Tea Party Liberty
by digby
I wrote about Oathkeeper Teabagger Alan West’s affiliation with biker gangs over the week-end. Here’s a TV report of an incident at a public rally in which West’s “security” used the same tactics (in different costumes) as Alaskan Tea party candidate Joe Miller’s “security” used the other day:
So, according to both campaigns,these events are all “private” even though they’re advertised to the public and held in public places. Therefore, the campaigns have the right to oust anyone they don’t approve of.
I think these two incidents are very important and people should pay close attention to them. They reveal the essential nature of the Tea Party which, for all it’s wearing of tri-corner hats and waving of the constitution, is hard core authoritarian. They simply do not see the contradictions. In their view, the constitution was written for Christian conservatives to use to protect the country from those who disagree with them.
Update: Egad, the Miller episode just got much worse. Here’s Greenwald:
The ADN now reports that not only was Joe Miller’s excuse for why he had hired private guards a lie, but two of the guards who handcuffed the journalist and threatened others are active-duty soldiers in the U.S. military:
Was Joe Miller required to bring a security detail to his town hall meeting Sunday at Central Middle School? That’s what Miller, the Republican Senate candidate, told two national cable news networks Monday in the wake of the arrest by his security squad of an online journalist at his public event. But the school district said there was no such requirement made of Miller . . . “We do not require users to hire security,” she said. . . . Meanwhile, the Army says that two of the guards who assisted in the arrest of the journalist and who tried to prevent two other reporters from filming the detention were active-duty soldiers moonlighting for Miller’s security contractor, the Drop Zone, a Spenard surplus store and protection service. The soldiers, Spc. Tyler Ellingboe, 22, and Sgt. Alexander Valdez, 31, are assigned to the 3rd Maneuver Enhancement Brigade at Fort Richardson. Maj. Bill Coppernoll, the public affairs officer for the Army in Alaska, said the two soldiers did not have permission from their current chain of command to work for the Drop Zone, but the Army was still researching whether previous company or brigade commanders authorized their employment.
If the wrongness of this isn’t immediately obvious to you, click over to Glenn’s post.
It would be interesting to ask Miller about the Oathkeepers and watch him turn himself into a living pretzel trying to explain how all this works.
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