Odom, E

crypto, astroturf; note he covered tracks by having affiliation scrubbed from various websites

Eric Odom / 73 Wire, Patriot Caucus and American Liberty Allianceapparently beck rush wanna be, paid premiumn content

=2012<a href="https://crooksandliars.com/matt-osborne/national-bloggers-club-and-their-supe">https://crooksandliars.com/matt-osborne/national-bloggers-club-and-their-supe</a>Ali Akbar, now President of the National Bloggers Club, is one of the conservative blogosphere's most infamous characters. He began his campaign of notoriety with a crime spree in 2006, blazing a six-year trail of fraud. That's him up there, in the mug shots. Akbar's story is as improbable as the Tea Party movement itself, and a lesson on the privileges of power in the age of Citizens United. How did a petty crook rise to these heights in such a short time? Why does he enjoy such influential connections today?<div class="post-body" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.75rem;">We ask these questions because we see <a href="http://www.osborneink.com/2012/08/breaking-demand-for-national-bloggers-club-accountability-now-bipartisan.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-color: rgb(44, 73, 113);">an emerging bipartisan consensus</a> that Akbar's National Bloggers Club (NBC) is entirely notional. Akbar has never applied tothe IRS for 501(c)3 status -- despite having claimed as much on the NBC Facebook page. While the NBC requires an unusual amount of personal information from donors, they do not offer those donors an EIN (Employer ID Number) to make their contributions tax deductible.An EIN is provided upon application for nonprofit status, and should be available if the National Bloggers Club has applied. It is an easy online process. Yet we have been unable to locate an EIN in any database, and inquiries by both liberal and conservative bloggers have been met with silence. When journalist Bill Schmalfeldt contacted the Internal Revenue Service, he was informed that no EIN existed in their database for a National Bloggers Club.This would be less distressing if Akbar didn't have a long history of covering up his tracks and minimizing his criminal past. In 2006, he stole items from a woman's home; he later broke into a vehicle, stole a debit card, and withdrew money from the victim's account, earning a felony conviction. Yet this record did not keep Akbar out of Republican politics.Barely a year later, Akbar was accused of discussing election fraud tactics. The accuser, Joey A. Dauben, was a former colleague. In coverage of the controversy, Akbar was frequently and mistakenly identified as a John McCain campaign staffer due to his involvement in Bloggers for McCain, a "cooperating" website independent from the campaign itself. Akbar also caught flak for “scrubbing the web” to cover the tracks of <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ynwluj9w18&feature=youtube_gdata_player" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-color: rgb(44, 73, 113);">Michael Meissner, a former police chief</a> who was charged with posing as a woman and <a href="http://www.nowpublic.com/world/michael-meissner-former-police-chief-arrest-child-pornography" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-color: rgb(44, 73, 113);">soliciting photos of underaged boys</a>.In April 2008, Akbar pleaded guilty to the debit card fraud and was sentenced to four years probation and restitution of the stolen money. His probation ended in May of this year. In the meantime, Akbar has built quite a blog empire for himself -- and <a href="http://www.examiner.com/article/ali-akbar-running-a-republican-empire-from-mommy-s-basement" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-color: rgb(44, 73, 113); background-color: transparent;">runs it from his mother's house</a>.By 2008 Akbar had linked up with Eric Odom's Don't Go movement. They likely met up when Akbar’s firm, Republic Modern, designed the old website of Sam Adams Alliance, for which Odom was the new media director. When Odom started <a href="http://jomo.jomoblog.com/2009/08/whats-wrong-with-american-liberty.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-color: rgb(44, 73, 113);">American Liberty Alliance</a> (ALA), a tea party website that was <a href="http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977784091" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-color: rgb(44, 73, 113);">mainly in the business of monetizing other Tea Party sites with ads</a>, he brought Akbar along with him. Starting off as ALA’s Technology Consultant, Akbar would eventually became Chairman of ALA's Board, spending much of his time collecting non-deductible donations.Yes, despite claiming to be in the application process for 501(c) 4 status in August 2009, ALA eventually was embarrassed into posting the following caveat on their website (though not their donation page): “The American Liberty Alliance is not a 501c3, 501c4 or a PAC. We are not registered as a non-profit and we do not raise funds as such.” Yet they incorporated under the name “American Liberty Alliance - A Non-Profit Corporation.”The most excoriating examination of the ALA <a href="http://www.redstate.com/erick/2010/08/24/charlatans-and-the-horse-they-rode-in-on/" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-color: rgb(44, 73, 113);">came from Erick Erickson</a>, who reported that ALA had eventually been rolled up into an Eric Odom PAC:<blockquote style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1rem 15px; padding-left: 30px; border-left: 5px solid rgb(136, 136, 136);">For a number of months I have had more than my share of phone calls from conservative donors, bloggers, activists, campaigns, and others wishing someone would speak out. Several tried pushing this story into the mainstream media, but we all know what would happen there ? we’d turn people into martyrs who shouldn’t be.At best this conduct looks like ignorance of the complex bureaucracy and regulations surrounding the FEC. At its worst, it looks like . . . well, you decide. I’m sure even more will come out now that I’m willing to speak up and it does not look like a case of simple ignorance. If it were an isolated incident it’d be one thing, but it is a pattern.</blockquote>Indeed, the pattern begins with a profitable deception. Although ALA <a href="http://nvsos.gov/sosentitysearch/CorpDetails.aspx?lx8nvq=06Qt2B%252feZBIDpymIdOPK0Q%253d%253d&nt7=0" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-color: rgb(44, 73, 113); background-color: transparent;">was registered as a non-profit in Nevada</a>, as far as we can determine <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alex-brantzawadzki/anatomy-of-the-tea-party_b_380626.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-color: rgb(44, 73, 113); background-color: transparent;">they never actually applied for non-profit status with the IRS</a>, despite always claiming they were "in the process" of doing so. The pattern repeats with NBC, which <a href="http://www.osborneink.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/AliAkbarEntiesTexSecState.png" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-color: rgb(44, 73, 113); background-color: transparent;">incorporated in Texas as a non-profit</a>, and has <a href="http://www.osborneink.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/donationcontrol-rememberbreitbart2.png" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-color: rgb(44, 73, 113); background-color: transparent;">collected donations as a non-profit</a>, without ever applying for legal non-profit designation. (The NBC has scrubbed 501(c)3 language from its <a href="https://rally.org/bloggers/donate" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-color: rgb(44, 73, 113); background-color: transparent;">donations page at Rally.org</a>.) Our attempts to reach <a href="http://www.osborneink.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/NatlBloggersFundSecofSTate1.png" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-color: rgb(44, 73, 113); background-color: transparent;">the law firm listed as the NBC's registered agent</a> have been rebuffed. (Update: the address <a href="http://www.abby.com/locations/location_houston_downtown.php" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-color: rgb(44, 73, 113); background-color: transparent;">appears to be a "virtual" office</a>.)These dubious credentials in the new Tea Party movement propelled Akbar into the upper echelons of conservative organizing, where he has <a href="http://www.theliberalgrouch.com/2012/09/05/some-technical-aspects-about-the-photo-karl-rove-claimed-as-intellectual-property-until-he-didnt-any-more/" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-color: rgb(44, 73, 113); background-color: transparent;">apparently met Karl Rove</a>. Yet Akbar seems to have done remarkably little real work during his ascension. Take the NBC's website, for example, which contains no content -- just a redirect to the group's Facebook page. There, you will find grassroots conservatives wondering how to join, and why the donation practices are so intrusive:Like many of Akbar's websites, content doesn't seem to be key. For example, despite supposedly representing a robust movement, Akbar's Tea Party Brew.com has surprisingly few posts. Bill Murphy, now the Social Media Director for the Romney campaign, wrote the final post at that site in February. By then, he had been Akbar's venture partner since 2009.Murphy (right) was <a href="http://jomo.jomoblog.com/2009/08/whats-wrong-with-american-liberty.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-color: rgb(44, 73, 113); background-color: transparent;">Director of Strategic Initiatives</a> for American Liberty Alliance, though the position does not appear on <a href="http://www.linkedin.com/in/billmurphy7" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-color: rgb(44, 73, 113); background-color: transparent;">his LinkedIn resume</a>. Murphy was also Akbar's partner in an organization called Vice & Victory, which put on <a href="http://dcist.com/2012/02/partying_with_the_right-wing_blogos.php" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-color: rgb(44, 73, 113); background-color: transparent;">the BlogBash party at CPAC in February</a>. Akbar was listed as the Host Organizer and Murphy as the Event Coordinator. BlogBash’s director is usually identified as Devon Wills, but many of NBC’s announcements and press releases offer contact information for "Bill Murphy at director@blogbash.com." Yet the BlogBash website doesn't even mention the NBC, which supposedly organized the event.When he appeared on the radio program of conservative Larry Sinclair in March, Murphy also identified himself as the Director of the NBC -- though that position also does not appear on his resume. Whenever he has been asked about such omissions, Murphy has responded <a href="http://ronbryn.blogspot.com/2012/08/is-former-leadership-institute-operative.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-color: rgb(44, 73, 113);">by further scrubbing his LinkedIn profile</a>. Sinclair now <a href="http://www.lsnewsgroup.com/2012/08/28/is-the-national-bloggers-club-real/" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-color: rgb(44, 73, 113);">calls foul on Akbar and Murphy's notional blogging club</a> for using Andrew Breitbart's name <a href="http://www.osborneink.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Donationcontrol-rememberbreitbart1.png" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-color: rgb(44, 73, 113);">to raise money for a scholarship fund</a> -- again, while <a href="http://www.osborneink.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/donationcontrol-rememberbreitbart2.png" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-color: rgb(44, 73, 113);">claiming 501(3)c status was "pending</a>:"<blockquote style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1rem 15px; padding-left: 30px; border-left: 5px solid rgb(136, 136, 136);">In March 2012 we received an email which came from Bill Murphy and Ali Akbar from BlogBash.org and Vice and Victory email addresses announcing the creation of an Andrew Breitbart Scholarship Fund. After receiving the email and because of our own personal encounters with Andrew Sinclair News decided we would do a feature story on the Scholarship fund. In preparing the story we sent an email to Joel Pollak who was the primary Breitbart.com principle since the untimely death of Andrew early the morning of March 1, 2012. In the email to Mr. Pollak we asked if Pollak would be interested in going on Through the Mirror w/Larry Sinclair to talk about the recently established Breitbart Scholarship Fund. Pollak responded almost immediately by telling us he knew nothing of any such fund; that anyone using Andrews name along with any such fund was doing so without authorization and Pollak even went to the point of saying that any such organization was in his opinion a scam.(Emphasis added)</blockquote>Aside from Michelle Malkin, nobody knows who is on the board of the NBC, or how they were selected. NBC won't even say whether they have any bylaws, and has never applied for non-profit status. If the NBC was an ACORN office, Malkin would denounce it as a criminal organization. Instead, she is Akbar's public ally and defender.These inconsistencies had already drawn criticism from conservatives when we began reporting on them. First was Paul Lemmen, a convicted con artist working out his redemption in his blog, "An Ex Con's View." As the details of Akbar's criminal record appeared on the website Breitbart Unmasked in May and June, Lemmen expressed disdain for the fact that "the other side" had been the one to reveal Akbar's criminal past. Citing the NBC's disturbing lack of transparency and its behavior with donors, Lemmen <a href="http://anexconsview.wordpress.com/2012/06/09/withdrawing-support-for-national-bloggers-club/" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-color: rgb(44, 73, 113); background-color: transparent;">called for transparency and accountability</a>.As a result of his outspoken blogging, Lemmen received <a href="http://americanpowerblog.blogspot.com/2012/06/update-on-ali-akbar-and-bloggers.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-color: rgb(44, 73, 113);">the close attention of NBC "enforcer"</a> and Andrew Breitbart protege <a href="http://datechguyblog.com/2012/06/19/and-now-by-request-i-jump-into-the-middle-of-it/" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-color: rgb(44, 73, 113);">Lee Stranahan</a> amid a series of attack posts by other bloggers. Lemmen fell silent for a while, reemerging later to write on more general topics. Today, he is a member of <a href="http://nacbubloggers.blogspot.com/" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-color: rgb(44, 73, 113);">North American Conservative Bloggers United</a> (NACBU), a new association of conservative indie bloggers opposed to the NBC and its opaque operations. In supporting Lemmen, David West <a href="http://4godandliberty.com/category/rebuild" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-color: rgb(44, 73, 113);">called out Akbar for elitism</a>:<blockquote style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1rem 15px; padding-left: 30px; border-left: 5px solid rgb(136, 136, 136);">See, Ali Akbar was the ‘technical guru’ for a while behind the Don’t Go Movement which I was a part of as Northwest Regional Coordinator. I, however, was ignored back then by Mr Ackbar. When he formed the NBC, I was ignored as well.</blockquote>The NBC billed itself in part as an organization that could give bloggers desperately-needed press credentials. Those who have received credentials <a href="http://www.lsnewsgroup.com/2012/08/28/is-the-national-bloggers-club-real/" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-color: rgb(44, 73, 113);">are unable to activate them as instructed</a>. The NBC does not explain how to receive a credential, or even describe any standards for applicants. NACBU organizer "Impolite Canadian" just wanted to webcast an event; after being rebuffed in all attempts to learn more about how to obtain the privileges of membership, the pseudonymous blogger concluded that NBC <a href="http://impolitecanadian.blogspot.com/2012/07/how-to-become-top-blogger-la-ali.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-color: rgb(44, 73, 113);">was simply a club of Akbar's friends</a>:<blockquote style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1rem 15px; padding-left: 30px; border-left: 5px solid rgb(136, 136, 136);">It's like they all of a sudden became part of the ''elites'', encouraging and defending the ''mastermind'', but when asked how does one join this ''elite'' club, you get the ''I dunno man, it just happened, u know?''.</blockquote>There are only 340 "likes" on the NBC Facebook page at the time of this writing -- far fewer than one would expect for a popular netroots organization. Ladd Ehlinger, Jr., aka FilmLadd, <a href="http://filmladd.com/?GoodLuck" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-color: rgb(44, 73, 113); background-color: transparent;">questioned whether the NBC was even a real organization</a>:<blockquote style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1rem 15px; padding-left: 30px; border-left: 5px solid rgb(136, 136, 136);">Screw Ali's political connections. You love him? Want to blacklist me? Be my guest. Won't be the first time that's happened. Been happening for two years now anyway. It's the sort of thing I think Ali likes to do to people who get crosswise with him - trash them, prevent them from getting work, and so on. I could regale you with first-hand stories I've heard, but this post is already too goddamn long.</blockquote>Akbar did not prevent Ladd from getting work. In fact, Ehlinger received <a href="http://www.breitbartunmasked.com/rogues-gallery/dan-backer-film-ladd-stratagem/" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-color: rgb(44, 73, 113);">a plum new gig</a> from Washington lobbyist Dan Backer of <a href="http://www.dbcapitolstrategies.com/" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-color: rgb(44, 73, 113);">DB Capitol Strategies</a>. He serves as Treasurer for many well-known PACs, including the Conservative Action Fund, which has already given Akbar's "Vice & Victory Fund" <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/expenditures.php?cycle=2012&cmte=C00496505" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-color: rgb(44, 73, 113);">over $44,000 in 2012</a>. Backer is also Treasurer for Stop This Insanity Inc PAC, which recently signed Ehlinger to a complex $10,000 contract. Ehlinger hasn't spoken out on the subject of Ali Akbar ever since. (CORRECTION: see below)Backer (right) is the attorney <a href="http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0112/71337.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-color: rgb(44, 73, 113);">who created "hybrid Super PACs"</a> through his <a href="http://reporting.sunlightfoundation.com/2012/super-pacs-how-we-got-here/" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-color: rgb(44, 73, 113);">Carey v. FEC lawsuit in 2011</a>. As part of his contract, Ehlinger agreed to be classified as an employee and then kick back $1,500 to Stop This Insanity Inc PAC, creating an opportunity to challenge federal limits on employee PAC contributions. Backer also <a href="http://www.publicintegrity.org/2012/03/15/8416/gop-super-pac-men-seek-overturn-donation-limits" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-color: rgb(44, 73, 113);">wants to lift limits on contributions to federal candidates</a>. True freedom, Backer <a href="http://www.dbcapitolstrategies.com/practice/" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-color: rgb(44, 73, 113);">argues</a>, is American billionaires donating more hard political money every year <a href="http://reporting.sunlightfoundation.com/2012/crusading-lawyer-takes-aim-at-contribution-limits/" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-color: rgb(44, 73, 113);">than an average American family makes</a>.Dan Backer's other PAC products include Todd Cefaratti, who became infamous <a href="http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/10/29/arizona-tea-party-group-469000-donations-spent-politics-report/" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-color: rgb(44, 73, 113);">for fleecing PAC donors</a> and using his for-profit <a href="http://www.kpho.com/story/14801253/tea-partiers-question-ariz-based-website-10-28-2010" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-color: rgb(44, 73, 113);">JoinTheTeaParty.us website</a> <a href="http://conservative-outlooks.com/2011/04/05/evidence-mounts-arizona-tea-party-is-a-fake/" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-color: rgb(44, 73, 113);">as a lead generator for spam</a>. Cefaratti was <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2682094/replies?c=1" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-color: rgb(44, 73, 113);">found out</a> by activists at Free Republic, who quickly discovered that his real estate sales lead business <a href="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2577608/posts" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-color: rgb(44, 73, 113);">was named Glengary Inc</a>. Despite grassroots revulsion at this character from a David Mamet play, Cefaratti <a href="http://youtu.be/oByQRveF9t8" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-color: rgb(44, 73, 113);">spoke at CPAC in February</a>. He and his Glengary LLC are also party to Dan Backer's FEC suit with Ehlinger. Stop This Insanity Inc. runs another one of Cefaratti's websites, TheTeaParty.net.The "made men" of the Inner Party are never held accountable. Their revolution has been monetized: shirts, buttons, email addresses, and page views turn dedicated activists into revenue streams for "producers." Meanwhile, these same "producers" also get paid by billionaires and PAC lawyers who benefit from stoking the grassroots fires on behalf of their corporate agenda. It's a great job if you can get it. No wonder Akbar likes to throw big, exclusive parties at CPAC and the Republican National Convention.In order to make the BlogBash party an instant institution this year, Akbar and Murphy <a href="http://www.blogbash.org/sponsors/" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-color: rgb(44, 73, 113);">took money from a host of the usual suspects in astroturf politics</a>, includingAmericans For Prosperity, FreedomWorks, and the vote-suppressing True The Vote organization. Billionaire and <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/08/foster-friess-rnc-tampa" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-color: rgb(44, 73, 113);">megadonor</a> Foster Friess also <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/conservative-bloggers-hold-private-cpac-party-insiders-not-202604909.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-color: rgb(44, 73, 113);">helped throw Akbar's party at CPAC</a>, then cracked a terrible joke about <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/17/foster-friess-bayer-aspirin-contraception_n_1284387.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-color: rgb(44, 73, 113);">aspirin as a form of birth control</a>: "You know, back in my days, they used Bayer Aspirin for contraception. The gals put it between their knees, and it wasn’t that costly.” Friess has vowed to spend a large chunk of his fortune through Karl Rove's American Crossroads this year.We believe the National Bloggers Club encapsulates a problem common to Tea Party organizing since February 2009. As with Mark Meckler, <a href="http://motherjones.com/politics/2010/10/tea-party-mark-meckler-herbalife?page=1" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-color: rgb(44, 73, 113);">the multilevel marketing billionaire</a> who <a href="http://motherjones.com/politics/2010/10/tea-party-donor-patriot-one-raymon-thompson" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-color: rgb(44, 73, 113);">organized Tea Party Patriots</a>, we see a disturbing pattern of grift in the National Bloggers Club. Sincere Americans have been organized to prevent corporate regulation and billionaire tax hikes; the organizers fleece them while also accepting money from representatives of these same corporations and billionaires.This charade may be close to an end, however. Larry Sinclair has presented the National Bloggers Club with a demand they <a href="http://cryingwolfe.wordpress.com/2012/08/29/get-the-truth-from-ali-akbar/" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-color: rgb(44, 73, 113); background-color: transparent;">publish the following</a>:</div>wikifl 7/15
DontGo (also commonly spelled in numerous other ways such as Don't Go, DontGO, and Don'tGO) is a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_market" title="Free market" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">free market</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_activist" title="Political activist" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">political activist</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-profit_organization" title="Non-profit organization" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">non-profit group</a> founded by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_conservative" title="American conservative" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">American conservative</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Ruffini" title="Patrick Ruffini" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Patrick Ruffini</a>, who had previously created the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blog" title="Blog" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">blog</a> The Next Right, and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libertarianism" title="Libertarianism" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">libertarian</a> Eric Odom, an <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marketer" title="Marketer" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">internet marketer</a> living in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago,Illinois" title="Chicago, Illinois" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Chicago, Illinois</a>.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DontGo#cite_note-TV-1" style="text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[1]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DontGo#cite_note-cnn-2" style="text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[2]</a><div id="toc" class="toc" style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 7px; display: table; zoom: 1; background-color: rgb(249, 249, 249);"><div id="toctitle" style="direction: ltr; text-align: center;"><h2 style="margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border: none; display: inline; line-height: 1.3; background: none;">Contents</h2>  [<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DontGo#" id="togglelink" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">hide</a>] </div><ul style="list-style-type: none; margin: 0.3em 0px; padding: 0px; list-style-image: none;"><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-1" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DontGo#History" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">1 History</a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-2" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DontGo#Projects" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">2 Projects</a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-3" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DontGo#References" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">3 References</a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-4" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DontGo#External_links" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">4 External links</a></li></ul></div><h2 style="font-weight: normal; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); line-height: 1.3; background: none rgb(255, 255, 255);">History[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=DontGo&action=edit&section=1" title="Edit section: History" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">edit</a>]</h2>The group started during the August 2008 <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_offshore_drilling_debate" title="United States offshore drilling debate" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">offshore oil drilling debate</a> in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_House" title="United States House" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">House of Representatives</a>, their members strongly favored further drilling and supported the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republican_Party(United_States)" title="Republican Party (United States)" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Republican</a> revolt on the issue. Founders Odom and Ruffini intended for their website to work as a <a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/clearing_house" class="extiw" title="wikt:clearing house" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">clearinghouse</a> of information for the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republican_Party(United_States)" title="Republican Party (United States)" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Republicans</a>.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DontGo#cite_note-cnn-2" style="text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">[2]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DontGo#cite_note-who-3" style="text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">[3]</a> The name came from conservatives who had asked the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_House" title="United States House" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">House</a> not to shut down for their annual summer break in 2008.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DontGo#cite_note-TV-1" style="text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[1]</a> Critics of the group accused it of taking contributions from <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Oil" title="Big Oil" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-color: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">oil companies</a>. Eric Odom strongly disputes the charges, saying that he's "still waiting on those magical checks".<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DontGo#cite_note-4" style="text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[4]</a>Eric Odom has stated that "Our agenda is to declare war on incumbency and long term power.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DontGo#cite_note-who-3" style="text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[3]</a> The group's mission statement on its website labels it "for anyone who supports free markets, low-taxes, low-regulation and personal freedoms."<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DontGo#cite_note-ob-5" style="text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[5]</a>Three national conservative groups, DontGo, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FreedomWorks" title="FreedomWorks" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">FreedomWorks</a>, and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Americans_for_Prosperity" title="Americans for Prosperity" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Americans for Prosperity</a> led the tea party movement in April, 2009, according to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Atlantic" title="The Atlantic" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">The Atlantic</a> magazine, which referred to DontGo as a "tech savvy" "online rapid response team".<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DontGo#cite_note-who-3" style="text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[3]</a><h2 style="font-weight: normal; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); line-height: 1.3; background: none rgb(255, 255, 255);">Projects[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=DontGo&action=edit&section=2" title="Edit section: Projects" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">edit</a>]</h2>The group is instrumental in co-coordinating the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nationwide_Chicago_Tea_Party" title="Nationwide Chicago Tea Party" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Nationwide Chicago Tea Party</a>, which led to the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tax_Day_Tea_Party" title="Tax Day Tea Party" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Tax Day Tea Party</a> protests. It claims to have worked with 700 separate demonstrations. Odom, a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Barr" title="Bob Barr" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Bob Barr</a> supporter with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libertarianism" title="Libertarianism" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">libertarian leanings</a>, opposes too much <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republican_Party(United_States)" title="Republican Party (United States)" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Republican</a> involvement with their protests. Notably, he turned down a request from <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republican_National_Committee" title="Republican National Committee" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Republican National Committee</a> Chairman <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Steele" title="Michael Steele" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Michael Steele</a> to speak at the group's Chicago protest.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DontGo#cite_note-who-3" style="text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[3]</a> After the snub, the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republican_National_Committee" title="Republican National Committee" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Republican National Committee</a> released a statement saying that "They're just having a little fun."<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DontGo#cite_note-6" style="text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[6]</a><h2 style="font-weight: normal; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); line-height: 1.3; background: none rgb(255, 255, 255);">References</h2><div>
</div><div><div>^ Jump up to: a b The Tea Party Coalition Show. Pajamas TV. Accessed April 14, 2009.</div><div>^ Jump up to: a b Conservative online activists launch '#dont Go' Web site. By Martina Stewart. CNN.com Published August 5, 2008.</div><div>^ Jump up to: a b c d The Tea Party Movement: Who's In Charge? By Chris Good. Atlantic Monthly. Posted April 13, 2009.</div><div>Jump up ^ Is the Tea Party tied to the GOP? By Eric Odom. DontGo Blog. Posted April 10, 2009.</div><div>Jump up ^ Objective. dontgomovement.com Accessed April 14, 2009.</div><div>Jump up ^ GOP Chairman Michael Steele Denies Tea Party Claim. By Paul Bedard. US News and World Report. Published April 4, 2009.</div><div>External links[edit]</div><div>Official website[dead link]</div><div>
</div></div><div class="reflist" style="margin-bottom: 0.5em; list-style-type: decimal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><ol class="references" style="margin: 0.3em 0px 0.5em 3.2em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: none; list-style-type: inherit;"><li id="cite_note-TV-1" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">^ <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DontGo#cite_ref-TV_1-0" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;"><span class="cite-accessibility-label" style="top: -99999px; clip: rect(1px 1px 1px 1px); overflow: hidden; position: absolute !important; padding: 0px !important; border: 0px !important; height: 1px !important; width: 1px !important; -webkit-user-select: none;">Jump up to:a</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DontGo#cite_ref-TV_1-1" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">b</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.pjtv.com/?cmd=page&page-id=167" style="text-decoration: none; padding-right: 13px; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) 100% 50% no-repeat, url(data:image/svg+xml,%3C%3Fxml%20version%3D%221.0%22%20encoding%3D%22UTF-8%22%3F%3E%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%22%20width%3D%2210%22%20height%3D%2210%22%3E%3Cg%20transform%3D%22translate%28-826.429%20-698.791%29%22%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%225.982%22%20height%3D%225.982%22%20x%3D%22826.929%22%20y%3D%22702.309%22%20fill%3D%22%23fff%22%20stroke%3D%22%2306c%22%2F%3E%3Cg%3E%3Cpath%20d%3D%22M831.194%20698.791h5.234v5.391l-1.571%201.545-1.31-1.31-2.725%202.725-2.689-2.689%202.808-2.808-1.311-1.311z%22%20fill%3D%22%2306f%22%2F%3E%3Cpath%20d%3D%22M835.424%20699.795l.022%204.885-1.817-1.817-2.881%202.881-1.228-1.228%202.881-2.881-1.851-1.851z%22%20fill%3D%22%23fff%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fg%3E%3C%2Fg%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E) 100% 50%;">The Tea Party Coalition Show</a>. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pajamas_TV" title="Pajamas TV" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Pajamas TV</a>. Accessed April 14, 2009.</li><li id="cite_note-cnn-2" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">^ <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DontGo#cite_ref-cnn_2-0" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;"><span class="cite-accessibility-label" style="top: -99999px; clip: rect(1px 1px 1px 1px); overflow: hidden; position: absolute !important; padding: 0px !important; border: 0px !important; height: 1px !important; width: 1px !important; -webkit-user-select: none;">Jump up to:a</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DontGo#cite_ref-cnn_2-1" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">b</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/08/05/conservative-online-activists-launch-dont-go-web-site/" style="text-decoration: none; padding-right: 13px; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) 100% 50% no-repeat, url(data:image/svg+xml,%3C%3Fxml%20version%3D%221.0%22%20encoding%3D%22UTF-8%22%3F%3E%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%22%20width%3D%2210%22%20height%3D%2210%22%3E%3Cg%20transform%3D%22translate%28-826.429%20-698.791%29%22%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%225.982%22%20height%3D%225.982%22%20x%3D%22826.929%22%20y%3D%22702.309%22%20fill%3D%22%23fff%22%20stroke%3D%22%2306c%22%2F%3E%3Cg%3E%3Cpath%20d%3D%22M831.194%20698.791h5.234v5.391l-1.571%201.545-1.31-1.31-2.725%202.725-2.689-2.689%202.808-2.808-1.311-1.311z%22%20fill%3D%22%2306f%22%2F%3E%3Cpath%20d%3D%22M835.424%20699.795l.022%204.885-1.817-1.817-2.881%202.881-1.228-1.228%202.881-2.881-1.851-1.851z%22%20fill%3D%22%23fff%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fg%3E%3C%2Fg%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E) 100% 50%;">Conservative online activists launch '#dont Go' Web site</a>. By Martina Stewart. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CNN.com" title="CNN.com" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">CNN.com</a> Published August 5, 2008.</li><li id="cite_note-who-3" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">^ <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DontGo#cite_ref-who_3-0" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;"><span class="cite-accessibility-label" style="top: -99999px; clip: rect(1px 1px 1px 1px); overflow: hidden; position: absolute !important; padding: 0px !important; border: 0px !important; height: 1px !important; width: 1px !important; -webkit-user-select: none;">Jump up to:a</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DontGo#cite_ref-who_3-1" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">b</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DontGo#cite_ref-who_3-2" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">c</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DontGo#cite_ref-who_3-3" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">d</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://politics.theatlantic.com/2009/04/the_tea_party_movement_whos_in_charge.php" style="text-decoration: none; padding-right: 13px; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) 100% 50% no-repeat, url(data:image/svg+xml,%3C%3Fxml%20version%3D%221.0%22%20encoding%3D%22UTF-8%22%3F%3E%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%22%20width%3D%2210%22%20height%3D%2210%22%3E%3Cg%20transform%3D%22translate%28-826.429%20-698.791%29%22%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%225.982%22%20height%3D%225.982%22%20x%3D%22826.929%22%20y%3D%22702.309%22%20fill%3D%22%23fff%22%20stroke%3D%22%2306c%22%2F%3E%3Cg%3E%3Cpath%20d%3D%22M831.194%20698.791h5.234v5.391l-1.571%201.545-1.31-1.31-2.725%202.725-2.689-2.689%202.808-2.808-1.311-1.311z%22%20fill%3D%22%2306f%22%2F%3E%3Cpath%20d%3D%22M835.424%20699.795l.022%204.885-1.817-1.817-2.881%202.881-1.228-1.228%202.881-2.881-1.851-1.851z%22%20fill%3D%22%23fff%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fg%3E%3C%2Fg%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E) 100% 50%;">The Tea Party Movement: Who's In Charge?</a> By Chris Good. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantic_Monthly" title="Atlantic Monthly" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Atlantic Monthly</a>. Posted April 13, 2009.</li><li id="cite_note-4" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DontGo#cite_ref-4" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;"><span class="cite-accessibility-label" style="top: -99999px; clip: rect(1px 1px 1px 1px); overflow: hidden; position: absolute !important; padding: 0px !important; border: 0px !important; height: 1px !important; width: 1px !important; -webkit-user-select: none;">Jump up^{</a> }<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.dontgomovement.com/blog/2009/04/10/is-the-tea-party-tied-to-the-gop/" style="text-decoration: none; padding-right: 13px; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) 100% 50% no-repeat, url(data:image/svg+xml,%3C%3Fxml%20version%3D%221.0%22%20encoding%3D%22UTF-8%22%3F%3E%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%22%20width%3D%2210%22%20height%3D%2210%22%3E%3Cg%20transform%3D%22translate%28-826.429%20-698.791%29%22%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%225.982%22%20height%3D%225.982%22%20x%3D%22826.929%22%20y%3D%22702.309%22%20fill%3D%22%23fff%22%20stroke%3D%22%2306c%22%2F%3E%3Cg%3E%3Cpath%20d%3D%22M831.194%20698.791h5.234v5.391l-1.571%201.545-1.31-1.31-2.725%202.725-2.689-2.689%202.808-2.808-1.311-1.311z%22%20fill%3D%22%2306f%22%2F%3E%3Cpath%20d%3D%22M835.424%20699.795l.022%204.885-1.817-1.817-2.881%202.881-1.228-1.228%202.881-2.881-1.851-1.851z%22%20fill%3D%22%23fff%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fg%3E%3C%2Fg%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E) 100% 50%;">Is the Tea Party tied to the GOP?</a> By Eric Odom. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.dontgomovement.com/blog/" style="text-decoration: none; padding-right: 13px; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) 100% 50% no-repeat, url(data:image/svg+xml,%3C%3Fxml%20version%3D%221.0%22%20encoding%3D%22UTF-8%22%3F%3E%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%22%20width%3D%2210%22%20height%3D%2210%22%3E%3Cg%20transform%3D%22translate%28-826.429%20-698.791%29%22%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%225.982%22%20height%3D%225.982%22%20x%3D%22826.929%22%20y%3D%22702.309%22%20fill%3D%22%23fff%22%20stroke%3D%22%2306c%22%2F%3E%3Cg%3E%3Cpath%20d%3D%22M831.194%20698.791h5.234v5.391l-1.571%201.545-1.31-1.31-2.725%202.725-2.689-2.689%202.808-2.808-1.311-1.311z%22%20fill%3D%22%2306f%22%2F%3E%3Cpath%20d%3D%22M835.424%20699.795l.022%204.885-1.817-1.817-2.881%202.881-1.228-1.228%202.881-2.881-1.851-1.851z%22%20fill%3D%22%23fff%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fg%3E%3C%2Fg%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E) 100% 50%;">DontGo Blog</a>. Posted April 10, 2009.</li><li id="cite_note-ob-5" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DontGo#cite_ref-ob_5-0" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;"><span class="cite-accessibility-label" style="top: -99999px; clip: rect(1px 1px 1px 1px); overflow: hidden; position: absolute !important; padding: 0px !important; border: 0px !important; height: 1px !important; width: 1px !important; -webkit-user-select: none;">Jump up^{</a> }<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.dontgomovement.com/objective/" style="text-decoration: none; padding-right: 13px; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) 100% 50% no-repeat, url(data:image/svg+xml,%3C%3Fxml%20version%3D%221.0%22%20encoding%3D%22UTF-8%22%3F%3E%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%22%20width%3D%2210%22%20height%3D%2210%22%3E%3Cg%20transform%3D%22translate%28-826.429%20-698.791%29%22%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%225.982%22%20height%3D%225.982%22%20x%3D%22826.929%22%20y%3D%22702.309%22%20fill%3D%22%23fff%22%20stroke%3D%22%2306c%22%2F%3E%3Cg%3E%3Cpath%20d%3D%22M831.194%20698.791h5.234v5.391l-1.571%201.545-1.31-1.31-2.725%202.725-2.689-2.689%202.808-2.808-1.311-1.311z%22%20fill%3D%22%2306f%22%2F%3E%3Cpath%20d%3D%22M835.424%20699.795l.022%204.885-1.817-1.817-2.881%202.881-1.228-1.228%202.881-2.881-1.851-1.851z%22%20fill%3D%22%23fff%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fg%3E%3C%2Fg%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E) 100% 50%;">Objective</a>. