CU SIGN "NOT RACIST, NOT VIOLENT, I AM SILENT NO MORE"

IMMIGRATION (OUTTAKES)

Nelson Mandela accepting a cup of tea on a visit to London (BBC News rushes - 23/07/1992 - AEXZ288W)

YOUR HERITAGE AT OL' MISS

August 8, 2020; Martinsville, Indiana: Black Lives Matter protest and counter protest on Morgan County Square

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FTG FOR DAN HARRIS CS VO ON A CONTROVERSY SURROUNDING THE TEA PARTY, THE NATION'S OLDEST CIVIL RIGHTS ORGANIZATION, THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF COLORED PEOPLE (NAACP) HAS JUST ADOPTED A RESOLUTION AT ITS ANNUAL CONVENTION CONDEMNING "RACIST BEHAVIOR" BY TEA PARTY MEMBERS, AND TEA PARTY IS FIGHTING BACK / INTV W/ DAVID WEBB, CO-FOUNDER OF TEA PARTY 365 NEW YORK CITY AND SIRIUS XM TALK SHOW HOST / HARRIS ISO How did you get involved in the Tea Party? 15:37:33 I .. last April I was asked to help put together the rally. I took a look at what their about, what they were planning to do and I put together the big rally down at city hall park. In your view does the Tea Party have an issue with racism? 15:37:50 I think that in any movement, any size movement on either side of the political aisle you are going to get a fringe element or an occasional element. But across the Tea Party not in just my experience. my organization, but in others I've not seen any outward signs of a racist element. You've never seen anything personally that made you feel uncomfortable? 15:38:12 No. I never have. I what I . uh to be fair -- There are times when people will bring something that's over the top in a sign. If any Tea Party leader sees that you come out, you denounce it, you ask them to put it away. It doesn't belong there. That's not what we're there for. 15:38:29 This is an issue about fiscal responsibility not about racism. Racism detracts from the issue. What do you think of what the NAACP is doing? 15:38:44 I think the NAACP in its march towards irrelevancy as an organization needs an enemy to maintain its power base. That's why they are doing this. 15:38:56 There is absolutely no true empirical evidence that supports what they are saying about the movement and what it appears they are going to say about the leadership. And I am one of the leaders and I interact with many of the other leaders. 15:39:14 We may not all agree on everything, but the one thing we agree on is that racism doesn't belong here. It's not accepted here and we denounce it if it is ever brought up. We have offered rewards, we have contacted the CBC, we have said show us the evidence. Let's prove it did or didn't happen. 15:39:31 They have refused to respond. It's a false argument. So you think this is all about politics? 15:39:38 I think this is about politics and energizing the base. You have an organization that has evolved into a leftist organization for the most part. When you look at their positions on school choice in the black community, their national policy . When you look at their support of unions on the far left with their ideas. When you look at the fact that the culture has changed in America . and shouting racism and playing the race card doesn't have what it used to. 15:40:05 But it does for a very small group. And they need to get that base together as the march to November continues it doesn't look good for the left. So let me push you a little bit. We've all seen the signs. There have been signs that compare Barak Obama to a monkey. There have been signs that have had the "N" word on them. When you see those signs how do you feel? 15:40:30 They're offensive. They don't belong there, but I'm going to use the same tact on the other side. 15:40:37 Condoleezza Rice having sex with a monkey giving birth to a monkey baby. George Bush is a Nazi. Whichever side that comes from it doesn't belong here. 15:40:47 And the people that bring that sign again, detract from what we're here to do. 15;40:51 Left . right dynamic there will always be fringe elements. Anyone who says otherwise is dishonest. 15:40:59 What the movement is about is something completely different. It represents a large broad and in according to some polls a majority of Americans and their views. And this is not based on just conservative vs. democrat. This is based on principles, on fiscal responsibility and limited government. So when you see obviously offensive signs . your conclusion is there are a few idiots out there but it doesn't represent the whole movement? 15:41:25 Absolutely. When you get a million people on the mall in Washington, DC you're going to find somebody who goes way beyond. But if the NAACP wants to condemn racism then I suggest they start with the New Black Panther Party. 15:41:39 That's video evidence. I'm going to kill cracker babies. I'm going to kill crackers. I hate crackers. Denigrating in the video I think most of America's seen a black man with a white woman. The same dynamic by the way that produced the President of the United States. 15:41:57 Why hasn't the President who had a beer summit after a Cambridge professor was arrested he said without knowing all the facts, the cops acted stupidly and had a bear summit November 2009 .where are we now with the summit again and the outcry by both the president, Mrs. Obama, and the NAACP against King Sami Shabaaz? Let me ask you about something else. While you dispute the merits of the NAACP's plan . setting that aside for a moment, what about the political reality. Do you think it will work . that they'll be able to sully the image of the Tea Party? 15:42:42 I think it will work for their base. But fundamental truths aside or rather based on the fundamental truths that Americans are looking at -- pocketbook issues, the NAACP will not win that argument. 15:42:57 They denigrated the Tea Parties in the beginning. The President said I don't even pay attention. Nancy Pelosi spoke fervently and emotionally about what she has seen. All this bad, racist element, these non-existent Americans - the few of them and yet millions have come out and spoken and you can't fail to see the truth after awhile. 15:43:21 This is a big nation and people are accepting the truth. --------------------------------------------------------------

FTG FOR DAN HARRIS CS VO ON A CONTROVERSY SURROUNDING THE TEA PARTY, THE NATION'S OLDEST CIVIL RIGHTS ORGANIZATION, THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF COLORED PEOPLE (NAACP) HAS JUST ADOPTED A RESOLUTION AT ITS ANNUAL CONVENTION CONDEMNING "RACIST BEHAVIOR" BY TEA PARTY MEMBERS, AND TEA PARTY IS FIGHTING BACK / INTV W/ DAVID WEBB, CO-FOUNDER OF TEA PARTY 365 NEW YORK CITY AND SIRIUS XM TALK SHOW HOST / WEBB ISO How did you get involved in the Tea Party? 15:37:33 I .. last April I was asked to help put together the rally. I took a look at what their about, what they were planning to do and I put together the big rally down at city hall park. In your view does the Tea Party have an issue with racism? 15:37:50 I think that in any movement, any size movement on either side of the political aisle you are going to get a fringe element or an occasional element. But across the Tea Party not in just my experience. my organization, but in others I've not seen any outward signs of a racist element. You've never seen anything personally that made you feel uncomfortable? 15:38:12 No. I never have. I what I . uh to be fair -- There are times when people will bring something that's over the top in a sign. If any Tea Party leader sees that you come out, you denounce it, you ask them to put it away. It doesn't belong there. That's not what we're there for. 15:38:29 This is an issue about fiscal responsibility not about racism. Racism detracts from the issue. What do you think of what the NAACP is doing? 15:38:44 I think the NAACP in its march towards irrelevancy as an organization needs an enemy to maintain its power base. That's why they are doing this. 15:38:56 There is absolutely no true empirical evidence that supports what they are saying about the movement and what it appears they are going to say about the leadership. And I am one of the leaders and I interact with many of the other leaders. 15:39:14 We may not all agree on everything, but the one thing we agree on is that racism doesn't belong here. It's not accepted here and we denounce it if it is ever brought up. We have offered rewards, we have contacted the CBC, we have said show us the evidence. Let's prove it did or didn't happen. 15:39:31 They have refused to respond. It's a false argument. So you think this is all about politics? 15:39:38 I think this is about politics and energizing the base. You have an organization that has evolved into a leftist organization for the most part. When you look at their positions on school choice in the black community, their national policy . When you look at their support of unions on the far left with their ideas. When you look at the fact that the culture has changed in America . and shouting racism and playing the race card doesn't have what it used to. 15:40:05 But it does for a very small group. And they need to get that base together as the march to November continues it doesn't look good for the left. So let me push you a little bit. We've all seen the signs. There have been signs that compare Barak Obama to a monkey. There have been signs that have had the "N" word on them. When you see those signs how do you feel? 15:40:30 They're offensive. They don't belong there, but I'm going to use the same tact on the other side. 15:40:37 Condoleezza Rice having sex with a monkey giving birth to a monkey baby. George Bush is a Nazi. Whichever side that comes from it doesn't belong here. 15:40:47 And the people that bring that sign again, detract from what we're here to do. 15;40:51 Left . right dynamic there will always be fringe elements. Anyone who says otherwise is dishonest. 