GIGLI Still Attacking Ed Martin Even After He Switched Contests

As we know, the St. Louis Tea Party split up because some of the members supported Ed Martin and others supported ultimate GOP insider Ann Wagner. But even after yesterday's hilarious news that Martin decided, yet again, to switch campaigns, looks like the Ann Wagner splinter group known as GIGLI is still ragging on poor Ed. Here's what they tweeted yesterday:



And here's what the post says:

But Missouri should be asking a couple of questions of Mr. Martin:

First, why has he never attempted to mount a campaign in his home district? Missouri District 1 has been struggling, strangling under Democrat control since 1949. The people in his own neighborhood are drowning under the weight of increased unemployment, and he chooses to step out on them to represent others.

Second, can we expect him to stay in the Attorney General's race if another, shinier candidate steps into the ring?

Twitter Reactions To Ed Martin Bailing From Another Election

Ed Martin, for the 2nd time this year, decided to switch elections after it became obvious that he was going to be destroyed by his opponent(s). He's now, hilariously, running for Attorney General. Here are a few of the reactions from Twitter to Email Ed's announcement:











My take: of course this shows pretty clearly that Ed Martin is a thoroughly unserious opportunist and, as the Beacon suggested, was not very good at raising money for his Congressional race. This, along with his history of well-documented unethical behavior, should be enough for moderates and independents to laugh off his election for Attorney General.

Though Martin will probably lose all credibility among sane people across Missouri during this election, and also quite a few Republicans, I actually can see why it's a smart move for him. The issue is that a certain group of Republicans refuse to believe plain facts when they come from anyone other than their trusted authority figures. So when Russ Carnahan says "No, I actually never agreed to that debate Ed Martin said I chickened out of," they call him a liar. But, when a Republican like Ann Wagner, and the GOP establishment figures who support her say, "No, I actually never agree to that debate Ed Martin said I chickened out of," all of a sudden they start taking the claim seriously. And likewise when Ed Martin's ethical problems are pointed out by conservatives, there's a group of people who believe it who wouldn't have if it had come from some other source.

And let's keep in mind what Martin really wants. He's a guy who loves to blather on endlessly about basically everything. He's going to be doing that anyway. So how nice would it be for him if he could be paid to blather on endlessly about politics? Being a politician or a perpetual political candidate is one way of doing this. Switching to a race where he's no longer being slammed and exposed by Republicans allows him to retain a base of supporters who will pay him to blather, even if he loses badly. So, despite the fact that he's amazingly managed to lose even more dignity with this decision, he's also wisely preserving a base of people willing to make sure he doesn't have to work at a real job.

One final note: of course, Martin's BFF Jake Wagman thinks that Martin will be "far more competitive" in his new race. One thing we can be relatively sure of is that Martin will be guaranteed endlessly positive coverage from Wagman, just like he received when he ran against Representative Carnahan. Such is the state of the world when our media shifts further away from informing readers and towards trying to entertain them with the wacky Jersey Shore antics.

Update: this tweet from Michelle reminded me of the funny pic from Sean at Fired Up Missouri:


Update #2: As an example of how Ed's clown show has alienated many of the non-die hard fans, consider this post by Jerry Berger where Berger refers to Martin as "unsteady Eddy." In Martin's contest against Russ Carnahan, Berger was in the bag for Martin. Now he's mocking him.

Suprise! Another Member of Tea Party Splinter Group Actually Working for the Establishment...Against the Tea Party

As was previously noted, the St. Louis Tea Party split because of infighting between supporters of tea party candidate Ed Martin and those of establishment candidate Ann Wagner in the GOP primary for Missouri's Second District. Unsurprisingly, Adam Sharp of Sharp Elbows is in the "completely without actual principles" camp and sided with the new splinter group GIGLI. But what I didn't realize is that Sharp was already working on behalf of the establishment even before this whole kerfuffle started.

