a fabulous 70’s song that has all the right Other qualities (men wearing gold chains, polyester suits and shirts with large collars unbuttoned to their navel and all that long combed hair, that is before the big hair look or the Fedora outbreak)

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnyh6i9NvmE 
    Reading that entry yesterday about you Marley and the “one-dog-night”  back in the Maryland hills I had to send this along from the famous Three Dog Night.

    And BTW, Newt is from PA, that would have put him on the the winning team at Gettysburg, dude.

  4. Anonymous
    February 13th, 2012 @ 6:38 pm

    I’ve contributed to my local (Dallas metro) Tea Party groups, but most of the national ones look like the skankier charities.

  5. Evi L. Bloggerlady
    February 13th, 2012 @ 7:37 pm

    If you can trust them because they are local, fair enough.  I would rather give some milk money to The Other McCain than some “teaparty” people I do not know.  

  6. Evi L. Bloggerlady
    February 13th, 2012 @ 7:39 pm

    Well he was raised more in France than Pennsylvania and you know what side of the ledger France is…

  7. Adjoran
    February 13th, 2012 @ 7:58 pm

     Be sure and send that to David Brock, too – he’d enjoy it.

  8. richard mcenroe
    February 13th, 2012 @ 8:35 pm

    Thet’s whah he wound up t’Congress from down under thet thar Manson-Nixon Line…

  9. Liberty Jane
    February 13th, 2012 @ 10:20 pm

    My husband and I were happy to join up with the first few tea parties — we designed a bumper sticker that said “Tea Party Patriot” with a picture of a shadowed minuteman. Then we made other stuff. Then the TPPs made Zazzle take them all down. We were totally shocked the day our designs were all deleted. We didn’t know being a Tea Party Patriot was a trademark! We thought it was kind of generic, like saying “Patriotic Early American” or something.

    Our family tree goes back 350 years in America, and we are descendants of all kinds of Patriots. We felt awful about having this “trademark” take away our identity.

  10. EBL
    February 13th, 2012 @ 10:29 pm

    Liberty Jane, you are right.  They are wrong.  

  11. Finrod Felagund
    February 14th, 2012 @ 1:00 pm

    Gingrich is far from finished.  Just watch, Santorum is going to get the fisking he’s never had before, and Romney will help.  After people get tired of Romney and Santorum destroying each other, momentum will return to  Gingrich on Super Tuesday.  He’ll win the nomination, pick Condoleeza Rice as his VP, and will defeat Obama in November taking 35 states.

    You heard it here first.