15:40:59 What the movement is about is something completely different. It represents a large broad and in according to some polls a majority of Americans and their views. And this is not based on just conservative vs. democrat. This is based on principles, on fiscal responsibility and limited government. So when you see obviously offensive signs . your conclusion is there are a few idiots out there but it doesn't represent the whole movement? 15:41:25 Absolutely. When you get a million people on the mall in Washington, DC you're going to find somebody who goes way beyond. But if the NAACP wants to condemn racism then I suggest they start with the New Black Panther Party. 15:41:39 That's video evidence. I'm going to kill cracker babies. I'm going to kill crackers. I hate crackers. Denigrating in the video I think most of America's seen a black man with a white woman. The same dynamic by the way that produced the President of the United States. 15:41:57 Why hasn't the President who had a beer summit after a Cambridge professor was arrested he said without knowing all the facts, the cops acted stupidly and had a bear summit November 2009 .where are we now with the summit again and the outcry by both the president, Mrs. Obama, and the NAACP against King Sami Shabaaz? Let me ask you about something else. While you dispute the merits of the NAACP's plan . setting that aside for a moment, what about the political reality. Do you think it will work . that they'll be able to sully the image of the Tea Party? 15:42:42 I think it will work for their base. But fundamental truths aside or rather based on the fundamental truths that Americans are looking at -- pocketbook issues, the NAACP will not win that argument. 15:42:57 They denigrated the Tea Parties in the beginning. The President said I don't even pay attention. Nancy Pelosi spoke fervently and emotionally about what she has seen. All this bad, racist element, these non-existent Americans - the few of them and yet millions have come out and spoken and you can't fail to see the truth after awhile. 15:43:21 This is a big nation and people are accepting the truth. --------------------------------------------------------------

Press Conference with Representative Michelle Bachmann on Tea Party Caucus Also Attending: Ana Puig Homemaker - Pennsylvania Katrina Pierson - Dallas, TX Involved with Dallas Tea Party Cathy Trauernicht - Potomac, MD. Small Business Owner Diana Reimer - Philadelphia, PA Homemaker Danielle Hollars - Woodbridge, VA Veteran, Mother Tito Munoz - Dale City, VA Construction Company owner Keli Carender - Seattle, WA Tea Party Organizer, Actress William Oldfield - Annapolis, MD Businessman, Entrepreneur SLUG: 1000 BACHMANN PRESSER RS25 79 AR: 16x9 Disc:949 Press Conference with Rep. Michelle Bachmann on Tea Party Caucus SLUG: 1000 BACHMANN PRESSER RS25 79 AR: 16x9 Disc:949 10:09:56 REP. BACHMANN: Thank you, everyone, for coming today. We're very thrilled that you're here and we thank you for your interest in the Tea Party Caucus. My name is Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, I'm from Minnesota's Sixth Congressional District and we're grateful and gratified that you have this level of interest. But there's probably been in this last year and a half no more interest than any group other than the Tea Party because they represent mainstream American people who have decided to get up off the couch because they want to take their country back. They've come essentially under a banner of three things and it's this, 10:10:32 they believe that we are taxed enough already, that the federal government should not spend more money than it takes in and that Congress should act within the constitutional limitations as given to us by the founding fathers. That is the banner that we believe in. (Applause.) And to that end, we have seen people show up for town hall meetings and come here for demonstrations. And so the other thing that we have heard along that line is that Congress is not listening to those people. 10:11:06 So we decided to form a Tea Party Caucus for one very important purpose, to listen to the concerns of the Tea Party. Now, what we are not, we are not the mouthpiece of the Tea Party and controlling it from Washington, D.C. I am not the head of the Tea Party nor are any of these members of Congress the head of the Tea Party movement. 10:11:27 The people are the head of the Tea Party movement in all of their forms. (Applause.) We are also not here to vouch for the Tea Party or to vouch for any Tea Party organizations or to vouch for any individual people or actions or billboards or signs or anything of the Tea Party. We are here to listen and to be receptacle (sic). We had a wonderful opening meeting this morning. We had 24 members of the United States Congress in attendance at our Tea Party Caucus and we had these wonderful people that I'd like have you hear from behind me. We have several members of Congress who have asked also to speak, 10:12:08 but first what I'd like to ask is one of the people who spoke to us today and please come, identify yourself, where you're from, the beautiful baby you're holding and what you told everyone today in the Tea Party Caucus. 10:12:23 MS. HOLLERS: Good morning, my name is Danielle Hollers (sp), I'm from Woodbridge, Virginia and I'm here for my children. I'm a stay at home mother of five. I'm an Army veteran and I was very dismayed to hear that people deem the Tea Party a bunch of terrorists. As a veteran of our Army, I'm not a terrorist; I'm a patriot and I have a right to protest against any legislation that goes against the will of the people. And I am here because I want to tell America, we are not terrorists, we are not racists, we are Americans who care about our country and the future for our children and our grandchildren. And that's all I have to say. Thank you. (Applause.) REP. BACHMANN: Thank you. Thank you. 10:13:08 MS. PUIG: My name is Ana Puig (sp.) I'm originally from Brazil. I came to this country back in 1986 looking for the pursuit of happiness, life, liberty and opportunity. I have lived the American dream together with my family and what I see going on here in this country, I make no apologies anymore, I'm going to tell the truth. What I see going on is exactly what has taken place throughout Latin America under dictators such as Lula in Brazil, Hugo Chavez in Venezuela. We are going down the same path and it's called 21st century Marxism. It's no longer a bloody war; it's an ideological war and we have to turn the tide around now in 2010 by electing conservative candidates such as Mrs. Bachmann here with us, so we can bring conservatism back to this country and turn the tide around for our children and grandchildren. Thank you. (Applause.) REP. BACHMANN: Please state who you are and where you're from. 10:14:00 MR. MUNOZ: My name is Tito Munoz, I live in Woodbridge, Virginia. This morning I have to go to my job site, five in the morning, get my construction site ready, tell the instructions to the employees so I could come here and talk to the congressmen that opened the doors and opened the ears for us, the people. Unfortunate for many of -- (inaudible) -- that we have done, they have not done so. They have called us racists. They have called us many names and they have insulted the Americans who are against big government or against socialist policies. As an immigrant who came here to America, I came here for liberty and I didn't come here for dependency. I came here for opportunity. I didn't come here to receive from the government or to be told by the government what I should do or what I should not do. I was a fighter in Colombia when I was a teenager and I fought against corruption and against government. I know what the price you pay sometimes. I was arrested in Colombia a couple of times and I know that it doesn't matter, I'm going to fight here in America because this is my country, this is my new country and I love this country. I love it deeply and I'm very happy that congressmen are listening to us, hopefully, more members of Congress will listen to the American people. We do not want a socialist democracy. We want a constitutional republic back to the basics of how it was founded for. Thank you very much. (Applause.) 10:15:46 MS. MUNOZ: Hi, I'm Debbie Bornstein Munoz and I'm here because I care about the Tea Party movement, not the Tea Party as a party, but the Tea Party movement. What most of us are concerned about is there has been a lack of transparency in the current administration. We feel frustrated. I, myself, I'm very concerned with the way our country seems to be regarding our traditional allies. I'm very concerned about Colombia in South America. We need them as an ally and I'd like Congress to pass the free trade agreement with Colombia. I'm very concerned immensely about Israel and I want you all to know and I want Congress to know that we need to care about the traditional allies and that's what's good for America and it's also what's good for the world. (Applause.) 