Are some tea partiers selling out to the GOP?

Groups like FreedomWorks and Tea Party Express may portray themselves as “aides” to the grassroots, but the reality of the last few months is something different. They try to control activity and influence who is in charge of local tea party groups across the country. They play rival groups against each other and support the group which bends to their will. It all smacks of top-down politics, and now the mainstream media is claiming a “split,” portraying the movement as at each other’s throats…

Those involved in the D.C.-managed groups state that we need to “stick together” and focus on “common goals.” The thinking is in terms of two parties, and doesn’t recognize that in some states the Republican Party is not the answer. In states controlled by RINOs, no former Republican, libertarian, or anti-socialist is going to be fooled into helping RINOs retain power.

Across the country I have spoken to tea party organizers who tried to make nice with the local Republican Party, only to face a steamroller attempt to co-opt the tea party for partisan means.