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Tea Party Tries to Clean Up Its Act? Not Exactly

Earlier today I wrote that Tea Party activists were trying to improve their image and salvage their reputation by dropping Orly Taitz from a California tea party rally.

I may have spoken too soon:

The Starkville Tea Party will hold a rally Thursday at noon in front of the Oktibbeha County Courthouse. The Columbus Tea Party will hold a rally Thursday at 5:15 p.m. on the Lowndes County Courthouse steps.

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In Columbus, Bryan Fischer, director of issue analysis for the American Family Association, is one of three scheduled speakers. The American Family Association “represents and stands for traditional family values and exists to motivate and equip citizens to reform our culture to reflect Biblical truth on which it was founded,” according to the group’s Web site.

In fact, I am sure that I spoke too soon:

The sound of freedom rung throughout the Ervin J. Nutter Center on Tuesday, Apr. 13 as conservatives came out for the Dayton Tea Party Rally.

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The highlight of the evening was former presidential candidate and conservative activist Alan Keyes.

Keyes criticized "an elite that has abandoned allegiance to God almighty" for the nation's current ills and, in a not-so-subtle allusion to the Biblical book of Exodus, stated that "the Tea Party movement is turning November into a Passover election" that will dethrone the elite.

"I take God really seriously," said Keyes. "And I take the connection between God and our liberty even more seriously than that."

Keyes challenged Tea Party members to define the movement, using the Spirit of 1776 as a point of reference. The conservative activist called on Tea Party participants to mimic the founding fathers' resistance of oppression as a means of restoring the nation to its former glory.

"No matter how much you like tea, if it comes at the price of your freedom, you'll throw it in the ocean," said Keyes. "You'll say no."

While Republicans in California refused to be seen with Orly Taitz due to her Birther obsession, that was apparently not a concern for U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan, who shared the stage with Keyes (whom Taitz is representing in her Birther lawsuits) at the Ohio rally.

As for Fischer, in the last week he's declared that all Muslims in America must be deported and that all Muslim citizens are traitors who must convert to Christianity.  And let's not forget his recent calls for all gays to be treated like criminals and for the stoning of a killer whale at Sea World in accordance with Biblical teachings.