Phil Russo, Original Tea Party Member: The Movement Is Dead, Killed By Right's 'Racism, Hypocrisy'
Phil Russo, a libertarian-leaning, self-described "Goldwater Republican," was one of the earliest supporters of the tea party. But now, in an op-ed published in the Grio on Tuesday, he proclaims that the conservative movement is dead, killed off by members of the "political and religious right" who have poisoned it with toxic strands of hypocrisy and racism.
Russo, who was active in the tea party for some time as a radio host and campaign consultant in Florida, writes that he joined the movement in hopes of broadening the GOP's reach. He believed the tea party would call out hypocritical areas of the party's platform on social issues, and draw in independent voters "genuinely angry about the bank bailouts" in the wake of the financial crisis.
It was working, Russo writes, until moneyed interests "hijacked" the tea party, allowing it to turn into the "religious right in tri-corner hats" sometime after the Republican wave elections in 2010. Since then, it's gotten worse, Russo says.
Russo blames "hypocrisy and racism" for scaring away independents from the tea party between the 2010 and 2012 elections. He calls out the movement for vocally opposing New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's soda ban while remaining largely silent on what he believes should be a state's right to determine its own marijuana laws. Russo also blasts tea partiers for supporting the anti-gay Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), a federal law that he claims violates the constitutional clause declaring that marriages from one state must be recognized by other states.
At least one of the ORIGINAL tea baggers is finally admitting that the Movement is all but dead, and it was killed by a combination of the attack of the right-wing "moneyed interests" and the right-wing wackos, who killed it with their own racism and hypocrisy...
Why don't you ask Phil Russo...It's his tea bagger article... And since it's HIS op-ed/article, and he is who he is, what doesn't it matter whether he gave it to the TheGrio or printed it on a Hershey bar wrapper?
