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For most of her life, Anna Kroyman ignored politics - it was just too boring.
"I never voted, I never paid attention, I never cared," says Kroyman. But all that has changed. This year Kroyman, 60, organized a Tea Party group in her town of Monticello, Ind., establishing a group that now has more than 200 members.
The event that awakened her political awareness - and she remembers it clearly because it came as a shock - was the Senate impeachment hearings of former President Bill Clinton. She heard two words emanate from the living room -- oral sex -- dropped the dishes in the sink and went into the living room where her boyfriend, Jack Van Vulkenburg, 65, was watching TV.
"It was like, are you kidding me? This is what's happening in our White House... (Bill Clinton) was like Ferris Bueller in the White House.... I thought it was hysterical," says Kroyman, who runs a telephone sales business out of her home.
She became a political junkie, following the hearings, watching the news, watching C-SPAN and memorizing the legislators' names. For the first time in her life, at age 50, she voted and exercised her conservative leanings.
After the last election she decided to step it up a notch, because she believes the country is "going down a dangerous path."
"We're heading into a socialistic system here," says Kroyman. "What we are experiencing now is the fall of democracy."
She says the catalyst that led her to found the Tea Party group was the rant by CNBC's Rick Santelli in February 2009 expressing outrage over an Obama administration policy to help distressed homeowners, even if they had bought more house than they could actually afford. The rant went viral on the Internet, where it was embraced by conservatives and derided by liberals as political theater.
At Van Valkenburg's suggestion Kroyman started a Website named "C-Corn.com"( http://c-corn.com/) -- as in ACORN for conservatives - not anticipating how fervently she would pursue the idea.
"I hike the ball, and she runs with it," says Van Valkenburg, a retired Chicago policeman who describes himself as a lifelong "anti-liberal."
She convened the first meeting of White County Tea Party Patriots at the local USA Family Restaurant in January with just eight people. Now the group has 232 members, Kroyman says.
The group regularly hosts political candidates to quiz them on their positions. They don't endorse candidates - like many other Tea Party groups the group is registered as a 527 educational nonprofits and thus prohibited from doing so. They do press for core values - limited government, fiscal responsibility and free markets - that she believes have been undermined by Congress and the president.
At a White County Tea Party event on Friday, held in a meeting room at the local utility company, Kroyman and Van Valkenburg passed the microphone among the 100 or so people who came to question Dan Coats, the Republican candidate for Senate. He fielded questions on immigration, value-added-tax and the health care package while his wife gave what was billed as an "impromptu" talk about her family's conservative values.
The group has hosted many of the candidates who will be on the ballot here, including Rep. Brad Ellsworth, a Democrat. Kroyman says she has repeatedly invited Democratic Rep. Joe Donnelly, but he hasn't accepted.
"Donnelly is telling us who he is by not coming," she says angrily.
Kroyman did not have time to attend a statewide anti-"Obamacare" rally held in Indianapolis over the weekend because she had other local Tea Party events to run in coming days before elections.
"Now I realize the seriousness of the matter," says Kroyman. "Now I'm looking for (candidates) who want to preserve the Constitution, who love this country, and save it from people who don't."
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It is hard to understand how average people can be for the polices of the Tea Party which will destroy what is left of the middle class that most of you belong to. If you are a Tea Partier, Please find out what is behind the sound bites that have no details. If you do you will be sick to your stomach and wonder how I could be so gullible.
It says it right there on their tshirts - WHITE
Fascism will come wrapped in a flag and carrying a Bible. ~ Sinclair Lewis 1935
Interesting that it seems teabaggers are afraid of socialism and we proud liberals are afraid of fascism. I'm proud to believe in liberty. It's no insult.
It's also interesting that the liberal "states" pay way more in taxes than the so called "conservative" states, and all they want to do is bite the hand that feeds them. Literally.
So, I must assume that these two "moral" characters have separate households and do not have pre-marital sex, right?
It took oral sex and 50 years and pounds to get interested in "her" country. Wow, things are worse than even I imagined.
I can believe they're not having sex! She makes Meg Whitman look like a beauty contest winner!