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.dontgomovement.com/" style="text-decoration: none; padding-right: 13px; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) 100% 50% no-repeat, url(data:image/svg+xml,%3C%3Fxml%20version%3D%221.0%22%20encoding%3D%22UTF-8%22%3F%3E%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%22%20width%3D%2210%22%20height%3D%2210%22%3E%3Cg%20transform%3D%22translate%28-826.429%20-698.791%29%22%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%225.982%22%20height%3D%225.982%22%20x%3D%22826.929%22%20y%3D%22702.309%22%20fill%3D%22%23fff%22%20stroke%3D%22%2306c%22%2F%3E%3Cg%3E%3Cpath%20d%3D%22M831.194%20698.791h5.234v5.391l-1.571%201.545-1.31-1.31-2.725%202.725-2.689-2.689%202.808-2.808-1.311-1.311z%22%20fill%3D%22%2306f%22%2F%3E%3Cpath%20d%3D%22M835.424%20699.795l.022%204.885-1.817-1.817-2.881%202.881-1.228-1.228%202.881-2.881-1.851-1.851z%22%20fill%3D%22%23fff%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fg%3E%3C%2Fg%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E) 100% 50%;">dontgomovement.com</a> Accessed April 14, 2009.</li><li id="cite_note-6" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DontGo#cite_ref-6" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;"><span class="cite-accessibility-label" style="top: -99999px; clip: rect(1px 1px 1px 1px); overflow: hidden; position: absolute !important; padding: 0px !important; border: 0px !important; height: 1px !important; width: 1px !important; -webkit-user-select: none;">Jump up^{</a> }<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.usnews.com/blogs/washington-whispers/2009/4/10/gop-chairman-michael-steele-denies-tea-party-claim.html" style="text-decoration: none; padding-right: 13px; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) 100% 50% no-repeat, url(data:image/svg+xml,%3C%3Fxml%20version%3D%221.0%22%20encoding%3D%22UTF-8%22%3F%3E%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%22%20width%3D%2210%22%20height%3D%2210%22%3E%3Cg%20transform%3D%22translate%28-826.429%20-698.791%29%22%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%225.982%22%20height%3D%225.982%22%20x%3D%22826.929%22%20y%3D%22702.309%22%20fill%3D%22%23fff%22%20stroke%3D%22%2306c%22%2F%3E%3Cg%3E%3Cpath%20d%3D%22M831.194%20698.791h5.234v5.391l-1.571%201.545-1.31-1.31-2.725%202.725-2.689-2.689%202.808-2.808-1.311-1.311z%22%20fill%3D%22%2306f%22%2F%3E%3Cpath%20d%3D%22M835.424%20699.795l.022%204.885-1.817-1.817-2.881%202.881-1.228-1.228%202.881-2.881-1.851-1.851z%22%20fill%3D%22%23fff%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fg%3E%3C%2Fg%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E) 100% 50%;">GOP Chairman Michael Steele Denies Tea Party Claim</a>. By Paul Bedard. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/US_News_and_World_Report" title="US News and World Report" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">US News and World Report</a>. Published April 4, 2009.</li></ol></div><h2 style="font-weight: normal; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); line-height: 1.3; background: none rgb(255, 255, 255);">External links[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=DontGo&action=edit&section=4" title="Edit section: External links" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">edit</a>]</h2><ul style="margin: 0.3em 0px 0px 1.6em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: url(data:image/svg+xml,%3C%3Fxml%20version%3D%221.0%22%20encoding%3D%22UTF-8%22%3F%3E%0A%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%22%20version%3D%221.1%22%20width%3D%225%22%20height%3D%2213%22%3E%0A%3Ccircle%20cx%3D%222.5%22%20cy%3D%229.5%22%20r%3D%222.5%22%20fill%3D%22%2300528c%22%2F%3E%0A%3C%2Fsvg%3E%0A); line-height: 22.3999996185303px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.dontgomovement.com/" style="text-decoration: none; padding-right: 13px; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) 100% 50% no-repeat, url(data:image/svg+xml,%3C%3Fxml%20version%3D%221.0%22%20encoding%3D%22UTF-8%22%3F%3E%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%22%20width%3D%2210%22%20height%3D%2210%22%3E%3Cg%20transform%3D%22translate%28-826.429%20-698.791%29%22%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%225.982%22%20height%3D%225.982%22%20x%3D%22826.929%22%20y%3D%22702.309%22%20fill%3D%22%23fff%22%20stroke%3D%22%2306c%22%2F%3E%3Cg%3E%3Cpath%20d%3D%22M831.194%20698.791h5.234v5.391l-1.571%201.545-1.31-1.31-2.725%202.725-2.689-2.689%202.808-2.808-1.311-1.311z%22%20fill%3D%22%2306f%22%2F%3E%3Cpath%20d%3D%22M835.424%20699.795l.022%204.885-1.817-1.817-2.881%202.881-1.228-1.228%202.881-2.881-1.851-1.851z%22%20fill%3D%22%23fff%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fg%3E%3C%2Fg%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E) 100% 50%;">Official website</a>[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Link_rot" title="Wikipedia:Link rot" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">dead link</a>]</li></ul>wayback<div id="post-502" class="post"><div class="entry-content">It was made clear that An American Carol <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090501070140/http://ericodom.blogivists.com/2008/09/24/an-american-carol/#more-502" class="more-link">Read more…</a></div><div class="entry-foot">Filed under: <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090501070140/http://ericodom.blogivists.com/category/internet-news/" title="View all posts in Internet News" rel="category tag">Internet News</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090501070140/http://ericodom.blogivists.com/category/politics/" title="View all posts in Politics" rel="category tag">Politics</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090501070140/http://ericodom.blogivists.com/category/random-coolness/" title="View all posts in Random Coolness" rel="category tag">Random Coolness</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090501070140/http://ericodom.blogivists.com/tag/an-american-carol/" rel="tag">an american carol</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090501070140/http://ericodom.blogivists.com/tag/kevin-farley/" rel="tag">kevin farley</a></div></div><div id="post-501" class="post"><h2 class="entry-title"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090501070140/http://ericodom.blogivists.com/2008/08/18/independent-group-launches-talkstraightorg/" title="Independent Group Launches TalkStraight.org">Independent Group Launches TalkStraight.org</a></h2><div class="entry-meta">Published by <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090501070140/http://ericodom.blogivists.com/author/eric/" title="Posts by Eric Odom">Eric Odom</a></div><div class="entry-date">Aug 18</div><div class="comments-link"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090501070140/http://ericodom.blogivists.com/2008/08/18/independent-group-launches-talkstraightorg/#respond" title="Comment on Independent Group Launches TalkStraight.org">00</a></div><div class="entry-content">An independent group of web 2.0 minded eActivists have decided that the free-market side of the political realm was lacking in investigative resources looking to pry into the lives of Presidential candidates. The new site, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090501070140/http://talkstraight.org/">Talk Straight</a>, aims to provide a collection of fact sheets and investigative pieces into the politics of the 2008 Presidential election.<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090501070140/http://talkstraight.org/">Talk Straight</a>, unlike most other investigative websites (which are mostly funded by the left), is looking to expose Barack Obama and his ties to far left money and corruption. The site will also work to reveal the shallow lines in Obama’s policy and promises. The founders plan to follow the dollars, expose Obama’s character, reveal his lies, tackle his policies, and debunk some rumors.Indeed, the opposition is not only well funded… it’s actually owned and paid for by the Obama campaign. Meet <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090501070140/http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/fightthesmearshome">Fight the Smears</a>, an Obama campaign website looking to spin the message and fight back against sites and organizations who work to expose Barack Obama for who he really is.The part I find most interested about Talk Straight vs. Fight the Smears is that one is a total grassroots effort and the other is a campaign controlled effort. In times where media, politicos, strategists, and virtually everyone else claims the left is controlling the online realm, it’s ironic that a group of center-right, online activists have single handedly launched an independent site that has the potential to counter Obama’s “Fight the Smears”.The #dontgo Movement also recently proved to the world that center-right activists do indeed understand internet activism. The #dontgo Movement, of which I am proudly a part of, used Twitter and other social media tools to help dominate the energy message and organize a complete online movement.Now Talk Straight goes live, proving that center-right activists can not only compete, but can be active from the bottom up, not like Obama’s top down method.<blockquote>Three ways People can get plugged in:1. Donate. We’re fronting the cost for all of this. Any help would be much appreciated.
2. Sign up for our Action Alert Newsletter. We’re not going to send you our blogs - this is a real action/task driven newsletter
3. Click our sponsor’s on our site and maybe buy a sticker or something. Everything is on sale and it helps us keep our sponsors.</blockquote>Ali Akbar, the site founder and publisher, is proving to be one of the web’s top activists. Ali A. Akbar is a young Online Republican activist working to bring web 2.0 and interactivity to campaigns and right-leaning causes. He’s a previous BlogTalkRadio show host of RightTalkRadio. He also has a number of affiliations with today’s online Conservative movement sites.Center-right campaigns and organizations need to pay very close attention to this rising star. If Akbar can continue publishing state-of-the-art political efforts such as Talk Straight, I believe he’ll be one of the true leaders in online activism moving forward.If you haven’t done so yet, do yourself a favor and go check out <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090501070140/http://talkstraight.org/">Talk Straight</a>.-Eric Odom</div><div class="entry-foot">Filed under: <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090501070140/http://ericodom.blogivists.com/category/politics/" title="View all posts in Politics" rel="category tag">Politics</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090501070140/http://ericodom.blogivists.com/tag/ali-akbar/" rel="tag">ali akbar</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090501070140/http://ericodom.blogivists.com/tag/barack-obama/" rel="tag">barack obama</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090501070140/http://ericodom.blogivists.com/tag/politics/" rel="tag">Politics</a></div></div><div id="post-500" class="post"><h2 class="entry-title"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090501070140/http://ericodom.blogivists.com/2008/08/08/open-left-responds/" title="Open Left Responds…">Open Left Responds…</a></h2><div class="entry-meta">Published by <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090501070140/http://ericodom.blogivists.com/author/eric/" title="Posts by Eric Odom">Eric Odom</a></div><div class="entry-date">Aug 08</div><div class="comments-link"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090501070140/http://ericodom.blogivists.com/2008/08/08/open-left-responds/#comments" title="Comment on Open Left Responds…">5</a></div><div class="entry-content">And they use the <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090501070140/http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=7398">typical name calling tactics of the left</a>.They also fail to realize that I’m simply a paid consultant for Sam and I do all of this #dontgo stuff on my own time.But once again, no one contacted me before attacking, which is standard when the left goes postal like this.</div><div class="entry-foot">Filed under: <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090501070140/http://ericodom.blogivists.com/category/politics/" title="View all posts in Politics" rel="category tag">Politics</a></div></div><div id="post-499" class="post"><h2 class="entry-title"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090501070140/http://ericodom.blogivists.com/2008/08/07/progress-illinois-falsey-accuses-me-of-being-controlled/" title="Progress Illinois falsely accuses me of being controlled">Progress Illinois falsely accuses me of being controlled</a></h2><div class="entry-meta">Published by <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090501070140/http://ericodom.blogivists.com/author/eric/" title="Posts by Eric Odom">Eric Odom</a></div><div class="entry-date">Aug 07</div><div class="comments-link"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090501070140/http://ericodom.blogivists.com/2008/08/07/progress-illinois-falsey-accuses-me-of-being-controlled/#comments" title="Comment on Progress Illinois falsely accuses me of being controlled">4</a></div><div class="entry-content">Thanks to <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090501070140/http://prairiestate2.com/2008/08/07/progress-illinois-responds/">Prairie State 2.0</a>, it has come to my attention that <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090501070140/http://progressillinois.com/">Progress Illinois</a> took <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090501070140/http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=7344">the Open Left talking points</a> that I <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090501070140/http://ericodom.blogivists.com/2008/08/07/is-dontgo-an-astroturf-movement/">debunked earlier today</a> and ran it as fact without doing some checking of their own.<blockquote>Let’s be clear. This is a “movement” that originated at the highest level of powers in Washington. It’s a movement that, if successful, would benefit large oil companies and their rich executives far more than the average American consumer. It’s a movement with protests populated by paid staffers from industry-funded organizations. In short, there is nothing “grassroots” about it.</blockquote>I find it fascinating that the left is stumbling over themselves thinking this is a beltway movement, when in fact it’s much, MUCH bigger than that.Anyway, as one of the two #dontgo founders… I felt it my duty to respond to this false accusation.Please also note that Progress Illinois is funded by <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090501070140/http://www.seiu-illinois.org/">SEIU Illinois State Council</a>.Below is my response. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090501070140/http://ericodom.blogivists.com/2008/08/07/progress-illinois-falsey-accuses-me-of-being-controlled/#more-499" class="more-link">Read more…</a></div><div class="entry-foot">Filed under: <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090501070140/http://ericodom.blogivists.com/category/uncategorized/" title="View all posts in Uncategorized" rel="category tag">Uncategorized</a></div></div><div id="post-498" class="post"><h2 class="entry-title"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090501070140/http://ericodom.blogivists.com/2008/08/07/is-dontgo-an-astroturf-movement/" title="Is #dontgo an “Astroturf” Movement?">Is #dontgo an “Astroturf” Movement?</a></h2><div class="entry-meta">Published by <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090501070140/http://ericodom.blogivists.com/author/eric/" title="Posts by Eric Odom">Eric Odom</a></div><div class="entry-date">Aug 07</div><div class="comments-link"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090501070140/http://ericodom.blogivists.com/2008/08/07/is-dontgo-an-astroturf-movement/#comments" title="Comment on Is #dontgo an “Astroturf” Movement?">21</a></div><div class="entry-content"><img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20090501070140im/http://dontgomovement.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/astroturf.jpg" align="left" alt="Astroturf" />Now that things are starting to slow down a bit, I feel I can finally address the laughable charge and confront it head on. For those of you who do not know the back story, you can read <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090501070140/http://tinyurl.com/5f8dr2">Mary Katherine Ham’s piece in the Washington Examiner</a> to catch up on the #dontgo movement story.While the Washington Examiner story explains the <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090501070140/http://www.dontgomovement.com/">#dontgo Movement</a> from the GOP side of the story, I would like to take you into the much larger, much more privately organized “outside the beltway” part of the movement.Indeed, far left groups and blogs are frothing at the mouths to <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090501070140/http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=7344">proclaim this grassroots movement an “astroturf” campaign</a> with strings being pulled by Republicans and Big Oil Companies. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090501070140/http://ericodom.blogivists.com/2008/08/07/is-dontgo-an-astroturf-movement/#more-498" class="more-link">Read more…</a></div><div class="entry-foot">Filed under: <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090501070140/http://ericodom.blogivists.com/category/politics/" title="View all posts in Politics" rel="category tag">Politics</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090501070140/http://ericodom.blogivists.com/tag/astroturf/" rel="tag">astroturf</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090501070140/http://ericodom.blogivists.com/tag/dontgo/" rel="tag">dontgo</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090501070140/http://ericodom.blogivists.com/tag/politics/" rel="tag">Politics</a></div></div>Popular Movements Are Not Funded By Billionaires and Oil Companiesby: Matt StollerTue Aug 05, 2008 at 18:27<table width="100%" style="line-height: 12.5pt; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 247, 248);"><tbody><tr><td> I just came back from the Capitol, where Moveon volunteers and conservative movement group staffers were holding competing rallies around oil leasing (the full flickr set is <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090307060412/http://flickr.com/photos/stoller/sets/72157606565116919/" style="text-decoration: none;">here</a>).  Patrick Ruffini, one of the smartest consultants on the right, thinks this marks <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090307060412/http://www.thenextright.com/patrick-ruffini/dontgo-a-turning-point-for-the-right" style="text-decoration: none;">a turning point for the right.</a>  For the first time, he says, Moveon has mobilizes against "the House Republicans and the rightosphere".The problem with this formulation is that the people that I spoke from Moveon came because they were volunteers, whereas the people from the pro-drilling groups were paid staffers from groups like the National Taxpayers Union and Dick Armey's FreedomWorks.  I spent some time arguing with a nice young man from FreedomWorks about oil companies (though I'll spare you the video), and he was a law student who did economic policy for the group.  These two groups are by and large funded by large companies, and they were formed by recognized conservative movement elites who came to power in the 1980s.</td></tr><tr><td class="theFlip" style="padding: 20px;"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090307060412/http://www.openleft.com/userDiary.do?personId=6" style="text-decoration: none;">Matt Stoller</a> :: <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090307060412/http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=7344" style="text-decoration: none;">Popular Movements Are Not Funded By Billionaires and Oil Companies</a></td></tr><tr><td>In fact, the entire drill drill drill campaign originated with Newt Gingrich, hardly the kind of leadership you'd expect from a real grassroots uprising.  His group, American Solutions for Winning the Future, got a large grant from Peabody Coal at about the same time <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090307060412/http://thinkprogress.org/wonkroom/2008/07/30/aswf-peabody-coal-cash/" style="text-decoration: none;">this campaign started,</a> and is backed by the <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090307060412/http://thinkprogress.org/wonkroom/2008/07/29/newt-aswf-billionaires/" style="text-decoration: none;">same crew of billionaires helping Freedom's Watch.</a> Contrast this to Moveon, which was founded by Wes Boyd and Joan Blades, or Dailykos, led by Markos Moulitsas-Zuniga, or even Paul Weyrich and Richard Viguerie of the New Right in the 1970s.  These leaders came from the grassroots, and elevated a previously unorganized constituency into a powerful new voice.  The Drill Drill Drill campaign has simply helped an existing powerful voice - the oil lobby - keep winning, the way it did earlier this year when it killed the Energy Bill in the Senate (with the help of John McCain and Mary Landrieu).Now, this is not to say that the Drill, Drill, Drill campaign isn't popular.  It is.  But it is not some movement breakthrough on the right; new political movements are not populated entirely with paid staffers, funded by the extraordinarily wealthy winners of a society, and led by old over the hill political leaders.  What is actually going on here is that the 1970s conservative movement is still around and still dominant.  Right-wing billionaires are still funding Newt Gingrich, who is still dictating our agenda just as he did in the late 1970s to the mid-1990s.  Conservative 'populism' in DC is still the same old Brooks Brothers Riot we saw in 2000, ie. paid staffers masquerading as grassroots.  The difference this time is that there is a Moveon to respond.  It isn't working, because the political leadership of the Democratic Party and the environmental groups are still organized around the anti-partisan concepts of the 1970s that hamstrung Jimmy Carter, Walter Mondale, Michael Dukakis, Bill Clinton, John Kerry, and Barack Obama.  Moveon has no coalition to work with who will actually point out that offshore drilling is just the next dry hole after Iraq.But don't get fooled into thinking that there's some new conservative movement out there.  There isn't.  The only kind of movements that are populated entirely by paid staffers are those movements that still have power but have lost their popular base.  It's a lot like a red Giant; it looks like a star and is in fact bigger than it used to be, but it has lost all its fuel.  https://web.archive.org/web/20090307060412/http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=7344</td></tr></tbody></table>Twitter Idiots on the Rightby: Matt StollerFri Aug 08, 2008 at 10:00 reply to odom's reply?freedom's watch guy pix grin]<table width="100%" style="line-height: 12.5pt; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 247, 248);"><tbody><tr><td>A few days ago, I mentioned in a sort of <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20091004004625/http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=7344" style="text-decoration: none;">offhand post</a> that the conservative Drill Drill Drill campaign is not actually part of some new grassroots movement.  My evidence was that it was launched by Newt Gingrich, the House GOP, oil companies, and billionaires, its events are populated by paid staffers, and it is organized to benefit an extraordinarily powerful lobby that has a string of victories under its belt this Congressional session.  I didn't think this was a particularly controversial claim, and it's not, but the 'rightosphere' has apparently taken offense, mostly because they are stupid.Here's one conservative 'grassroots activist', <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20091004004625/http://ericodom.blogivists.com/2008/08/07/is-dontgo-an-astroturf-movement/" style="text-decoration: none;">Eric Odom,</a> responding to my claim.  </td></tr><tr><td class="theFlip" style="padding: 20px;"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20091004004625/http://www.openleft.com/userDiary.do?personId=6" style="text-decoration: none;">Matt Stoller</a> :: <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20091004004625/http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=7398" style="text-decoration: none;">Twitter Idiots on the Right</a></td></tr><tr><td><blockquote style="margin: 0px 40px; border: 1px dashed rgb(53, 62, 98); padding: 10px; background-color: rgb(238, 238, 238);">The CNN story went live just after the site was opened up, and the story was followed by The Next Right, Red State, Politico, Michelle Malkin, HotAir, Washington Examiner, and scores of bloggers. This wave of attention sent more than 60,000 unique visits to our site within 24 hours.Yesterday I spent hours and hours trying to answer email all day long, and the support we have received has been nothing short of encouraging in every way possible.Now we have an e-mail list that is well over 10,000 strong, our e-mail RSS subscriber list is about 1,200 strong, and we have a Twitter army that simply has yet to be matched in size.I'm proud to be a part of this movement, and I'm proud to say that we have had ZERO influence from anyone outside of our homes.THAT is something very few on the left can claim.</blockquote>To give you a frame of reference, 10,000 emails is equivalent in size to about 2% of Moveon's list when it first formed in 1998, and Moveon's list was built without help from partisan media (because none existed at the time on the left).  Their other numbers are similarly pathetic, and it's just remarkable that it took all that push - from well-funded movement conservative outlets - to get to the shitty numbers shown.  I mean, drilling ispopular and it will be a useful issue for the right this election season, and this is the best they can do?  What is most stupid is how conservative think tank fellows and GOP consultants can't tell the difference between themselves and grassroots activism that represents 'new' thinking.  Actually, what's most stupid is the phrase "we have a Twitter army that simply has yet to be matched in size", but whatever.  According to <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20091004004625/http://ericodom.blogivists.com/about/" style="text-decoration: none;">his website,</a> Eric Odom works for a conservative organization called the Sam Adams Alliance, whose CEO is on the board of the<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20091004004625/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_O%27Keefe" style="text-decoration: none;">Club for Growth.</a>  The Sam Adams Alliance is focused on transparency, 'fiscal responsibility', anti-corruption, anti-affirmative action programs, and fighting against eminent domain.  The site recommends <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20091004004625/http://www.samadamsalliance.org/about/id.256/default.asp" style="text-decoration: none;">you read a bunch of books</a> by Milton Friedman and Friedrich Hayek, as well as a few others attacking the big socialist menace and defending private property.  And this is new how exactly?Aside from the idiocy of Odom and the various GOP consultants and think tank fellows twittering all day, Odom is so stupid he doesn't understand that he works for a conservative movement organization.  He's not a grassroots activist just thinking of stuff to do on his own time.  This is his job.I mean, according to their theory, Newt Gingrich and House Republicans did the messaging and organizing work on a campaign, which was funded by billionaires, and used essentially the same playbook the right has used since 1978, but it finally tipped because some GOP junior consultants with blogs signed up for Twitter.  Fucking morons.</td></tr></tbody></table>ham I have to hand it to ‘em. I didn’t think Republicans had it in them to continue the energy debate after <a title="Nancy Pelosi" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20100810060812/http://www.examiner.com/Subject-Nancy_Pelosi.html" style="text-decoration: none; outline: 0px; line-height: 18px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Nancy Pelosi</a> shut off the lights and silenced the mikes in the <a title="U.S. House of Representatives" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20100810060812/http://www.examiner.com/Subject-U.S.House_of_Representatives.html" style="text-decoration: none; outline: 0px; line-height: 18px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">House of Representatives</a> last week.But instead of simply standing by while Madame Speaker shuttered the place and went off on a nationwide book tour for “Know Your Power,” Republicans stuck around to bring attention to the power problems of the American people.Pelosi refused to allow a vote on offshore drilling before adjourning the House for August recess.<a title="George Stephanopoulos" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20100810060812/http://www.examiner.com/Subject-George_Stephanopoulos.html" style="text-decoration: none; outline: 0px;">George Stephanopoulos</a> of <a title="ABC Inc." href="https://web.archive.org/web/20100810060812/http://www.examiner.com/Subject-ABC_Inc!.html" style="text-decoration: none; outline: 0px;">ABC News</a> tried valiantly on Sunday morning to discern why, but judging by the excerpts of her book, it’s because she’s entirely confident in her ability to solve the energy crisis with her inexhaustible supply of cliches.Pelosi no doubt counted on being mostly in the clear once she avoided a vote, trusting that either everyone would head home for recess or that her adjournment would prevent any Republican protests from being caught on tape.The <a title="National Cable Satellite Corporation" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20100810060812/http://www.examiner.com/Subject-National_Cable_Satellite_Corporation.html" style="text-decoration: none; outline: 0px;">C-SPAN</a> cameras in the House are controlled by the actions of the House, and are shut off automatically once it is adjourned. No private cameras are allowed to film inside the chamber.Once Republicans decided to stick around, she might have been assured that the great tree of dissent would fall in the woods with no one to hear it if it hadn’t been for a couple of ‘Net-savvy congressmen and staff members who were bound and determined to get the message out.Reps. <a title="John Culberson" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20100810060812/http://www.examiner.com/Subject-John_Culberson.html" style="text-decoration: none; outline: 0px;">John Culberson, R-Texas</a>, and <a title="Pete Hoekstra" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20100810060812/http://www.examiner.com/Subject-Pete_Hoekstra.html" style="text-decoration: none; outline: 0px;">Pete Hoekstra, R-Mich.</a>, took to <a title="Twitter Inc." href="https://web.archive.org/web/20100810060812/http://www.examiner.com/Subject-Twitter_Inc!.html" style="text-decoration: none; outline: 0px;">Twitter</a>—a micro-blogging tool that allows friends to share short messages with a network of friends—to describe the uproar in the House:From Hoekstra: “Thanks for tweeting with me. Thanks for new technology. Real shame Speaker turned off lights, mikes, C span. Our voices can’t be shut down.”<a title="Eric Odom" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20100810060812/http://www.examiner.com/Subject-Eric_Odom.html" style="text-decoration: none; outline: 0px;">Eric Odom</a>, <a title="Patrick Ruffini" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20100810060812/http://www.examiner.com/Subject-Patrick_Ruffini.html" style="text-decoration: none; outline: 0px;">Patrick Ruffini</a>, and <a title="Allen Fuller" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20100810060812/http://www.examiner.com/Subject-Allen_Fuller.html" style="text-decoration: none; outline: 0px;">Allen Fuller</a>, all New Media lights on the Right, harnessed the energy by organizing the movement under the tag “#dontgo,” so that all the messages on the subject could be searched and aggregated.“Don’t go until you’ve done your jobs,” said Odom, of the inspiration for the name. “Don’t go until you’ve solved some problems.”As momentum grew on the House floor, fiery speeches were made (captured by Culberson on cell phone video and broadcast on <a title="Qik Inc." href="https://web.archive.org/web/20100810060812/http://www.examiner.com/Subject-Qik_Inc!.html" style="text-decoration: none; outline: 0px;">qik.com</a>), and Republican congressmen kept flooding back in, #dontgo became the No. 1 subject on Twitter. Liberal group <a title="MoveOn.org" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20100810060812/http://www.examiner.com/Subject-MoveOn.org.html" style="text-decoration: none; outline: 0px;">MoveOn.org</a> took notice and launched an attack to spam the #dontgo tag with irrelevant messages, which garnered more attention for the movement.All the spam made #dontgo No. 1 on Twitter again, pushing it above such dominant subjects as <a title="Paris Hilton" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20100810060812/http://www.examiner.com/Subject-Paris_Hilton.html" style="text-decoration: none; outline: 0px;">Paris Hilton</a>, <a title="Apple iPhone" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20100810060812/http://www.examiner.com/Subject-Apple_iPhone.html" style="text-decoration: none; outline: 0px;">iPhone</a>, and Dark Knight.“To MoveOn, and all those organizations, I say bring it,” Odom said. “Keep helping us.”Since its birth on Twitter, the Don’t Go Movement has moved beyond the specialized technological tool and onto its own Web site, where it can grab more grassroots activists.Over the past two days, <a title="Dontgomovement.com" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20100810060812/http://www.examiner.com/Subject-Dontgomovement.com.html" style="text-decoration: none; outline: 0px;">Dontgomovement.com</a> has seen a traffic surge of about 60,000 people, and added 21,000 names to a petition to tell Madame Speaker to call the Congress back for a special session.Could Don’t Go be the movement that finally inspires grassroots conservatives depressed by years of overspending?Columnist and blogger <a title="Michelle Malkin" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20100810060812/http://www.examiner.com/Subject-Michelle_Malkin.html" style="text-decoration: none; outline: 0px;">Michelle Malkin</a> referred to it as the “new gathering place for conservative activism.”And, the group has plans to move beyond just energy policy in August. As Patrick Ruffini wrote on the technology and politics blog, The Next Right:“House Republicans’ stock is undervalued. The Democrat-controlled (but Republican occupied) Congress has a 9% approval rating. The Dems won seats they should not have in 2006. 1992 was also a change year, and yet Republicans then managed to pick up 10 seats.“#dontgo is positioned to be the event that at last restores Republicans to where they should be in the House. Don’t lift the boot from Nancy and Steny’s neck. Let’s keep this going.”Bolstered by the polls and significant momentum, it doesn’t look like anyone will be going or moving on from this cause anytime soon.<a title="Mary Katharine Ham" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20100810060812/http://www.examiner.com/Subject-Mary_Katharine_Ham.html" style="text-decoration: none; outline: 0px;">Mary Katharine Ham</a> is online editor of dcexaminer.com.wayback 2009
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On 04.29.09, In Personal, by Eric OdomOne of the main reasons for launching ericjodom.com is to define who I am and help answer questions a lot of folks have. I’ve been a “stealth” kind of guy over the years and now that I’ve become a more public figure… I think it’s time a share some of my background.It’s strange to me that after seven long years of political activism and internet based information warfare, I only now find myself in a position where others have defined who I am as a person without my consent or input. On the one hand I’m a bit shocked at how quickly it all happened… on the other I’m rather surprised it took this long.Either way… the days of me sitting comfortably behind my monitor doing stealth style eActivism seem to have come to an abrupt end.But first… how did I get into politics?About seven years[2002]  ago I was working for a major US Bank. The world was different then (Home equity loans were flying off the shelf like hotcakes and the economy was making HUGE surges forward) and the political sphere, for me at least, was almost as foreign as mars.I was only 22 years old and I had no clue how the party structure functioned, nor did I care, really. I wasn’t registered to vote and at the time had little interest in the political environment. If memory serves me well, I was plugged in to a few discussion forums and was beginning to get a taste, but it was nothing serious and it certainly wasn’t a huge focus of mine.While working at the bank I had the privilege of getting some first hand training on the mindset of internet users and internet marketing in general. During my time at the bank I also developed a profitable network of travel websites that would eventually help build a bridge between my 9-5 life and that of a full time political consultant.Believe it or not, it wasn’t taxes, immigration, spending, regulation or any of those issues that first pulled me in to politics. It was, in fact, affirmative action policy within the bank I worked for.I remember getting a company memo that bragged about how this particular bank had not only met their Affirmative Action quota, but had actually exceeded it. Right about the time of this memo, I also had a friend who was denied a position and bypassed by a “minority” who was potentially far less qualified, yet fit the banks needs for affirmative action success. The individual who was promoted also happened to be a friend of mine… and he eventually admitted why he believed he had been promoted.I never complained publicly because this person was a friend. Besides, I was young, naive, and I wouldn’t have known where to start even if I did want to complain about it. But the real gold here is that it set me on an inquisitive path of questions and research.Why would this nonsense be happening? Was society really being rigged and ripped off like this? And if so, who is responsible for setting these wheels in motion?What I began to see was an irresponsible government whos only interest appeared to be re-election. And on top of that, this government, which I had trusted my entire young adult life, was betraying me by using my tax dollars for political gain and pet projects.And so it began…I was young, ambitious, aggressive and not afraid of confrontation. Which, much to my surprise, set me on a collision course with the Nevada Republican Party.In early 2004 I started a couple local citizen groups… one being the “Washoe County Taxpayer Coalition” or something like that. We were about 30 strong and met on a weekly basis. We were all fairly new to the political process and were only just getting our feet wet. We spent the first part of the year watching the Bush campaign unfold, and we studied a lot of what the state legislature was doing and how the initiative process was working throughout the state (Nevada had a LOT of big ballot initiatives in both 2004 as well as 2006).Being a young kid who didn’t like government and had some taste in web design/online marketing, I quickly noticed a huge void in the right online in Nevada. It was pitiful… to put it nicely. The Washoe County Republican Party had a website that looked like a 5 year old had designed it. They would have been better off scanning a faxed document and making the resulting image their webpage design.The Nevada Republican Party wasn’t much better.The Democrats were slightly in a better position online at the time, but not by much. That said, John Kerry was a complete idiot and there was no way I was going to support what he was up to. Bush was making some big promises again, some of which I bought in to (big mistake), so I decided the Republican party is where I would plant my efforts.I remember visiting the Bush campaign office in South Reno. I clearly remember how excited the Bush guy was when I offered to build, for free, a shiny new website that Nevadans could use to collaborate and network for the Bush campaign. I spent the next two days (only two hours of sleep both nights) building a high end website (unlike anything any Nevada Republicans had ever designed) that I could donate to the Bush campaign to help promote the effort.Unfortunately, Jane Maxfield, the Washoe County Chair at the time, had a fit when she learned that “some kid” had gone off and designed a website without her “permission.” The next day, the Bush guy called and asked me to remove the website because it had not been “authorized” by the Republican Party.Over my dead body…The Washoe County Republicans had the washoerepublicans.com domain. I bought washoe-republicans.com and within a week was outranking them for their own name and keywords. I eventually used the domain to promote and market a new PAC that some friends and I had started (Nevada Independent Conservative PAC) and some of our message. It helped us drive a ton of traffic to our own efforts and we built a solid network through that domain.After Bush was elected I started attending Republican party meetings and functions. It was a nightmare to say the least. The entire experience was gut wrenching and something I can’t forget soon enough.Never mind the fact that I was always the youngest person present by about 20 years… these people were stuck in their archaic mindset. They refused to hear ideas on how to embrace new ways of messaging. They scoffed at me when I suggested strategy for involving young folks in the party process. During the entire year of 2005 I found myself at constant war with the Nevada Republican Party.It was during 2005 that I concluded the Republican Party was about as effective as a lead balloon in engaging people in politics, but I could find no peace in working with Democrats and the Libertarian party of Nevada was… well… the Libertarian Party.During this time I was doing a lot of “side work” developing websites for campaigns and issues. Driving messages, causing major headaches for lawmakers who couldn’t keep their hands off our taxes and freedoms, and generally being a pain in the ass for those who opposed the free-market principles our country was founded on.At the end of 2005 I had decided to get involved with some conservative campaigns. I took a paid consulting position with a federal congressional campaign, a statewide constitutional campaign, a district attorney race and several smaller local races for the 2006 election cycle.It was a brutal year of constant Lincoln Day Dinners and all the rest of the hell that comes with the Republican campaign circuit. And it further enforced my dissatisfaction with the Republican Party and their complete lack of ability to get real fiscal conservatives elected.Time for a breather…After the 2006 election season, I took a few months off to deal with family issues and get away from the political realm for a bit of a break. In January of 2007, my good friend Chuck Muth asked me to join him in following the legislature as well as the first Conservative Leadership Conference happening in Reno, Nevada later that year.I spent most of 2007 lobbing political bombshells at idiot lawmakers who felt lowering the age of those required to wear a life jacket in a boat was more important than properly planning for a catastrophic economic collapse throughout the state of Nevada… among many other really, REALLY stupid things.I also worked to build some behind the scenes blogger networks and began building a strong web based coalition of free-market activists.Go Cubs!!!In November of 2007, I took a position with the Sam Adams Alliance and moved to Chicago. I worked as an employee of the Sam Adams Alliance through September of 2008, when I decided to step out on my own and began a web strategy consulting business that allowed me to be free of the constraints of a 501c3 environment.This move was mostly due to the success of the DontGo Movement. What happened in August of 2008 was significant in that it happened as a volunteer effort and created a network of tens of thousands of activists who were ready to act at any given time.As I transitioned my life from a behind the scenes kind of political activist to a more free and open free-market web strategist, I also had the opportunity to strengthen and solidify the base of activists that had developed out of the energy debate of last August.Finally, when Rick Santelli called for a Chicago Tea Party… I was working from home and ready to respond. Fortunately, so were thousands of other Americans, and because of this we were able to immediately put together a web based infrastructure that could facilitate a mass online movement.
Post April 15th plans…Obviously the Tea Party effort was a HUGE success. Estimates suggest that more than a million Americans stood side by side on April 15th, 2009.A lot of really good things are happening now and I’m honored to be playing a role in this grassroots movement. There is a collaborative effort in the works to lay out a strategic plan for 2010 and 2012, so I highly recommend you get plugged in and keep an eye on what we’re up to.Well, that about brings us up to speed here. I hope this helps you know who I am. If you have any questions please feel free to contact me at ericjodom@gmail.com any time.
-Eric http://libertynews.com/author/ericodom/Managing Director of LibertyNews.com. Internet marketing nerd, political junkie and news addict. Skeptical of government. Bears, Cubs, Bulls & Blackhawks fan. http://ericodom.comfema camps, ebola plot, pro-israel, wackoad: shocking, oprah lied, planned p bs body parts 7/30/15
grassfire?