10:16:41 MS. PEARSON: I'm Katrina Pearson with the Dallas Tea Party and founder of the Garland Tea Party. I'm a member and advocate for this movement simply because I grew up having to struggle, raise a child by myself, watch my grandparents work their fingers to the bone with nothing to show for it. And as I got educated, I realized that there are ways and mechanisms that can be put in place to help hardworking Americans achieve their dream. Unfortunately, we have many systems that are broken that need to be fixed and I fully support conservatives moving forward in this cause. Now, for racism, racism is not a Tea Party principle nor is it in any bylaws. Racism is not the fight of the Tea Party. If black leaders want to come together in this country and put it on the table, then we can discuss that. As of today, please understand that racism is not an issue of the Tea Party nor will it ever be. Thank you. (Applause.) 10:17:41 MS. KARENDER: Hi, my name is Kelly Karender (sp). I'm from Seattle, Washington and I'm here because I am done with the mentality of this current congressional leadership, which, to me, appears to be extremely arrogant, as some sort of aristocracy rather than the republic that we should be and that we are. I'm tired of these double standards that we're not supposed to fly to places, but the presidential dog gets his own jet to go somewhere. I'm tired that we're being lectured on things and how to live our lives, but that somehow this elitist class above us, they get to do whatever they want to do and I think it's time that we all become equal again as we should be, as is the American dream. And lastly, I'm done with people defining who I am, who know nothing about me and smearing my integrity and my character. People don't know how I was raised. They have no idea where my heart lies and to have them anonymously smear me like that is horrific especially when it comes from the mouth of your own representative on the floor of the United States Congress and that is totally unacceptable in the USA. Thank you. (Applause.) 10:19:04 MS. REIMER: I'm Diana Reimer (sp), Philadelphia Tea Party Patriots and national coordinator for Tea Party Patriots. I'm here today because I think this is just something great. It's about time that we're going to have our voices heard and this is our country. My husband and I are busy teaching people about what is happening to our country and bringing it back to our founding fathers' principles and I thank everyone, all the Caucus members and all the media here today. Thank you. (Applause.) 10:19:38 MS. TRAUNICH: My name is Cathy Traunich (sp) from Potomac, Maryland and I think perhaps the most overused word today is unsustainable. Members of Congress use the word, the president uses the word to talk about the unsustainable level of federal spending and the mounting federal debt. The Tea Party movement understands the meaning of unsustainable; it truly must be stopped and reversed and that's one of the principles that we're fighting for, to restore fiscal integrity to our government. Thank you. (Applause.) REP. BACHMANN: Congressman Dan Burton of Indiana. REP. BURTON: I think, first of all, I want to thank Michele and the others that formed this caucus. I think you've heard today from people across the country, from various ethnic groups about how they feel about this government and the Tea Party movement. That should dispel an awful lot of the rumors about racism and other things because we have people from all ethnic backgrounds who are here today to talk about how they feel about America and constitutional government and lower taxes and less spending. So I hope all of you in the media today will carry that message back, that the Tea Party movement is all across this country, there's all races involved, all ethnic groups and they speak for America and they're speaking for them and their families and that's the message they should be giving to the people of this country through the media. Thank you. REP. BACHMANN: Louie Gohmert of Texas. (Applause.) 10:21:02 REP. GOHMERT: Thank you. This is an important movement to try to get both parties back on track, back to the things that made America great. And let me say something about this charge of things being tossed out here. When we walk through here when the health-care bill was being debated, I got up on the sidewalk over here that was just full of people, supposedly Tea Party folks that came on such short notice and I went and shook hands with everybody up and down that sidewalk as I moved toward the Cannon Building. And about every 10 to 15 feet, I encountered someone who said, I am not for you, I am for this health-care bill. So whatever they did, there were plants all the way through the crowd that nobody has talked about and, in fact, I got cussed by one when I got to the end of this street. I didn't come running to the media and whining and crying because, you know, we move on. We got elected to do a job. We have people yell names at us and I'm particularly surprised to find out under the definitions today, all of those who voted against Alan Keyes in 1996 who I voted for must have been racists, but anyway, thank you. This is a great day. Thank you, Michele, for pushing this. REP. BACHMANN: Thank you. 10:22:27 MR. ALTFIELD: Hello, everyone, I'm Bill Altfield (sp) from Annapolis, Maryland, originally from Ohio where commercials first, government second and I came out here a few years ago and had to change a whole paradigm and start working in the government environment and everything I found was -- didn't make sense, was inefficient. There was no performance measurement and people never had an incentive or disincentive when they did something right or wrong and it made no sense to me because I had never seen it before; I'd spent 40 years of my life in the commercial side of the world and I came right here to the emerald city and was basically shocked. And so what's happened now, I'm trying to start my own business in Annapolis and I cannot believe how difficult its been because there are so many regulations in everything I'm trying to accomplish I can't get anything done without hiring more people that I can't afford right now. So I'm just here saying that we need to support the private sector so the private sector can pay the taxes to support the government when the government provides constituent services and then we asked the government to provide those constituent services in a very, very efficient performance-based way. I think it's so simple that I think all these other problems we're all talking about will solve themselves if we actually start that way and focus on that. Thanks very much. REP. BACHMANN: Dr. Paul Broun of Georgia. 10:23:40 REP. BROUN: I'm Paul Broun of Georgia. The Tea Party movement is expressing the most powerful political force in America and it's written in the Constitution of the United States, "We, the people," we, the people expressing their concern about their loss of freedom, the fiscal irresponsibility of this administration and the leadership here in this House. They want to go back to constitutionally limited government and if we'd go to what this document says, what our founding fathers meant for the Congress and the government to be doing, then we would have a whole lot different government. We would have fiscal responsibility. We would have people that were free and not encumbered by government. So we've got to get our government back and that's what this is all about. We're listening. They're speaking. That's what this Tea Party Caucus is all about. REP. BACHMANN: Thank you. Dr. Phil Gingrey of Georgia. 10:24:33 REP. GINGREY: Well, obviously, this press conference is all about the Tea Party patriot organization and the Tea Party Caucus that Michele Bachmann and other members, I'm proud to be founding member of that caucus. We had a meeting this morning. As Michele said at the outset, we're not the mouthpiece of the Tea Party patriots; we heard from about 20 of their organizational members, both at the national level and state levels and city levels and you heard from some of them just a little while ago. These people are true patriots. It's the greatest grassroots organization that I have ever seen and I call myself a Goldwater Republican, so I go back a pretty long ways. This is great. I cherish them. I say let's lean into the fight and let's take this country back in November. (Applause.) REP. BACHMANN: Judge John Carter of Texas. 10:25:25 REP. CARTER: I'm John Carter from Texas and I want to tell you, I've never seen a greater gathering of patriots than the people that gathered with us this morning and the truth is these people are patriots who have decided to get up off the couch and lay down the channel changer and get involved in their government that they know they are in charge of. The people run this government and this is the voice of the people and we're here to listen. I'm just proud to be part of this. (Applause.) REP. BACHMANN: Also, of Texas, John Culberson of Houston. REP. CULBERSON: Thank you. Thank you, Michele. It gives me great hope to see the spontaneous creation of the tea parties across the nation. Our country was founded on a constitution of limited federal government and checks and balances that we as constitutional conservatives share the commitment of the Tea Party members to return to the original design the founders gave us of a careful division of power between state and federal government. We're committed to the restoration of state sovereignty under the 10th Amendment and individual liberty. We're committed to restoring the checks and balances between the separate branches of government, but above all, we're committed to listening to the people across the country who have risen up with one voice, really, from coast to coast that the government is not governing with our consent. 