Tea partiers aren't thrilled about
Mitt Romney's late arrival
There
was a time that Mitt Romney thought it made political sense to spurn the tea party. Then Rick Perry entered the race.
And now:
This Labor Day weekend, Romney will make his first appearance at a major tea party rally when he meets the Tea Party Express bus tour as it stops in New Hampshire.
Right after that, Romney will make a previously unscheduled stop at tea party megastar Sen. Jim DeMint's (R-SC) Labor Day candidate forum in the Palmetto State.
You may recall that Romney had previously bailed on DeMint's forum. But now he's down by 20 points to Rick Perry in South Carolina. So he's changed his mind and he's joined the tea party. But if he expects his sudden conversion to teahadism to save his campaign, this can't be what he wants to see:
A top tea party organizing group, FreedomWorks, is planning to protest Mitt Romney’s appearance this weekend at a New Hampshire stop of a bus tour intended to encourage tea party sympathizers to participate in the Republican presidential nominating process.
And why is it that they don't want to be affiliated with Mitt Romney?
“We have to defend our brand against poseurs,” said [FreedomWorks organizer Brendan] Steinhauser.