“I can’t even describe to you the anger we had with him, using our volunteer labor and our passion for the movement to build his start-up.”
That’s what top Tea Party activist Kevin Smith tells TPMMuckraker about Judson Phillips, the guy behind the upcoming Tea Party Nation convention down in Nashville where Sarah Palin has accepted a big dollar fee to speak is scheduled to speak.
Late Update: Palin had initially agreed to speak for what was reportedly a big fee. But just last night she said she will not profit personally from the appearance. So she’s apparently backed off on accepting the big dollar pay day, presumably in the face of the controversy it generated.
From TPM Reader PM …
I’m a Mass. resident and a Coakley volunteer. I too think she’s at risk of losing—and, in fact, that she stands a greater chance of losing than wining. I’ve been phone banking for the past ten or so week nights, and many reliable D voters are undecided or leaning the other way. I’m referring to 70-year-old Democratic voters.
I don’t think there’s any question that Scott Brown has enough vulnerabilities for Bay State Dems to turn this race against him. The question is whether they have enough time. Different Massachusetts readers have different explanations for why Coakley is in such trouble (besides the obvious global problem that it’s a really rough time to be running as a Dem). But the most consistent and convincing explanation I’ve seen is that she was just not visible after the primary while Brown has been ubiquitous. In other words, Brown got a jump on Coakley. And Coakley’s campaign was late to catch on.
The real question to me is whether they have time to shift the dynamic. One vulnerability I don’t think I’ve seen much attention to is that Brown has contradicted himself right and left about whether he supports the kind of plan the Dems are now trying to pass — pretty much exactly the kind he voted for in Massachusetts just back in 2006.
Why did this horrific earthquake happen? Probably the Haitians’ collective “pact with the devil” says Pat Robertson.
Ted Kennedy’s widow, Vicki Kennedy sends a heartfelt email to voters on behalf of Martha Coakley.
Among the dead in Haiti, tragically, are at least 14 UN staffers. More photographs of the devastation:
I have to admit this is pretty good stuff from Glenn Beck. Recalling Katie Couric’s famous 2008 question to Sarah Palin about which newspapers and magazines she reads, Beck tonight asked Palin who her favorite Founding Father is. She gave the identical painfully awkward response: “All of them.” To which Beck replied, “Bullcrap” — and pressed her to answer. Watch.
Special Bonus Update: Beck and Palin also publicly offer to co-host Saturday Night Live.
Not only is Scott Brown not a member of the Tea Party Movement — he says he’s never even heard of it.
Massachusetts Senate candidate Scott Brown told reporters today that he’s “unfamiliar” with the “Tea Party movement.” But TPM Reader NM just showed us that his own campaign site features at least two pictures of Brown addressing Tea Party events.
New poll of Connecticut Senate race: Democrat Richard Blumenthal is crushing Republican front-runner Rob Simmons, 62-27.