10:26:45 Nancy Pelosi and Barack Obama have awakened a sleeping giant from coast to coast that is building a tsunami that will sweep out these extremists that are governing the Congress in November and I am absolutely confident that America's best hope is in the Tea Party movement that has arisen spontaneously in a way that gives all of us great encouragement and inspiration. I'm very proud to be a member of the Tea Party Caucus, and work my heart out in the upcoming session to just say no to new spending and new taxes; and to get the government out of our lives, 10:27:22 out of our pockets; and leave us alone! Thank you, Michele, for doing this. REP. BACHMANN: Thank you. You're welcome. We have other people here that I think that would like to speak, but in the interest of time, we may have to cut off questions, so -- or, I mean, cut off more speakers. So if there are any questions that you might have. Yes. Q Yes, Congresswoman Bachmann, by bringing this kind of a surprise here in the recent day, are you worried about putting your Republican colleagues in kind of a spot, in a with-us-or-against-us kind of a position? 10:27:49 REP. BACHMANN: Kevin, no, I'm not, because essentially what -- again, what we've heard from the people across the country is that Congress is not listening. As far as leadership goes, we have three members of the Republican leadership at least who've joined. The very first letter that I wrote was to Speaker Nancy Pelosi. I asked the speaker if she would join us in the Tea Party Caucus. And the last conversation I had here at Capitol Hill was with a Democratic colleague who has indicated he would like to join the Tea Party Caucus. So we are hoping to be bipartisan because this is all about constitutional conservatives returning under the banner of our Constitution. We're hoping to be bipartisan. 10:28:24 As for Republicans, as I said, we have three members of the Republican leadership that have joined. Another member who is in the leadership told me he's very supportive of what we're doing, and this is complementary, complementary to our UCUT program where we're asking the American taxpayers to vote on what they would like to see us cut in the budget, almost complementary to America Speaking Out, the website we launched where we want to dialogue with the American people. But this is unique because this is a caucus that is saying we are opening up our doors as members of Congress. We're letting real people with real stories and real lives coming in to speak to us about their very real concerns. It's not very often that you get an open door where you have 24 members of Congress listening to real people about what they're saying. 10:29:11 Again, we are not the Tea Party movement, as members -- (applause) -- we are listening, we are receptacles, and we are ears to listen to what the people have to say. So great question. Yes. Q Can you talk about the issue of the day, which is regulatory reform the president signed this morning? Are you hearing from Tea Party members any objections to that? Or is that high on the agenda? 10:29:32 REP. BACHMANN: Well, this is a perfect illustration where I can say I am not here to speak on behalf of the Tea Party movement. Whatever comments I would make about the regulatory reform bill -- I voted against; I think it's a very bad bill -- those comments are not to be associated with the Tea Party. They need to speak for themselves. But I think what the American people were told about that bill is that they were going to see Wall Street put in handcuffs and put in jail basically to be punished for what happened. We all agreed that the bad actors who got us into this situation needed to be punished. The only problem is a lot of the bad actors were missing from this bill. Freddie and Fannie were missing from this bill. The Community Reinvestment Act was missing from this bill. The first thing that we'll see for consumers is we will see -- we'll see ATM fees, in all likelihood, raised. We'll see the end, probably, of free checking for people. And then we'll probably also see credit very difficult to obtain for consumers. 10:30:32 That sounds like it's Main Street getting punished to me. That doesn't sound like it's Wall Street. So that's part of my concern. But, again, the perfect illustration I'm speaking words for Michele Bachmann, not for the Tea Party. Any other questions? Yes. Q As members of the -- Q Exactly what do you hope the caucus achieves? I mean, how -- and -- and -- and can you give us a -- sort of a scope of what you'll be doing, how often you'll meet et cetera? REP. BACHMANN: Well, we're meeting now for the first time. 10:30:56 We're very gratified because we filed the paperwork on Friday to start the caucus. It was approved on Monday. We thank the speaker and Chairman Brady for that. And now we -- as you see, we've just already had our first meeting with 24 members in attendance. We feel this was very successful. And so what -- going forward what we want to do is have a bigger earphone, if you will, to listen to the people. And we may possibly meet next week as well. And then, as you know, then we go back for a district work period. But our goal is to continue an ongoing dialogue in real time. And I would also ask the speaker here and now, 10:31:32 "Would you allow us to use Skype here in the United States Congress?" It's very difficult to ask people here -- (applause) -- to come and see us this morning. You heard from Tito. Tito's told us he had to go to his work site this morning at five o'clock this morning, prepare his construction work site, leave the work site, and drive all the way here to meet with members of Congress. I would say that was a challenge this morning, and he -- but we've seen people do that all across the country. What we want to be able to do is make it as convenient as possible, and we in the Tea Party Caucus would love to listen to people from Alaska, Hawaii, all of the states what do you want us to hear. And if we could use Skype, then people could wake up maybe in their district at five in the morning. We could be here. They -- and we could dialogue with each other. That's what we hope to do going forward. (Applause.) Q Do you see legislation coming out of this? REP. BACHMANN: We will see. But, again, we're here to be a receptacle. So we'll see from there. Q Ms. Bachmann -- REP. BACHMANN: Yes. Q -- do you count Mark Williams -- Q -- (inaudible) -- Tea Party movement broadly is factionalized, and has differences of opinion within itself about what appropriate communications rhetoric -- (off mike). We hear from the Tea Party coordinators here right and left, Mark and Jenny (ph) Bath (ph), about how they feel about the dissent and some of the criticism of their organization. It's part of it and the broader but numerous voices in the movement. 10:32:57 REP. BACHMANN: Thank you for asking the question that way because the message is getting through that we members of Congress are not the mouthpiece; those involved in the movement are the mouthpiece. So thank you. Q The question really was could you talk to some of the dissent in the movement, about the message, how it's communicated, and the absence of the presence of a singular one for the movement overall? MS. MARTIN: I'm Jenny Beth Martin, cofounder and national coordinator for Tea Party Patriots. And this is my fellow national coordinator and cofounder, Mark Meckler, TeaPartyPatriots.org. There is some dissent within some of the groups. What I think we can -- we all agree on are three core values that Tea Party Patriots laid out last June and July: fiscal responsibility, constitutionally- limited government and free markets. As far as this particular caucus goes that Congressman Bachmann has started, it came up on our weekly webinar last week with our local -- or this week with our local coordinators on Monday night. And they were enthusiastic about it because they hope that finally people in Congress are listening; you're going to promote our core values. And they were also cautious. They wanted to make sure that the people in Congress don't become the mouthpiece for the movement. And we've heard Congressman Bachmann and the rest of the congressmen here today say that that is not going to happen. MR. : And Carl, I think to deal more directly with your question, one of the issues that came up this week arising out of the NAACP's resolution against the Tea Party movement was the spokesperson for Tea Party Express, Mark Williams, stepped up, wrote what he considered a satirical essay from Ben Jealous, the head of the NAACP, to President Lincoln. We found that essay to be racist, offensive, vile. Williams has a long history of making offensive, racist statements, referring to Muslims as animals, the president as an "Indonesian Muslim turned welfare thug" and the "racist-in-chief." We believe there is no room for that sort of vile racism in political discourse or any other polite discourse in society today. We distanced ourselves from that organization long ago. That organization is made up of a bus and few people who travel around the country. They've stood