Tea Party Candidate Goes After Meghan McCain

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HUNTSVILLE, Ala.– Alabama Republican congressional candidate Les Phillip, in a statement issued today, called out Senator and former presidential candidate John McCain’s daughter Megan McCain for “reckless and uninformed” comments about the tea party movement. Ms. McCain stated in an appearance on ABC’s “The View” that she believed the tea parties were inherently racist. Her claims were based on discussions within the tea party movement regarding a requirement for voters to demonstrate the ability to read and understand English. Opponents of literacy tests claim that because minorities have lower literacy rates, the tests are meant to prevent minorities from voting. Supporters suggest that literacy testing would result in a more informed electorate, less likely to succumb to catchy but substance-less candidate marketing.

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“Myself, and several other black conservative candidates, have enjoyed broad and growing support from the tea party movement. While any movement has bad eggs, the Tea Party movement has shown itself, as a whole, to be a movement of the people against massive government spending, infringement on personal rights, and job killing regulations. It’s a movement of Republicans, Democrats, and Independents. It’s a movement of all races, creeds, and colors. Just this week, a young black woman from Mississippi announced her candidacy for U.S. Congress, after appearing at nearly every Tea Party event held in the state over the past year. This young woman, Angela McGlowan, wrote a top-selling book about how the left has used false accusations of racism to drive blacks into the arms of the Democrat Party, and away from the Republican Party of Abraham Lincoln, Frederick Douglass, and Martin Luther King Jr. Mrs. McGlowan is the face of the Tea Party movement for many in the deep south state of Mississippi, a true testament to the attitude of most Tea Partiers,” Mr. Phillip said.

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“I have spent the last year attending and speaking at Tea Parties myself, here in the 5th district, and throughout Alabama. I attended the monumental rally in Washington D.C. on September 12 and I’ve heard from Tea Party activists from all over the United States. Here in Huntsville, the Tea Party rallies have been organized by a hard working 26 year old girl, Christie Carden with the help of several others in their 20′s and 30′s. These young patriots are not thinking about race when they rally against trillion dollar stimulus bills, the massive government takeover of health-care or the “cap and trade” bill that would drive many of them onto the welfare rolls with thousands of dollars in new taxes and increased energy costs. They are thinking about the future and they are thinking about the jobs we will need to survive. Ms. McCain has led a life of privilege and couldn’t understand the pressures of living from paycheck to paycheck. I respect her father’s service to this country, but she ridicules what she cannot understand.”

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“I encourage voters to look past race, political parties and petty ridicule. Look at the powerful diversity, conservative constitutional principles, and Christian values that made this nation the greatest on Earth. The Tea Parties have figured that out, and I believe that on election day, the people of North Alabama will vote to restore those values and bring back personal responsibility and economic liberty. I pledge to support those values for every American, and fight for jobs and businesses here in the Tennessee Valley.”