lee fang:

Republican politicians or did not generally skew toward the right. Many of the early Internet innovations from conservatives relied on simply creating new models of one-way content distribution. But the rise in Internet culture, in which users expect decentralized networks and user-created content and control, has forced the Right to adopt more sophisticated strategies to reach the public.

A central dynamic created by the growth of new media is the proliferation of virtual communities. The Obama campaign in 2008 tried to harness this trend by creating MyBarackObama, an interface for campaign supporters to create online identities, connect with other supporters and publicize their campaign activity. The technology was based on Howard Dean’s successful use of the web site Meetup, used in 2004 to network and find fellow supporters. By showcasing their own contributions in the form of pictures, videos and “points” for volunteer service, MyBarackObama did more than simply foster engagement. They created a social premium for volunteers to share their contributions with others. Also, users of MyBarackObama, like the Obama campaign generally, saw themselves as insurgents fighting against entrenched powers, from the Democratic establishment during the primary with Hillary Clinton, to special interests and Washington insiders during the general election. The online community gave Obama campaign operatives a wealth of information about its supporters, and the seemingly walled structure (although it was open to anyone) of such a network provided a sense of togetherness for people inside that community.

Just as insurgency helped the large MyBarackObama community create tight bonds as an ideologically coherent community, Obama’s victory undid them. Shortly after Obama took office, Democratic planners moved the MyBarackObama listserv and online community into the apparatus of the Democratic National Committee, converting it into Organizing for America. The social capital of the community evaporated quickly as the DNC ordered the community to support conservative politicians like Democrat Ben Nelson of Nebraska, or to simply fall in line with the agenda of the president, even when policies drifted from ideologically pure campaign promises that had brought people to the web site initially.

While MyBarackObama died a quick death as a functional community, the Right went to work building communities to oppose Obama and his agenda. Republican consultants flocked to Ning, an easy tool to create entire social networks for niche communities. Ning replicates common features of any social network: Users may create online identities, send messages within the network, post links and news articles, and create events for offline activities.

Template Ning networks provided the Right with the ability to quickly assemble Tea Party groups without the appearance of top-heavy Republican partisanship. Eric Odom, the former new media director of Sam Adams Alliance, used his consulting firms Strategic Activism and American Liberty Alliance to create dozens of ready-made Ning web sites to cultivate the early stages of the Tea Party movement. Some Tea Party groups he created, like the Patriot Caucus, were geared toward a national constituency, while others catered to specific localities, such as Lehigh County in Pennsylvania. Although the web sites appeared to be citizen generated, all of Odom’s sites were actually centrally planned and operated. Every major Tea Party organization got in on the act: Smart Girl Politics, working with Odom’s colleagues, created a Ning for Tea Party women;  Ginni Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, used her Liberty Central group to help local Tea Party groups in Florida build Ning web sites; and the lobbying firm Libertas Global Partners created Regular Folks united using Ning to organize Tea Party groups. Grassroots Action Inc., a company that thrived by building huge email and petition lists using conservative outrage over immigrants or gay rights, operated as a business by selling its lists to corporate or politics interests. After Obama’s election, Grassroots Action redesigned their network as a Ning, called ResistNet. Even Glenn Beck, with his so-called 9/12 movement, used Ning to develop local and national communities of supporters.

