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Dick Armey of FreedomWorks makes a point during an Aug. 26 town hall meeting at UNC Asheville.

From Daily Planet Staff Reports

The Tea Party movement is not interested in a Republican majority, but rather a fiscally conservative majority in Congress, FreedomWorks Chairman Dick Armey said during a town hall meeting Aug. 26 in UNC Asheville’s Humanities Lecture Hall.

After praising pundit Sarah Palin for achieving all that she has accomplished through her own efforts, he cited Fox News personality Glenn Beck as “the first, best source for accurate information in America right now.”

The appearance by Armey, a former U.S. representative from Texas’s 26th congressional district (1985–2003) and House Majority Leader (1995–20), drew about 50 people and was largely ignored by members of the Asheville Tea Party (which officially has repudiated FreedomWorks) Following his 45-minute talk, Armey fielded questions for 30 minutes.

Contacted Aud. 30, Tim Peck, treasurer of the Asheville Tea PAC, told the Daily Planet  that the top officers of the local tea party “had a schedule conflict. We had a board meeting at the same time” as Armey’s town hall meeting, so they were unable to attend.

“We don’t repudiate FreedomWorks” as an organization, Peck emphasized. “They do a fine job” at what the group does. However, he noted that the ATP board passed a resolution recently repudiating FreedomWorks for trying to take credit, when it is not due, for many of the accomplishments of the tea party movement, Peck said.

Last Thursday’s program concluded with Armey and Matt Kibbe, president of FreedomWorks, signing copies of the book they co-wrote, titled “Give Us Liberty: A Tea Party Manifesto.” Armey then put on a cowboy hat and departed with his entourage. Armey and Kibbe were hosted by the Buncombe County Republican Party and Bill Lack, a local member of FreedomWorks.

Founded in 1984, FreedomWorks is headquartered in Washington, D.C., and has hundreds of thousands of grassroots volunteers nationwide. FreedomWorks bills itself as leading the fight for lower taxes, less government, and more freedom.

After Lack’s brief introduction of him, Armey said, “I thought I’d talk a little bit about this movement that’s going on in the United States,” referring to the tea party.

The movement is focused on issues central to the country including the economy, the size of government, deficits and personal liberty.

“We’ve never seen anything quite like this in history,” Armey said.

In a reference to his own book, he asserted, “Someone needs to write the real story about the phenomenon known as the tea party movement ... It’s not a third-party movement ... The reason the president and the two political parties say that (it’s a third party) is because they’re scared of it.”

He added, “It’s truly a grassroots movement because there’s no leader they can find ... They can’t find a George Soros with a million-dollar checkbook.”

While The New York Times said 18 percent of the American people consider themselves active or sympathetic to the tea party movement, 95 percent of them are voters ... This makes the tea party the swing vote” in the next election.”
Armey said members of the tea parties tend to “look at America as the greatest blessing in the world.”

He noted that members of the movement tend to quote Founding Fathers, such as Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and Benjamin Franklin, adding that “who among them did not advise us that we, as citizens, must remain vigilant to preserve our liberty.”

After a pause, he said, “People say, ‘Where’d these awful (tea party) people come from, where they’re quoting the Founders?’” To that end, Armey said of the critics, “They’re upset because the ideas of the Founding Fathers are a threat” to the current U.S. government.

Armey quipped that “only three classes of people have the right to steal our money” — children, thieves and the government.

“Think about it ... But they also all need adult supervision.” The crowd laughed heartily at Arney’s comments.

He said some colleagues have asked him about spearheading FreedomWorks instead of lounging around as a retiree. “Why are you doing this?” he constantly is asked, to which Armey said he replies, “Because ... I’m afraid for our country” and its future. Later, he asserted, “My grandchildren, the most precious people in all the world, are going to have to live with it,” he said of the problems exacerbated by the politicians and government.

To that end, Armey said, “This movement didn’t just start recently. I put (its start) with (the) George Bush” years.
“The annoyances got worse” under Bush, “then Barrack Obama and his political hacks came along ... with hope and change ... They paid a lot of money to come up with those two words,” which were found to resonate with the American electorate at the time, Armey said.

“The first thing Obama did was a huge economic stimulus” bill that failed to stimulate the economy, but benefited his special-interest supporters, Armey asserted.  “Obama promised us change and hope — and then he doubled down. There are people in this (tea party) movement, who are scared to death about what he might do to our country. We wouldn’t have a Republican senator from Massachussetts, if it weren’t for this movement.”

He praised the tea parties for having the wisdom to not “make themselves a third political party because this would make them a spoiler. If they did that, it would make them political hacks, and we’ve had enough of them already.”

As for politicians, he said, “They say insincere things” on a steady basis. “They’re hardly anyone you want to put your trust in.”

However, Armey had much praise for U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint, R-SC, calling him a rare example “of one (politician) who is reliable. There’s a certainty there that wins your trust.”

He also touted U.S. Rep. Michele Bachman, R-Minn., who he labeled as “a threat because she gets it” on the dangerous course the country is now taking. “Sarah Palin is another one. That authenticity is what they fear in the movement. Sarah Palin made everything she achieved on her own terms ... In this age of post-feminism, she is a bit of an embarrassment to Hillary Clinton, who never would be in her job if she was not” President Bill Clinton’s wife.

Armey said his group, FreedomWorks, “has won the respect of this (tea party) organization ... They turned to us (for advice) because FreedomWorks has been in business since 1984 ... So watch this movement. It is legitimate....” He concluded by noting that “it is grotesquely unfair” how the the tea party movement is being mischaracterized “as dangerous, extreme radicals” by leftists and the mainstream news media, when they actually are America’s true patriots.