I've previously noted that there's a strong tea party challenger to GOP establishment Senator Dick Lugar. Lugar has repeatedly insulted the tea party during his campaign. Ann Wagner, unsurprisingly, is supporting Lugar and even hosted a fundraiser for him. And, coincidence of coincidences, it just so happens that Adam Sharp was sent to do a hit piece on Lugar's tea party challenger Richard Mourdock.

The video is the usual whining and declarations of being the world's biggest victim from Sharp, but what's hilarious is that he's using these tactics to attack fellow tea partiers. He goes to the event in a different state specifically for the purpose of harassing the candidate, interrupts their program, and then acts offended when people don't want to talk to him. It's great comedy.

Here's the video:


Sharp, by the way, is close friends with Chip Gerdes, whom the St. Louis Tea Party accused of writing a hit piece on Ed Martin for Breitbart's site.

Related: A RINO's Guide to Wooing Cranky Breitbart Editors

Tea Partier Suggests Possible Foul Play In Wagner Campaign, But I'm Skeptical

Darin at Reboot Congress had some interesting observations earlier about Ann Wagner and Enterprise, where Wagner's husband is the Vice President of Government and Public Affairs:

Late last September, Missouri State Representative Sue Allen held a trivia night fundraiser. Sue's a solid conservative who's district has significantly changed in Missouri's recent redistricting. She needs to raise funds to increase her name recognition because of those new boundries--find out more about Sue Allen and donate to her campaign. To encourage donors to purchase tables at her September trivia night, any donor who bought a table would be allowed to read the trivia questions for one round.

On September 14th, Enterprise Holdings Inc. PAC donated $1,000 to Missouri State Rep Sue Allen. That's documented on page ten of Sue Allen's October Missouri Ethics Commission disclosure report embedded below. No one with the name "Wagner" is mentioned in that disclosure report.

As you can see in the picture below, Ann Wagner's reading questions at Sue Allen's trivia night. Reports from attendees at that fundraiser indicate that she read questions for four rounds. Is this the strategic vision of Ray Wagner: to buy a speaking platform in front of a room full of donors for his wife, a candidate for Congress, and finance that platform with Enterprise PAC money? I don't know if that rises to the level of using Enterprise stationary for Ann Wagner campaign solicitations, but it is an advantage other candidates around the country do not enjoy.

This set of facts potentially implies a serious problem. If Allen told people that they could read questions if they donated enough money to buy a table, and Ann Wagner read questions based on a $1,000 donation from the Enterprise PAC without reporting it as an in-kind donation from Enterprise, then it would seem that she might have run afoul of elections laws. However, that's based on the second hand information that this was how the event was set up, and I found some online evidence that seems to tell a different story.

The Young Republicans of St. Louis have a link to a google doc flier for the event. If you look at the flier, it lists Wagner as a "special guest" along with other Republicans like Tilley, Jones, Nieves, etc. Furthermore, it only mentions the cost of buying a table;there's no mention of being able to spend money to read questions. So without evidence that Wagner was allowed to read questions because of the donated money rather than because she was a special guest, it would be hard to produce any evidence of law-breaking. However, it certainly does reinforce the tea party bloggers suggestion that Wagner is a little too cozy with Enterprise to be viewed as an independent candidate.

A RINO's Guide to Wooing Cranky Breitbart Editors (With Photos!)

What's that? You're a Republican politician who doesn't actually care about conservative values but likes using the government to further your business interests and personal wealth? Worried that conservative bloggers will tear you apart for pretending to be a conservative when you're actually not?

Fear not! Because here in the great state of Missouri we have the perfect example of how a GOP establishment candidate can easily win over the entire Breitbart operation just by showing them a little "affection" (if you know what I mean)!

Ann Wagner is the embodiment of the GOP establishment. She was appointed as the Ambassador to Luxembourg by President Bush. She was the chair of ultimate GOP insider Roy Blunt's successful Missouri Senate campaign where he defeated a more conservative challenger before trouncing Robin Carnahan. She was one of the finalists to run the Republican National Committee. And her husband is a registered lobbyist and Vice President of Government and Public Affairs at Enterprise, so her election would be the perfect example of the GOP establishment's favorite hobby: crony capitalism!