up since and stood behind Mark Williams. Our members have asked us to step away in the strongest of terms. You'll never see us on stage with them. You'll never see us support that kind of rhetoric. In every large movement, 145 million people in the U.S, there is always a fringe. And so that doesn't represent the movement at large. Q Ms. Bachmann? REP. BACHMANN: Any other questions? Yes. Q Are you going to support Tea Party candidates being involved in congressional debates in various districts? (Inaudible) -- locked out of debates, is the Tea Party's Caucus going to support that? REP. BACHMANN: That will be up to the Tea Party organizations, and that will be up to the various -- Q I'm talking specifically about your caucus, not necessarily -- REP. BACHMANN: No. We -- our whole purpose is to be a listening ear to the Tea Party and nothing more. The Tea Party is a set of ideas. At this point, it's not a political organization. If they become a political organization, that's up to them, because the -- we have the Republican Party. We have the Democrat Party. They are political organizations. We are a listening ear, and we're not weighing into that. So thanks for asking the question. MR. : Last question. Q The Blue Dog Caucus has been quite successful on the Democratic side, holding up legislation it finds to be too fiscally irresponsible -- REP. GOHMERT: And caving at the last minute -- (inaudible) -- (Laughter.) MR. : (Inaudible) -- to the people! MR. : Thank you, Louie. Q (Inaudible) -- do you see your caucus playing a similar role -- (inaudible) -- think -- you know -- (inaudible) -- Republican side should the majority go back to the GOP? REP. BACHMANN: Well, as I said, we stand for three things. And it's the fact that the federal government should not spend more money than what it takes in. Number two, our people are taxed enough already. And, number three, Congress needs to get to acting within the limitations placed on it by the Constitution. And we may -- you may hear us weighing in on those issues going forward. So thank you very much, everyone. Thank you for coming today. REP. GOHMERT: Let me -- let me -- let me just add one thing. The importance of listening to this movement is this. Despite so many in the media trying to marginalize the Tea Party, what you have in the Tea Party are taxpayers. And we've seen the numbers. We may be at 53 percent of the country, we're told, who will be paying income tax. We've -- also have seen the numbers that 28 percent of Americans identify themselves with the Tea Party. Do the math. Over half of the people who are paying the taxes in this country are part of the Tea Party. That's a group you need to listen to, and that's why we're here. Thank you all. REP. BACHMANN: Thank you, everyone. Thank you for coming.

**SEE PO-139FR FOR STORY INFORMATION**

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Friday
Madison, WI

:00 - :45
Sen. Elizabeth Warren
(D) Massachusetts

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(Sen. Elizabeth Warren, (D) Massachusetts): "Three top Republicans will meet right here. Donald Trump, the ultimate racist bully, (applause) will stand with Speaker Paul Ryan, the ultimate Republican insider, and Ron Johnson, the ultimate Tea Party radical. No more tip-toeing around, no more polite pretending, that is party unity. And every ugly racist, sexist, coarse, crude, hateful thing that Donald Trump has said is officially part of the DNA of the Republican Party."
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 --KEYWORD TAGS--
RACE 2016 ELIZABETH WARREN WISCONSIN CLINTON TRUMP



Press Conference with Representative Michelle Bachmann on Tea Party Caucus Also Attending: Ana Puig Homemaker - Pennsylvania Katrina Pierson - Dallas, TX Involved with Dallas Tea Party Cathy Trauernicht - Potomac, MD. Small Business Owner Diana Reimer - Philadelphia, PA Homemaker Danielle Hollars - Woodbridge, VA Veteran, Mother Tito Munoz - Dale City, VA Construction Company owner Keli Carender - Seattle, WA Tea Party Organizer, Actress William Oldfield - Annapolis, MD Businessman, Entrepreneur SLUG: 1000 BACHMANN PRESSER RS25 79 AR: 16x9 Disc:949 Press Conference with Rep. Michelle Bachmann on Tea Party Caucus SLUG: 1000 BACHMANN PRESSER RS25 79 AR: 16x9 Disc:949 10:09:56 REP. BACHMANN: Thank you, everyone, for coming today. We're very thrilled that you're here and we thank you for your interest in the Tea Party Caucus. My name is Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, I'm from Minnesota's Sixth Congressional District and we're grateful and gratified that you have this level of interest. But there's probably been in this last year and a half no more interest than any group other than the Tea Party because they represent mainstream American people who have decided to get up off the couch because they want to take their country back. They've come essentially under a banner of three things and it's this, 10:10:32 they believe that we are taxed enough already, that the federal government should not spend more money than it takes in and that Congress should act within the constitutional limitations as given to us by the founding fathers. That is the banner that we believe in. (Applause.) And to that end, we have seen people show up for town hall meetings and come here for demonstrations. And so the other thing that we have heard along that line is that Congress is not listening to those people. 10:11:06 So we decided to form a Tea Party Caucus for one very important purpose, to listen to the concerns of the Tea Party. Now, what we are not, we are not the mouthpiece of the Tea Party and controlling it from Washington, D.C. I am not the head of the Tea Party nor are any of these members of Congress the head of the Tea Party movement. 10:11:27 The people are the head of the Tea Party movement in all of their forms. (Applause.) We are also not here to vouch for the Tea Party or to vouch for any Tea Party organizations or to vouch for any individual people or actions or billboards or signs or anything of the Tea Party. We are here to listen and to be receptacle (sic). We had a wonderful opening meeting this morning. We had 24 members of the United States Congress in attendance at our Tea Party Caucus and we had these wonderful people that I'd like have you hear from behind me. We have several members of Congress who have asked also to speak, 10:12:08 but first what I'd like to ask is one of the people who spoke to us today and please come, identify yourself, where you're from, the beautiful baby you're holding and what you told everyone today in the Tea Party Caucus. 10:12:23 MS. HOLLERS: Good morning, my name is Danielle Hollers (sp), I'm from Woodbridge, Virginia and I'm here for my children. I'm a stay at home mother of five. I'm an Army veteran and I was very dismayed to hear that people deem the Tea Party a bunch of terrorists. As a veteran of our Army, I'm not a terrorist; I'm a patriot and I have a right to protest against any legislation that goes against the will of the people. And I am here because I want to tell America, we are not terrorists, we are not racists, we are Americans who care about our country and the future for our children and our grandchildren. And that's all I have to say. Thank you. (Applause.) REP. BACHMANN: Thank you. Thank you. 10:13:08 MS. PUIG: My name is Ana Puig (sp.) I'm originally from Brazil. I came to this country back in 1986 looking for the pursuit of happiness, life, liberty and opportunity. I have lived the American dream together with my family and what I see going on here in this country, I make no apologies anymore, I'm going to tell the truth. What I see going on is exactly what has taken place throughout Latin America under dictators such as Lula in Brazil, Hugo Chavez in Venezuela. We are going down the same path and it's called 21st century Marxism. It's no longer a bloody war; it's an ideological war and we have to turn the tide around now in 2010 by electing conservative candidates such as Mrs. Bachmann here with us, so we can bring conservatism back to this country and turn the tide around for our children and grandchildren. Thank you. (Applause.) REP. BACHMANN: Please state who you are and where you're from. 10:14:00 MR. MUNOZ: My name is Tito Munoz, I live in Woodbridge, Virginia. This morning I have to go to my job site, five in the morning, get my construction site ready, tell the instructions to the employees so I could come here and talk to the congressmen that opened the doors and opened the ears for us, the people. Unfortunate for many of -- (inaudible) -- that we have done, they have not done so. They have called us racists. They have called us many names and they have insulted the Americans who are against big government or against socialist policies. As an immigrant who came here to America, I came here for liberty and I didn't come here for dependency. I came here for opportunity. I didn't come here to receive from the government or to be told by the government what I should do or what I should not do. I was a fighter in Colombia when I was a teenager and I fought against corruption and against government. I know what the price you pay sometimes. I was arrested in Colombia a couple of times and I know that it doesn't matter, I'm going to fight here in America because this is my country, this is my new country and I love this country. I love it deeply and I'm very happy that congressmen are listening to us, hopefully, more members of Congress will listen to the American people. We do not want a socialist democracy. We want a constitutional republic back to the basics of how it was founded for. Thank you very much. (Applause.) 