tagged w/ Dick Armey
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In a move not publicly announced, former Rep. Dick Armey, the folksy conservative leader, has resigned as chairman of FreedomWorks, one of the main political outfits of the conservative movement and an instrumental force within the tea party.
Armey, the former House majority leader who helped develop and promote the GOP's Contract with America in the 1990s, tendered his resignation in an memo sent to Matt Kibbe, president and CEO of FreedomWorks, on November 30. Mother Jones obtained the email on Monday, and Armey has confirmed he sent it. The tone of the memo suggests that this was not an amicable separation. (See Armey's email below.) Armey demanded that he be paid until his contract ended on December 31; that FreedomWorks remove his name, image, or signature "from all its letters, print media, postings, web sites, videos, testimonials, endorsements, fund raising materials, and social media, including but not limited to Facebook and Twitter"; and that FreedomWorks deliver the copy of his official congressional portrait to his home in Texas.
"The top management team of FreedomWorks was taking a direction I thought was unproductive, and I thought it was time to move on with my life," Armey tells Mother Jones. "At this point, I don't want to get into the details. I just want to go on with my life."
In the email, Armey indicated that he wants nothing to do with FreedomWorks anymore. He asked that all user names, passwords, and security-related data created in his name be emailed to him by the close of business on December 4. He even insisted that FreedomWorks—"effective immediately"—was "prohibited" from using a booklet he authored. Was Armey's resignation a reaction to the recent election results? "Obviously I was not happy with the election results," he says. "We might've gotten better results if we had gone in a different direction. But it isn't that I got my nose out of line because we should've done better."
Armey declined to specify his disagreements with FreedomWorks. Asked if they were ideological or tactical, he replies, "They were matters of principle. It's how you do business as opposed to what you do. But I don't want to be the guy to create problems."
After leaving Congress in 2003, Armey joined the conservative advocacy group Citizens for a Sound Economy as co-chairman. The following year, the organization, which had been co-founded by Charles and David Koch, split off to become FreedomWorks. Its sister outfit, Americans for Prosperity, has been a prominent grassroots conservative group.
FreedomWorks, under Armey's leadership, was a key player in the rise of the tea party in 2010. The organization helped elect tea party favorites, including Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Reps. Renee Ellmers (R-N.C.) and Tim Scott (R-S.C.). Armey led the fight to eliminate Obamacare, emailing every Republican member of Congress after the 2010 elections with a strategy for gutting President Obama's signature health-care law. FreedomWorks has acted an connector between tea party groups around the country, organizing protests against Obamacare and expanding the ranks of the conservative movement. In 2010, Armey and Kibbe together published Give Us Liberty: A Tea Party Manifesto.
Mother Jones contacted Kibbe and FreedomWorks spokeswoman Jacqueline Bodnar for comment. Neither responded.
Armey says he doesn't know what he will do next, but he is considering consulting work.
Here is Armey's November 30 memo to Kibbe:
November 30, 2012
To: Matt Kibbe, President, FreedomWorks Inc.
From: Honorable Richard K. Armey
Regarding: Resignation
This is to inform you that as of 5:00 P.M. ET on November 30, 2012 I resign my position of Trustee at FreedomWorks, Inc. and my positions of Chairman of FreedomWorks and FreedomWorks Foundation.
As I resign from all board positions and duties, please see below a list of dispositions on outstanding issues: I expect to be fully compensated through the expiration date (December 31, 2012) of my current consulting contract with FreedomWorks. Henceforth FreedomWorks shall be prohibited from using my name, image, or signature in any way or for any purpose without my written permission or in the event of my death, without my heirs written permission.
Effective immediately I expect that Freedom Works shall remove my name, image, and signature from all its letters, print media, postings, web sites, videos, testimonials, endorsements, fund raising materials, and social media, including but not limited to Facebook and Twitter. I expect to receive via email at [redacted] by the close of business, December 4, 2012, all user names, passwords, security questions, and security answers for all accounts, web sites and social media, including but not limited to Facebook and Twitter, created in my name.
Effective immediately FreedomWorks is prohibited from using my booklet or any updated versions of my booklet "Hitting the Ground Running" without my written permission which I innovated while still in congress and trusted to Max Pappas to update for new member orientation. I request that FreedomWorks deliver the copy of my official congressional portrait to my home in Texas.
http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2012/12/dick-armey-resigns-freedomworks-tea-partyIn a move not publicly announced, former Rep. Dick Armey, the folksy conservative... more
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In 2010, the Tennessee Tea Party group known as the Tea Party Nation booked 1,600 rooms at a Las Vegas hotel, with the intent of hosting a convention featuring Sharron Angle, Lou Dobbs and Laura Ingram. The hotel, of course, took the rooms off the market, and a mere two weeks before the event, the Tennessee Teabaggers canceled citing “the economy.”
http://veracitystew.com/?p=41221In 2010, the Tennessee Tea Party group known as the Tea Party Nation booked 1,600... more
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Not that I expect anyone to be oblivious to what these assholes have been up to, but it appears that one of them has been quite busy here at Current. Anyway, I thought I'd share a song. Hope it brings a little cheer.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctHL0hfWroUNot that I expect anyone to be oblivious to what these assholes have been up to, but... more
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In this episode of CHRIS & SHIRLEY'S GRAND ADVENTURES, Chris and Shirley are talked into going to a Tea Party house party.
