Common Ground

TEA PARTY GROUPS NATIONWIDE UNITE AGAINST AMERICAN ATTACK ON SYRIA

Republican leaders in Washington, including SpeakerJohn Boehner (R-OH), House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA), and Senators McCain (R-AZ), Graham (R-SC), and Corker (R-TN), are supporting President Obama's call for an American attack on Syria, but Tea Party groups around the country are united in their opposition to such military action.

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Breitbart.com

5 September, 2013

Tea Party activists appear to be virtually unanimous in their support for the position taken by Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX), who said on Tuesday the United States "should not serve as Al-Qaeda's Air Force."

Lynn Moss, co-organizer of the Mid-South Tea Party in Memphis, Tennessee, expressed a view held by many Tea Party activists around the country. Moss told Breitbart News on Thursday, "both sides of the conflict in Syria are enemies of the United States. It would be foolish," she said, "and self-defeating to involve ourselves in this already volatile situation."

Joanne Jones, vice chairman of the Charleston Tea Party in South Carolina, told Breitbart News Thursday that "conservatives of many stripes are opposed to U.S. military intervention in Syria. Particularly in light of today’s account of al Qaeda-linked rebels murdering residents of a Christian village, it is becoming increasingly difficult to convince us that the United States would indeed be helping the 'right' rebels."

Bobby Alexander, chairman of the Central Kentucky Tea Party Patriots, told Mother Jones, "[c]onservatives in Kentucky do not want us involved in Syria." John Kemper of the United Kentucky Tea Party added, "[t]he things I'm seeing and emails I'm getting from folks around the state, they're not in favor of [an American attack on Syria.]"

Mark Kevin Lloyd, a Tea Party activist in Virginia, told Breitbart News that "the Obama administration and some in the Republican leadership seems overly concerned about the president's credibility in the eyes of the world. Both President Obama and Speaker Boehner need to understand they each have the same credibility problems in the eyes of the American people.

"How can the president be so sure of the situation in Syria, and so clueless about Benghazi? Too many questions, not nearly enough answers."

Bruce Carroll, chairman of Carolina Conservatives United, told Breitbart News, "we share the humanitarian concern for the Syrian people who have been killed and injured by conventional weapons and chemical weapons and the millions of refugees that are suffering due to that nation’s two-year civil war. "

For Carroll, though, such concerns do not justify American intervention. "We strongly believe the situation in Syria will not improve, and could well deteriorate, due to American military involvement," he said. "Additionally, we do not believe President Obama has adequately made the case that any national security interests are at stake, a minimum requirement for military actions abroad."

Mark West, founder of the Chattanooga Tea Party in Tennessee told Breitbart News Thursday: "while Americans have come to expect flawed and disastrous foreign policy decisions from the Obama administration, what is alarming is the foolish part that Republicans are playing in embracing and facilitating Obama's latest plan to attack Syria."

According to West, "what should be painfully obvious to any alert American is that Obama's plan (and now his Republican allies') to launch "limited" attacks into a highly volatile war zone has the strong likelihood of escalating into a broader and protracted war. And if this occurs, Tennesseans will remember the fateful role that Senator Corker and other Republicans played in endorsing another one of Obama's helter-skelter foreign policy initiatives."

Though President Obama maintains he does not need Congressional authorization to conduct military action against Syria, he has nonetheless agreed to ask for Congressional support, without promising that he will be bound by votes taken in the House and Senate on the issue. On Wednesday, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted 10 to 7 to support President Obama's call for an American air strike on Syria. Votes in the full Senate as well as in the House are expected to take place soon.

With those important votes looming, members of the Senate and the House are hearing from their constituents, the vast majority of whom oppose such action, according to recent polls. The virtually unanimous sentiment of Tea Party activists appears to be leading public opinion throughout the country in its opposition to American military attacks on Syria.