Corey, Corey, Corey…..more Macaca

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Sunday’s News and Messenger had a great article on the Coffee Party entitled Still Brewing.  It featured Bob Settle, Bill Golden and Al Alborn  all sitting outside a Woodbridge Starbucks drinking coffee and explaining   the Coffee Party.  The men spoke  a little about their politics, which were surprisingly centrist and conservative. 

Jonathan Hunley, reporter for the News and Messenger,   apparently wanted to give Corey Stewart, the chairman of the Board of Supervisors,  a chance to clean up his act. He had been unflattering to the Coffee Party the previous week at their kick off meeting.   It didn’t work.  Stewart once again shot himself in the foot.  Poor Corey is running out of feet real quickly:

Prince William Board of County Supervisors Chairman Corey A. Stewart isn’t buying that, however.

He said that if everyone in the Coffee Party was a “middle-of-the-road veteran” such as Alborn, he might have more respect for the group.

But Stewart said Byler and Park are just “ultra-left attention-seekers” who “despise” him and Supervisor John T. Stirrup Jr., who led the county’s crackdown on illegal immigration.

“This is just an ultra-left fringe group,” the Republican said.

Corey, Corey, Corey!  This kind of talk has no political capital.  The Coffee Party isn’t about you or John Stirrup.  The Coffee Party isn’t about Annabel Park or Eric Byler.  The Coffee Party isn’t about the 3 men who were interviewed for the story. 

I find it frightening that the only people Stewart seems to have respect for are ‘middle-of-the-road veterans’.  Does that mean that everyone else is an ultra-left attention seeker, a fruitcake, a nut, or crap? (his descriptors, not mine)

A review of the article will be forthcoming.  Chairman Stewart’s words, meanwhile, deserve to be handled separately.

Why does the Chairman continue to shoot himself in the foot making derogatory remarks about his constituents?  There are a bunch of people out there who see themselves as Coffee Party People.   They do not deserve to be called names, especially by the county Chairman.  This behavior sets a bad precedence.  Do we assume Mr. Stewart is a member of the Tea Party and sees the Coffee Party as competition or do we just assume he doesn’t want to be re-elected?  I can’t vote for anyone who gratuitously calls strangers names, not even knowing who they are.  

Mr. Stewart ought to find out who the people are and go shake their hand.  These are the people who want to be part of shaping their government.  Aren’t those  people the folks  we used to call a PATRIOTS?  What happened to that term?

Nuts?
Nuts?

The Chairman Speaks ….Open Mouth…Insert Foot

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By now, everyone knows about the Coffee Party.  There were meet-ups all over the United States last Saturday.  People got together to discuss the direction they wanted their local, state and national governments to go. 

A reporter with the Gainesville Times,   Dan Roem, covered the meet-up out in Haymarket last Saturday.  He reported that our BOCS chairman had the following to say about his constituents who gathered to discuss a more productive government:

Despite its call for civility in political discourse, not everyone is buying into the movement, particularly Stewart.

“The Coffee Partiers are a bunch of fruitcakes,” Stewart told the Times on Sunday. “Yeah, they’re a bunch of nuts. If they’re going to be a coffee party, they’ll be a hazelnut party.”

Stewart elaborated, saying the Coffee Party is “just a phase; it’ll disappear.”

He derided Byler, whose 2007 films portrayed Stewart as being a right-wing ideologue, asking at one point, “Does (Byler) have a job?”

Byler said he does not have a full-time job but has earned income from college speaking engagements during the last couple years after striking it rich in Los Angeles making romantic dramas from 2002 to 2006.

Stewart described the Tea Partiers as patriots “concerned about the direction of the country and about the vast amount of spending that happening.” He called the Tea Party a “legitimate movement” while saying the Coffee Party is “just a load of crap.”

When asked to respond to the inevitable accusation that his comments are the type of discourse Coffee Party participants are fighting against, Stewart replied, “It’s more important to be honest than polite.”

Corey must be looking for this year’s scare tactic so he can get elected. More ‘honest than polite?’ Not really. Some people would say or do anything to get elected, or re-elected.

Nothing else needs to be said. Corey has said it all. Is he speaking for the entire BOCS?

More Coffee Party News: Baltimore Meet Up and Annabel on CNN

The criticism about volunteering for Candidate Obama and Senator Webb seems rather bogus to me. What person in any grassroots movement hasn’t been involved with other campaigns. I would expect most people from the ‘other hot beverage’ group worked for their candidate. Just recently, in fact, some TPP in Massachusetts claimed credit for sending Senator Scott Brown to Washington.

I don’t see how nearly 100,000 people on face book can be considered a top down movement. It sounds to me like people are finding their regional niche and going for it. Hopefully out of all of this, people in various locations will meet other people who are willing to run for local office. Throwing the bums out starts at home.

Good for those who are making their voices heard. The political parties need to listen carefully to the constituents. Meanwhile, Annabel, you sounded great! Keep up the good work.