Not only that, but Wagner's opponent in the GOP primary is Ed Martin, a guy who was at the original St. Louis tea party rally and was on the tea party board before deciding to run against Russ Carnahan in the 2010 election. As a former Chief of Staff for Matt Blunt, Martin definitely is not a pure "outsider," but he also is not the embodiment of the national Republican Party as is Ann Wagner.

So you might think that Wagner would have a hard time wooing the "rebellious" "edgy" "unapologetic" "conservatives" who run Andrew Breitbart's sites. How wrong you'd be!

In fact, Wagner has not only charmed the Breitbart gang into avoiding attacks on her, she's actually gotten them to publish attacks on her tea party opponent! She's demonstrated that what they really care about isn't actually conservatism, but rather making sure that they get their piece of the pie.

But Adam, you're saying, it must be so incredibly hard to woo such iconoclast firebrands! No, it's really not! At least not if you are a wealthy, well-connected GOP fundraiser! Here are a few simple steps demonstrated by Ann Wagner that you can follow to ensure that the ever-so-principled "conservative bloggers" at Breitbart's sites will pretend that you represent the heart and soul of the Republican Party.

First, they really like to be taken to sporting events. See if you can arrange some VIP passes for them to make them feel special:

Andrew Breitbart and Big Government Editor Mike Flynn at a Cardinals game with Ann Wagner, Ray Wagner, and GOP operative Chip Gerdes.

Of course, a little alcohol never hurts an effort to help "grease the wheels" for some future positive coverage!

The especially red-faced & glassy-eyed Andrew Breitbart, Ann Wagner, and Mike Flynn in downtown St. Louis.

Formal events are a great place to schmooze!

Wagner with Breitbart editor Dana Loesch and "Gateway Pundit" Jim Hoft. Hoft wrote a post attacking Ed Martin on the Loesch-"edited" site Big Journalism. This was after Breitbart blogger Dan Riehl had sent a "warning shot" by attacking Martin on behalf of Wagner on Big Government.

Don't forget to introduce Breitbart editors to GOP celebrities so they can feel important!

Ann Wagner introducing New Jersey Governor Chris Christie to Big Journalism editor Dana Loesch.

And of course if you can get the manager of the radio station one of them works at to endorse you, you're as good as gold:

Ann Wagner is introduced by John Beck, the Senior VP at Loesch's home radio station KFTK, at a fundraiser hosted at Beck's home.

Are there any other secrets to wooing the Breitbart gang? Who knows? Wagner is a record-breaking fundraiser after all (and Breitbart did just raise $10 million for...something). And since Breitbart steadfastly refuses to release any information on who funds his site, Wagner can help him however much she wants without anyone being the wiser.

So, to summarize: it doesn't matter to Breitbart bloggers that Wagner is a "country club conservative" who perfectly represents the GOP establishment that the tea party fought against. It doesn't matter to Breitbart bloggers that Wagner's opponent in the primary is a guy who stood with the St. Louis Tea Party at their first rally and has been closely connected with them ever since. All that matters to the Breitbart bloggers is that Wagner promises to give them a little piece of the pie. And if you're a wealthy, well-connected GOP moderate, that's all that will matter to them about you too!

Jake Wagman Used Tea Party Research Without Attribution

Jake Wagman wrote an article last week documenting how Ann Wagner's congressional campaign is heavily dependent upon donations from Enterprise (where her husband was a lobbyist) and Enterprise-affiliated companies. The story is newsworthy and does include some original reporting such as a reference to an email sent out by Enterprise Holdings President Pamela Nicholson, but a big chunk of the article was directly based on information researched by tea party activists and already reported at tea party blogs.

For example, though the numbers differ slightly, Wagman reported in his January 2nd article that $255,000 of the money Wagner had collected came from donors associated with Enterprise. On December 30, a tea party blog reported that Wagner had raised $249, 750 from Enterprise. Other details, such as Ray Wagner's role as a lobbyist as well as donations from managers around the country and founder Jack Taylor have also been reported by tea party blogs prior to Wagman's story. Likewise for donations from the Podesta Group, Fleishman-Hillard, and Ogilvy. Both 24th State and Reboot Congress have made it very clear that the footwork on this research was done by St. Louis Tea Party members.