Of course this couple purposely chose to live in White County! Hahaha. I'm curious whether they are ignoring Christine O'Donnell's admonitions against pre-marital sex? OMG, do you suppose they're living together in sin? Hypocrites, all.
I personally hopes the GOP takes back the House. Then people will be reminded about how crappy they govern. They want to cut spending, but they don't say where. They want to lower the deficit, but they want to keep the Bush tax cuts. They want to take the country back...from who? Washington is broken, and it is going to remain broken. Anything they propose, Obama will veto, as payback, and they do not have the votes to overcome a presidential veto, no matter how optimistic they sound. Get ready for Government Gridlock. GOP after November..you'll find out its a lot easier on the sideline than the frontlines.
The Republican, tea party, plan for America is to privatize Social Security, Medicare, and Veterans health care. They plan to continue the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy, which will definitely increase the deficit. They have no plans to solve unemployment. The privatization of those three along will knock 10's of thousands onto the unemployment line, while fattening the pockets/wallets of their elite, rich, friends/associates. Voting republican will do nothing for the working poor, or the middle class.
1. Privatize everything.
2. Make it appear as if doing this gives people "choice".
3. The rich will eat you.
Look what you did Mr. Clinton!! If not for that she would have remained a quite, subserviant, Republican housewife that knew her place in the kitchen!
How ironic that so many people worry about "creeping" socialism in this country. What do they think Social Security, MediCare, the Veterans Administration and the Workers Compensation system are all about? And what about the government's bailout of banks, GM and AIG where they took an ownership position? Was that not socialism?
"For most of her life, Anna Kroyman ignored politics - it was just too boring.
"I never voted, I never paid attention, I never cared," says Kroyman. But all that has changed. This year Kroyman, 60, organized a Tea Party group in her town of Monticello, Ind., establishing a group that now has more than 200 members."
I've read quite a few remarks like that one, either, "they were never interested in politics their whole lives, or most of their lives." BUT, all of a sudden, they are, and they join a racist organization like the "tea party," and claim to the world, it's not because the President is black. Yea, right. The opportune time for these "non-political" types was when "dubya" illegally invaded Iraq, but hey, let's go kill some "darkies!" That's ok with them.
What is this? TWO days running of this c$%( on the front of MSNBC?????????? It's on the order of 5% of the electorate, and an extension of the Far-Right racist end of the Republican party---89% are White.
MSNBC should be embarrassed to skew what is NOT an actual story into something more than it really is.
Two years from now and no one will undoubtedly give a S$%T about the TeaB's.
I am just gobsmacked at the overall "antic illogic" (term of George Will, a thinking Republican columnist) in these letters. The majority of you turn anything said at all into a reason to hate. You sound like a lynch mob. You also make things up that you don't know, and stick your noses where they don't belong, as if finding out matters or proves something.
I am for civil, reasoned, educated discourse, the kind the fathers of democracy, Socrates, Hegel, Plato and Aristotle (know who they were?) said were necessary to be a true citizen. One of the seven "arts of liberty" (origin of liberal arts") was the ability to engage in a reasoned dialectic, where one posits a thesis, the other says his or her anti-thesis on an issue, and the two actually LISTEN to one another to come up with a third SYNTHESIS of the best of both side's ideas to create the best possible third option for the COMMON GOOD.
This is the opposite of a debate and the opposite of the HATRED that is being sold as good citizenry, where people are only looking out for their own singular interests instead of weighing what is best for the majority. The TEA PARTY has co-opted the Constitution like it is their Bible but do not understand that it was written to keep religion and one-sided politics from taking the country over. It was written to provide the best for COMMON GOOD, not for a small minority's narrow interests.
The Truth is in the middle. Moderation is the way. Listening is the action. Reason is the opposite of reactionism. Democracy is for every one of us, including those who cannot speak up, not just for the loud, rude and wealthy.
Tea Partyiers, you are pawns in the workings of Karl Rove and the rich people who fund his agenda. You are part of his agenda. They are playing on your fears to keep the rich rich and the poor inconsequential. Think about what your agenda is doing to the poor, the disenfranchised, and to you, in the long run. Think period. Look past Karl Rove's Fox news (funded by the richest man in the world, Rupert Murdoch, who is Australian) and smell the Coffee Party.