The power of Ning is the illusion of open, democratic communities. Republican operators and consultants in control of most of the Tea Party Nings set the agenda, administer the talking points available on the main page, and have the ability to censor information they disapprove of. Tea Party Patriots, one of the largest Ning communities of over 100,000 members, was regularly fed action items by lobbyist-run entities such as FreedomWorks. So when members of Tea Party community web sites received emails from web site administrators to call Congress to oppose a student lending bill or hold a rally against a Democratic member of Congress, the orders appeared to come from community members of their respective Ning networks. To the casual user, the site appeared to be maintained by citizen activists, but in many cases the actual online organizers worked for right-wing corporate fronts or a Republican campaign. Functionally, the Ning social networks provided grassroots cover for the oil interests funding FreedomWorks or Republican campaigns paying Odom.</div>

===i see no odom?

AP
  Secretive front group battles health bill

<h2 id="deck" class="entry-summary">Americans for Quality and Affordable Healthcare is trying to shape opinion</h2>

<a href="http://www.bing.com/maps/?v=2&where1=WASHINGTON&sty=h&form=msdate" target="_blank">WASHINGTON</a> — One operative tried to enlist trade groups in Maine to oppose government-run health coverage. Another helped a member of a Las Vegas conservative group appear on local talk radio to criticize the proposal. A third persuaded a Louisiana activist to post an opinion piece on a conservative blog.

These below-the-radar activities were the handiwork of a law firm in Charlotte, N.C., that operates a secretive group called Americans for Quality and Affordable Healthcare. The organization's sponsors remain a mystery — its Web site offers no clues, and the law firm won't say.

In a year that has seen hundreds of millions of dollars spent on health care lobbying and TV ads, the advocacy group's impact is hard to gauge since the full scope of its operations is unclear. But its activities illustrate how some are furtively trying to shape public and congressional opinion through front groups — seemingly independent organizations that pursue their founders' goals while masking their identity.

One clue to the mystery group may lie in its goals: to oppose any government-run insurance option, the approach favored by President Barack Obama and most Democrats, and to support requiring all Americans to buy insurance.

Those aims match two of the health insurance industry's top priorities. Several industry officials disavowed any knowledge of the group and said they're not behind it, including the trade group America's Health Insurance Plans, Blue Cross-Blue Shield of North Carolina, and other large national and North Carolina insurers.

‘They want to stay in the background"

Presented evidence that the activities in Maine, Nevada and Louisiana involved employees of Moore & Van Allen, one of North Carolina's larger law firms, the firm's spokesman Matthew French acknowledged the connection and said the firm runs the health care group for clients. He declined to name them, but he referred to "member companies of AQAH," the group's acronym.

"They want to stay in the background and off the front page," said French. "They want the message to be the important thing."

Moore & Van Allen has more than 300 attorneys and numbers financial, manufacturing, technology and health companies among its clients, although it won't name them. It says they include "some of America's foremost hospitals, multi-institutional health care systems, physician groups, specialty providers, lenders and insurers."

French would not discuss the health group's financing or provide much detail about its activities, saying it gives materials to like-minded organizations to distribute to their members.

The three states where the group's activities have been noticed are focal points of the health care fight. Nevada is home to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Democrat who is putting together the Senate's health overhaul bill. Louisiana and Maine are represented by two senators viewed as swing votes: Mary Landrieu, D-La., and Olympia Snowe, R-Maine.

French acknowledged the group is hoping its activities will build pressure on lawmakers.

"Obviously we want to educate to an end purpose. Otherwise we're just kind of preaching to trees," he said.

No clues to sponsorship

The group's Web site says publicly run insurance would "drive all the major players out of the healthcare market," and it includes a page that lets people easily e-mail members of Congress to express those views.

The site does not reveal its sponsorship or provide an address or phone number, unusual for an Internet site trying to arouse public action. Even the owner of the site's Internet domain name is hidden, officially registered to Domains By Proxy Inc., a Scottsdale, Ariz., company that shields the real owner's identity.

French said the three employees of the law firm whose activities for the group were discovered work for the firm's government affairs division, which the practice's Web site says helps clients "shape public opinion, defeat adverse legislation." None of the three is listed as an attorney.

The operatives' activities have included:

<ul>

<li>Several weeks ago, Lindsay Schroeder, a legislative aide at the law firm, approached the Maine Hospital Association in Augusta to see if it would participate in panel discussions about the health care overhaul, said association spokeswoman Mary Mayhew. "I assume she was trying to get some media coverage. I'm sure a part of it was to generate grass-roots activity," Mayhew said. Officials of at least three other Maine trade groups described similar visits around the same time, but they could not recall the woman's name or affiliation. All said they declined involvement.</li>

<li>A deputy director of the firm's government affairs team, Andrew Smith, helped a representative of the conservative Nevada Policy Research Council appear on a Las Vegas talk radio show to discuss health care, said council spokesman Andy Matthews.</li>

<li>Reid McMillan, another deputy director of government affairs, e-mailed an opinion column the health care group distributes to Ellen Carmichael, a conservative activist in Baton Rouge, La., who got it posted on a conservative blog called Healthcare Horserace.[link to odom]</li>

</ul>

===

<h1><a href="http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2010/02/05/80996/odom-profiteering/">Defending ‘Tea Party Profiteers,’ Odom Tells Activists We Should Reward Them With Our Pocketbooks</a></h1>

By Lee Fang on Feb 5, 2010 at 6:00 pm

In a blog post yesterday, Republican strategist Eric Odom defended his tea party business strategy in response to <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2010/02/02/80291/tea-party-profiteers/">Think Progress’ reporting</a> on Tea Party Profiteers –- Republican consultants, political operatives, and others trying to take advantage of the tea party movement to make a profit and advance a special-interest agenda. To Odom, it is completely ethical for him and his business partners to “have created a means through which they can <a href="http://taxdayteaparty.com/2010/02/tea-party-profiteers/">pay some bills</a> through their activism:

And even more absurd is the fact that some tea party activists within the “free market" movement are upset that some entrepreneurs have created a means through which they can pay some bills through their activism. [...] But more importantly, we as “free market” activists should applaud their work in writing these books and we should reward them with our pocket books, not balk at them for doing so.

</blockquote>

Odom runs countless tea-party-themed websites around the country, many of them made to appear organic, or locally organized. Through his two <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2010/02/02/80291/tea-party-profiteers/">for-profit companies</a>, Strategic Activism, LLC and American Liberty Alliance, Odom is able to collect money from unknown sources while setting the agenda and the giving out marching orders for the tea party community forums he controls. As the AP reported, lobbyist <a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33948872">Reid McMillian</a> helped write the anti-health reform content for “Healthcare Horserace,” one of Odom’s many websites.

A longtime operative who made a career building what he described as Republican "<a href="http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2010/02/02/80291/tea-party-profiteers/">stealth</a> attack sites,” Odom recently proclaimed that the tea party movement should work exclusively to elect Republicans this year, writing, “the Republican Party must be our vessel in 2010.” Indeed, his business partner at Strategic Activism, Allen Fuller, runs a GOP public relations firm called Flat Creek Public Affairs where he helps to direct tea parties into volunteering and fundraising for Republican candidates.

Odom and his fellow profiteers are trying to pull off an elaborate scam. They posture as independents and activists, but they are truly Republican hacks, working largely for big business special interests. Instead of protesting the hegemony of an international corporation — as <a href="http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/04/15-10">the original Boston tea party</a> did against the London-based East India Company-- they are helping to continue a Bush-era society where corporations like Goldman Sachs have unbridled power.

For instance, former Republican Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-TX), another self-proclaimed tea party leader, rails against the Wall Street bailout and efforts to rebuild the foundations of the economy, even though his own <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/08/magazine/08Armey-t.html?r=2&pagewanted=print">lobbying firm</a> represented AIG, Lehman Brothers, and Merrill Lynch during the bailouts. Armey, who is still paid a lobbyist salary of at least $550,00 a year, told the New York Times that although he does not believe in “death panels” or other “<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/08/magazine/08Armey-t.html?r=2&pagewanted=print">exaggerations</a>,” he encourages others to spread falsehoods to advance his agenda. Armey’s willful lying is instructive for understanding the profiteers: in the most condescending way, they are exploiting the tea party movement to line their own pockets.

</div>

----

<h3 id="post-3284"><a href="http://www.nevadanewsbureau.com/2010/04/05/new-york-times-looks-at-tea-party-grassroots-vs-reid-in-nevada/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link to New York Times Looks at Tea Party, Grassroots vs. Reid in Nevada">New York Times Looks at Tea Party, Grassroots vs. Reid in Nevada</a></h3>

By <a class="author-link" href="mailto:editor@nevadanewsbureau.com">Elizabeth Crum</a> | 9:27 pm April 5th, 2010

“Tea Party Groups Make Harry Reid Target #1″ says the headline of <a href="javascript:window.open('http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/05/us/politics/05nevada.html?src=twt&twt=nytimespolitics'); void(0);" target="">this piece</a> in the NYT. A few excerpts, the first about Tea Party activist-organizer Eric Odom who recently moved to Nevada to set up his Defeat Reid HQ:

But come the midterm elections, what may be more significant is what is happening here, in a dark condominium where the Home Depot tags are still on the lawn chairs that double as indoor seating for guests.

The blinds drawn against the desert sun, this is the new burrow of Eric Odom, a chief organizer of the first nationwide Tea Parties last year. Mr. Odom moved here a few weeks ago with his fiance and a blogger sidekick to mobilize the state's Tea Party groups for the midterms. By training activists in get-out-the-vote tactics like the "voter bombs" that helped Scott Brown become the new Republican senator from Massachusetts, they are hoping to unseat Nevada’s senior senator and the Democratic leader, Harry Reid.

In a matter of weeks, this state has become ground zero for Tea Party members, who understand that as a symbol of the movement’s power, you cannot get much bigger than beating the Senate's top Democrat.

Yep. A Reid defeat would be a big, fluffy feather-in-cap for both national and Nevada Tea Partiers. So various groups are doing their grassrootsy thing, including the Tea Party Express which kicked off its third cross-country bus tour last weekend in Searchlight. Their parent organization, Our Country Deserves Better PAC, spent $350K in the last few weeks of Massachusetts Miracle Brown’s campaign, and they have vowed to target the Reid race in much the same way.

</div>

<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Eric_Odom">http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Eric_Odom</a>

Eric Odom is a conservative new media strategist. He is a leader in the <a href="http://sunshinereview.org/index.php/DontGo" title="DontGo">DontGo</a> movement and is President of Strategic Activism LLC<a href="http://sunshinereview.org/index.php/Eric_Odom#cite_note-0">[1]</a>, an internet consulting firm. Eric also manages <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://newsplatoon.com/">NewsPlatoon</a>, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://blogivists.com/">Blogivists</a>, and is Director of <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.rootshq.com/">RootsHQ 2009</a>.

Throughout 2008, Odom worked on a variety of new media projects for the <a href="http://sunshinereview.org/index.php/Sam_Adams_Alliance" title="Sam Adams Alliance">Sam Adams Alliance</a>.

Odom previously worked for Citizen Outreach<a href="http://sunshinereview.org/index.php/Eric_Odom#cite_note-1">[2]</a>.

In 2007, Odom coordinated the 2007 Conservative Leadership Conference in Reno, <a href="http://sunshinereview.org/index.php/Nevada" title="Nevada">Nevada</a>.

<h2>External links</h2>

<ul>

<li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.samadamsalliance.org/about/id.394/default.asp">Sam Adams bio of Eric Odom</a></li>

<li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.conservablogs.com/">Conservablogs</a></li>

<li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.blogivists.com/">Blogivists</a></li>

<li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://newsplatoon.com/">NewsPlatoon</a></li>

<li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://taxdayteaparty.com/">Tax Day Tea Party</a></li>

</ul>

<h2>[<a href="http://sunshinereview.org/index.php?title=Eric_Odom&action=edit&section=2" title="Edit section: References">edit</a>] References</h2>

<li id="cite_note-0"><a href="http://sunshinereview.org/index.php/Eric_Odom#cite_ref-0">↑</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://strategicactivism.com/">Strategic Activism</a></li>

<li id="cite_note-1"><a href="http://sunshinereview.org/index.php/Eric_Odom#cite_ref-1">↑</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.citizenoutreach.com/">Citizen Outreach</a></li>

</ol>

===

So on one side we have a brew of Christian fundamentalists, supposed fiscal conservatives (who had NO problem with Dick Cheney's “deficits don’t matter” GOP spending spree) and whether they want to admit to it or not (the poster’s – nor the web sites  don’t lie) those who are racially biased – the white supremacists Ron and Rand Paul associate with, along with the Birchers.

The first cousins to the Paul Tea Partiers are the “grass roots” corporate funded (Koch brothers) group that sprung up from ordinary people who were supposedly outraged at the Wall Street bailouts, et al.  that suddenly appeared on the 20th of February one day after Rick Santelli’s famous “rant” on CNBC.

Much has been reported about Freedom Works and the Koch brothers being the funding mechanisms behind the Tea Party movement.  According to a <a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/29232967/Koch-Industries-Secretly-Funding-the-Climate-Denial-Machine">report prepared by Greenpeace</a>, the Koch Brothers as of March 2010 have dumped over $24.8 million in funding opposition groups against climate change legislation/denial, $5.7 million in political campaign funding and another $37.9 million in direct lobbying.  Follow these links for more information:  <a href="http://crooksandliars.com/karoli/koch-industries-denies-funding-freedomworks">Crooks & Liars</a>

But little has been said about when this so called “movement" actually began.  In doing the research for this post, I came across <a href="http://www.politicalchili.com/">www.politicalchili.com</a>, and, specifically, articles regarding the Origins of the Tea Party, posted [not written?]by <a title="Posts by James Scaminaci III" href="http://politicalchili.com/author/james/">James Scaminaci III</a> on Mar 16th, 2010 and filed under <a title="View all posts in The Tea Party Movement" href="http://politicalchili.com/http:/politicalchili.com/elections/tea-party-elections/">The Tea Party Movement</a>.

One group missing from this equation that doesn’t get mentioned is the Constitutional Studies groups that are the not too distant cousins to the Tea Parties.  The <a href="http://www.nccs.net/">National Center for Constitutional Studies</a> appears to be the grandfather of these organizations.  The organization was started by Willard Cleon Skousen, author of The 5000 Year Leap. A Google search of “5000 Year Leap” will lead you to others.  We have our own group here in Bellingham.  All have this book at the core of their study of the Constitution.  You will recall this book has long been promoted by Glen Beck (along with his gold buying fervor).  <a href="http://packham.n4m.org/skousen.htm">Richard Packham</a> has written a critical review of this book with regard to many of its distortions.  Recently, I reviewed a copy of the 101 Questions for the Candidate.  I have not complete my response to all these questions as yet, but if you’re interested, you can click here for the <a href="http://dianaforcongress.com/101.html">Q and A</a>.  (My responses are preceded by an "A")

Hats off to James Scaminaci III for his in depth knowledge and research on this topic.

I’ll recap some of it here, but highly recommend readers to go to the complete articles for complete understanding and documentation.

As we know, initially there were two branches of the Tea Party – the libertarian [Ron Paul] wing – these are the white nationalists (who are probably behind the racist posters).  The <a href="http://www.independentpoliticalreport.com/2009/04/libertarian-party-of-illinois-we-gave-rick-santelli-the-idea-for-the-tax-day-tea-parties/">Libertarian Party of Illinois claims to have given Rick Santelli the idea for the tax day tea parties</a>:

In December of 2008 the LP Illinois formulated the Boston Tea Party Chicago concept and advertised it through the LPI yahoo and meetup groups, Ron Paul Meetup groups, Campaign for Liberty groups, national tax groups and well as other various peace groups and local / national new sources.”

The second group was allegedly founded in response to Rick Santelli’s “rant."

The [more than] speculation is that Santelli’s “rant” may very well have been planned.

Records indicate the <a href="http://www.chicagoteaparty.com/">www.chicagoteaparty.com</a> domain was purchased by Zack Christensen in <a href="http://politicsunspun.com/images/chicagotea.jpg">August 2008</a> well in advance of Santelli's Feb 19, 2009 outburst.

Zack Christensen [rosen___ chic radio producer? see playboy] was apparently behind the Bill Ayers story that gave Palin her "pallin’ around with terrorists” talking point.

Christensen on his <a href="http://zackchristenson.com/" target="_blank">blog</a>, he states, “I’m Zack Christenson. I produce videos for a think tank.”  So how is it he thought to purchase the ‘Chicago Tea Party" domain 6 months BEFORE Santelli’s rant?  And 4 months BEFORE the Libertarian Party of Illinois claims to have formulated the idea.

Unlike James Scaminaci III, I smell a rat.  This is much too coincidental, although admittedly, Christenson has not uploaded content to this site.

Also, within hours of Santelli’s rant, the <a href="http://www.officialchicagoteaparty.com/">www.officialchicagoteaparty.com</a> domain was <a href="http://politicsunspun.com/images/officialtea.jpg" target="blank">purchased</a>.  The owner of this domain is Eric Odom who has connections with the <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20080120181121/samadamsalliance.org/about/id.394/default.asp" target="blank">Samuel Adams Alliance</a> (you’ll recall our 1776 Sam Adams was involved in the original “Tea Party”)…that has, according to Scaminaci has been scrubbed from their website.  Within a few short weeks a “network” of “grassroots” tea parties sprung up as if by magic along with professionally prepared signage and a nice motor home and buses all decked out as well.  Clearly the grass roots were not funding these amenities.  Except it wasn’t within “a few short weeks” – it was the NEXT day following Santelli's rant.   More on that shortly.

From the<a href="http://leadershipteaparty.com/pages/founders/" target="_blank"> Leadership Tea Party</a> site the founding members include Michael Patrick Leahy, author of several books, including Rules for Conservative Radicals, What Does Sarah Palin Believe? and What Does Barack Obama Believe?

Mr. Leahy also has <a href="http://leadershipteaparty.com/pages/speakers/" target="_blank">connections with Eric Odom according to the Leadership Tea Party</a>:

Michael Patrick Leahy was one of the early leaders of the Tea Party Movement. As co-founder of Top Conservatives on Twitter, Mr. Leahy joined with Eric Odom and other grassroots activists to organize tea parties in fifty cities on February 27, 2009, a mere eight days after Ric Santelli’s famous rant on CNBC.

Which brings us to Keli Carender, Seattle’s own Tea Party organizer.  <a href="http://leadershipteaparty.com/pages/founders/">Keli Carender was another of the early “founders</a>,” who [surprise!]  As documented by The Nationwide Tea Party Coalition, which started it all in a conference call on February 20, 2009 “ was a participant of this founding call ONE DAY AFTER SANTELLI’S RANT…now that’s some fine organizational work.�� Imagine organizing 100 people in less than 24 hours (people you haven’t even yet identified) to join in on the same conference call.  Having organized getting 5 people into one of these – no way it was done in less than 24 hours…it'd take a week or two alone to ID these people (they, after all couldn't be found at that time by using “tea party” as your Google search term.)

After identifying her name on the list, I had to do some research on her.

In a <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/28/us/politics/28keli.html">New York Times article about her</a> on February 27, 2010, they report,

Ms. Carender’s first rally (February 27, 2009) drew only 120 people. A week later, she had 300, and six weeks later, 1,200 people gathered for a Tax Day Tea Party. Last month, she was among about 60 Tea Party leaders flown to Washington to be trained in election activism by <a title="Link to group’s Web site." href="http://www.freedomworks.org/">FreedomWorks</a>, the conservative advocacy organization led by <a title="More articles about Dick Armey." href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/a/dick_armey/index.html?inline=nyt-per">Dick Armey</a>, the former House Republican leader.”

One wonders if her “last month training at Freedom works, was actually in February 2009, especially since her first rally was on Feb 27 (AFTER she participated in the "founders” call.

(The following has been scrubbed from the FaceBook page) – Note “FreedomWorks 9/12!”

She states to the reporter in the Times article,

“Her fiancé, Conor McNassar, urged her to channel her complaints into a blog, which she called<a title="Link to blog." href="http://redistributingknowledge.blogspot.com/"> Liberty Belle</a>. [aka redistributingknowledge.blogspot.com]

“He didn't mind hearing it,” she said. “He just couldn’t hear it all the time.”

Since her <a href="http://redistributingknowledge.blogspot.com/2009_01_25_archive.html">first entry on her blog</a> starts on Jan 25, 2009 (one month and two days BEFORE her first rally and just 5 days after the Obama inauguration and the same date of Obama’s first radio address to the nation outlining what he wanted in the stimulus package), one wonders just when did she have this epiphany?  The stimulus bill wasn’t signed into law until February 14, 2009. In January, they were still haggling.

And:

“And she sent an e-mail message to the conservative writer <a title="Her Web site." href="http://michellemalkin.com/">Michelle Malkin</a>, who agreed to announce the protest on her blog and even sent some pulled pork to feed the crowd.”

Note, Michelle Malkin was a participant of the Feb 20, 2009 call WITH Ms. Carender.

Sorry, but the time line does NOT FIT, Ms. Carender.  I have to believe you were plugged in way before your first blog post.

Recently, Ms. Carender has received the <a href="http://www.samadamsalliance.org/blog/index.php/tag/jamie-radtke/">2010 Sammy Award</a> from the Sam Adams Alliance.

Back to the “FreedomWorks 9/12!” Facebook comment above.  Note the date – February 2, 2009.  Glen Beck did NOT announce the 9/12 Project until:

“The <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/9-12_Project">9-12 Project</a> (or 9/12 Project, 912 Project) is a political group created by <a title="United States" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States">American</a> television and radio personality <a title="Glenn Beck" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glenn_Beck">Glenn Beck</a>. It was officially launched on the Friday the 13th of March 2009 episode of <a title="Glenn Beck (TV program)" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glenn_Beck_%28TV_program%29">Glenn Beck</a>,

Guess that idea wasn’t really hatched up by Glen Beck, but by FreedomWorks, too....

blog:  http://politicsunspun.com/?p=215

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<a href="http://www.libertyfirstpac.com/">http://www.libertyfirstpac.com/</a> 404?