10:15:46 MS. MUNOZ: Hi, I'm Debbie Bornstein Munoz and I'm here because I care about the Tea Party movement, not the Tea Party as a party, but the Tea Party movement. What most of us are concerned about is there has been a lack of transparency in the current administration. We feel frustrated. I, myself, I'm very concerned with the way our country seems to be regarding our traditional allies. I'm very concerned about Colombia in South America. We need them as an ally and I'd like Congress to pass the free trade agreement with Colombia. I'm very concerned immensely about Israel and I want you all to know and I want Congress to know that we need to care about the traditional allies and that's what's good for America and it's also what's good for the world. (Applause.) 10:16:41 MS. PEARSON: I'm Katrina Pearson with the Dallas Tea Party and founder of the Garland Tea Party. I'm a member and advocate for this movement simply because I grew up having to struggle, raise a child by myself, watch my grandparents work their fingers to the bone with nothing to show for it. And as I got educated, I realized that there are ways and mechanisms that can be put in place to help hardworking Americans achieve their dream. Unfortunately, we have many systems that are broken that need to be fixed and I fully support conservatives moving forward in this cause. Now, for racism, racism is not a Tea Party principle nor is it in any bylaws. Racism is not the fight of the Tea Party. If black leaders want to come together in this country and put it on the table, then we can discuss that. As of today, please understand that racism is not an issue of the Tea Party nor will it ever be. Thank you. (Applause.) 10:17:41 MS. KARENDER: Hi, my name is Kelly Karender (sp). I'm from Seattle, Washington and I'm here because I am done with the mentality of this current congressional leadership, which, to me, appears to be extremely arrogant, as some sort of aristocracy rather than the republic that we should be and that we are. I'm tired of these double standards that we're not supposed to fly to places, but the presidential dog gets his own jet to go somewhere. I'm tired that we're being lectured on things and how to live our lives, but that somehow this elitist class above us, they get to do whatever they want to do and I think it's time that we all become equal again as we should be, as is the American dream. And lastly, I'm done with people defining who I am, who know nothing about me and smearing my integrity and my character. People don't know how I was raised. They have no idea where my heart lies and to have them anonymously smear me like that is horrific especially when it comes from the mouth of your own representative on the floor of the United States Congress and that is totally unacceptable in the USA. Thank you. (Applause.) 10:19:04 MS. REIMER: I'm Diana Reimer (sp), Philadelphia Tea Party Patriots and national coordinator for Tea Party Patriots. I'm here today because I think this is just something great. It's about time that we're going to have our voices heard and this is our country. My husband and I are busy teaching people about what is happening to our country and bringing it back to our founding fathers' principles and I thank everyone, all the Caucus members and all the media here today. Thank you. (Applause.) 10:19:38 MS. TRAUNICH: My name is Cathy Traunich (sp) from Potomac, Maryland and I think perhaps the most overused word today is unsustainable. Members of Congress use the word, the president uses the word to talk about the unsustainable level of federal spending and the mounting federal debt. The Tea Party movement understands the meaning of unsustainable; it truly must be stopped and reversed and that's one of the principles that we're fighting for, to restore fiscal integrity to our government. Thank you. (Applause.) REP. BACHMANN: Congressman Dan Burton of Indiana. REP. BURTON: I think, first of all, I want to thank Michele and the others that formed this caucus. I think you've heard today from people across the country, from various ethnic groups about how they feel about this government and the Tea Party movement. That should dispel an awful lot of the rumors about racism and other things because we have people from all ethnic backgrounds who are here today to talk about how they feel about America and constitutional government and lower taxes and less spending. So I hope all of you in the media today will carry that message back, that the Tea Party movement is all across this country, there's all races involved, all ethnic groups and they speak for America and they're speaking for them and their families and that's the message they should be giving to the people of this country through the media. Thank you. REP. BACHMANN: Louie Gohmert of Texas. (Applause.) 10:21:02 REP. GOHMERT: Thank you. This is an important movement to try to get both parties back on track, back to the things that made America great. And let me say something about this charge of things being tossed out here. When we walk through here when the health-care bill was being debated, I got up on the sidewalk over here that was just full of people, supposedly Tea Party folks that came on such short notice and I went and shook hands with everybody up and down that sidewalk as I moved toward the Cannon Building. And about every 10 to 15 feet, I encountered someone who said, I am not for you, I am for this health-care bill. So whatever they did, there were plants all the way through the crowd that nobody has talked about and, in fact, I got cussed by one when I got to the end of this street. I didn't come running to the media and whining and crying because, you know, we move on. We got elected to do a job. We have people yell names at us and I'm particularly surprised to find out under the definitions today, all of those who voted against Alan Keyes in 1996 who I voted for must have been racists, but anyway, thank you. This is a great day. Thank you, Michele, for pushing this. REP. BACHMANN: Thank you. 10:22:27 MR. ALTFIELD: Hello, everyone, I'm Bill Altfield (sp) from Annapolis, Maryland, originally from Ohio where commercials first, government second and I came out here a few years ago and had to change a whole paradigm and start working in the government environment and everything I found was -- didn't make sense, was inefficient. There was no performance measurement and people never had an incentive or disincentive when they did something right or wrong and it made no sense to me because I had never seen it before; I'd spent 40 years of my life in the commercial side of the world and I came right here to the emerald city and was basically shocked. And so what's happened now, I'm trying to start my own business in Annapolis and I cannot believe how difficult its been because there are so many regulations in everything I'm trying to accomplish I can't get anything done without hiring more people that I can't afford right now. So I'm just here saying that we need to support the private sector so the private sector can pay the taxes to support the government when the government provides constituent services and then we asked the government to provide those constituent services in a very, very efficient performance-based way. I think it's so simple that I think all these other problems we're all talking about will solve themselves if we actually start that way and focus on that. Thanks very much. REP. BACHMANN: Dr. Paul Broun of Georgia. 10:23:40 REP. BROUN: I'm Paul Broun of Georgia. The Tea Party movement is expressing the most powerful political force in America and it's written in the Constitution of the United States, "We, the people," we, the people expressing their concern about their loss of freedom, the fiscal irresponsibility of this administration and the leadership here in this House. They want to go back to constitutionally limited government and if we'd go to what this document says, what our founding fathers meant for the Congress and the government to be doing, then we would have a whole lot different government. We would have fiscal responsibility. We would have people that were free and not encumbered by government. So we've got to get our government back and that's what this is all about. We're listening. They're speaking. That's what this Tea Party Caucus is all about. REP. BACHMANN: Thank you. Dr. Phil Gingrey of Georgia. 10:24:33 REP. GINGREY: Well, obviously, this press conference is all about the Tea Party patriot organization and the Tea Party Caucus that Michele Bachmann and other members, I'm proud to be founding member of that caucus. We had a meeting this morning. As Michele said at the outset, we're not the mouthpiece of the Tea Party patriots; we heard from about 20 of their organizational members, both at the national level and state levels and city levels and you heard from some of them just a little while ago. These people are true patriots. It's the greatest grassroots organization that I have ever seen and I call myself a Goldwater Republican, so I go back a pretty long ways. This is great. I cherish them. I say let's lean into the fight and let's take this country back in November. (Applause.) REP. BACHMANN: Judge John Carter of Texas. 