Modern News

As if the Hoffman loss in New York 23 wasn’t shocking enough, in comes Ryan Ellis, Tax Policy Director for Americans for Tax Reform, to lob blame bombs at conservative activists.

Dede Scozzafava, the has been former Republican candidate for NY-23, voted for tax increases in the New York legislature 198 times. But, when Dede wanted to get in good with the Republican and conservative establishment, she signed the Americans For Tax Reform pledge — a piece of paper saying she would not vote for tax increases. She did not need 30 pieces of silver to get in good with the establishment.

All of a sudden the lights from Heaven shined, the Angels sang, and Dede Scozzafava was acceptable. Except she wasn’t.

Last night on Twitter, Ryan Ellis, Tax Policy Director for Americans for Tax Reform, went out of his way to heap scorn on conservative activists and tea party activists for daring to defeat Dede Scozzafava, the woman who signed a piece of paper to absolve her of all her sins.

The twittering must make conservative activists question whether Americans for Tax Reform is on our side any more. I cannot believe Grover Norquist, after all he has done for the movement, could be happy with or approve of staff treating the conservative movement so contemptuously. Yet, with that much contempt — and a pledge by ATR’s Tax Policy Director to support tax hiker Charlie Crist — one must wonder where ATR stands these days. Is it with the establishment that sunk $900,000.00 into the losing bid of Dede Scozzafava, or with the conservative movement that defeated her.

The post then goes on to explain Ryan Ellis’s support of tax hiking Charlie Crist in Florida over conservative Republican Mark Rubio.

Later in the evening, ATR’s Tax Director turned his attention to Marco Rubio. Conservatives who want a Rubio win are insane. Nevermind that it is about electing “the most conservative candidates who can win” and the latest polling shows Rubio beating the Democrat in Florida by a greater margin than Crist would. Remember, “the lesson of #ny23 is to have a primary which elects the most reaganite person who can win.”

It is that reason why Ryan Ellis, ATR’s Tax Policy Director, is supporting Charlie Crist. Tax-hiking, stimulus supporting, cap and tax loving Charlie Crist is, to Ellis, “the most reaganite person who can win.”

Americans for Tax Reform posits itself as home to the conservative movement in Washington. With weekly Wednesday meetings of activists and help to a variety of organizations, I think they may want to reconsider having a Tax Policy Director who holds conservative activists and the tea party movement in utter contempt.

And this is exactly why I stopped attending their little meetings about a year ago.

Look, NY23 provided some good lessons to us all. As Erickson points out, it should be a lesson to the movement that a third party route is not going to work. There were a few other things we learned as well, and we understand where we went wrong, and what we did right.

But it seems the beltway club hasn’t learned a thing. Which spells a painful future for them if they keep up this fight against the real base of the movement.

Like I said, this movement is ready for a fight. And quite frankly, we don’t care who it’s with, as long as those we’re fighting are, in our opinion, a part of the problem.

Does ATR want to be at the other end of this?