===wikiflhttp://redistributingknowledge.blogspot.com/ last post 2011, ~ cap and tradeKeli Carender (born c. 1981) is an American blogger credited with being the first <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tea_Party_protests" title="Tea Party protests" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Tea Party protest</a> activist<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keli_Carender#cite_note-1" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[1]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keli_Carender#cite_note-2" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[2]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keli_Carender#cite_note-3" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[3]</a> when she was the principal organizer of a protest of the<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Recovery_and_Reinvestment_Act_of_2009" title="American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009</a> on February 16, 2009. Carender started her blog Redistributing Knowledge on January 25, 2009, writing under thenom de plume Liberty Belle.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keli_Carender#cite_note-4" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[4]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keli_Carender#cite_note-5" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[5]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keli_Carender#cite_note-6" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[6]</a><h2 style="font-weight: normal; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); line-height: 1.3; background: none rgb(255, 255, 255);">Biography[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Keli_Carender&action=edit&section=1&editintro=Template:BLP_editintro" title="Edit section: Biography" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">edit</a>]</h2>Carender, a teacher of basic math for adults, founded and co-chaired The Seattle Sons & Daughters of Liberty.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keli_Carender#cite_note-7" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[7]</a> She is a graduate of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Washington_University" title="Western Washington University" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Western Washington University</a>, and has a postgraduate Certificate of Education in Secondary Math from the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Oxford" title="University of Oxford" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">University of Oxford</a>.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keli_Carender#cite_note-8" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[8]</a><h2 style="font-weight: normal; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); line-height: 1.3; background: none rgb(255, 255, 255);">References[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Keli_Carender&action=edit&section=2&editintro=Template:BLP_editintro" title="Edit section: References" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">edit</a>]</h2><div class="reflist" style="margin-bottom: 0.5em; color: rgb(37, 37, 37); list-style-type: decimal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><ol class="references" style="margin: 0.3em 0px 0.5em 3.2em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: none; list-style-type: inherit;"><li id="cite_note-1" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keli_Carender#cite_ref-1" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;"><span class="cite-accessibility-label" style="top: -99999px; clip: rect(1px 1px 1px 1px); overflow: hidden; position: absolute !important; padding: 0px !important; border: 0px !important; height: 1px !important; width: 1px !important; -webkit-user-select: none;">Jump up^{</a> }Zernike, Kate (February 27, 2010). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/28/us/politics/28keli.html" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(102, 51, 102); padding-right: 13px; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) 100% 50% no-repeat, url(data:image/svg+xml,%3C%3Fxml%20version%3D%221.0%22%20encoding%3D%22UTF-8%22%3F%3E%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%22%20width%3D%2210%22%20height%3D%2210%22%3E%3Cg%20transform%3D%22translate%28-826.429%20-698.791%29%22%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%225.982%22%20height%3D%225.982%22%20x%3D%22826.929%22%20y%3D%22702.309%22%20fill%3D%22%23fff%22%20stroke%3D%22%2306c%22%2F%3E%3Cg%3E%3Cpath%20d%3D%22M831.194%20698.791h5.234v5.391l-1.571%201.545-1.31-1.31-2.725%202.725-2.689-2.689%202.808-2.808-1.311-1.311z%22%20fill%3D%22%2306f%22%2F%3E%3Cpath%20d%3D%22M835.424%20699.795l.022%204.885-1.817-1.817-2.881%202.881-1.228-1.228%202.881-2.881-1.851-1.851z%22%20fill%3D%22%23fff%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fg%3E%3C%2Fg%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E) 100% 50%;">"Unlikely Activist Who Got to the Tea Party Early"</a>. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_New_York_Times" title="The New York Times" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">The New York Times</a>.<span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AKeli+Carender&rft.aufirst=Kate&rft.aulast=Zernike&rft.au=Zernike%2C+Kate&rft.btitle=Unlikely+Activist+Who+Got+to+the+Tea+Party+Early&rft.date=February+27%2C+2010&rft.genre=book&rft_id=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2010%2F02%2F28%2Fus%2Fpolitics%2F28keli.html&rft.pub=The+New+York+Times&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook" class="Z3988" /></li><li id="cite_note-2" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keli_Carender#cite_ref-2" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;"><span class="cite-accessibility-label" style="top: -99999px; clip: rect(1px 1px 1px 1px); overflow: hidden; position: absolute !important; padding: 0px !important; border: 0px !important; height: 1px !important; width: 1px !important; -webkit-user-select: none;">Jump up^{</a> }Kaste, Martin (February 2, 2010). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=123229743" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(102, 51, 102); padding-right: 13px; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) 100% 50% no-repeat, url(data:image/svg+xml,%3C%3Fxml%20version%3D%221.0%22%20encoding%3D%22UTF-8%22%3F%3E%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%22%20width%3D%2210%22%20height%3D%2210%22%3E%3Cg%20transform%3D%22translate%28-826.429%20-698.791%29%22%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%225.982%22%20height%3D%225.982%22%20x%3D%22826.929%22%20y%3D%22702.309%22%20fill%3D%22%23fff%22%20stroke%3D%22%2306c%22%2F%3E%3Cg%3E%3Cpath%20d%3D%22M831.194%20698.791h5.234v5.391l-1.571%201.545-1.31-1.31-2.725%202.725-2.689-2.689%202.808-2.808-1.311-1.311z%22%20fill%3D%22%2306f%22%2F%3E%3Cpath%20d%3D%22M835.424%20699.795l.022%204.885-1.817-1.817-2.881%202.881-1.228-1.228%202.881-2.881-1.851-1.851z%22%20fill%3D%22%23fff%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fg%3E%3C%2Fg%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E) 100% 50%;">"Tea Party Star Leads Movement On Her Own Terms"</a>. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NPR" title="NPR" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">NPR</a>.<span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AKeli+Carender&rft.aufirst=Martin&rft.au=Kaste%2C+Martin&rft.aulast=Kaste&rft.btitle=Tea+Party+Star+Leads+Movement+On+Her+Own+Terms&rft.date=February+2%2C+2010&rft.genre=book&rft_id=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.npr.org%2Ftemplates%2Fstory%2Fstory.php%3FstoryId%3D123229743&rft.pub=NPR&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook" class="Z3988" /></li><li id="cite_note-3" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keli_Carender#cite_ref-3" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;"><span class="cite-accessibility-label" style="top: -99999px; clip: rect(1px 1px 1px 1px); overflow: hidden; position: absolute !important; padding: 0px !important; border: 0px !important; height: 1px !important; width: 1px !important; -webkit-user-select: none;">Jump up^{</a> }McGrath, Ben (February 1, 2010). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/02/01/100201fa_fact_mcgrath?currentPage=2" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(102, 51, 102); padding-right: 13px; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) 100% 50% no-repeat, url(data:image/svg+xml,%3C%3Fxml%20version%3D%221.0%22%20encoding%3D%22UTF-8%22%3F%3E%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%22%20width%3D%2210%22%20height%3D%2210%22%3E%3Cg%20transform%3D%22translate%28-826.429%20-698.791%29%22%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%225.982%22%20height%3D%225.982%22%20x%3D%22826.929%22%20y%3D%22702.309%22%20fill%3D%22%23fff%22%20stroke%3D%22%2306c%22%2F%3E%3Cg%3E%3Cpath%20d%3D%22M831.194%20698.791h5.234v5.391l-1.571%201.545-1.31-1.31-2.725%202.725-2.689-2.689%202.808-2.808-1.311-1.311z%22%20fill%3D%22%2306f%22%2F%3E%3Cpath%20d%3D%22M835.424%20699.795l.022%204.885-1.817-1.817-2.881%202.881-1.228-1.228%202.881-2.881-1.851-1.851z%22%20fill%3D%22%23fff%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fg%3E%3C%2Fg%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E) 100% 50%;">"The Movement: The rise of Tea Party activism"</a>. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_New_Yorker" title="The New Yorker" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">The New Yorker</a>.<span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AKeli+Carender&rft.aufirst=Ben&rft.aulast=McGrath&rft.au=McGrath%2C+Ben&rft.btitle=The+Movement%3A+The+rise+of+Tea+Party+activism&rft.date=February+1%2C+2010&rft.genre=book&rft_id=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.newyorker.com%2Freporting%2F2010%2F02%2F01%2F100201fa_fact_mcgrath%3FcurrentPage%3D2&rft.pub=The+New+Yorker&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook" class="Z3988" /></li><li id="cite_note-4" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keli_Carender#cite_ref-4" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;"><span class="cite-accessibility-label" style="top: -99999px; clip: rect(1px 1px 1px 1px); overflow: hidden; position: absolute !important; padding: 0px !important; border: 0px !important; height: 1px !important; width: 1px !important; -webkit-user-select: none;">Jump up^{</a> }Liberty Belle (January 25, 2009). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://redistributingknowledge.blogspot.com/2009/01/solution-revolution.html" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(102, 51, 102); padding-right: 13px; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) 100% 50% no-repeat, url(data:image/svg+xml,%3C%3Fxml%20version%3D%221.0%22%20encoding%3D%22UTF-8%22%3F%3E%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%22%20width%3D%2210%22%20height%3D%2210%22%3E%3Cg%20transform%3D%22translate%28-826.429%20-698.791%29%22%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%225.982%22%20height%3D%225.982%22%20x%3D%22826.929%22%20y%3D%22702.309%22%20fill%3D%22%23fff%22%20stroke%3D%22%2306c%22%2F%3E%3Cg%3E%3Cpath%20d%3D%22M831.194%20698.791h5.234v5.391l-1.571%201.545-1.31-1.31-2.725%202.725-2.689-2.689%202.808-2.808-1.311-1.311z%22%20fill%3D%22%2306f%22%2F%3E%3Cpath%20d%3D%22M835.424%20699.795l.022%204.885-1.817-1.817-2.881%202.881-1.228-1.228%202.881-2.881-1.851-1.851z%22%20fill%3D%22%23fff%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fg%3E%3C%2Fg%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E) 100% 50%;">"Solution Revolution"</a>. Redistributing Knowledge. Retrieved September 15, 2010.<span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AKeli+Carender&rft.atitle=Solution+Revolution&rft.aulast=Liberty+Belle&rft.au=Liberty+Belle&rft.date=January+25%2C+2009&rft.genre=article&rft_id=http%3A%2F%2Fredistributingknowledge.blogspot.com%2F2009%2F01%2Fsolution-revolution.html&rft.jtitle=Redistributing+Knowledge&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal" class="Z3988" /></li><li id="cite_note-5" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keli_Carender#cite_ref-5" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;"><span class="cite-accessibility-label" style="top: -99999px; clip: rect(1px 1px 1px 1px); overflow: hidden; position: absolute !important; padding: 0px !important; border: 0px !important; height: 1px !important; width: 1px !important; -webkit-user-select: none;">Jump up^{</a> }Hogberg, David (February 20, 2009). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.theodoresworld.net/archives/2009/02/antistimulus_protests_sprout_u.html" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(102, 51, 102); padding-right: 13px; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) 100% 50% no-repeat, url(data:image/svg+xml,%3C%3Fxml%20version%3D%221.0%22%20encoding%3D%22UTF-8%22%3F%3E%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%22%20width%3D%2210%22%20height%3D%2210%22%3E%3Cg%20transform%3D%22translate%28-826.429%20-698.791%29%22%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%225.982%22%20height%3D%225.982%22%20x%3D%22826.929%22%20y%3D%22702.309%22%20fill%3D%22%23fff%22%20stroke%3D%22%2306c%22%2F%3E%3Cg%3E%3Cpath%20d%3D%22M831.194%20698.791h5.234v5.391l-1.571%201.545-1.31-1.31-2.725%202.725-2.689-2.689%202.808-2.808-1.311-1.311z%22%20fill%3D%22%2306f%22%2F%3E%3Cpath%20d%3D%22M835.424%20699.795l.022%204.885-1.817-1.817-2.881%202.881-1.228-1.228%202.881-2.881-1.851-1.851z%22%20fill%3D%22%23fff%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fg%3E%3C%2Fg%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E) 100% 50%;">"Anti-Stimulus Protests Sprout Up"</a>. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Investor%27s_Business_Daily" title="Investor's Business Daily" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Investor's Business Daily</a>. Archived from <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.investors.com/editorial/IBDArticles.asp?artsec=16&issue=20090220" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(102, 51, 102); padding-right: 13px; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) 100% 50% no-repeat, url(data:image/svg+xml,%3C%3Fxml%20version%3D%221.0%22%20encoding%3D%22UTF-8%22%3F%3E%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%22%20width%3D%2210%22%20height%3D%2210%22%3E%3Cg%20transform%3D%22translate%28-826.429%20-698.791%29%22%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%225.982%22%20height%3D%225.982%22%20x%3D%22826.929%22%20y%3D%22702.309%22%20fill%3D%22%23fff%22%20stroke%3D%22%2306c%22%2F%3E%3Cg%3E%3Cpath%20d%3D%22M831.194%20698.791h5.234v5.391l-1.571%201.545-1.31-1.31-2.725%202.725-2.689-2.689%202.808-2.808-1.311-1.311z%22%20fill%3D%22%2306f%22%2F%3E%3Cpath%20d%3D%22M835.424%20699.795l.022%204.885-1.817-1.817-2.881%202.881-1.228-1.228%202.881-2.881-1.851-1.851z%22%20fill%3D%22%23fff%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fg%3E%3C%2Fg%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E) 100% 50%;">the original</a> on February 22, 2009.<span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AKeli+Carender&rft.aufirst=David&rft.au=Hogberg%2C+David&rft.aulast=Hogberg&rft.btitle=Anti-Stimulus+Protests+Sprout+Up&rft.date=February+20%2C+2009&rft.genre=book&rft_id=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.investors.com%2Feditorial%2FIBDArticles.asp%3Fartsec%3D16%26issue%3D20090220&rft.pub=Investor%27s+Business+Daily&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook" class="Z3988" /></li><li id="cite_note-6" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keli_Carender#cite_ref-6" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;"><span class="cite-accessibility-label" style="top: -99999px; clip: rect(1px 1px 1px 1px); overflow: hidden; position: absolute !important; padding: 0px !important; border: 0px !important; height: 1px !important; width: 1px !important; -webkit-user-select: none;">Jump up^{</a> }<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michelle_Malkin" title="Michelle Malkin" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Malkin, Michelle</a> (February 16, 2009). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://michellemalkin.com/2009/02/16/from-the-boston-tea-party-to-your-neighborhood-pork-protest/" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(102, 51, 102); padding-right: 13px; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) 100% 50% no-repeat, url(data:image/svg+xml,%3C%3Fxml%20version%3D%221.0%22%20encoding%3D%22UTF-8%22%3F%3E%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%22%20width%3D%2210%22%20height%3D%2210%22%3E%3Cg%20transform%3D%22translate%28-826.429%20-698.791%29%22%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%225.982%22%20height%3D%225.982%22%20x%3D%22826.929%22%20y%3D%22702.309%22%20fill%3D%22%23fff%22%20stroke%3D%22%2306c%22%2F%3E%3Cg%3E%3Cpath%20d%3D%22M831.194%20698.791h5.234v5.391l-1.571%201.545-1.31-1.31-2.725%202.725-2.689-2.689%202.808-2.808-1.311-1.311z%22%20fill%3D%22%2306f%22%2F%3E%3Cpath%20d%3D%22M835.424%20699.795l.022%204.885-1.817-1.817-2.881%202.881-1.228-1.228%202.881-2.881-1.851-1.851z%22%20fill%3D%22%23fff%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fg%3E%3C%2Fg%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E) 100% 50%;">"From the Boston Tea Party to your neighborhood pork protest"</a>. MichelleMalkin.com.<span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AKeli+Carender&rft.atitle=From+the+Boston+Tea+Party+to+your+neighborhood+pork+protest&rft.aufirst=Michelle&rft.aulast=Malkin&rft.au=Malkin%2C+Michelle&rft.date=February+16%2C+2009&rft.genre=article&rft_id=http%3A%2F%2Fmichellemalkin.com%2F2009%2F02%2F16%2Ffrom-the-boston-tea-party-to-your-neighborhood-pork-protest%2F&rft.jtitle=MichelleMalkin.com&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal" class="Z3988" /></li><li id="cite_note-7" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keli_Carender#cite_ref-7" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;"><span class="cite-accessibility-label" style="top: -99999px; clip: rect(1px 1px 1px 1px); overflow: hidden; position: absolute !important; padding: 0px !important; border: 0px !important; height: 1px !important; width: 1px !important; -webkit-user-select: none;">Jump up^{</a> }Hanlon, Chip. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.redcounty.com/user/1228" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(102, 51, 102); padding-right: 13px; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) 100% 50% no-repeat, url(data:image/svg+xml,%3C%3Fxml%20version%3D%221.0%22%20encoding%3D%22UTF-8%22%3F%3E%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%22%20width%3D%2210%22%20height%3D%2210%22%3E%3Cg%20transform%3D%22translate%28-826.429%20-698.791%29%22%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%225.982%22%20height%3D%225.982%22%20x%3D%22826.929%22%20y%3D%22702.309%22%20fill%3D%22%23fff%22%20stroke%3D%22%2306c%22%2F%3E%3Cg%3E%3Cpath%20d%3D%22M831.194%20698.791h5.234v5.391l-1.571%201.545-1.31-1.31-2.725%202.725-2.689-2.689%202.808-2.808-1.311-1.311z%22%20fill%3D%22%2306f%22%2F%3E%3Cpath%20d%3D%22M835.424%20699.795l.022%204.885-1.817-1.817-2.881%202.881-1.228-1.228%202.881-2.881-1.851-1.851z%22%20fill%3D%22%23fff%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fg%3E%3C%2Fg%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E) 100% 50%;">"Keli Carender"</a>. RedCounty.com. Retrieved September 15, 2010.<span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AKeli+Carender&rft.atitle=Keli+Carender&rft.aufirst=Chip&rft.au=Hanlon%2C+Chip&rft.aulast=Hanlon&rft.genre=article&rft_id=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.redcounty.com%2Fuser%2F1228&rft.jtitle=RedCounty.com&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal" class="Z3988" /></li><li id="cite_note-8" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keli_Carender#cite_ref-8" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;"><span class="cite-accessibility-label" style="top: -99999px; clip: rect(1px 1px 1px 1px); overflow: hidden; position: absolute !important; padding: 0px !important; border: 0px !important; height: 1px !important; width: 1px !important; -webkit-user-select: none;">Jump up^{</a> }<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.teapartypatriots.org/speakers-bureau/keli-carender/" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(102, 51, 102); padding-right: 13px; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) 100% 50% no-repeat, url(data:image/svg+xml,%3C%3Fxml%20version%3D%221.0%22%20encoding%3D%22UTF-8%22%3F%3E%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%22%20width%3D%2210%22%20height%3D%2210%22%3E%3Cg%20transform%3D%22translate%28-826.429%20-698.791%29%22%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%225.982%22%20height%3D%225.982%22%20x%3D%22826.929%22%20y%3D%22702.309%22%20fill%3D%22%23fff%22%20stroke%3D%22%2306c%22%2F%3E%3Cg%3E%3Cpath%20d%3D%22M831.194%20698.791h5.234v5.391l-1.571%201.545-1.31-1.31-2.725%202.725-2.689-2.689%202.808-2.808-1.311-1.311z%22%20fill%3D%22%2306f%22%2F%3E%3Cpath%20d%3D%22M835.424%20699.795l.022%204.885-1.817-1.817-2.881%202.881-1.228-1.228%202.881-2.881-1.851-1.851z%22%20fill%3D%22%23fff%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fg%3E%3C%2Fg%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E) 100% 50%;">"Keli Carender"</a>. Tea Party Patriots. Retrieved 29 October 2013.<span title="ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fen.wikipedia.org%3AKeli+Carender&rft.btitle=Keli+Carender&rft.genre=book&rft_id=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.teapartypatriots.org%2Fspeakers-bureau%2Fkeli-carender%2F&rft.pub=Tea+Party+Patriots&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook" class="Z3988" /></li></ol></div><h2 style="font-weight: normal; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); line-height: 1.3; background: none rgb(255, 255, 255);">External links[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Keli_Carender&action=edit&section=3&editintro=Template:BLP_editintro" title="Edit section: External links" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">edit</a>]</h2><ul style="margin: 0.3em 0px 0px 1.6em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: url(data:image/svg+xml,%3C%3Fxml%20version%3D%221.0%22%20encoding%3D%22UTF-8%22%3F%3E%0A%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%22%20version%3D%221.1%22%20width%3D%225%22%20height%3D%2213%22%3E%0A%3Ccircle%20cx%3D%222.5%22%20cy%3D%229.5%22%20r%3D%222.5%22%20fill%3D%22%2300528c%22%2F%3E%0A%3C%2Fsvg%3E%0A); color: rgb(37, 37, 37); line-height: 22.3999996185303px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.redistributingknowledge.blogspot.com/" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(102, 51, 102); padding-right: 13px; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) 100% 50% no-repeat, url(data:image/svg+xml,%3C%3Fxml%20version%3D%221.0%22%20encoding%3D%22UTF-8%22%3F%3E%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%22%20width%3D%2210%22%20height%3D%2210%22%3E%3Cg%20transform%3D%22translate%28-826.429%20-698.791%29%22%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%225.982%22%20height%3D%225.982%22%20x%3D%22826.929%22%20y%3D%22702.309%22%20fill%3D%22%23fff%22%20stroke%3D%22%2306c%22%2F%3E%3Cg%3E%3Cpath%20d%3D%22M831.194%20698.791h5.234v5.391l-1.571%201.545-1.31-1.31-2.725%202.725-2.689-2.689%202.808-2.808-1.311-1.311z%22%20fill%3D%22%2306f%22%2F%3E%3Cpath%20d%3D%22M835.424%20699.795l.022%204.885-1.817-1.817-2.881%202.881-1.228-1.228%202.881-2.881-1.851-1.851z%22%20fill%3D%22%23fff%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fg%3E%3C%2Fg%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E) 100% 50%;">Redistributing Knowledge</a> – Liberty Belle's blog</li></ul>

<h2>Americans for New Leadership & Liberty.com</h2>

Where:

NV-SEN, DE-SEN

Americans for New Leadership claims to have spent only <a href="http://liberty.com/ads/">$300,000</a> so far in ads attacking Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and supporting his far-right opponent, Sharron Angle. After its first ad, the group was mocked for <a href="http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/07/conservative-group-misspells-sharron-angles-name-in-new-ad-video.php">misspelling</a> Sharron Angle's name. Although it did not air any ads in the Delaware primary, the organization’s website Liberty.com did create an infamous <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_F8WA3iBbs&feature=player_embedded">online video</a> which said that Christine O’Donnell’s primary opponent Mike Castle has a male lover.

Who:

The Tea Party-backed group was founded by Tea Party activists <a href="http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0810/41262.html">Eric Odom and Yates Walker</a>. Both worked on Christine O’Donnell's <a href="http://spectator.org/archives/2010/07/27/charging-the-castle">successful senatorial campaign</a> against Mike Castle in Delaware’s GOP primary, where Walker served as her spokesman and Odom was involved in online organizing. Previously, Odom and Walker worked for Doug Hoffman’s failed 2009 campaign for Congress. A Tea Party activist, Odom is involved with a plethora of Tea Party groups: he founded the website TaxDayTeaParty.com and the American Liberty Bus Tour, and runs the <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2009/11/more-signs-of-tea-party-campaigning-in-2010-the-liberty-first-pac/29946/">Liberty First PAC</a> and the American Liberty Alliance, a <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alex-brantzawadzki/anatomy-of-the-tea-party_b_380626.html">for-profit</a> organization. Erik Erikson, founder of the prominent conservative blog RedState, <a href="http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=38686">criticized</a> Odom’s “tangled web” of Tea Party organizations.

Republican activist and Fox News Commentator Dick Morris helped engineer the organization's growth. Morris asked <a href="http://mediamatters.org/blog/201008310032">viewers of Hannity</a> and his email list to donate to Americans for New Leadership, and <a href="http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2010/07/13/dick_morris_fundraising_for_sharron_angle">said</a> in an email solicitation that "the campaign in Nevada to replace Harry Reid is in a desperate situation and needs your help.” <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/2010-08-24-1Agroups24_ST_N.htm">Conservative activists</a> Jen Harrington, who worked in the Bush administration, and Brent Husson, the former executive director of the Nevada Republican Party, are also managing the organization.

About:

Spokesman Yates Walker told Politico that the group intends to capitalize on the Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling: January's Citizens United Supreme Court ruling, which struck down the law banning corporate spending in elections, paved the way for the new group’s formation, Walker said.” The organization can also raise and spend <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/news/2010/08/florida-political-operative-plans.html">unlimited amounts</a> of money as an independent committee.

Calling itself the <a href="http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0810/41262.html">right-wing version of MoveOn.org</a>, Americans for New Leadership is attempting to strengthen the conservative "netroots” with its independent expenditure effort and website Liberty.com. Their <a href="http://liberty.com/about/">website says</a> that the organization’s mission is to “keep the American electorate informed and vigilantly guarding against the forces on the left who seek to redefine individual liberty, redistribute wealth, and remake America into a socialist, cradle-to-grave nanny state.” Moreover, the group decries the mainstream media as “infiltrated by the activist left” and says that the “fourth estate has become an accomplice to the progressive left’s assault on individual liberty.” It is focusing most of its resources on opposing Harry Reid’s reelection, and manages the website DumpReid.com.

Current attacks:

In a Liberty.com <a href="http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0910/ODonnell_backer_makes_sex_charge_in_Delaware_race.html">video</a>, an anchorwoman criticizing Delaware Congressman and then-Senate candidate Mike Castle responds an anonymous questioner asking "isn’t Mike Castle cheating on his wife with a man?" by saying, “That’s the rumor.” Americans for New Leadership has launched two ads in Nevada. Their first ad not only originally <a href="http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/07/conservative-group-misspells-sharron-angles-name-in-new-ad-video.php">misspelled</a> Sharron Angle’s name, and also asserted that Sharron Angle won’t ‘phase-out’ Social Security and called the charge a “lie.” However, Angle <a href="http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2010/jun/24/harry-reid/during-primary-angle-said-social-security-cant-be-/">explicitly said</a> in a debate that “we need to phase-out Medicare and Social Security out in favor of something privatized” and that Social Security “can't be fixed.” In its second ad, Americans for New Leadership repeats the <a href="http://www.factcheck.org/2009/08/more-senior-scare/">Medicare funding distortion</a> and <a href="http://politicalcorrection.org/factcheck/201009020005">grossly misrepresents</a> the stimulus plan and the American Clean Energy and Security Act.

===

Republican partisans — aided by lobbyists and corporate front groups — are exploiting the legitimate feelings of anger and distrust among many struggling Americans. These operatives and profiteers, many of them experienced public relations professionals, have set up sophisticated social networking portals and online solutions to control the flow of information within tea party organizations. As gatekeepers to ostensibly open forums, these political operatives and profiteers have been able to set the political agenda of the tea parties and hand out marching orders. And tea party profiteers are making millions cashing in on the movement. They are selling tea party support to candidates and policies which continue the legacy of Bush-era unregulated capitalism and corporate bailouts:

– Eric Odom: Odom, who appears regularly on Fox News and on other venues as a spokesman for the tea party movement, is at the center of tea party profiteering. Odom maintains dozens, possibly hundreds of tea party websites and community forums which he controls through a “Ning” technology based social networking platform. Odom’s <a href="http://www.linkedin.com/companies/330402/American+Liberty+Alliance?trk=pp_icon">vast online control</a> of county, state, and issue oriented tea party websites is done through his two <a href="http://www.linkedin.com/ppl/webprofile?gwp=&id=12542139&pvs=pp&authToken=NvA-&authType=name&locale=en_US&trk=ppro_geturl&lnk=sign_in">for profit</a> consulting companies: American Liberty Alliance and Strategy Activism, LLC. His American Liberty Alliance has served as a hub between disparate tea party groups and right-wing front groups. In a biographical video he posted on YouTube, Odom explained that he has worked for years on local and statewide Republican campaigns developing “<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHaDKbVnOao">stealth type</a> marketing some say ‘attack sites.’”He boasted that he built “sites behind the scenes, many of them to this day <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHaDKbVnOao">no one today knows I took part in</a>, some of them were actually very effective in defeating the opponent.” While it is unclear exactly who is paying Odom now for his tea party profit ventures, Odom has delicately straddled independent populist rhetoric while proclaiming that his network will work <a href="http://ericodom.blogivists.com/2009/11/10/its-time-to-take-over-the-gop/">exclusively</a> for the election of Republican candidates this year.