10:25:25 REP. CARTER: I'm John Carter from Texas and I want to tell you, I've never seen a greater gathering of patriots than the people that gathered with us this morning and the truth is these people are patriots who have decided to get up off the couch and lay down the channel changer and get involved in their government that they know they are in charge of. The people run this government and this is the voice of the people and we're here to listen. I'm just proud to be part of this. (Applause.) REP. BACHMANN: Also, of Texas, John Culberson of Houston. REP. CULBERSON: Thank you. Thank you, Michele. It gives me great hope to see the spontaneous creation of the tea parties across the nation. Our country was founded on a constitution of limited federal government and checks and balances that we as constitutional conservatives share the commitment of the Tea Party members to return to the original design the founders gave us of a careful division of power between state and federal government. We're committed to the restoration of state sovereignty under the 10th Amendment and individual liberty. We're committed to restoring the checks and balances between the separate branches of government, but above all, we're committed to listening to the people across the country who have risen up with one voice, really, from coast to coast that the government is not governing with our consent. 10:26:45 Nancy Pelosi and Barack Obama have awakened a sleeping giant from coast to coast that is building a tsunami that will sweep out these extremists that are governing the Congress in November and I am absolutely confident that America's best hope is in the Tea Party movement that has arisen spontaneously in a way that gives all of us great encouragement and inspiration. I'm very proud to be a member of the Tea Party Caucus, and work my heart out in the upcoming session to just say no to new spending and new taxes; and to get the government out of our lives, 10:27:22 out of our pockets; and leave us alone! Thank you, Michele, for doing this. REP. BACHMANN: Thank you. You're welcome. We have other people here that I think that would like to speak, but in the interest of time, we may have to cut off questions, so -- or, I mean, cut off more speakers. So if there are any questions that you might have. Yes. Q Yes, Congresswoman Bachmann, by bringing this kind of a surprise here in the recent day, are you worried about putting your Republican colleagues in kind of a spot, in a with-us-or-against-us kind of a position? 10:27:49 REP. BACHMANN: Kevin, no, I'm not, because essentially what -- again, what we've heard from the people across the country is that Congress is not listening. As far as leadership goes, we have three members of the Republican leadership at least who've joined. The very first letter that I wrote was to Speaker Nancy Pelosi. I asked the speaker if she would join us in the Tea Party Caucus. And the last conversation I had here at Capitol Hill was with a Democratic colleague who has indicated he would like to join the Tea Party Caucus. So we are hoping to be bipartisan because this is all about constitutional conservatives returning under the banner of our Constitution. We're hoping to be bipartisan. 10:28:24 As for Republicans, as I said, we have three members of the Republican leadership that have joined. Another member who is in the leadership told me he's very supportive of what we're doing, and this is complementary, complementary to our UCUT program where we're asking the American taxpayers to vote on what they would like to see us cut in the budget, almost complementary to America Speaking Out, the website we launched where we want to dialogue with the American people. But this is unique because this is a caucus that is saying we are opening up our doors as members of Congress. We're letting real people with real stories and real lives coming in to speak to us about their very real concerns. It's not very often that you get an open door where you have 24 members of Congress listening to real people about what they're saying. 10:29:11 Again, we are not the Tea Party movement, as members -- (applause) -- we are listening, we are receptacles, and we are ears to listen to what the people have to say. So great question. Yes. Q Can you talk about the issue of the day, which is regulatory reform the president signed this morning? Are you hearing from Tea Party members any objections to that? Or is that high on the agenda? 10:29:32 REP. BACHMANN: Well, this is a perfect illustration where I can say I am not here to speak on behalf of the Tea Party movement. Whatever comments I would make about the regulatory reform bill -- I voted against; I think it's a very bad bill -- those comments are not to be associated with the Tea Party. They need to speak for themselves. But I think what the American people were told about that bill is that they were going to see Wall Street put in handcuffs and put in jail basically to be punished for what happened. We all agreed that the bad actors who got us into this situation needed to be punished. The only problem is a lot of the bad actors were missing from this bill. Freddie and Fannie were missing from this bill. The Community Reinvestment Act was missing from this bill. The first thing that we'll see for consumers is we will see -- we'll see ATM fees, in all likelihood, raised. We'll see the end, probably, of free checking for people. And then we'll probably also see credit very difficult to obtain for consumers. 10:30:32 That sounds like it's Main Street getting punished to me. That doesn't sound like it's Wall Street. So that's part of my concern. But, again, the perfect illustration I'm speaking words for Michele Bachmann, not for the Tea Party. Any other questions? Yes. Q As members of the -- Q Exactly what do you hope the caucus achieves? I mean, how -- and -- and -- and can you give us a -- sort of a scope of what you'll be doing, how often you'll meet et cetera? REP. BACHMANN: Well, we're meeting now for the first time. 10:30:56 We're very gratified because we filed the paperwork on Friday to start the caucus. It was approved on Monday. We thank the speaker and Chairman Brady for that. And now we -- as you see, we've just already had our first meeting with 24 members in attendance. We feel this was very successful. And so what -- going forward what we want to do is have a bigger earphone, if you will, to listen to the people. And we may possibly meet next week as well. And then, as you know, then we go back for a district work period. But our goal is to continue an ongoing dialogue in real time. And I would also ask the speaker here and now, 10:31:32 "Would you allow us to use Skype here in the United States Congress?" It's very difficult to ask people here -- (applause) -- to come and see us this morning. You heard from Tito. Tito's told us he had to go to his work site this morning at five o'clock this morning, prepare his construction work site, leave the work site, and drive all the way here to meet with members of Congress. I would say that was a challenge this morning, and he -- but we've seen people do that all across the country. What we want to be able to do is make it as convenient as possible, and we in the Tea Party Caucus would love to listen to people from Alaska, Hawaii, all of the states what do you want us to hear. And if we could use Skype, then people could wake up maybe in their district at five in the morning. We could be here. They -- and we could dialogue with each other. That's what we hope to do going forward. (Applause.) Q Do you see legislation coming out of this? REP. BACHMANN: We will see. But, again, we're here to be a receptacle. So we'll see from there. Q Ms. Bachmann -- REP. BACHMANN: Yes. Q -- do you count Mark Williams -- Q -- (inaudible) -- Tea Party movement broadly is factionalized, and has differences of opinion within itself about what appropriate communications rhetoric -- (off mike). We hear from the Tea Party coordinators here right and left, Mark and Jenny (ph) Bath (ph), about how they feel about the dissent and some of the criticism of their organization. It's part of it and the broader but numerous voices in the movement. 