Unfortunately for Bill Johnson, the ineffectiveness of the Tea Party’s support for him did not play well into the meme being expressed by Fox News at the time. Paul did not have the Tea Party, but the “Tea Party” brand was a valuable one to national conservatives. Perhaps, and I’m only speculating here, some thought that it wouldn’t do for people to know that Kentucky’s Tea Party was so impotent. Perhaps to some it seemed best to tack the “Tea Party” brand onto the man with all the money who at least claimed to represent the Tea Party even if he actually did not — Rand Paul. Rand Paul’s friends in big media, namely Judge Andrew Napolitano and Glenn Beck, along with a propping up at MSNBC by leftist Rachel Maddow had already given Paul plenty of national media exposure. Few outside the Tea Party here in Kentucky knew who Bill Johnson was and the Paul campaign was eager to make it stay that way. Johnson refused to reach out to big names in politics for endorsements because he thought it was not in keeping with Tea Party principles against ‘top-down’ politics. Rand Paul, on the other hand, had only his father’s national connections behind him. For reasons yet unknown, perhaps because Johnson failed to contact her, Sarah Palin defied Kentucky’s Tea Party movement and, on February 1, endorsed Rand Paul. Freedom Works and Erick Erickson of Red State did the same, though Freedom Works informed me that they were prepared to endorse Johnson if he had asked for it. Three days later, the Washington Post, no doubt happy to put Rand Paul’s extremist face on the Tea Party movement, did a lengthy article touting Paul as the Tea Party candidate with no mention of Bill Johnson. The news of the Palin endorsement sent shockwaves of outrage through the Tea Party movement here, though not nearly as shocking as the lie of Mica Sims published by Fox News on February 11. Sims, lead organizer of Lexington’s Tea Party and the only coordinator to date who had endorsed Paul apart from the pro-Ron Paul Take Back Kentucky which had endorsed Rand early in the primary, claimed falsely that Kentucky’s Tea Party movement was backing Rand Paul. The nail in the coffin of Bill Johnson’s Tea Party campaign was thus firmly pounded in.
Now, the Left has two very important things in Rand Paul that will end up making him quite a whipping boy for them. He will be an ally on several critically important issues, as explained by Tracey, and be the kooky extremist to hold up as the face of the Tea Party movement in America. While they can beat up on the Tea Party nationwide by (falsely) casting Rand Paul as its standard bearer, they can also count on Paul to be there for them to cut defense spending, capitulate to Islam, shy away from supporting Israel, and otherwise denigrate America on security issues across the board just like his pal Alex Jones. What saddens me most, however, is that my beloved Kentucky has been robbed along with the nationwide Tea Party ‘brand’. Also, Red State, Sarah Palin, Jim Demint, Glenn Beck and others who backed this farce have disappointed me deeply. Once a huge Palin supporter and attendee at the first Tea Party rally in Hardin County, Kentucky, I have seen up close and personal how easily millions of people can be fooled even within the conservative movement. Kentucky voted for Rand Paul, and I can live with that fact, but until my dying day I will know the truth — that Rand Paul was not ever, and never will be “the Tea Party candidate”.
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