– Allen Fuller: According to Tennessee business records, Odom’s Strategic Activism, LLC business partner is Republican new media consultant Allen Fuller, who also maintains a firm called <a href="http://fcreek.com/allen_fuller">Flat Creek Public Affairs</a>. Fuller may be the best clue to find out who pays Odom. On his website, Fuller counts Jane Norton, the GOP candidate for Senate in Colorado, <a href="http://fcreek.com/portfolio">as a client</a>, and also receives payments from several other Republican members of Congress. Fuller helps corral tea party support to American Majority, a Republican training organization.

– Glenn Beck: Beck, the most powerful promoter of the tea parties in the media, often rants during his regular programming that investing in gold is the only way to hedge against a supposed deep inflation in the future. He does not disclose, however, that gold companies are his primary sponsors, or that the gold companies he promotes have predatory fees: Goldline, one of Beck’s sponsors, sells gold for 30-35% more than market value. “Here's the deal, call Goldline, study it out, <a href="http://tpmtv.talkingpointsmemo.com/tag/goldline">pray on it</a>,” Beck advises his listeners. Beck has cemented his control over the tea parties by launching his own 9.12 project network of social networking sites — which are hosted by his <a href="http://www.glennbeck.com/content/program/about/">for profit</a> media company Mercury Radio Arts.

– Tea Party Nation: As a for-profit business, Tea Party Nation organized the Tea Party Convention this year at Nashville’s swank Opryland Gaylord hotel. The convention, set at the "grassroots” ticket price of <a href="http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/01/the_tea_party_movement_is_about_to_be_hijacked_act.php">$550 per person</a>, features a <a href="http://www.teapartyemporium.com/contact.html">Madison Avenue</a> fashion company selling tea party jewelry and a paid (<a href="http://blogs.nashvillescene.com/pitw/2010/01/tempest_in_a_tea_party_activis.php">$120,000</a>) speech by Sarah Palin. Tea Party Nation also maintains a message board.

– Dick Armey: As ThinkProgress has <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/2009/04/09/lobbyists-planning-teaparties/">documented</a>, Armey has a <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2009/05/15/40588/armey-soda/">long history</a> of organizing conservative grassroots causes in support of his corporate clients. Armey presents himself as a ideologue, who helms his nonprofit FreedomWorks as a mere exercise in his free market beliefs. But while Armey rails against the Wall Street bailout and efforts to rebuild the foundations of the economy, his <a href="http://wonkroom.thinkprogress.org/2009/04/15/armey-financial-giants/">own lobbying firm</a> represented AIG, Lehman Brothers, and Merrill Lynch during the bailouts. Indeed, even his nonprofit still pays him a lobbyist salary of <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=FreedomWorks">$550,000</a> per year.

– Tea Party Express: The Tea Party Express bus tour, and affiliated political action committee, has raised funds using tea party messages. The Tea Party Express effort has been a slick public relations gimmick of the Sacramento-based consulting firm <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Russo_Marsh_%26_Rogers">Russo, Marsh and Rogers</a> (RMR). RMR has worked on several stealth campaigns for Republican clients, including the underhanded push to recall Gov. Gray Davis (D-CA). In any case, the Tea Party Express, which RMR staffers operate, has proved to be a cash cow for RMR — in 2009 alone, it plunged at least <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alex-brantzawadzki/tea-party-express-planned_b_427818.html">$1,025,559</a> of money it raised back into RMR.

</blockquote>

</div>

==

<h1><a href="http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2010/02/05/80996/odom-profiteering/">Defending ‘Tea Party Profiteers,’ Odom Tells Activists ‘We Should Reward Them With Our Pocketbooks’</a></h1>

By Lee Fang on Feb 5, 2010 at 6:00 pm

In a blog post yesterday, Republican strategist Eric Odom defended his tea party business strategy in response to <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2010/02/02/80291/tea-party-profiteers/">Think Progress’ reporting</a> on Tea Party Profiteers –- Republican consultants, political operatives, and others trying to take advantage of the tea party movement to make a profit and advance a special-interest agenda. To Odom, it is completely ethical for him and his business partners to "have created a means through which they can <a href="http://taxdayteaparty.com/2010/02/tea-party-profiteers/">pay some bills</a> through their activism”:

And even more absurd is the fact that some tea party activists within the "free market” movement are upset that some entrepreneurs have created a means through which they can pay some bills through their activism. [...] But more importantly, we as “free market” activists should applaud their work in writing these books and we should reward them with our pocket books, not balk at them for doing so.

</blockquote>

Odom runs countless tea-party-themed websites around the country, many of them made to appear organic, or locally organized. Through his two <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2010/02/02/80291/tea-party-profiteers/">for-profit companies</a>, Strategic Activism, LLC and American Liberty Alliance, Odom is able to collect money from unknown sources while setting the agenda and the giving out marching orders for the tea party community forums he controls. As the AP reported, lobbyist <a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33948872">Reid McMillian</a> helped write the anti-health reform content for “Healthcare Horserace,” one of Odom’s many websites.

A longtime operative who made a career building what he described as Republican “<a href="http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2010/02/02/80291/tea-party-profiteers/">stealth</a>” "attack sites,” Odom recently proclaimed that the tea party movement should work exclusively to elect Republicans this year, writing, “the Republican Party must be our vessel in 2010.” Indeed, his business partner at Strategic Activism, Allen Fuller, runs a GOP public relations firm called Flat Creek Public Affairs where he helps to direct tea parties into volunteering and fundraising for Republican candidates.

Odom and his fellow profiteers are trying to pull off an elaborate scam. They posture as independents and activists, but they are truly Republican hacks, working largely for big business special interests. Instead of protesting the hegemony of an international corporation — as <a href="http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/04/15-10">the original Boston tea party</a> did against the London-based East India Company -- they are helping to continue a Bush-era society where corporations like Goldman Sachs have unbridled power.

For instance, former Republican Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-TX), another self-proclaimed tea party leader, rails against the Wall Street bailout and efforts to rebuild the foundations of the economy, even though his own <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/08/magazine/08Armey-t.html?r=2&pagewanted=print">lobbying firm</a> represented AIG, Lehman Brothers, and Merrill Lynch during the bailouts. Armey, who is still paid a lobbyist salary of at least $550,00 a year, told the New York Times that although he does not believe in “death panels” or other “<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/08/magazine/08Armey-t.html?r=2&pagewanted=print">exaggerations</a>,” he encourages others to spread falsehoods to advance his agenda. Armey's willful lying is instructive for understanding the profiteers: in the most condescending way, they are exploiting the tea party movement to line their own pockets.

<ul>

<li><a href="http://thinkprogress.org/tag/dick-armey/">Dick Armey</a></li>

<li><a href="http://thinkprogress.org/tag/radical-right/">Radical Right</a></li>

<li><a href="http://thinkprogress.org/tag/tea-party/">Tea Party</a></li>

</ul>

</div>

<h4>Related Posts</h4>

<ul>

<li><a href="http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2010/02/03/80495/palin-teaparty-profiteer/">Sarah Palin Defends Her Role As A Tea Party Profiteer, Announces Her Involvement In Another Scam </a></li>

<li><a href="http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2010/02/02/80291/tea-party-profiteers/">Tea Party Profiteers: How Republican Operatives Are Exploiting Economic Anxiety For Power, Cash </a></li>

</ul>

</div>

===

american liberty alliance

“This nightclub story is absolutely awful,” said Eric Odom, a <a href="http://washingtonindependent.com/63522/tea-party-the-movie?lc=int_mb_1001" onclick="comMandelbrotLinksmart.creditEvent('NF8U-LSd0KZUBEFEF78J9.20120409T165757', '2816b35c-8265-11e1-9164-404072165846', 'b2a73d1c-015f-4cdb-854a-745728736002', 17, 'http%3A//washingtonindependent.com/63522/tea-party-the-movie%3Flc%3Dint_mb_1001', 'tea party', true, false, '', '', '', ''); return false;">Tea Party</a> activist and the chairman of Liberty First PAC, “but the RNC just came off of a meeting in Hawaii, and that was even worse. I don’t think there are conservatives who are going to turn on the RNC just because of this story. I think it's the nail in the coffin.”

According to Odom — who famously denied Steele a speaking slot at the April 15, 2009 anti-tax Tea Party in Chicago (Steele, at the time, denied that he had wanted to speak) — donors to Liberty First PAC have been submitting RNC-bashing notes along with their checks. One out of ten donations via Paypal, said Odom, came with a message along the lines of “2009 was the last year I'll donate to a party."

===

Eric Odom is a 29 year-old conservative activist, blogger and partner in the online media firm <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Strategic_Activism_LLC&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Strategic Activism LLC (page does not exist)">Strategic Activism LLC</a>. Odom organized a counter-protest to a pro-health insurance reform rally in Chicago on August 4, 2009. He he describes himself in the recent past as a "stealth style eActivist" and a "Chicago-based, libertarian Web strategist."<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Eric_Odom#cite_note-0" title="">[1]</a>

Odom describes himself as a point man and organizer for the Chicago <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Tax_Day_Tea_Party" title="Tax Day Tea Party">Tax Day Tea Party</a>.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Eric_Odom#cite_note-1" title="">[2]</a>

Odom got his organizing start when he formed a movement called "DontGo" to oppose government regulation of the energy industry. As of August 2009, the DontGo movement has been taken over by the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_Liberty_Alliance" title="American Liberty Alliance">American Liberty Alliance</a>, of which Eric Odom is the Executive Director. Most of the links on the DontGo movement web site now forward to the Web site of the American Liberty Alliance. Odom has the Twitter tag #dontgo. <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Eric_Odom#cite_note-2" title="">[3]</a>

<h2>Contents</h2>

[<a href="javascript:toggleToc()" class="internal" id="togglelink">hide</a>]</div>

<ul>

<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Eric_Odom#Activism_opposing_health_care_reform">1 Activism opposing health care reform</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Eric_Odom#Sourcewatch_resources">2 Sourcewatch resources</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Eric_Odom#External_resources">3 External resources</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Eric_Odom#References">4 References</a></li></ul></td></tr></tbody></table>

<h2>Activism opposing health care reform</h2>

In an article in the Chicago Tribune, Odom said he fears efforts to reform health care will "strip away his provider choices" and add to the federal deficit. Odom said "We basically feel the legislation being pushed through [is] very dangerous ... We are really pushing for everybody to take a deep breath and really look at what we're getting into and not just jump into something ... that's going to cost us for years to come."<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Eric_Odom#cite_note-3" title="">[4]</a><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Eric_Odom#cite_note-4" title="">[5]</a>

<h2>Sourcewatch resources</h2>

<ul>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Front_groups" title="Front groups">Front groups</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Astroturf" title="Astroturf">Astroturf</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Grassroots" title="Grassroots">Grassroots</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Public_relations" title="Public relations">Public relations</a></li>

</ul>

<h2>External resources</h2>

<ul>

<li>Eric Odom's DontGo Movement blog page: <a href="http://www.dontgomovement.com/blog/2009/05/10/the-dontgo-movement-is-moving-on/" class="external free" title="http://www.dontgomovement.com/blog/2009/05/10/the-dontgo-movement-is-moving-on/" rel="nofollow">http://www.dontgomovement.com/blog/2009/05/10/the-dontgo-movement-is-moving-on/</a></li>

</ul>

<h2>References</h2>

<li id="cite_note-0"> Eric J. Odom <a href="http://ericjodom.com/blog/2009/04/who-am-i/" class="external text" title="http://ericjodom.com/blog/2009/04/who-am-i/" rel="nofollow">Who Am I</a> Personal blog. April 29, 2009. Accessed August 14, 2009  404</li>

<li id="cite_note-1"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Eric_Odom#cite_ref-1" title="">↑</a> Eric Odom <a href="http://www.dontgomovement.com/blog/2009/02/27/the-birth-of-a-new-revolution/" class="external text" title="http://www.dontgomovement.com/blog/2009/02/27/the-birth-of-a-new-revolution/" rel="nofollow">The Birth of a New Revolution</a> DontGo Movement, February 27th, 2009; accessed August 14, 2009</li>

<li id="cite_note-2"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Eric_Odom#cite_ref-2" title="">↑</a> Eric Odom <a href="http://www.dontgomovement.com/blog/2009/05/10/the-dontgo-movement-is-moving-on/" class="external text" title="http://www.dontgomovement.com/blog/2009/05/10/the-dontgo-movement-is-moving-on/" rel="nofollow">The DontGo Movement is ��Moving On”</a> Blog. May 10, 2009. Accessed August 14, 2009</li>

<li id="cite_note-3"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Eric_Odom#cite_ref-3" title="">↑</a> Monique Garcia <a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-democratic-health-care-rallyaug05,0,6996662.story" class="external text" title="http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-democratic-health-care-rallyaug05,0,6996662.story" rel="nofollow">Chicago Democratic leaders rally supporters for health-care reform</a> Chicago Tribune. August 5, 2009</li>

<li id="cite_note-4"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Eric_Odom#cite_ref-4" title="">↑</a> Eric Odom <a href="http://ericodom.blogivists.com/about/" class="external text" title="http://ericodom.blogivists.com/about/" rel="nofollow">About Eric Odom</a> Blog. Accessed August 14, 2009</li>

</ol>

<div id="mw-normal-catlinks"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Special:Categories" title="Special:Categories">Categories</a>: <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Category:Health_Policy_%28U.S.%29" title="Category:Health Policy (U.S.)">Health Policy (U.S.)</a> | <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Category:Grassroots" title="Category:Grassroots">Grassroots</a> | <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Category:Tea_Party_Movement" title="Category:Tea Party Movement">Tea Party Movement</a></div>

</div>

<a href="http://paper.li/ericjodom">http://paper.li/ericjodom</a> blog

gen wm e hudson w/ bork; (says later dad was preacher)

===

see santelli

...Let’s go back to February 19th: Rick Santelli, live on CNBC, standing in the middle of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, launches into an attack on the just-announced $300 billion slated to stem rate of home foreclosures: “The government is promoting bad behavior! Do we really want to subsidize the losers’ mortgages?! This is America! We're thinking of having a Chicago tea party in July, all you capitalists who want to come down to Lake Michigan, I’m gonna start organizing.”

Almost immediately, the clip and the unlikely “Chicago tea party” quote buried in the middle of the segment, zoomed across a well-worn path to headline fame in the Republican echo chamber, including red-alert headlines on Drudge.

Within hours of Santelli’s rant, a website called ChicagoTeaParty.com sprang to life. Essentially inactive until that day, it now featured a YouTube video of Santelli’s “tea party” rant and billed itself as the official home of the Chicago Tea Party. The domain was registered in August, 2008 by Zack Christenson, a dweeby Twitter Republican and producer for a popular Chicago rightwing radio host Milt Rosenberg��a familiar name to Obama campaign people. Last August, Rosenberg, who looks like Martin Short’s Irving Cohen character, caused an outcry when he interviewed Stanley Kurtz, the conservative writer who first “exposed” a personal link between Obama and former Weather Undergound leader Bill Ayers. As a result of Rosenberg��s radio interview, the Ayers story was given a major push through the Republican media echo chamber, culminating in Sarah Palin’s accusation that Obama was “palling around with terrorists.” That Rosenberg��s producer owns the “chicagoteaparty.com” site is already weird��but what��s even stranger is that he first bought the domain last August, right around the time of Rosenburg’s launch of the “Obama is a terrorist” campaign. It’s as if they held this “Chicago tea party” campaign in reserve, like a sleeper-site. Which is exactly what it was.

ChicagoTeaParty.com was just one part of a larger network of Republican sleeper-cell-blogs set up over the course of the past few months, all of them tied to a shady rightwing advocacy group coincidentally named the <a title="z" href="http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/07/19/the-sam-adams-project/" target="_blank">“Sam Adams Alliance,”</a> whose backers have until now been kept hidden from public. Cached google records that we discovered show that the Sam Adams Alliance took pains to scrub its deep links to the Koch family money as well as the fake-grassroots “tea party” protests going on today. All of these roads ultimately lead back to a more notorious rightwing advocacy group, FreedomWorks, a powerful PR organization headed by former Republican House Majority leader Dick Armey and funded by Koch money.

On the same day as Santelli’s rant, February 19, another site called Officialchicagoteaparty.com went live. This site was registered to Eric Odom, who turned out to be a veteran Republican new media operative specializing in imitation-grassroots PR campaigns. Last summer, Odom organized a twitter-led campaign centered around DontGo.com to pressure Congress and Nancy Pelosi to pass the offshore oil drilling bill, something that would greatly benefit Koch Industries, a major player in oil and gas. Now, six months later, <a title="z" href="http://elizabethcrum.blogivists.com/2008/08/11/david-goliath-and-the-new-media/" target="_blank">Odom’s DontGo movement</a> was resurrected to play a central role in promoting the ��tea party” movement.

Up until last month, Odom was officially listed as the "new media coordinator" for the Sam Adams Alliance, a well-funded libertarian activist organization based in Chicago that was set up only recently. Samuel Adams the historical figure was famous for inspiring and leading the Boston Tea Party—so when the PR people from the Chicago-based Sam Adams Alliance abruptly leave in order to run Santelli’s “Chicago Tea Party,” you know it wasn’t spontaneous. Odom certainly doesn’t want people to know about the link: his name was scrubbed from the Sam Adams Alliance website recently, strongly suggesting that they wanted to cover their tracks. Thanks to google caching, you can see the SAA’s before-after <a title="z" href="http://web.archive.org/web/20080120181121/samadamsalliance.org/about/id.394/default.asp" target="_blank">scrubbing</a>.

Even the Sam Adams’ January 31 announcement that Odom’s fake-grassroots group was ��no longer sponsored by the Alliance” was shortly afterwards <a title="z" href="http://209.85.173.132/search?q=cache:l8t8mmvSmeYJ:www.samadamsalliance.org/index.php%3Foption%3Dcom_content%26view%3Darticle%26id%3D926%253Ablogivists-moving-on%26catid%3D1%253Alatest-news%26Itemid%3D56+site:www.samadamsalliance.org+www.samadamsalliance.org+%22eric+odom%22&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=3&gl=us" target="_blank">scrubbed</a>.

But it’s the Alliance’s scrubbing of their link to Koch that is most telling. A cached page, erased on February 16, just three days before Santelli’s rant, shows that the Alliance also wanted to cover up its ties to the Koch family. The <a title="z" href="http://209.85.173.132/search?q=cache:fRoZx4D9IQUJ:www.samadamsalliance.org/index.php%3Foption%3Dcom_content%26view%3Darticle%26id%3D916%26Itemid%3D79+samadamsalliance.com+koch&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=us" target="blank">missing link</a> was an announcement that students interested in applying for internships to the Sam Adams Alliance could also apply through the “Charles G. Koch Summer Fellow Program” through the Institute for Humane Studies, a Koch-funded rightwing institute designed to scout and nurture future leaders of corporate libertarian ideology. (See <a title="Sam Adams Koch Connection" href="http://exiledonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/sam-adams-alliance-koch-connection.jpg" target="blank">hi-resolution screenshots here</a>.) The top two board directors at the Sam Adams Alliance include two figures with deep ties to Koch-funded programs: Eric O’Keefe, who previously served in Koch’s Institute for Humane Studies and the Club For Growth; and Joseph Lehman, a former communications VP at Koch’s Cato Institute.

All of these are ultimately linked up to Koch’s Freedom Works mega-beast. Freedomworks.org has drawn fire in the past for using fake grassroots internet campaigns, called “astroturfing,” to push for pet Koch projects such as privatizing social security. A New York Times <a title="z" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/17/politics/17mom.html?r=1&ei=1&en=9fc511a24ef86ae0&ex=1104320536&pagewanted=print&position=" target="blank">investigation</a> in 2005 revealed that a “regular single mom” paraded by Bush’s White House to advocate for privatizing social security was in fact FreedomWorks’ Iowa state director. The woman, Sandra Jacques, also fronted another Iowa fake-grassroots group called “For Our Grandchildren,” even though privatizing social security was really “For Koch And Wall Street Fat Cats.��

Ames and Yasha Levine, both familiar with Russian-style propaganda campaigns, smelled a rat and did some digging. They broke the story on Friday <a href="http://www.playboy.com/blog/2009/02/backstabber.html">here at Playboy.com</a> (no jokes, please! I was directed there by <a href="http://www.sideshow.me.uk/">Avedon Carol</a>). Do read the entire thing, but here are a few excerpts:

<blockquote>Within hours of Santelli's rant, a website called ChicagoTeaParty.com sprang to life. Essentially inactive until that day, it now featured a YouTube video of Santelli’s “tea party�� rant and billed itself as the official home of the Chicago Tea Party. The domain was registered in August, 2008 by Zack Christenson, a dweeby Twitter Republican and producer for a popular Chicago rightwing radio host Milt Rosenberg��a familiar name to Obama campaign people.</blockquote>

<div class="timestamp">February 19, 2010 </div><div class="timestamp">
</div><div class="timestamp">For the Tea Party Movement, Sturdy Roots in the Chicago Area</div><div class="timestamp">
</div>

<div class="byline">By DANIEL LIBIT</div>

Sitting in a Starbucks last week, a few blocks from his Lakeview home, Eric Odom mused about the irony of the ever-intensifying Tea Party movement.

He has found Chicago — bastion of the <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/d/democratic_party/index.html?inline=nyt-org" title="More articles about Democratic Party">Democratic Party</a> and home of <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/o/barack_obama/index.html?inline=nyt-per" title="More articles about Barack Obama">Barack Obama</a> — to be a strong base of operations for his American Liberty Alliance, one of several groups trying to marshall the forces of grass-root discontent of bank bailouts, deficit spending and big government in anticipation of this fall’s midterm elections.

“It all started in Chicago,” said Mr. Odom, 30, the executive director of the alliance.

"Being in Chicago has given me an understanding of what is now in Washington,” he said, referring to the Obama administration. “There is a perspective for me of what's to come.”

Though Mr. Odom may appear to be an out-of-place elephant among a herd of Democratic donkeys, he is not the only one.

The same area where Mr. Obama’s political career first bloomed is now home to some of the most influential drivers of the movement on the libertarian and conservative right. While largely unknown or ignored in City Hall or Springfield, they have demonstrated an outsize impact on the national stage. These leaders include Ed Lasky, a Northbrook lawyer, and Richard Baehr, a Chicago health care consultant, who helped create American Thinker, a Web site often cited by <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/l/rush_limbaugh/index.html?inline=nyt-per" title="More articles about Rush Limbaugh.">Rush Limbaugh</a> and <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/b/glenn_beck/index.html?inline=nyt-per" title="More articles about Glenn Beck.">Glenn Beck</a>.

Mr. Odom, a native of northern Nevada, professed love for his adopted hometown in an interview but acknowledged that he routinely invoked Chicago and its reputation for Democratic machine politics as a useful punch line when he spoke to groups on the road.

“Look, I live and breathe in a city where you actually feel the taxation and the regulation,” he said "So for me it gives me a really great perspective and storyline.”

It was a Chicago storyline, in fact, that first moved him to national prominence. Last March, after Rick Santelli of CNBC delivered his now-famous on-air call for a “Chicago Tea Party,” Mr. Odom started a Web site that he expected to culminate in a single protest in downtown Chicago. But the movement went viral over the Internet and quickly led to protests in 40 cities. From there, Mr. Odom helped coordinate the Tax Day Tea Parties in April, which took place in more than 300 cities.

Mr. Odom, who describes himself as “very libertarian," moved to Chicago three years ago to work for the Sam Adams Alliance, a national group advocating free-market policies.

“You come from Nevada, where you have the entire Legislature on your cellphone,"Mr. Odom said. “It is a small government compared to here, where it is all union-run and it is a huge bureaucracy, and there is no way you're going to get meetings with anybody.”

Feeling somewhat constrained, Mr. Odom spent just one year at the Sam Adams Alliance before setting out on his own.   "I was probably a little too controversial, because I was constantly throwing stuff at the fan,” he said.

Eric O’Keefe, chief executive of the alliance, said of Mr. Odom: “You might say he was faster than we were. He got this entrepreneurial energy, and I think he really wanted total freedom."

In August 2008, Mr. Odom helped coordinate the DontGo Movement, using <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/business/companies/twitter/index.html?inline=nyt-org" title="More articles about Twitter.">Twitter</a> to begin a campaign to encourage Republicans in the House in their fight over a proposed ban on <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/o/offshore_drilling_and_exploration/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier" title="More articles about offshore drilling and exploration.">offshore drilling</a>. Within days, the effort had drawn the attention of federal lawmakers and the national news media. He used online search-engine optimization tools, which he had learned while working for a national bank, to produce a Web site that soon harvested an e-mail list of 40,000 names.

Since starting the American Liberty Alliance, which operates as a political action committee, Mr. Odom has become critical of the emerging bureaucracies within the Tea Party movement. He has also butted heads with some local Tea Party organizations in Chicago, and said he had disassociated himself from the groups to avoid being bogged down in what he considered provincial turf wars.

Catherina Wojtowicz, leader of the Chicago Tea Party Patriots, is no ally. She said he focuses on his own agenda and behaves in a territorial way..

"We started our own little tea party,” Ms. Wojtowicz said.

Now, with the growth of the Tea Party movement, Mr. Odom’s work is part of a bigger phenomenon, and he is scrambling to stay in the vanguard. Joining with Tea Party leaders in other states, he has helped form the Patriot Caucus, a get-out-the-vote operation that will hold six conferences in April designed to direct the energy of Tea Party supporters toward the 2010 midterm elections.