10:32:57 REP. BACHMANN: Thank you for asking the question that way because the message is getting through that we members of Congress are not the mouthpiece; those involved in the movement are the mouthpiece. So thank you. Q The question really was could you talk to some of the dissent in the movement, about the message, how it's communicated, and the absence of the presence of a singular one for the movement overall? MS. MARTIN: I'm Jenny Beth Martin, cofounder and national coordinator for Tea Party Patriots. And this is my fellow national coordinator and cofounder, Mark Meckler, TeaPartyPatriots.org. There is some dissent within some of the groups. What I think we can -- we all agree on are three core values that Tea Party Patriots laid out last June and July: fiscal responsibility, constitutionally- limited government and free markets. As far as this particular caucus goes that Congressman Bachmann has started, it came up on our weekly webinar last week with our local -- or this week with our local coordinators on Monday night. And they were enthusiastic about it because they hope that finally people in Congress are listening; you're going to promote our core values. And they were also cautious. They wanted to make sure that the people in Congress don't become the mouthpiece for the movement. And we've heard Congressman Bachmann and the rest of the congressmen here today say that that is not going to happen. MR. : And Carl, I think to deal more directly with your question, one of the issues that came up this week arising out of the NAACP's resolution against the Tea Party movement was the spokesperson for Tea Party Express, Mark Williams, stepped up, wrote what he considered a satirical essay from Ben Jealous, the head of the NAACP, to President Lincoln. We found that essay to be racist, offensive, vile. Williams has a long history of making offensive, racist statements, referring to Muslims as animals, the president as an "Indonesian Muslim turned welfare thug" and the "racist-in-chief." We believe there is no room for that sort of vile racism in political discourse or any other polite discourse in society today. We distanced ourselves from that organization long ago. That organization is made up of a bus and few people who travel around the country. They've stood up since and stood behind Mark Williams. Our members have asked us to step away in the strongest of terms. You'll never see us on stage with them. You'll never see us support that kind of rhetoric. In every large movement, 145 million people in the U.S, there is always a fringe. And so that doesn't represent the movement at large. Q Ms. Bachmann? REP. BACHMANN: Any other questions? Yes. Q Are you going to support Tea Party candidates being involved in congressional debates in various districts? (Inaudible) -- locked out of debates, is the Tea Party's Caucus going to support that? REP. BACHMANN: That will be up to the Tea Party organizations, and that will be up to the various -- Q I'm talking specifically about your caucus, not necessarily -- REP. BACHMANN: No. We -- our whole purpose is to be a listening ear to the Tea Party and nothing more. The Tea Party is a set of ideas. At this point, it's not a political organization. If they become a political organization, that's up to them, because the -- we have the Republican Party. We have the Democrat Party. They are political organizations. We are a listening ear, and we're not weighing into that. So thanks for asking the question. MR. : Last question. Q The Blue Dog Caucus has been quite successful on the Democratic side, holding up legislation it finds to be too fiscally irresponsible -- REP. GOHMERT: And caving at the last minute -- (inaudible) -- (Laughter.) MR. : (Inaudible) -- to the people! MR. : Thank you, Louie. Q (Inaudible) -- do you see your caucus playing a similar role -- (inaudible) -- think -- you know -- (inaudible) -- Republican side should the majority go back to the GOP? REP. BACHMANN: Well, as I said, we stand for three things. And it's the fact that the federal government should not spend more money than what it takes in. Number two, our people are taxed enough already. And, number three, Congress needs to get to acting within the limitations placed on it by the Constitution. And we may -- you may hear us weighing in on those issues going forward. So thank you very much, everyone. Thank you for coming today. REP. GOHMERT: Let me -- let me -- let me just add one thing. The importance of listening to this movement is this. Despite so many in the media trying to marginalize the Tea Party, what you have in the Tea Party are taxpayers. And we've seen the numbers. We may be at 53 percent of the country, we're told, who will be paying income tax. We've -- also have seen the numbers that 28 percent of Americans identify themselves with the Tea Party. Do the math. Over half of the people who are paying the taxes in this country are part of the Tea Party. That's a group you need to listen to, and that's why we're here. Thank you all. REP. BACHMANN: Thank you, everyone. Thank you for coming.

/n00:00:00:00 THE SITUATION ROOM 5-6PM. TOPICS: NAACP Links Tea Party to Racists; Don't Ask/Don't Tell Under Fire; New Polls in Battle for Senate; President Obama in the Danger Zone; Can Pre ...

FTG OF DAN HARRIS INTV W/ DAVID WEBB, CO-FOUNDER OF TEA PARTY365 NEW YORK CITY AND SIRIUS XM TALK SHOW HOST / WEBB ISO How did you get involved in the Tea Party? 15:37:33 I .. last April I was asked to help put together the rally. I took a look at what their about, what they were planning to do and I put together the big rally down at city hall park. In your view does the Tea Party have an issue with racism? 15:37:50 I think that in any movement, any size movement on either side of the political aisle you are going to get a fringe element or an occasional element. But across the Tea Party not in just my experience. my organization, but in others I've not seen any outward signs of a racist element. You've never seen anything personally that made you feel uncomfortable? 15:38:12 No. I never have. I what I . uh to be fair -- There are times when people will bring something that's over the top in a sign. If any Tea Party leader sees that you come out, you denounce it, you ask them to put it away. It doesn't belong there. That's not what we're there for. 15:38:29 This is an issue about fiscal responsibility not about racism. Racism detracts from the issue. What do you think of what the NAACP is doing? 15:38:44 I think the NAACP in its march towards irrelevancy as an organization needs an enemy to maintain its power base. That's why they are doing this. 15:38:56 There is absolutely no true empirical evidence that supports what they are saying about the movement and what it appears they are going to say about the leadership. And I am one of the leaders and I interact with many of the other leaders. 15:39:14 We may not all agree on everything, but the one thing we agree on is that racism doesn't belong here. It's not accepted here and we denounce it if it is ever brought up. We have offered rewards, we have contacted the CBC, we have said show us the evidence. Let's prove it did or didn't happen. 15:39:31 They have refused to respond. It's a false argument. So you think this is all about politics? 15:39:38 I think this is about politics and energizing the base. You have an organization that has evolved into a leftist organization for the most part. When you look at their positions on school choice in the black community, their national policy . When you look at their support of unions on the far left with their ideas. When you look at the fact that the culture has changed in America . and shouting racism and playing the race card doesn't have what it used to. 15:40:05 But it does for a very small group. And they need to get that base together as the march to November continues it doesn't look good for the left. So let me push you a little bit. We've all seen the signs. There have been signs that compare Barak Obama to a monkey. There have been signs that have had the "N" word on them. When you see those signs how do you feel? 15:40:30 They're offensive. They don't belong there, but I'm going to use the same tact on the other side. 15:40:37 Condoleezza Rice having sex with a monkey giving birth to a monkey baby. George Bush is a Nazi. Whichever side that comes from it doesn't belong here. 15:40:47 And the people that bring that sign again, detract from what we're here to do. 15;40:51 Left . right dynamic there will always be fringe elements. Anyone who says otherwise is dishonest. 15:40:59 What the movement is about is something completely different. It represents a large broad and in according to some polls a majority of Americans and their views. And this is not based on just conservative vs. democrat. This is based on principles, on fiscal responsibility and limited government. So when you see obviously offensive signs . your conclusion is there are a few idiots out there but it doesn't represent the whole movement? 15:41:25 Absolutely. When you get a million people on the mall in Washington, DC you're going to find somebody who goes way beyond. But if the NAACP wants to condemn racism then I suggest they start with the New Black Panther Party. 15:41:39 That's video evidence. I'm going to kill cracker babies. I'm going to kill crackers. I hate crackers. Denigrating in the video I think most of America's seen a black man with a white woman. The same dynamic by the way that produced the President of the United States. 15:41:57 Why hasn't the President who had a beer summit after a Cambridge professor was arrested he said without knowing all the facts, the cops acted stupidly and had a bear summit November 2009 .where are we now with the summit again and the outcry by both the president, Mrs. Obama, and the NAACP against King Sami Shabaaz? Let me ask you about something else. While you dispute the merits of the NAACP's plan . setting that aside for a moment, what about the political reality. Do you think it will work . that they'll be able to sully the image of the Tea Party? 15:42:42 I think it will work for their base. But fundamental truths aside or rather based on the fundamental truths that Americans are looking at -- pocketbook issues, the NAACP will not win that argument. 15:42:57 They denigrated the Tea Parties in the beginning. The President said I don't even pay attention. Nancy Pelosi spoke fervently and emotionally about what she has seen. All this bad, racist element, these non-existent Americans - the few of them and yet millions have come out and spoken and you can't fail to see the truth after awhile. 15:43:21 This is a big nation and people are accepting the truth.