I can see two possible scenarios for what happened. The worst would be if Wagman directly used the research from these blogs without bothering to reference them. The other possibility is that someone from Martin's campaign passed on the research from the blogs and Wagman vetted it and then ran the story as if it was his own. Even in this case, I would think a good journalist would do a basic Google search to see if others had written about it before.

Ann Wagner's BFF Blames Tea Party for GOP Senate Loss

I wrote earlier in the year about Ann Wagner hosting a fundraiser for Dick Lugar, an establishment conservative facing a Republican primary challenge from tea party candidate Richard Mourdock. Now Lugar has taken it a step further, claiming that the tea party is the reason why Republicans didn't win control of the senate in 2008. Here's Mediaite quoting Lugar:

"Republicans lost the seats before in Nevada and New Jersey and Colorado where there were people who were claiming they wanted somebody who was more of their Tea Party aspect but they killed off the Republican majority.” He then added “this is one of the reasons why we have a minority in the Senate right now.”

I can we can see why the tea party would be in turmoil after a group of them chose to sell out and support Wagner.

Loesch Suggests Her Pundit Career Has Nothing To Do With The Tea Party

After some serious infighting, the St. Louis Tea Party put out a press release about their breakup with Dana Loesch that was fairly gracious, all things considered:

Board President Bill Hennessy said, “The St. Louis Tea Party certainly benefited from Dana’s rising stardom and talent. And we can’t help but think our energetic and effective grass roots have propelled Dana’s career. But, as a local Tea Party organization, we need to focus on the grass roots going into 2012.”

Who can really argue against that? Loesch was introduced by CNN, ABC, and pretty much everyone who gave her airtime as a leader of the tea party.

But guess what? Loesch amazingly is suggesting that her punditry career has nothing to do with the tea party. A commenter asked her where her career would be without the tea party?

And here's how Loesch responded:

Dana Loesch: all class.

For the record, Nina's comment was deleted.

Update: I deleted Nina's last name. I thought it wasn't a big deal including it because she really didn't even say anything objectionable and basically just asked a question, but apparently the Loeschbots are so nuts they pestered her even for that innocuous comment.

The Loeschs Break Up With the Tea Party

They took their ball and went home.

I previously reported on Jen Ennenbach's leaked email stating that Chris Loesch, Dana's husband and a member of the St. Louis Tea Party leadership, demanded that the tea party stop using the logos he designed. Her statement:

Oh, also, Chris Loesch has requested an immediate cease of use on his logos. . .which include the St Louis Tea Party logo and the SOB (pirate looking) logo. So, if you have these up on any of your sites, please replace them with something else. He has never been compensated for the use of these.

This was a result of a fight between two different factions in the St. Louis Tea Party. One group (the Loeschs, Gateway Pundit, and Jen Ennenbach) supported GOP establishment candidate Ann Wagner (a candidate for the head of the RNC and the campaign chairman for Roy Blunt) and another group (John Burns, Ben Evans, Michelle Moore, Bill Hennessy, and Darin Morley) supporting nutty Ed Martin.

I just checked and it looks like the Tea Party really did change their logos. This is what the old logo looked like:

Here's what the new Twitter logo looks like:

And here's what the "new" facebook page looks like (though it sounds weird calling the Gadsen flag "new"):


For the record:

• Dana Loesch voted for Mitt Romney in the 2008 Republican primary.
• She explicitly said that she liked RomneyCare.
• She supported Roy Blunt over the more conservative Chuck Purgason for the U.S. Senate.
• She supported Ed Martin over John Wayne Tucker, and in fact attacked Tucker on her show after Ed Martin paid her husband to make a commercial for him.
• Now's she's supporting the ultimate GOP establishment candidate Ann Wagner over the comparably more conservative Ed Martin.
• Oh, and she's "edgy" for some reason.