The Patriot Caucus leaders hope to draw on the success they had last month in organizing a grass-roots, conservative effort that carefully flew below the radar of the Democratic Party and helped a Republican, <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/b/scott_p_brown/index.html?inline=nyt-per" title="More articles about Scott P. Brown." style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Scott Brown</a>, win a special election in Massachusetts to fill the <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/s/senate/index.html?inline=nyt-org" title="More articles about the U.S. Senate.">United States Senate</a> seat left vacant by the death of <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/k/edward_m_kennedy/index.html?inline=nyt-per" title="More articles about Edward M. Kennedy.">Edward M. Kennedy</a>.

While Mr. Odom has helped build a new political movement, Mr. Lasky has focused his efforts on attacking what he perceives as Mr. Obama’s personal political vulnerabilities.

American Thinker, Mr. Lasky's Web site, sharply criticized Mr. Obama for months leading up to the 2008 presidential election. One of its favorite topics was Mr. Obama’s association with the <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/w/jeremiah_a_wright_jr/index.html?inline=nyt-per" title="More articles about Jeremiah A. Wright Jr..">Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr.</a>, his controversial former pastor in Chicago, and what Mr. Wright’s critical comments about Israel might say about Mr. Obama's commitment to American-Israeli relations.

Ira Foreman, executive director of the National Jewish Democratic Council, said Mr. Lasky’s Web site indulged in smear tactics, but resonated with his followers.

“He writes halfway decently, so some gullible people believe him,” Mr. Foreman said of Mr. Lasky. “But it is really the thinnest of arguments, and it really is nasty stuff.”

Mr. Lasky, who serves as American Thinker’s news editor, said he was simply putting the research skills he learned at <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/n/northwestern_university/index.html?inline=nyt-org" title="More articles about Northwestern University">Northwestern University</a> to good use, and doing what he felt the mainstream news media would not do: give the president and his positions a proper and honest vetting.

Mr. Lasky started The American Thinker in 2003 with Mr. Baehr and Thomas Lifson, a Berkeley, Calif., sociologist and business adviser. The site has become a major force in national conservative circles, attracting 1.2 million unique visitors a month, Mr. Lasky said.

Erick Erickson of Red State, another conservative Web site, said, “Their ideas routinely help shape and advance the agenda on the right, and they have an added level of credibility because they do not live or work in Washington, D.C.”

The focus on national issues is a matter of necessity, Mr. Lasky said, because there is little demand for conservative political activism in Northern Illinois.

"Illinois is sort of a hopeless case in terms of changing it from one-party rule,” he said.

The American Thinker��s forceful critiques, particularly about Mr. Obama, have caused strains among Mr. Lasky’s North Shore social circle, he said, adding that feelings were especially raw at the height of Mr. Obama’s presidential campaign.

“There were times I would go places, to bipartisan political gatherings, or to speakers, and people I would know would come up to me and say, ��You are the guy causing all the problems,’ �� Mr. Lasky said. “And that was very uncomfortable.”

Conservative activists in Chicago learn to grow comfortable operating as outsiders in their own home town, perhaps none more so than the Heartland Institute, which has pushed a libertarian economic agenda from its Chicago headquarters for decades and is now turning the debate over <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/science/topics/globalwarming/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier" title="Recent and archival news about global warming.">climate change</a> into its latest cause.

The institute has sent protestors and well-spoken skeptics to meetings of the <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/u/united_nations/index.html?inline=nyt-org" title="More articles about the United Nations.">United Nations</a>’ <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/i/intergovernmental_panel_on_climate_change/index.html?inline=nyt-org" title="More articles about Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.">Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change</a>, and four years ago it began co-sponsoring an annual New York conference focused exclusively on publicizing academic, scientific, and political skepticism about human contribution to a global increase in temperatures.

The focus on climate change has helped the 25-year-old institute broaden its reach.

"We needed to get away from the day-to-day debate of public policy in Illinois,” said Joseph Bast, president of the institute. “If I wanted to continue to do just Illinois, I would have to move to Springfield, which is a horrifying prospect. We would have to cap out our budget at a quarter-million bucks, have a full time staff of three to five. And I said that is not my future.”

The Heartland Institute now spends nearly $3 million of its annual $7 million budget working on challenging the science of manmade global warming. And this time, it is taking the battle to its own home town.

When Heartland hosts its fourth annual climate-change conference in May, New York will not be the site. This time, it will be in Chicago.

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Grassroots Gag Order

Fellow Patriots,

There is a movement underway right now to clamp down on our free-speech rights in way we previously couldn’t imagine.

I’m not kidding, this piece of legislation will have you spitting your drink… so sit back, swallow any fluids, and brace yourself for this rest of this email.

The Disclose Act is its actual name, but we’re going to refer to it as what it really is, the Grassroots Gag Order.

Dave Poff wrote a great column explaining what the Grassroots Gag Order is and why you should care. I highly recommend you read it and share the link with as many people as you can.

Let me start with the following paragraph.

This is outrageous. But it is instructive as well. We can no longer engage in discussions about candidates and their campaigns and their policy positions during the period 90 days prior to their primary/caucus/conventions and running all the way through the November election. In the case of President and Vice President its 120 days. Not only are we not allowed to speak€¦were not allowed to speak during the WHOLE of the campaign and election cycle when people are actually paying attention enough to consider whether theyll even bother going to the polls! Democrats have the most to gain here€¦it is the Democrat party we, the People mean to teach a lesson to in 2010, and theyre trying to fend off the revolt thats already being amassed against them before its too late.

Then, we move on to the real kicker. Large, well funded organizations with 500,000 members or more are in some magical way exempt from the law.

This bill will allow big organizations to continue donating big dollars to Politicians, so long as their membership is over 500,000 strong, they have at least one member residing in every state, and they meet certain tax-exempt criteria. It also prevents large dollars from being donated by individuals and small groups and in my opinion worst of all€¦it extends to 90 days prior to an election all the limitations to free speech we were guaranteed in the Constitution would never be abridged€¦

In other words… MoveOn.Org, Media Matters, Organizing for America and all of their ilk are free to do as they please. But you and I… the grassroots activists, are sealed and backed into a corner.

The Grassroots Gag Order has passed the lower house and may be headed to the Senate next week. Our problem is that not many people know about it, and we MUST get the word out!

I hope you’ll spread this message far and wide, and be ready for any other action alerts we send out about this bill!

For Liberty,

-Eric Odom

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<h2><a href="http://www.liberadio.com/2009/09/17/right-wing-corporate-shills-invade-nashville-this-weekend/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link to Right-Wing Corporate Shills Invade Nashville This Weekend">Right-Wing Corporate Shills Invade Nashville This Weekend</a></h2>

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<div class="post-date">On September 17, 2009, in <a href="http://www.liberadio.com/category/politics/" title="View all posts in Liberate Your Radio from The Right" rel="category tag">Liberate Your Radio from The Right</a>, by Mary Mancini</div>

</div>

Tomorrow and Saturday two of the Tea Party movement’s corporate shills, Eric Odom and Allen Fuller, will bring their unique brand of right-wing <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astroturfing">astroturf</a> to their hometown of Nashville.

The two-day conference, <a href="http://rootshq2009.com/">RootsHQ2009</a>, is being billed as a “center-right new media summit” and will cover “social media, new media technology, internet marketing, search engine optimization, collaborative information movements and NOW media.”

But the attention should be on the motivation of both Odom and Fuller and their willingness to misrepresent themselves in order to manipulate the people. The <a href="http://tndp.org/blog/2009/09/17/corporate-interests-local-entrepreneurs-fueling-tennessee-tea-party-protests/">TNDP</a> has the scoop:

Eric Odom and Alan Fuller founded two firms, <a href="http://strategicactivism.com/">Strategic Activism</a> and <a href="http://flatcreek.com/">Flat Creek Management</a>, to provide strategic communications and on-line training for Tea Party activists.

"Tea Party demonstrators have been receiving how-to-disrupt packets from organizers like Odom and Fuller, who get paid to stop legislation opposed by their corporate benefactors,” Tennessee Democratic Party Chairman Chip Forrester said.

“People need to stop for a moment and consider who organizes these events and the origins of this movement. It's beginning to look more and more like corporate interests are fueling the Tea Party movement.

</blockquote>

Last February, Eric Odom was exposed as having ties to Rick Santelli's rant on CNBC that “spontaneously” launched the Tea Party movement. On the same day of the rant, a website called Officialchicagoteaparty.com and registered to Odom went live. The summer before, Odom had organized DontGo.com, a fake grassroots campaign meant to pressure Congress and Nancy Pelosi to pass an offshore oil drilling bill. And who would this kind of bill benefit? <a href="http://exiledonline.com/exposing-the-familiar-rightwing-pr-machine-is-cnbcs-rick-santelli-sucking-koch/2/">Meet Fred Koch and his family</a>, “multibilllionaire owners of the largest private corporation in America,” “funders of scores of rightwing thinktanks and advocacy groups, from the Cato Institute and Reason Magazine to FreedomWorks,” and co-founder of the notorious extremist-rightwing John Birch Society.”

Jane Hamsher of <a href="http://firedoglake.com/">FireDogLake</a> produced a Tea Bag movement <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jane-hamsher/a-teabagger-timeline-koch_b_187312.html">timeline</a> that prominently features Mr. Odom:

February 19 — Rick Santelli rant: “We’re thinking of having a Chicago Tea Party in July. All you capitalists that want to show up to Lake Michigan, I’m gonna start organizing.” First mention of the term “tea party." Clip goes straight onto Drudge.

Within hours, a site called officialchicagoteaparty.com went up, with the domain name <a href="http://www.networksolutions.com/whois-search/Officialchicagoteaparty.com">registered to Eric Odom</a>. At the time he was working for a group called the Sam Adams Alliance, a <a href="http://www.samadamsalliance.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=10&Itemid=56">501 c(3) non-profit</a> that legally can’t engage in political activity. Its chairman, <a href="http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=7398">Eric O’Keeffe</a>, is on the board of the <a href="http://www.clubforgrowth.org/">Club for Growth</a>. He’s since been taken off the website, but it’s cached <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20080120181121/samadamsalliance.org/about/id.394/default.asp">here</a>.

Odom is one of the organizers of the Tax Day Tea Party group, and Matt Stoller <a href="http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=7398">accused him of astroturfing</a> during the Drill Drill Drill campaign. Last year the Alliance started “an ambitious project … to encourage right-leaning activists and bloggers to get online and focus on local and state issues."

February 20: A Facebook page goes up calling for Tea Party demonstrations across the country:

Rick Santelli is right, we need a Taxpayer (Chicago) Tea Party

Rick Santelli is dead right! Enough bailouts of everyone who acted recklessly! It’s time to stand up for all the regular people who played by the rules! Taxpayer Tea Party!

</blockquote>

Listed admins include Odom and <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jane-hamsher/susan-boyle-teabaggers-ge_b_187813.html">Brendan Steinhauser</a> of Dick Armey’s Freedomworks. The creator is <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jane-hamsher/susan-boyle-teabaggers-ge_b_187813.html">Phil Kerpen</a> of Americans for Prosperity, and the Facebook Group leads back to a site called taxpayerteaparty.com, run by Americans for Prosperity.

February 27 — the first official “Tea Parties” are held in eight cities across the country. According to <a href="http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/04/freedomworks-long-history-of-teabagging.php">John Hendrix</a>, who organized the Tampa Bay event, the original idea came from Tom Gaithens of Newt Gingrich’s Freedomworks.

The idea that the Tea Baggers are a “grassroots” movement that Right Wing infrastructure subsequently tried to exploit is not supported by the facts.

</blockquote>

Supported by facts or not, Odom and Fuller will insist that they are grassroots activists and not paid corporate shills.

They’re delusional, writes Matt Stoller at <a href="http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=7398">Open Left</a>, “I mean, according to their theory, Newt Gingrich and House Republicans did the messaging and organizing work on a campaign, which was funded by billionaires, and used essentially the same playbook the right has used since 1978, but it finally tipped because some GOP junior consultants with blogs signed up for Twitter. Fking morons.”

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<a href="http://www.liberadio.com/tag/chip-forrester/">http://www.liberadio.com/tag/chip-forrester/</a>

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related? on www says dad preacher

Early in his military career, he observed Soviet military activities while serving as a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_liaison" title="Military liaison" class="mw-redirect">military liaison</a> in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potsdam,_Germany" title="Potsdam, Germany" class="mw-redirect">Potsdam, Germany</a>. Later, he taught courses in Russian history at West Point, New York, and while serving at the United States embassy in Moscow in the early 1970s, he visited all of the republics of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_of_Soviet_Socialist_Republics" title="Union of Soviet Socialist Republics" class="mw-redirect">Union of Soviet Socialist Republics</a>. Although constantly trailed by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KGB" title="KGB">KGB</a>, he nonetheless managed to smuggle out a large portion of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Solzhenitsyn" title="Alexander Solzhenitsyn" class="mw-redirect">Alexander Solzhenitsyn</a>'s archive, including the author's membership card for the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Writers%27_Union" title="Writers' Union" class="mw-redirect">Writers' Union</a> and Second World War military citations; Solzhenitsyn subsequently paid tribute to Odom's role in his memoir "Invisible Allies" (1995). <a rel="nofollow" class="external autonumber" href="http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/weodom.htm">[1]</a>

Upon returning to the United States, he resumed his career at West Point where he taught courses in Soviet politics. Odom regularly stressed the importance of education for military officers.

In 1977, he was appointed as the military assistant to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zbigniew_Brzezinski" title="Zbigniew Brzezinski">Zbigniew Brzezinski</a>, the hawkish assistant for national security affairs to President <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Carter" title="Jimmy Carter">Jimmy Carter</a>. Among the primary issues he focused on were American-Soviet relations, including the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strategic_Arms_Limitation_Talks" title="Strategic Arms Limitation Talks">SALT</a> nuclear weapons talks, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran_hostage_crisis" title="Iran hostage crisis">Iran hostage crisis</a>, presidential directives on the situation in the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persian_Gulf" title="Persian Gulf">Persian Gulf</a>, terrorism and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiktionary" title="Wiktionary">hijackings</a>, and the executive order on telecommunications policy.

From 2 November 1981 to 12 May 1985, Odom served as the Army's Assistant Chief of Staff for Intelligence. From 1985 to 1988, he served as the director of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Security_Agency" title="National Security Agency">National Security Agency</a>, the United States' largest intelligence agency, under president <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronald_Reagan" title="Ronald Reagan">Ronald Reagan</a>.

Odom was a Senior Fellow at the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hudson_Institute" title="Hudson Institute">Hudson Institute</a>, where he specialized in military issues, intelligence, and international relations. He was also an adjunct professor at <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yale_University" title="Yale University">Yale University</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgetown_University" title="Georgetown University">Georgetown University</a>, where he taught seminar courses in U.S. National Security Policy and Russian Politics. He earned a national reputation as an expert on the Soviet military.

Since 2005, he had argued that U.S. interests would be best served by an immediate withdrawal from Iraq, having called the 2003 invasion the worst strategic blunder in the history of U.S. foreign policy. He had also been critical of the NSA's warrantless wiretapping of international calls, having said "it wouldn't have happened on my watch".<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Eldridge_Odom#cite_note-1">[2]</a> Odom was also openly critical of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neocon" title="Neocon" class="mw-redirect">Neocon</a> influence in the decision to go to war: "It's pretty hard to imagine us going into Iraq without the strong lobbying efforts from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AIPAC" title="AIPAC" class="mw-redirect">AIPAC</a> and the neocons, who think they know what's good for Israel more than Israel knows." <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Eldridge_Odom#cite_note-2">[3]</a>

General Odom is a member of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_Intelligence_Hall_of_Fame" title="Military Intelligence Hall of Fame">Military Intelligence Hall of Fame</a>. He is also a member of the advisory council of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victims_of_Communism_Memorial_Foundation" title="Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation">Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation</a>.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Eldridge_Odom#cite_note-3">[4]</a>

Wife: Anne Weld Curtis (m. 1962)

Son: Mark Odom Col. Mark w Odom, commander of the 75th Rangers

Another View: Journalists

In pursuit of answers we can compare Kilcullen’s views with articles from journalists in Iraq. During the Vietnam War these often proved more accurate than public statements by our civilian and military officials. Our second sample report is “<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/indexes/2007/09/02/magazine/index.html" target="blank">The Former-Insurgent Counterinsurgency</a>�� by <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/g/michael_r_gordon/index.html?inline=nyt-per" target="blank">Michael R. Gordon</a>, [co-author with <a href="http://www.usmc.mil/genbios2.nsf/0/6C81D322C9DE7F7D8525707C005241E7?opendocument" target="_blank">LtGen Bernard Trainor</a>, USMC, ret., of Cobra II, a detailed study of the March 2003 invasion] published in the Sunday New York Times Magazine (2 September 2007).

Gordon has written a fascinating picture about America’s class structure, our deep optimism, and Martin van Creveld’s observation that all COIN is rooted in lessons from lost wars:

The key figure of the article is Lt. Col. Mark Odom. We learn much about him.

{his father} Lt. Gen. William E. Odom, a director of the National Security Agency under President Reagan … He attended Middlebury College and later completed a master’s thesis on the Balkans conflict at King’s College, London. … Odom’s office at Forward Operating Base Falcon contained an impressive library of national security literature, including an inscribed copy of Zbigniew Brzezinski’s “Second Chance,�� Raphael Patai’s tome on “The Arab Mind” and a well-thumbed copy of Samuel P. Huntington��s “Political Order in Changing Societies,” … He seemed the very model of the scholar-warrior.

</blockquote>

Especially revealing is a text that Odom brings to Gordon’s attention.

The colonel also had a copy of Jean Lart��guy’s out-of-print classic, ��The Centurions.” The novel, about French paratroopers who served in Vietnam and later fought in the battle of Algiers, has a memorable passage in which one officer says to another: “We no longer wage the same war as you, colonel. Nowadays it’s a mixture of everything, a regular witches’ brew . . . of politics and sentiment . . . religion and the best way of cultivating rice, yes, everything, including even the breeding of black pigs. I knew an officer in Cochin-China who, by breeding black pigs, completely restored a situation which all of us regarded as lost.”

</blockquote>

Odom holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Political Science from Middlebury College and

a Master of Arts in War Studies from King’s College London.

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eric has fam in so illinois

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see legacy of ashes=website 7/15"OPERATION ISRAEL” PERSONAL VLOG UPDATE – EPISODE 3 (VIDEO)0 CommentsApril 14, 2015 // Personal This-n-That, PoliticsEric OdomI just published my third vlog update for LibertyNewsIsrael.com and it’s now available for viewing over on the supporter site and project dashboard. In this episode I discuss the complexities of being credentialed media in Israel, some final preparations being made before I leave Friday and various details about the kinds of reports we’ll be publishing while in the Middle East.
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CLICK HERE TO CONTRIBUTE ANY AMOUNT AND GET ACCESS NOW!
Those who already have a password can click here to watch the episode now (or click the video image below).
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LEAVING FOR ISRAEL THIS FRIDAY!0 CommentsApril 13, 2015 // Personal This-n-That, Politicspersonal updateIt’s official… I leave for Israel this Friday (April 17).
While in Israel I’ll be reporting for LibertyNews.com, Grassfire and LibertyNewsIsrael.com. We have a HUGE lineup of video reports, audio podcasts, special news reports and personal blog updates scheduled for my time in Israel and you don’t want to miss these.
How do you gain access to all the reports? Simple. Click here to support the campaign with a contribution of any amount and you’ll get instant password access to the full suite of reports available in the official dashboard. In addition to full access, you’ll also get two paint safe, reusable “Stand With Israel” bumper stickers!
CLICK HERE FOR INSTANT ACCESS NOW!
The personal video blog updates will be a lot of fun and I hope you’ll join in for access. In the personal vlogs I’ll show you “behind the scenes” of the filming process, the travel, the historical and biblical sites and more!
The following is a full schedule of content coming out over the next few weeks.
newsSPECIAL NEWS REPORTS: The following is a list of member/supporter-only reports published from our news team on location in Israel. The reports will be published in near real-time from Israel. Reports will be uploaded from April 19-30, 2015 and will be archived here for all members/supporters to access. (PASSWORD REQUIRED)
Special Report – April 1, 2015: How Obama Designed and Implemented Mass Chaos to Pave the Way for Iran’s Total Control of the Middle East and its Likely Eventual War with Israel (PASSWORD REQUIRED)Special Report – April 9, 2015: Is America About to Join Europe in Openly Endorsing Terrorists Against Israel Via the United Nations? (PASSWORD REQUIRED)Special Report – April 10, 2015: The World Expects Israel to Help Gaza Rebuild, but at What Cost to Israel’s Safety? (PASSWORD REQUIRED)Special Report – April 14, 2015: Coming SoonSpecial Report – April 16, 2015: Coming SoonSpecial Report From Israel – April 19, 2015: Coming SoonSpecial Report From Israel – April 21, 2015: Coming SoonSpecial Report From Israel – April 23, 2015: Coming SoonSpecial Report From Israel – April 25, 2015: Coming SoonSpecial Report From Israel – April 27, 2015: Coming SoonSpecial Report From Israel – April 29, 2015: Coming SoonvlogFULL ACCESS VIDEO REPORTS: The following list contains links to each video report published from Israel. The reports will be available here 24 hours before being made “public” on Youtube. During the 24 hour “unlisted” period you’ll be able to access the video reports early here. (Members must be logged in for access)
Mini-Documentary: “The War For Israel” – FREE CONTENT (NO PASSWORD REQUIRED)April 20 – Tel Aviv: A Modern City Thriving in The Middle East (PASSWORD REQUIRED)April 21 – Ashkelon & Ashdod: Life in a Region Hit Hard by Hamas (13KM from Gaza Strip) (PASSWORD REQUIRED)April 22 – The Ancient Ruins of Israel’s Northern Coast & The Jesus Trail at the Sea of Galilee (PASSWORD REQUIRED)April 23 – The Holy City of Jerusalem Divided by an Illegal Arab Occupation of the Old City (PASSWORD REQUIRED)April 25 – The Dead Sea, Sodom and Gomorrah (PASSWORD REQUIRED)April 27 – King Herod’s Palace & A Overview of Bethlehem (PASSWORD REQUIRED)April 28 – The Dangers of The West Bank and Hezbollah (PASSWORD REQUIRED)April 29 – Hamas in Gaza and Beyond (PASSWORD REQUIRED)May 4 – Iran, ISIS and the Syrian Border (PASSWORD REQUIRED)May 6 – Israel and the Middle East (PASSWORD REQUIRED)podcastAUDIO PODCASTS: Join field reporter Eric Odom as he talks with Steve Elliott and the Grassfire team daily about what is happening in Israel and the Middle East. These audio podcasts are available to members/supporters and will not be made public. (PASSWORD REQUIRED)
April 20 – Tel Aviv Report (PASSWORD REQUIRED)April 21 – Ashkelon, Haifa, Acre and Tiberias Report (PASSWORD REQUIRED)April 22 – Golan Heights, Nazareth and Megiddo Report (PASSWORD REQUIRED)April 23 – Jerusalem Report (PASSWORD REQUIRED)April 24 – The Dead Sea Report (PASSWORD REQUIRED)April 25 – Bethlehem and King Herod’s Tomb Report (PASSWORD REQUIRED)April 26 – West Bank Report (PASSWORD REQUIRED)April 27 – Gaza Report (PASSWORD REQUIRED)April 28 – The Syrian Border Report (PASSWORD REQUIRED)April 29 – The Middle East Report (PASSWORD REQUIRED)israelTHE PERSONAL JOURNEY: Join field reporter Eric Odom on a personal journey through Israel’s historical and biblical landscape. Here you’ll be able to follow Eric’s planning of the trip, his thoughts on traveling to the Middle East and much more! Locations include Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Ashkelon, Haifa, Acre, Nazareth, Tiberias, the Golan Heights, the Sea of Galilee, Megiddo (Armageddon), the Dead Sea and more. (Members must be logged in for access)
Personal Blog – April 8, 2015:  9 Days Out – An Introduction and Update on “Operation Israel” (PASSWORD REQUIRED)Personal Blog – April 10, 2015: Planning and Preparation for the Journey to the Holy Land (PASSWORD REQUIRED)Personal Blog – April 13, 2015: Media in the Middle East – What it Takes to Report from Israel (PASSWORD REQUIRED)Personal Blog – April 16, 2015: Last Day Before Departure – Some Observations & Notes (PASSWORD REQUIRED)Personal Blog – April 19, 2015: 24 Hours of Travel – Day One Personal Report (PASSWORD REQUIRED)Personal Blog – April 20, 2015: Ashdod, Ashkelon & The Gaza Strip – My Personal View & Behind the Scenes (PASSWORD REQUIRED)Personal Blog – April 22, 2015: Northern Coast, Nazareth & The Sea of Galilee – My Personal View & Behind the Scenes (PASSWORD REQUIRED)Personal Blog – April 24, 2015: Jerusalem – My Personal View & Behind the Scenes (PASSWORD REQUIRED)Personal Blog – April 25, 2015: The Dead Sea – My Personal View & Behind the Scenes (PASSWORD REQUIRED)Personal Blog – April 27, 2015: Coming Soon – My Personal View & Behind the Scenes (PASSWORD REQUIRED)Personal Blog – April 28, 2015: Coming Soon – My Personal View & Behind the Scenes (PASSWORD REQUIRED)Personal Blog – April 29, 2015: Leaving Israel, The Final Day – My Personal View & Behind the Scenes (PASSWORD REQUIRED)Personal Blog – May 4, 2015: BONUS OVERVIEW UPDATE – ROUND-UP SPECIAL (PASSWORD REQUIRED)Again, click here to gain full access and track the entire trip while I’m in Israel!
-Eric Odom
UPDATE ON MY TRIP TO THE MIDDLE EAST (VIDEO INCLUDED)12 CommentsMarch 20, 2015 // Personal This-n-That, PoliticsisraelUPDATE: We’re still short of our fundraising goal to make this trip happen. Please click here to donate and support the effort.
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WELCOME EMAIL READERS! VIDEO IS BELOW IN THIS POST. PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT AFTER WATCHING!
Just four weeks from today I’ll be boarding a flight bound for Israel. As I explained in a post last week, this trip presents a challenge unlike any I’ve faced in my career of reporting the truth for the 3,000,000+ readers that cross our pages via the Liberty News Network. And as I’ve been telling our readers, I believe the reports we’ll be publishing will be some of the most informative, entertaining and educational reports we’ve ever published.
Why? Because the Middle East is a boiling pot of chaos ready to explode at any given moment. Iranian-backed Hamas is rebuilding massive military bases in the Gaza Strip, there are some 10,000 Iranian-backed troops massing on the Jordan/Syrian border near Israel, Barack Obama is about to release his Iran nuke deal framework that basically gives Iran a green light for its nuke program, and the White House signaled to Israel’s enemies that it’s “open season” on Israel, as Fox News’ Dana Perino put it.
I’ll be meeting with and interviewing people across Israel. I’ll be visiting Ashkelon, a city just 1o miles from Gaza that was hit with thousands of rockets last year. I’ll be talking with Christians living in the West Bank and I’ll be touring Golan Heights in the north just 40 miles from Damascus.
Not only will you get first person news reports from Israel, you’ll also get a full daily documentary of my travels while there. I’ll be publishing blogs, podcasts, videos and social media updates about historical and biblical locations throughout Israel.
I’ve created a short video explaining all of this and I hope you’ll take a moment to watch it. After watching the video, please consider clicking the donation button below it to help fund my trip. This is a costly effort and will only happen thanks to your help and support of what we’re doing to bring the truth back to you.