What is this? TWO days running of this c$%( on the front of MSNBC?????????? It's on the order of 5% of the electorate, and an extension of the Far-Right racist end of the Republican party---89% are White.
MSNBC should be embarrassed to skew what is NOT an actual story into something more than it really is.
Two years from now and no one will undoubtedly give a S$%T about the TeaB's.
I stumbled on Fox News over the weekend. They had a story from a UCLA student who attended a Tea Party rally in California. She only found 5% of the signs were bigoted in nature. Fox wants to tell viewers that it is a lie that Tea Party consist of bigots and idiots. Seeing this article continues to concern me that America is going backwards, not forward. I think with the Patriot costumes and the bigoted remarks, they would love it if we had a two class nation with slaves. Sadly most of the Tea Party would be in the poor class, because the wealthy Republicans behind all of this would never live next to a Tea Party supporter.
jeanne. thank you. But, don't you just love the costumes. They should join the anime conventions and get really good use for them. I understand the conventiions are a lot fun and you can show off without having to put out any money except for admissions to the sellers's room. But, understand costumes or not, the original Tea Partiers (Boston) were just plain cowards. Remember, they dressed as Native Americans, and who did they hurt by throwing the tea in the harbour. Themselves...no tea to drink. Today, the Tea Partiers are going to hurt themselves. What comes around goes around.
"We're heading into a socialistic system here," says Kroyman. "What we are experiencing now is the fall of democracy."
What we are experiencing is a decline of intelligence in this Country, starting with this woman and her family. She is not a Chemist or Nuclear Research associate. She runs a home phone calling business. People, wake up and take a good look at the people you have chosen to be your Representatives. This woman is Clearly not qualified. I doubt she even graduated from HS.
Jimmie,
Well...gee...aren't we so lucky to have you as Mr. Know it All! You must get a real kick out of belittling others. Does it make you feel good to put people down? Did you get made fun in school because you were the little nerdy kid that grew up to be that nuclear scientist and now you can flaunt your intelligence? Have you lost your viginity yet?? Perhaps you could take some lessons from a former president and get yourself your first hummer...
And in case you didn't realize it (probably because you were too busy insulting others) most businesses in this country are small businesses. But I guess you knew that already considering how smart you are...
I am always stunned by folks that make fun of people for being smart. It is amazing to me how people are prejudiced against intelligence. It reminds me of being in school and having people make fun of the kids that got good grades. Tell me JK if you have such a problem with smart people then who you would want performing brain surgery on your kids? I bet you wouldn't be so anti-intelligence if it had to do with who your doctor was. I know it is a hard nut to swallow but smart people know more and do more than people that are not smart. And yes it may not be fair that some folks are blessed with intelligence and some are not, but that is the way it goes. Life is not fair.
never voted but now want a tea party revolution because we have a BLACK man as president. masked racism. but i see through it, and i'm not black.
"Van Valkenburg, a retired Chicago policeman who describes himself as a lifelong "anti-liberal."
I wonder how many innocent people are doing time because of his bigoted, anti-liberal ways in Chicago as a police officer?
moshuluu,
You know, they really should make you take an IQ test before you post something on here. Personally, you should be locked up for being just plain stupid.
I don't know what's better. That the dems are looking so bad on their record or that their supports are so filled with hate. Have you guys even read what you post on these message boards? You are displaying your ignorance, bias and complete lack of tolerance and understanding. With each new picture we get a torrent of personal insults and very little substance. For the average Independent out there you guys make the decision easy.
To all the posters here, try and be a little more tolerant of others, open your mind to new idea and quite being so nasty. In other words consider being something other than a leftist.
Just some misguided folks who don't know what they are so angry about. They all are receiving Social Security, but they hate it. They all are on Medicare or veterans benefits, but they have never been in a war but they hate it. They receive farm subsidies, but they hate it. If you asked them about Healthcare Bill they would get most of it if not all of it wrong. They could not tell you what is or is not in the Constitution. The exact same folks who get manipulated by these Televangelist like Bakker, Saggert, Roberts and others.
I cannot stop laughing! Check out those pursed lips - don't be mad at them, they are pathetic examples of what life would be if we, too, were nutzoids!
