FreedomWorks: "We've definitely taken over the Republican Party."

[RedStateLiberal]

[div class="excerpt" style="border-left: 1px solid #bfbfbf; border-top: 1px solid #bfbfbf; border-right: 1px solid #bfbfbf; border-radius: 0.3077em 0.3077em 0em 0em; box-shadow: 2px 2px 6px #bfbfbf;"]Tea party influences GOP platform talks in Tampa[div class="excerpt" style="border-left: 1px solid #bfbfbf; border-bottom: 1px solid #bfbfbf; border-right: 1px solid #bfbfbf; border-radius: 0em 0em 0.3077em 0.3077em; background-color: #f4f4f4; box-shadow: 2px 2px 6px #bfbfbf;"]TAMPA — When Republicans nominated John McCain for president in 2008, conservative groups associated with the tea party had yet to form.

Four years later, these groups claim they are practically writing the party platform ahead of the Republican National Convention here next week.

"We're extremely happy that the tea party can have this type of influence," said Ryan Hecker, a legal adviser for FreedomWorks, the conservative advocacy group founded by Dick Armey. "We've definitely taken over the Republican Party."

More than 100 delegates met Monday at the Marriott Waterside to draft the Republican platform in a sneak peek of the Aug. 27-30 convention. The platform is a 50-page document that provides policy statements that will guide Mitt Romney's presidential campaign from here on out.

Continue Reading at Tampa Bay Times

If elected, Mitt Romney will be nothing more than a puppet for the teabaggers. We must do everything in our power to ensure that does not happen.

[Downwinder]

1. The Republican Party sold their soul for a constituency. Now the constituency has taken over.

Be fun to watch the Kochs and the Chamber try to handle this one.

[Hydra]

2. The "Constituency" was always the Koch Bros and other big money

They could barely get people to show up at tea party events at one point...must be embarrassing when you can't even get paid people to show up.

Rest assured, the message that comes out will be the same "Give us money and guns while we kil the 'useless' people!!!" that the Repubs have been pushing for relentlessly.

[Downwinder]

3. They had the money but not the voters. They enlisted

the evangelicals and the wingnuts to get voters.

[Hydra]

4. Yup, they suckered the bottom of the barrel to get it too

But I've pointed out before that the Repubs don't chase votes- that would be silly. The can Diebold those. Instead, they're trying to build the illusion that somehow they are legitimate and represent someone other than the 1%...otherwise people might dig deeper into the election fraud and fight harder when someone like Bush takes us into trillion dollar wars.

The Tea Party plot is about manufacturing consent, IMO, and that starts and ends with money, not people.

[davidpdx]

5. The Republican Party is controlled by a few elitists fat cats

Like Norquist, the Koch brothers, Aldeson, etc.

[Angry Dragon]

6. Republicans are scum

and Willard is their leader

[RedStateLiberal]

7. I'll agree that they're scum

But I'm not so sure that Rmoney is their leader.

This article makes it clear that the Tea Party are creating the platform for the gop - or at least claiming they are in control.

If Mitt gets elected we'll basically have the Koch brothers as secret presidents pulling the strings from behind a curtain. Scary.