All updates, reports, videos and stories will be made available via a special dashboard. Every donor/supporter, no matter what amount given, will be sent a link to login to the dashboard on or around the 1st of April.
I hope you’ll stand with me on this effort and pitch in to make it a success! We must tell the real story of what’s happening.
CLICK HERE TO DONATE NOW!
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Thank you in advance. And thank you to all who have already pitched in!
-Eric Odom
P.S. All supporters will also receive two “Stand With Israel” paint safe ReSticker bumper stickers. You get the stickers AND full access to my reports for a donation of any amount. Click here to donate now.
I’M GOING TO THE MIDDLE EAST (AND PLANNING IT HAS PROVEN CHALLENGING)0 CommentsMarch 13, 2015 // Personal This-n-That, Politicslivefb
Five weeks from today I’ll board a flight bound for Germany for quick stop on the way to my ultimate destination of Israel. It’s a journey I’ve wanted to take my entire life. It’s something I’ve always wanted to do, but always kind of considered it slightly out of reach.
Thanks to LibertyNews.com and its parent company (Grassfire) the lifelong dream is now a reality. Indeed, I’m shipping out to the Holy Land for a week of reporting, interviews and exploration likely to be unlike anything else I’ve experienced in my career of covering the news.
While in Israel I’ll be in Tel Aviv, Ashkelon, Haifi, Acre, Tiberias, the Merom Golan, Nazareth, Megiddo, Jerusalem and Ein Bokek (Dead Sea). Obviously the core part of the mission is to create a series of reports on what is happening in the Middle East, what role Israel plays, how the people of Israel view it all and what they expect might come next. Reporting on this from a strictly political/news perspective is proving a little challenging, though, and it has creating an eye-opening scenario of spiritual self-exploration that hasn’t happen for me in a very long time.
Let me explain.
Several weeks ago when this conversation first took place my intention was to report strictly from the perspective of a citizen journalist looking at the turmoil involved in the conflict plaguing the Middle East. It seemed a simple task at the time, but that was before I began setting up interviews and working various contacts throughout Israel. It has now become apparent that it will be quite challenging to report what is happening without doing so with an infusion of Biblical relevance.
In other words, I don’t think I can report from Israel on topics strictly locked to political or geo-political narratives. There is just far too much Biblical relevance involved, and avoiding the Biblical relevance is seemingly impossible.
Now I’m no Bible scholar. Not by any stretch. But I am a God-fearing believer. And, as the son of a preacher, I do have a decent understanding of scripture. That said, what is happening in the Middle East is quite a beast in terms of understanding it all, understanding the marriage of politics and scripture and understanding how to report it from on location in Israel.
It’s quite a dilemma that has me craving a revisit to the old testament for historical value and the new testament for modern-day relevance. Something I haven’t craved for much of my adult life.
So yes, I’m headed to Israel. Yes, I’ll be documenting the entire experience via my personal blog and Facebook page as well as a new portal being built by Grassfire for Israel and Middle East related coverage. But no, I’m not entirely sure what sort of narratives I’ll be crafting in my coverage.
I’m guessing that ultimately I’ll provide a little of everything. Straight hard news, relevant interviews as well as a Biblical/historical set of narratives. Not only is this a physical journey of a lifetime, it’s also an extraordinary journey in writing and story-telling. A challenge I haven’t faced yet, but one I’m excited to tackle.
I hope you’ll come along for the ride. I’ll be writing here on EricOdom.com, on my Facebook page as well as the new portal we’re launching next week. We haven’t announced the new portal yet, but you will absolutely want to bookmark it and follow along as it is where the bulk of my reporting will take place.
Click here to subscribe to my blog for personal updates. I’ll be posting about the new portal here so this might be the easiest way to learn when it becomes available.
I look forward to sharing more details and bringing you along for the ride!
-Eric Odom
Eric Odomisraelmiddle eastTHE ONLY FOUR GOP 2016 POTUS CANDIDATES WHO CAN MAKE IT THROUGH THE FIRST FEW PRIMARY STATES ARE…6 CommentsJanuary 30, 2015 // Politicsvote
Yes, I was a part of the original tea party movement. Yes, I’ve voted third party in a Presidential election. Yes, I’ve hoped and believed different outcomes would come about only to be disheartened and defeated.I’ve learned a lot since 2008. I’ve learned that sheer will doesn’t win elections. And, unfortunately, many of my friends in the tea party/patriot movement haven’t quite grasped this. We too often look at wave elections like 2010 and 2014 and assume that because we believe and fight hard, we win. While that is certainly a part of the equation, the actual algorithm for winning elections, especially at the national level, is far deeper than that.Here’s the thing about 2010 and 2014. They were midterm elections and the incumbents were terrible. It’s not so much that Americans woke up and said “these new GOP candidates are great and I’m excited about them,” more than it is that Americans flat out rejected incumbents. In midterm elections there is low turnout and incumbents of the President’s party have no help at the top of the ticket. This is not to say our hard work and dedication didn’t matter. Not at all. Our hard work and dedication made the difference. But we would fools to assume or assert that incumbents were defeated because of some new method, message or agenda that the American electorate has embraced.I hate to say this, but the old rules still apply. And if we choose to ignore them then we do so at our own peril. Money, infrastructure and perception are three key components in a national election. I hate that this is the case, but just because I hate it does not render it not the case. Just because I have a will to see it differently doesn’t mean it’s different.Money, infrastructure and perception. Three absolutely critical components of a national election. And based on these three, I believe there are only four candidates who can survive the first few state primary/caucuses come 2016. Five if Romney jumps in.
The Non-Romney Four:
Jeb BushRand PaulScott WalkerTed CruzObviously if Romney jumps in there will be five as Romney would be able to work through to Florida.
I’ve written about this before, but I’ll touch on it again here. On the money front a candidate is going to need between $250 and $300 MILLION to win the primary in 2016. The 2012 election provides significant data on this front and it isn’t pretty. By the time we got to Florida in 2012, Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich were the only two remaining viable candidates. Gingrich was barely hanging on, riding the coat tails of a win in South Carolina, which helped him raise a couple million to go into Florida with. Unfortunately, a couple million was meaningless when it came to the big money machine of Mitt Romney.
There are conflicting numbers depending on which source you use, but the consensus seems to be that Romney spent around $10,000,000 in Florida on TV ads alone. Another $5,000,000 million was spent by pro-Romney Super PAC groups. This compared to about $2 million spent by the Gingrich campaign and another $2.2 million spent by PACs supporting Gingrich.
When you take into account the physical campaign infrastructure (offices, canvassing team vans, travel, etc), collateral materials and political mail and other marketing campaigns, the Romney machine probably spent some $30 MILLION+ in Florida alone! Gingrich had a ground presence in Florida, but comparatively speaking it was insignificant and made little difference on primary day.
When it comes to running an election statewide, Florida is a beast. If you ever driven from Tallahassee to Miami (I have) you’ll get a sense of what kind of ground you have to cover and saturate to win statewide. Doing so is much easier said than done. And far more expensive than anyone might want to admit.
Do I wish sheer will, principles and grassroots work could do it alone? Absolutely. But I don’t believe it can. Not in a 3 second world where each and every voter is trained to see 50+ TV ads, youtube commercials, mail pieces, yard signs and someone at their front door.
So when I look at the current crop of candidates on the GOP side, I only see four who I believe can make it to Florida and beyond. Five if you count Romney.
-Jeb Bush
Bush is going to take a Romney path. He’ll struggle in Iowa, potentially win New Hampshire, lose South Carolina and command a huge outcome in Florida. Unlike Romney, Bush has the added benefit of extreme name recognition in Florida. From there it’s game on for Bush. He’ll have big money in the bank, big money Super PACs following his every step, massive campaign operations and the media giving him all the perception of winning that he’ll need. It doesn’t matter how well the other candidates are able to define Bush during the campaign, Bush will survive it all simply because he’ll have the money, organization and media all working in his favor.
-Rand Paul
Rand Paul will lose the perception war, no doubt. The media, GOP establishment and more traditional conservative wing won’t give Paul the fair shake he’ll deserve. That said, Paul will raise a ton of cash via a grassroots army that would crawl over glass to champion his cause. I think Paul will give Bush a run for his money in states like New Hampshire and I believe he’ll be able to survive beyond Florida whether he wins it or not. Additionally, because of how dedicated and energized Paul supporters are, the Paul campaign should be able to establish enough ground organization to help remain competitive beyond the first few weeks of primaries and caucuses.
-Scott Walker
I won’t hide the fact that I’m a Walker voter. I wrote about my support for Walker here and will be working to help his candidacy in any way I can. Setting that aside for a moment and putting my blogger hat back on, I believe Walker is the 900 pound guerrilla in the 2016 primary. Walker is a warrior when it comes to elections. He has won three elections in the past four years, one a recall bankrolled by powerful unions and Obama-friendly special interests. He’s a Governor of a Midwestern/Northern state that took over when his state was damn near bankrupt and against all odds turned it all around. Walker will gain huge Super PAC support from various free-market political spending groups and he’ll pull significant money from the big donors who have supported his campaigns for the past four years. Walker should do well in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, but will probably have a tough run in Florida. That said, I think he’ll have enough steam to make it beyond Florida once his campaign begins running at full speed.
-Ted Cruz
Ted Cruz is going to struggle in two areas. Money and perception. The media hates Cruz and loves to mock, demean and insult him at every turn. The perception will be that he’s a far right wing candidate and will not be able to outlast the Bush machine much less win the general election. I disagree with this narrative, but I believe this is a narrative that will plague him from day one. On the money front, Cruz won’t be able to capture much of the big donor attention that will be consumed by Bush and Walker. He will, however, raise enormous cash via grassroots conservatives and may end up raising the most through small donations of all the candidates (He and Paul might split this trophy). If Cruz can get through Florida he’ll be a hefty challenger when states like Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and the rest of the south come around.
If these four candidates all survive Florida, I believe the 2016 primary is open for the taking. Bush will struggle in the midwest and west, Cruz will dominate the south, Walker will be poised well in Ohio, Indiana, Wisconsin, etc., and Paul will be solid in Nevada, Colorado, Kentucky, Virginia and several others.
Again, it all comes down to money, infrastructure and perception. Grassroots power is the cherry on top and will be absolutely necessary, but without the ability to also master the first three components, a candidate is going to have a VERY difficult time when Florida voters go to the polls to see who survives.
Thoughts On Other Candidates
-Ben Carson
On most points I’m a fan of Carson and I think he commands a decent following. I do, however, believe his past comments against the 2nd Amendment and a few other issues primary voters will take offense to will be a crutch he won’t be able to overcome. Yes, I know Carson has changed his position on those issues, but don’t for a second think his new positions will make it in the big money TV ads that will slam him if/when he ever gains serious traction. The same happened to Gingrich back in 2012. Gingrich had a very good grassroots organization that was carrying him through to Florida, but the Romney Super PACs devastated him with constant TV ads that he just couldn’t overcome.
-Mike Huckabee
Huckabee, in my view, is in a situation where his best shot at winning the primary came and went. In 2016 the vote that Huckabee would need to win will be split in far too many directions via Paul, Walker, Carson and Cruz. Could Huckabee compete in Iowa? Sure. But as 2008 and 2012 showed us, Iowa doesn’t necessarily pick the candidate that makes it beyond Florida. Mike Huckabee won in 2008, for example, and Rick Santorum won in 2012. Huckabee will appeal to social conservatives, but in my opinions won’t get far without a significant bump in the three key components listed above.
Marco Rubio could be interesting, but his past support of an amnesty bill will cripple him and Bush should be able to oust him with the Florida vote. Chris Christie and Rick Perry are both going to be non-starters, contrary to what the media would have you believe, and I don’t think Sarah Palin or Donald Trump will actually run.
So again, in my opinion the following four are the candidates with the most potential to survive beyond Florida.
The Non-Romney Four:
Jeb BushRand PaulScott WalkerTed CruzFive if Romney jumps in. I’ll add, on that note, that I think Romney does more damage for the Romney/Bush wing than anyone else. I think if Romney gets in the moderate vote is in trouble and may struggle to beat the conservative vote. So, in some ways, a Romney candidacy could be good for patriots looking to see Paul, Walker or Cruz come out ahead.
My two.
-Eric Odom
I’M ALL IN FOR SCOTT WALKER 20163 CommentsJanuary 28, 2015 // Personal This-n-That, Politicswalker
I’m all in for Scott Walker. I mean all in. I’ll donate, make calls and do whatever I can to help his primary campaign.
Now I know there will be naysayers. I’ve heard the same tired arguments against Scott Walker for the last year and none of them hold water when compared to Walker’s accomplishments. I also know there are several other principled candidates that align with my beliefs and I don’t try to knock those candidates down in view of those who support them. But I personally believe Scott Walker is the single best shot we have at avoiding a Jeb Bush scenario.
In the 2016 GOP Primary election the following points are critical for any candidate who wishes to defeat the establishment pick.
The ability to rally conservatives AND the ability to pull significant moderate GOP primary votes.The ability to raise tremendous money from all various factions of money sources available to GOP candidates.The ability to win traditionally “purple” states as well as deep red states.The ability to build a competent, smart and coherent political campaign.The ability to provide proven, verifiable results in previous public office or private life.The ability to prove he/she is NOT already a part of Washington (No Senators or Congressmen, current or past).The ability to not only talk about defeating the radical bankrupt policies of the Obama/liberal agenda, but actually show he/she can and will do it.The ability to deflect powerful opposition forces, overcome them and pivot to a position of offense.The ability to prove he/she can WIN when all odds are against them.This is Scott Walker.
Walker has won three elections in the past four years, one of them a MASSIVE recall effort funded by powerful public employee unions and billionaire leftists. When he took charge in Wisconsin, a purple state, the state was $3.5 BILLION in the hole. Wisconsin now runs a surplus and business from states like Illinois are crawling over glass to move their operations north to Walker’s turf. He has been hit with every possible method of attack, from the union fueled protests at the state house for weeks on end, to frivolous lawsuits, to false charges and much more, and in every instance he emerged victorious.
Walker isn’t admired and supported in both constitutional conservative AND moderate GOP circles. He raises national level money and he runs near flawless campaigns. His state is extremely firearm friendly (I often open carry when I’m in Wisconsin), talks about getting rid of the income tax, is lowering business taxes, clamped down on public employee union control and one of his first moves in 2016 is to beat down common core.
Is he perfect? Nope. He was a little squishy on the exchanges, for example. But his reasoning for those few bumps is logical and realistic.
If you think Walker can’t win a primary or general election, you haven’t paid enough attention to his electoral accomplishments. Granted, running for Governor is a whole different ballgame vs. President, but Wisconsin, in many ways, is reflective to the type of landscape presented in a general national election. Red, purple and blue all have to be a part of the equation and Walker has mastered the art.
I want someone who takes the gloves off and isn’t afraid of a fight. I want someone who has proven results when it comes to fixing seemingly unfixable fiscal problems. I want someone who can beat Jeb Bush and then go on to be Warren or Clinton. And I sincerely believe Scott Walker is the answer.
It seems I’m not alone. Rush Limbaugh is now out swinging for Walker, even going so far as to say Walker is a worthy heir to Ronald Reagan.
Video clip below.

Make up your own mind and let me know what you think.
Some additional reading from the last few days.
Scott Walker Gears Up for 2016Walker Targets Common Core During InaugurationWalker on 2016: ‘There’s a Reason God Put Me’ In This Spot 
Bonus thought: My dream ticket is pictured below. 
Walker Haley 2016
2016scott walkerGROUP CLAIMING TO BE ISIS HACKED THIS SITE & LIBERTY NEWS NETWORK SITES… HERE IS ONE OF THE POSTS I BELIEVE SET THEM OFF (YES, ISIS THUGS, THERE IS EVIDENCE THERE WAS A MUSLIM PURCHASE OF WHITE HOUSE)1 CommentNovember 3, 2014 // Personal This-n-That, PoliticsFor those who haven’t yet heard, a group claiming to be ISIS hacked this site and several others in the Liberty News Network over the weekend. My personal site (This one) was the first hacked and I believe it was my last post about a possible Muslim purchase of the White House that set them off.I don’t want to go in to a lot of detail about the hack because I already wrote about it over at LibertyNews.com. Click here for full details on what the hackers did. I will, however, repost that story here and tell the hackers, whoever they might be (ISIS, Anonymous/CIA, etc… whoever) to pound sand.
Push me and I’ll push back.
Why Does Media (Even Conservative Media) Look the Other Way on Evidence Suggesting a Muslim Purchase of U.S. White House/Presidency?
obama-bows
One of the most basic foundational principles of journalism is the notion that we question everything. Not only should we question everything, Continue reading ?
anonymoushackingISISislamisraelmuslimsWHY DOES MEDIA (EVEN CONSERVATIVE MEDIA) LOOK THE OTHER WAY ON EVIDENCE SUGGESTING A MUSLIM PURCHASE OF U.S. WHITE HOUSE/PRESIDENCY?1 CommentOctober 25, 2014 // Politicsobama-bows
One of the most basic foundational principles of journalism is the notion that we question everything. Not only should we question everything, we should even question the first answer we get should one come. When we look at the undeniable Muslim influence on the power-brokers in Obama’s administration, however, media is completely silent. This goes for all of the mainstream media networks, including Fox, as well as conservative pundits, analysts, bloggers and news outlets.Take Charles Krauthammer for example. Krauthammer is often paraded around as one of the smartest columnists in media yet he actually believes Barack Obama is just careless, juvenile, incompetent and not fit to lead. Why does it never occur to Krauthammer that Barack Obama knows exactly what he’s doing, and the outcomes we’re seeing are all a part of a master plan to weaken the Republic? Seriously, I don’t think I’ve ever seen Krauthammer ask questions along the lines of Obama being a bull in a China shop with the specific agenda of bringing this country down.
Furthermore, how is it that people like Krauthammer can so easily ignore evidence that Obama is a pawn if middle eastern interests? How much of a pawn? Continue reading ?
AM I THE ONLY PERSON CONCERNED ABOUT TALK OF FEMA STYLE EBOLA CAMPS/HOSPITALS IN THE USA?6 CommentsOctober 15, 2014 // Personal This-n-That, PoliticsEbola Virus Disease Outbreak and Crisis Art
Let me kick this off by acknowledging my friends and followers who believe the American Ebola crisis is just a scare tactic or a false flag of some kind. Yes, some of you have told me I’m crazy for “feeding the frenzy” on the subject of Ebola. Yes, some of you have told me you think it’s a big deal only because the media wants it to be a big deal. I get it. Some of you just don’t care and think I shouldn’t either. But let me say this, if you truly believe the Ebola situation here in America is not something we should be paying attention to that’s fine, but don’t come to my door begging for clean water, food or emergency supplies when shit really does hit the fan.Personally I think it’s a MUCH bigger issue than even the media is portraying. And, unfortunately, I think the media may be playing right into the hands of the tyranny that could come alongside the fed’s response should this beast really get out of its cage.You see, an interesting narrative is developing around the CDC’s pitiful response to Ebola in America. It’s one that can’t be ignored or disputed. Simply put, America’s hospitals cannot handle with, cope with or contain an Ebola outbreak. If we look at the Dallas Hospital where patient zero died, for example, we see what happens when just one individual with Ebola shows up in an emergency room. As a result of that situation there are now two additional cases of Ebola with more than 100 now being tested/watched for the deadly virus. What would happen if TEN Ebola patients walked into an ER room in Chicago? Or Green Bay? Or Phoenix? What would happen if an airplane (it’s entirely possible this just happened last Monday with one of the Texas nurses who now has Ebola) landed where 10% of the passengers picked up Ebola before catching other flights or heading to sporting events in their communities?
The truth is right in front of us. American hospitals are not prepared for Ebola. This isn’t simply a matter of some training and new guidebooks. Even if a hospital were properly educated on procedures and protocols, there simply isn’t enough facilities, equipment and manpower to deal with an outbreak. Or even an onslaught of “potential” cases, for that matter.
The CDC and fed knows this. The media knows this. The medical community knows this. And now you know it. So what do we do?
In comes the Ebola facilities.
U.S. and local health officials want to set up dedicated hospitals in each state for Ebola patients, part of a new emphasis on safety for health-care workers after a nurse caring for an infected patient in Dallas tested positive for the virus.
Here’s the thing, though. Media and public officials aren’t just calling for these new federally funded facilities overseen by federal agencies to exist for confirmed Ebola cases. They’re actually going so far as to suggest people be forcefully sent to one of these facilities for exhibiting symptoms. Meaning, even if government only says it thinks you might have been exposed to Ebola, they would operate in the interest of public health and safety to completely void your constitutional rights and incarcerate you. [NS NURSE LOCKED UP IN NJ?
Read that again. Even if government only says it thinks you might have been exposed to Ebola, they would operate in the interest of public health and safety to completely void your constitutional rights and incarcerate you.
One of the hosts on Fox News “Outnumbered” made this suggestion earlier today during the show. I can’t remember her name, unfortunately, (someone could probably find a transcript of the show if they look for today’s record 10/15/14) but she openly suggested these new facilities be used to hold Americans who are suspected to have been exposed to Ebola.
Suspected? Who makes that determination? And at what cost?
What really scares me about this is that such a response seems perfectly logical. And it’s a response that a majority of Americans will likely support should Ebola start spiraling out of control. Why? Because Americans like a comfortable way of life. We don’t want that comfort ripped from us. And the second it is, we’ll all petition government to do whatever is necessary to bring that comfort back into our homes.
But when you look below the surface of such a decision, you’ll find massive violations of rights, abuse of power and the destruction of lives of those incarcerated for weeks on end, against their will, all because some government agent made a determination to act.
I don’t know about you. But if I were pulled off of an airplane, sent off to some medical facility, had all of my communication methods confiscated and was confined to a room with no contact with my family and friends for several weeks… I would be pounding on the door of every attorney I could find. Especially if it turned out I was clear of anything and never really needed to be incarcerated to begin with.
None of this is in practice, obviously. But to suggest we shouldn’t be having this conversation now is just absurd. We should be having this conversation. We should be asking these questions. And we should be prepared for all possible scenarios.
Am I the only one concerned about this? Is anyone else thinking this could lead to all kinds of violations of constitutional rights? Thoughts?
ebolaDEAR GOP, I’M NOT JUST “DONE WITH YOU.” STARTING NEXT YEAR I’M GOING TO ACTIVELY OPPOSE YOU.4 CommentsSeptember 19, 2014 // Personal This-n-That, Politicsgop
I know I know. The GOP couldn’t care less what I think, say or do. That has become abundantly clear in recent years. I’m one of those “crazy people” they hate to see at their town hall events. I’m one of those people who, unlike most elected Republicans, believe in their stated party platform. I’m one of those people who actually believes the Constitution has meaning and should be used as a guide when casting votes. I’m one of those people who believe the federal government has three simple, very limited tasks and nothing more.
1) Protect our rights2) Defend our nation against foreign invasion3) Regulate inter-state commerce (Keep it regular)
The federal government has completely failed on all three. Not only has it failed, it has actually become the enemy of all three. The federal government now aids in the constant violation of our rights, it now funds and directs a foreign invasion at our borders, and there is zero ability to conduct inter-state commerce without hurdles and roadblocks… all established by government. Continue reading ?
- See more at: http://www.ericodom.com/

Odom, E

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