It's so funny that I could make the same ascertions about and wonder about your ethnicity with name like Juanita. Perhaps you are just a low life illegal working for cash and not paying any taxes. Perhaps you are on welfare, with a half dozen kids that spends her monthly check on booze, smokes and lottery scratch offs...
Nah - just a 65 year-old, beautiful Black WORKING grandma!....and guess what???? "I is got muh ejukashun!" What are you doing up at 1:00 a.m., run out of medication?? Still laughing but NOW IT'S AT YOU!!??? :):):
Oh and for all your intellectual types who are making fun of the shirts. It’s “White County Indiana”. There is even a White County Democratic Party. LOL too good! You guys are a hoot.
Why does the media refer to the "Tea Party"? As far as I know there is no national "Tea Party" organization. They do not hold conventions, collect donations to fund elections or nominate persons to run for office. To me they simply are a part of the Republican Party and so should be addressed as such.
I agree. They were purportedly founded as the group TEA, with the acronym representing the phrase "Taxed Enough Already."
Media outlets should more appropriately refer to them as the TEA Faction of the Republican Party. That would be much more appropriate.
-WW IV.
She lived through the Nixon administration, the Pentagon Papers and the Iran-Contra affair but it took the term "oral sex" to get her politically active. Then her "anti-liberal" boy friend hikes her the ball and she runs with it. Translation - her boyfriend tells her what to believe and think and she goes nuts with it. And why do these people think that only conservatives and tea baggers are the only one's that love this country and the Constitution?
Just a bunch of angry folks who don't know what they are mad about. They all hate social programs, but are on Social Security, Medicare Veterans benefits (even though they never stepped into a war)Farm subsidies, need I go on. Probably could not tell you what is or is not in the Constitution or the Health Care Reform Act.
Same folks who get manipulated, by the Jim Bakers, Swaggerts and Oral Roberts of the world.
Crack me up. She heard the words "oral sex" and ran from the kitchen into the living room where her boyfried was watching TV. Where do I start? Is this a live-in boyfriend, or did he just drop over for dinner? What, he can't help with the dishes? I'm assuming since they're not married, they don't have sex of ANY kind, and never will. She didn't care about politics/the country until Bill Clinton had someone perform oral sex on him while he was at his desk in the White House. Wow, I wonder what she thought went on in politics before her epiphony. And now look... a BLACK President, while they live in WHITE County. Sure there's nothing there. These tea partiers are a bunch of goofs.
Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin will be their candidates for president and vice president of the United States to liberate America from liberals. Wait a minute, I don't think Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin will give-up all the money they are presently making thanks to the Tea Party movement and their ability to manipulate people.
I once read the Devil will tell a thousand trues to get you to believe one lie.
It's all about black versus white I had a preacher friend of mine the other day tell me that he can't believe there's a black man in the white house and I asked him if he thinks black people only play basketball. I deleted his number off my callers list you have Baptist preachers molesting young men and bashing gays and guess what he's caught with one in his mouth. you have priest molesting children so why aren't all of you Christians bringing any of this up. You have girls giving head under desk every day and lots of you that say that you are holier then now are probity the biggest offenders I hate it when the good old Christians tell me that they have been forgiven that they can sin 6 days a week and go to church on Sunday and ask for a person to forgive them I don't think it works that way. So until we can live as people of all races and different points of view we will be divided and a people divided is what the government wants then they have won the war. I believe we have already lost the war because we keep putting the same dumb asses back in office they have crushed the middle class made the rich richer and increased the poor so keep on bickering and keep putting the same dumb ass's that tell the biggest lies back in Washington and it won't be long before we have two classes the yes sirs and the sirs. because there isn't one race with all the answers and when whites think this is our country most can't read history we took this country by force and done a lot of horrible things in the name of Christians. So get over it and lets start working together to undo the mess that we are in both parties are to blame there in Washington to do there bidding and get all they can and the hell with the people. So let's unite and take this country back regardless of religion, race, and the ones that can't believe there's a black man in the White house get over it the people have spoken and two years they can speak again and if you keep putting the rich and powerful in Washington only blame yourselves for what the out come is.
A church that allows a preacher/priest that promotes the Tea Party or any Politician for that matter should lose their tax exempt status.