Oklahoma GOP Leaders Say “No Thanks” To The Idea Of Tea Party “Militia”

by webwiseass

Ubiquitous anti-government paranoia has spurred a group of tea party leaders and at least one Republican Oklahoma state lawmaker to organize a separate state “militia”. Republican Sen. Randy Brogdon (who just happens to be a candidate for governor, pictured) believes that forming a tea party-populated vigilante militia should be sufficient to “protect” Oklahoma from, as he sees it, federal infringements on state’s rights.

However, rather than cheer the idea of a homegrown militia of gun-loving nutcases, Oklahoma state GOP leaders are not on board. In fact, according to state GOP Chairman Gary Jones, the tea partiers have conjured up this folly because “they are trying to make themselves out to be bigger than they are.” Um, yeah…nothing new there. Jones adds, “A lot of these people don’t care about being the majority, they just want a megaphone. They want a voice. Once they get a reporter to cover a story they have a megaphone, and they get pretty loud.”

Jones also said that Oklahoma Republicans will not follow this “small faction within the party.” Unfortunately for Jones, many of these tea partiers form an important segment of the Republican base — a base GOP candidates must placate during primaries in order to make it to the main election. It appears the Oklahoma GOP chairman understands that when a Republican candidate appeases the far right in the party, it alienates — even repulses — the middle (and certainly the conservative-leaning Democratic voters, whose votes they need even more). Rhetoric comes back to haunt during general elections.

By: Alan

Alan Colmes is the publisher of Liberaland.