December 05, 2009 12:39 AM UTC

Faced With "Tea Party" Revolt, McInnis Begs For Their Support

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• by: Colorado Pols

Local “Tea Party” conservatives were none too pleased by gubernatorial candidate Scott McInnis’ appearance on Fox News Wednesday, where he was enthusiastically introduced by host Neil Cavuto as the “biggest Tea Party candidate in the country.” Not only has McInnis most emphatically not earned any formal endorsement from the local ‘teabaggers,’ they are apparently deeply upset about having been misrepresented on national television as supporters of a candidate who is already backing off the promises he made to conservatives just a couple of weeks ago.

Nobody seems quite sure who put the idea in Neil Cavuto’s brain that McInnis is “the biggest Tea Party candidate in the country.” There was an article in the Wall Street Journal the day before that talked about how candidates like McInnis are patterning their message to appeal to these folks, but there’s no rational way you would proceed from that to “biggest Tea Party candidate in the country.” Somebody put this fiction on Cavuto’s teleprompter for a reason.

Regardless of the origins, it seems very unlikely that McInnis would have had no idea how he would be portrayed in this interview–“the biggest Tea Party candidate in the country”–and it’s impossible to believe that McInnis would have heard what Cavuto was saying and not seen a need to correct him: that is, if his goal to was be truthful. We think it’s evident that McInnis was perfectly happy with being characterized as the “Tea Party-backed candidate” for the purposes of this Fox News piece, and only after the backlash ensued did he decide to “correct” the record.

Here’s what McInnis says today, in a statement posted to his website:

Yesterday in an interview on the FOX News Channel, Scott spoke about his campaign’s early success in rallying support against the Democrat Governor Bill Ritter.  FOX News implied that Scott is the TEA Party candidate.  This however was not accurate.  Scott has never implied the endorsement of the TEA Party organization, and would not be so presumptive to claim an endorsement that doesn’t exist…

Scott has a great deal of respect for the TEA Party groups, and recognizes the significance of their contribution to the discussion taking place around conservative values and governing principles that will get Colorado back on track to prosperity.

He would be honored to have these groups join in with his campaign’s growing coalition of support and will continue to work hard for their votes just as he continues to work for the votes of every Coloradan.

Clearly, he should start with the anti-McInnis Tea Party.

UPDATE: There’s another angle here worth considering–the rest of the state’s voters. The “Tea Party” contingent is vocal and highly visible, but their antics arguably turn off more voters than they attract. Liberal activist group Progress Now sent a release today, demanding that all gubernatorial candidates disavow their ties to the “Tea Party” movement. Text follows–says Mike Huttner, “Amazingly, right-wing Colorado politicians continue to embrace the ‘Tea Party’ movement after all they’ve done to discredit themselves…apparently, McInnis thinks that the belligerence and extremism on display at these rallies is what he needs to win.”

To reinforce the point, they helpfully included a photo of “Swastika Guy.”

Call for all Colorado gubernatorial candidates to immediately renounce “Tea Party” extremists

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Friday, December 4, 2009

CONTACT: Michael Huttner, Founder and CEO at 303-931-4547

DENVER–ProgressNow Colorado, the state’s largest online progressive advocacy organization, today demanded that all candidates for Governor of Colorado immediately renounce ties to the racist and extremist “Tea Party” movement. The call comes after Scott “McLobbyist” McInnis was featured on Fox News’ Your World With Neil Cavuto as a “Tea Party Backed Candidate.”

“The extremist ‘Tea Party’ fringe represents the very worst in American politics today,” said ProgressNow Colorado founder Michael Huttner. “From their racist questioning of President Barack Obama’s citizenship to their support for irresponsible ballot measures like the ‘Poundstone Amendment’–designed to destroy the state’s ability to carry out core functions of government–‘Tea Partiers’ have no place in a civil dialogue about the future of this state or this country.

“Amazingly,” Huttner continued, “right-wing Colorado politicians continue to embrace the ‘Tea Party’ movement after all they’ve done to discredit themselves. Earlier this week former congressman Scott McInnis was lauded on the right-wing Fox News Channel as the ‘Tea Party Backed Candidate.’ Apparently, McInnis thinks that the belligerence and extremism on display at these rallies is what he needs to win.”

At numerous ‘Tea Party’ events held in Colorado since Obama became President, ProgressNow Colorado has documented racism and extremism on parade. Signs carried by Colorado ‘Tea Partiers’ this year have compared Obama to Hitler, the Soviet Union, and even a monkey (image at right). ‘Tea Partiers’ also strongly support the racist and xenophobic agenda of ex-congressman Tom Tancredo, as well as several extremist anti-government ballot initiatives slated to be voted on in Colorado next year.

“We call on all candidates for Governor–not just the one who claims the ‘backing’ of the ‘Tea Party’ fringe–to immediately condemn and renounce the agenda of these far right extremists,” concluded Huttner. “Their agenda would seriously harm Colorado if it were ever to be enacted, and no serious candidate for higher office should give them the time of day.”

Watch the video of McInnis on Fox News: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v…

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