Written & Directed by Sam Sero
Written & Directer by Sam Sero
Starring Chris Langan & John Shirley Miller
Produced by Poopdog Entertainment
Also Starring:
Mitch Lerner as Chester
Jamie Lee & Missy Boyd as the Tea Party Girls
Chris Z! as Tea Party Speaker
Tea Partiers: Zack Beseda, Marc Dorris, Shawn Becker, Calum Macdonald, Jayson Conroy, Denis Klein, Ron Schultz, Chapin Tierney, Marchien
Corey Blake, Michael DiSciullo & Ryan Morgan as Secret Service Guys
Executive Producer Sam Sero
Supervising Producer & Researcher Teddy Tutson
Cinematography by Zach Voytas
Sound by Paul Losada
Edited by Ben Roche & Jarryd Meyer
Music by Jeff Says No
Location Provided by Calum Macdonald & Amir KalilIn this episode of CHRIS & SHIRLEY'S GRAND ADVENTURES, Chris and Shirley are... more
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Controversial former GEICO voice over announcer releases emotional public service announcement "Don't Drunk Dial FreedomWorks," warning other FreedomWorks/Tea Party critics not to make the same mistake he did.
"If I can save just one person from doing what I did, then I will feel it was all worth it." - D.C. Douglas L. Baxterstein, Jr.
Dedicated to Matt Kibbe, Dick Armey, Andrew Breitbart, FreedomWorks - and all the Tea Party folk who grant interviews to the New Left Media on YouTube.Controversial former GEICO voice over announcer releases emotional public service... more
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11/14/2009 Mike Shanklin Reports From The Anti-Healthcare, Freedomworks Rally in Raleigh, NC. As you can tell, not many libertarians were in attendance, but to those of you I met today who were, thank you for defending REAL Liberty!
***This article has been chosen as a discussion topic on PFP Movement Radio, http://www.blogtalkradio.com/pfpmovementradio Friday night at 6pm-8pm. Please Call In To The Show, 347-633-9636. COMMENTS will be included in the show so feel free to discuss or ask questions here on current.com as they will be addressed during the show. This article will also air on Freedom Hour Saturday at 9pm-10pm on Movement TV http://www.peacefreedomprosperity.com/?page_id=36***11/14/2009 Mike Shanklin Reports From The Anti-Healthcare, Freedomworks Rally in... more
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One of the chief agitators against Obama-style health reform, Dick Armey -- the Dallas-area conservative who served as U.S. House majority leader in the 1990s -- is offering a darkly cynical prediction: The Obama administration, he says, will use fears of swine flu pandemic to pressure congressmen who haven't yet signed onto the president's healthcare agenda.
"In September or October, there will be a hyped-up outbreak of the swine flu which they'll say is as bad as the bubonic plague to scare the bed-wetters to vote for healthcare reform," Armey told the Financial Times.
Armey, head of Freedom Works, resigned from the lobbying shop DLA Piper last week amid conflict of interest allegations. The firm represents drug makers and other clients with a stake in the healthcare debate, and Freedom Works, a conservative advocacy group, has been encouraging activists to disrupt congressional townhall meetings in recent weeks to turn public opinion on the issue.One of the chief agitators against Obama-style health reform, Dick Armey -- the... more
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As tea party tax protests were staged all over the country, assembly democrats in California staged a low-key counter event to bring to light what they believe is public misunderstanding. Keith Olbermann adds his voice explaining how the supposedly grass roots movement was actually financed by big money from GOP sources and the event actively promoted by Fox News.As tea party tax protests were staged all over the country, assembly democrats in... more
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Chief author of the Republican "Contract with America" and former Republican House Majority Leader Dick Armey writes an interesting piece for the Wall Street which criticizes Bush's "compassionate conservatism". Of course, he takes his shots at Obama as well.
"Parties are all about getting people elected to political office; and the practice of politics too often takes the form of professional juvenile delinquency: short-sighted and self-centered.
This was certainly true of the Bush presidency. Too often the policy agenda was determined by short-sighted political considerations and an abiding fear that the public simply would not understand limited government and expanded individual freedoms. How else do we explain 'compassionate conservatism,' No Child Left Behind, the Medicare drug benefit and the most dramatic growth in federal spending since LBJ's Great Society?
John McCain has long suffered from philosophical confusions about free markets, and his presidential campaign reflected as much. Most striking was his inability to explain his own health-care proposal, or to defend his tax cuts and tax reform. Ultimately, it took a plumber from Ohio to identify the real nature of Barack Obama's plan to 'spread the wealth.' "
Full piece at link...Chief author of the Republican "Contract with America" and former Republican... more
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SDLN
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added this
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4 years ago
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Vice President Dick Cheney gave former House Majority Leader Dick Armey misleading information to win his support for the U.S. invasion of Iraq, a book says.
Barton Gellman's book, "Angler," is an expansion of a 2007 series in the Washington Post (NYSE:WPO) he co-authored with Jo Becker. The series won a Pulitzer Prize.
Armey, R-Texas, told Gellman Cheney claimed Saddam Hussein had direct ties to al-Qaida and his engineers were close to creating a nuclear weapon that could be carried in a suitcase, the Post reports. At the time, Armey was considering voting against the resolution authorizing the invasion.
"Did Dick Cheney ... purposely tell me things he knew to be untrue? I seriously feel that may be the case," Armey said. "Had I known or believed then what I believe now, I would have publicly opposed the resolution right to the bitter end, and I believe I might have stopped it from happening."
Other Republicans also made damaging claims about Cheney. Frank Keating of Oklahoma and John Engler of Michigan said that Cheney leaked damaging information to keep Keating out of the Cabinet.
"Dick Cheney coming into my life has been like a black cloud," Keating said.Vice President Dick Cheney gave former House Majority Leader Dick Armey misleading... more
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