Loesch and Hoft Demand To Be Taken Off Conservative Email List After Seeing Activist Hub Article!

At the end of a post documenting that members of the St. Louis Tea Party had criticized Gateway Pundit, I asked the following questions:

So, there are a lot of questions there, but my biggest one is this: will Hoft even acknowledge the criticisms? We all know he ignores arguments from almost anyone who disagrees with him, but will he be equally afraid of debate with his fellow members of the tea party? They also suggest that Loesch should give them a platform on her radio show or on Big Journalism to respond, and I think they have a strong point.

Well, I guess we now know the answer to these! A member of a conservative email list (that includes activists, politicians like Tim Jones and Susan Cunningham, and radio hosts like Loesch and Allman) sent out the version of that post that appeared on Little Green Footballs. Not only did Hoft refuse to answer any questions, he immediately demanded to be taken off the email list! Here's the text (forwarded to me anonymously):

That's a horrible dishonest piece. The fact that you sent that out in a mass email is deplorable and mean spirited.
Please take me off this list immediately.

Jim Hoft

I'm not sure what exactly was mean-spirited about it. The fact that conservatives disagreed with Hoft's claims?

Unsurprisingly, Dana Loesch was no less childish than Hoft. Here's her email:

I also ask to be removed from this list. Spreading Media Matters smears is hardly grassroots.

Dana

Haha, Media Matters? What does that have to do with any of this?

Why couldn't Loesch and Hoft simply respond to the points raised in the original article critical of Ann Wagner? Oh, that's right, because that would mean that they engaged in genuine debate, which is the thing they're most afraid of.

Tea Party Founder on When It's OK to Disregard Reagan's 11th Commandment

Republicans generally take Ronald Regan's 11th commandment, "Thou shalt not speak ill of any fellow Republican," pretty seriously. But in the context of the current tea party chaos over Ed Martin and ultimate GOP insider Ann Wagner, St. Louis Tea Party founder Bill Hennessy had this to say:

Since Ronald Reagan handed down the 11th Commandment—thou shalt not speak ill of thy fellow Republicans—every Republican seems to hide behind it.

“You can’t talk about the people I poisoned! It violates the 11th Commandment.”

...

Never let blind allegiance to a misunderstood principle prevent the people from knowing their choices.

Read the whole thing here.

Did Ann Wagner Violate the Missouri Federation of Republican Women Bylaws?

According to a conservative blogger, Ann Wagner broke the bylaws of the Missouri Federation of Republican Women:

Ann Wagner was invited to be the keynote speaker at this year’s luncheon. She was asked to speak before she declared her candidacy for Congress. According to MoFRW bylaws, and as a club, at either the state level or local level, endorsing any candidates in the primary is not permitted. Once Ann declared she was running for Congress, I was told the woman in charge of the luncheon, she had called Ann to explain that her speech at the luncheon could not be a campaign speech. Following, Ann agreed to the terms and was kept as the MoFRW keynote speaker this year.

According to my friend, on the morning of the luncheon when Ann arrived in Columbia, she was again told that she could not use her address as a campaign speech. Again, Ann had agreed to the terms. But, as soon as Ann began speaking, my friend said it was painfully evident that she was going against MoFRW bylaws. Ann used her time speaking to further her own campaign for Congress.

My friend was dispirited that Ann blatantly disregarded the instructions given to her by the MoFRW board. As the MoFRW bylaws state, if one primary candidate speaks at a club meeting all the candidates must be invited to the event with each given equal time to speak. Obviously, Ann was the only candidate invited, it was impossible to give Ed Martin equal time and she knew that.

Furthermore, the blogger claimed that Wagner left the event immediately after speaking, not bothering to stick around for other women receiving awards from the group:

Disheartened, my friend told me that Ann left as soon as she was done speaking. Ann didn’t have the courtesy to stay long enough for the women to be honored and receive their awards. In addition, this was the first time a keynote speaker did not stay at the luncheon for the entire program.

Jen Ennenbach: St. Louis Tea Party Should Be Called "The St. Louis Ed Martin Coalition"

Former St. Louis Tea Party spokesperson Jen Ennenbach on her blog Cry Liberty:

It seems the Board of the St Louis Tea Party Coalition have hijacked the organization, and divided the movement, all in the name of a candidate. They should legally change their name to “The St Louis Ed Martin Coalition”...

(I guarantee you Darin [Morley] or Bill [Hennessy] doesn’t have the stones to pull this one over to the site!)

Missouri Record Asks Why St. Louis Tea Party Isn't Supporting Ed Martin

Over at the Missouri Record blog, in a post titled Weak Tea In St. Louis?, Patrick Tuohey asked why the St. Louis Tea Party isn't supporting Ed Martin:

Yet in St. Louis the movement has remained on the fence in the Congressional race between Ann Wagner and Ed Martin....

So why haven't they taken up his cause? If the Tea Party movement doesn't rally around candidates like Martin, what has been the point of the last three years? If the St. Louis activists staked a claim in party politics in New York's 23rd, why not in Missouri's 2nd?

Actually, many in the St. Louis Tea Party leadership (John Burns, Ben Evans, Michelle Moore,and I believe Bill Hennessy and Darin Morley) have put their support behind Martin. However, others, including Dana Loesch and Jim Hoft, see more opportunity for personal gain in supporting Roy Blunt campaign chair and GOP insider Ann Wagner. But Tuohey's basic point is a good one: why did certain people go wild fighting "the GOP establishment" in New York yet roll over for the GOP establishment in their home town?

Former Tea Party Spokesperson Says Tea Party Was Co-Opted By Ed Martin!

Jen Ennenbach, who for a long period of time was described as the "tea party's spokesperson," said on Twitter that the St. Louis Tea Party has been "hijacked" and "co-opted" by Ed Martin operatives with over-inflated egos:

As much as my natural inclinations tempt me to believe this is true, it doesn't entirely make sense. The tea party members criticizing Ann Wagner and others have not been speaking on behalf of the group, but have been making clear they're only speaking for themselves. Is Ennenbach criticizing them just for expressing their own opinions?

St. Louis Tea Party Leaders Slam Gateway Pundit!

Obviously, I have no love for Ed Martin. And I'm on record as being critical of the St. Louis Tea Party for claiming to be principled while supporting Roy Blunt over Chuck Purgason and Ed Martin over John Wayne Tucker. But I have to say I actually do have some sympathy for the core group that, unlike Dana Loesch and Jim Hoft, is at least attempting to move forward by holding true to their ideals and opposing the GOP establishment. Though I think they're wrong in believing that Ed Martin is a principled conservative, it is at least clear that they felt like voting for Blunt was merely an imperfect step towards their ultimate goal, and that they would have to try to more actively oppose the crony capitalism of the modern Republican party in the future if they really wanted to live up to their ideals.

On the other hand, Dana Loesch, who voted for Mitt Romney in the 2008 primary and explicitly said that she liked RomneyCare before realizing that it was more profitable to be a "tea party spokesperson" on national television, is unsurprisingly abandoning Ed Martin in favor of Roy Blunt's 2010 campaign manager, GOP insider Ann Wagner. And Jim "Gateway Pundit" Hoft, writing on Loesch's website Big Journalism, also recently launched an attack on Ed Martin. However, members of the St. Louis tea party leadership Michelle Moore, John Burns, and Ben Evans wrote a recent post dismantling Hoft's attacks on Martin. You can read the full post here, but I'll share a few highlights:

• First, they point out that Martin didn't turn the race ugly; he was actually the target of an attack from Dan Riehl earlier in the year on Breitbart's Big sites (where Loesch is an editor).
• They reiterate Darin Morley's point that it was ridiculous for Hoft to try to imply that Ed Martin is more connected to Roy Blunt than is Ann Wagner.
• They criticized Hoft's attempts to pretend that Wagner's husband is no longer involved in advocating on behalf of Enterprise Rent-a-Car:

  As everyone in the Tea Party knows Ray delisted himself in preparation for Ann’s campaign; however, he is still Enterprise's Government & Public Affairs Vice-President. In that capacity, he oversees Enterprise's lobbying and he helps determine where their campaign funds go. Again, Jim knows this, but deliberately ignores it in the post.

• They point out that Chip Gerdes, a familiar creepy scuzzbucket for readers of this blog, said that he wrote Dan Riehl's original attack on Ed Martin as a "warning shot:"

  As mentioned at the top, Hoft was quoted in the first hit piece against Ed Martin that came out last August on Big Government. That piece, supposedly written by Dan Riehl, sparked a firestorm among Tea Party conservatives in Missouri. Upon questioning, Chip Gerdes, another paid political consultant, stated that he wrote the piece as a “warning shot” to Ed Martin because of comments that Martin made on a Christian AM radio station.

• They also question where Hoft got his data and whether he even did his own writing:

  If Gerdes is writing hit pieces for Ann Wagner and publishing them under Dan Riehl’s name, what else has he written?...We ask: Where did those figures come from? Dan Riehl and Dana Loesch have written on Twitter and in Tea Party emails that hundreds of thousands of dollars were given to Ed Martin by Ann Wagner’s Enterprise connections. This has been proven false. Who gave Jim the data and where is it? Let’s see some research.

The biggest criticism of the tea party, though, is that Hoft attributed their research to Ed Martin, even though he should have known better. St. Louis Tea Party founder Bill Hennessy, who wasn't one of the authors of the post, suggests that Hoft "intentionally deceived his readers" in the comments:

I, too, am disappointed by Jim Hoft's inconsistency and deception.

Inconsistency: Jim approved of Dan Riehl's Big Government hit piece on Ed Martin some months ago--the one that rehashed old Carnahan distortions that 24th State shot down in 2010.

Deception: Jim knows that St. Louis Tea Party researchers, not the Ed Martin campaign, performed the research and supplied it to Daily Caller. I was present when Jim was told. By pretending otherwise, Jim seems to intentionally deceive Gateway Pundit readers.

Cordially,
Bill Hennessy

So, there are a lot of questions there, but my biggest one is this: will Hoft even acknowledge the criticisms? We all know he ignores arguments from almost anyone who disagrees with him, but will he be equally afraid of debate with his fellow members of the tea party? They also suggest that Loesch should give them a platform on her radio show or on Big Journalism to respond, and I think they have a strong point.

Conservatives Starting To Criticize Ed Martin's Character

Update: I wrote this before seeing a post on 24th State where the St. Louis Tea Party says they were responsible for the criticism of Ann Wagner and acted independently of Ed Martin's campaign. As I've documented, there seems to have been pretty close collaboration between the tea party and Martin in the past, so I wouldn't take the mere statement as proof, but it nevertheless is worth noting. It will also be interesting to see if Jim Hoft acknowledges it.

Nothing about Ed Martin has changed from the last election cycle; he's still just as dishonest and unscrupulous as he ever was. However, one thing that has changed is that Dana Loesch and Jim Hoft have decided to move on to the greener pastures of currying favor with Republican insider Ann Wagner, who's running against Martin in a GOP primary. And therefore many far-right conservatives who base their opinions not on what is said but rather on who said it are finally starting to realize the extent of Martin's crooked character.

Here are some great quotes from the comments on Gateway Pundit's post criticizing a typical Ed Martin attack:

Hypocritical also since Ed was so outraged that his wife’s ‘tens of thousands of dollars of stock in Exxon Mobil Corp.’ was brought up in his last election (wait second to last election – or how are we counting the switches between Senate and congress…)

Hahaha! Only in Martinbots minds would a candidate who has NEVER RUN for a race in her life be an “insider!” How many races has Martin run in? How many races has he lost or switched out of because he realized he couldn’t win?? He was chief of staff for Matt Blunt before that email scandal!! HAHAH! What a good one!

Martin’s behind the scenes smears are just as bad as what the Democrats do.

I met Ed Martin at a benefit(there was an open bar) and he was barely verbal. Make of that what you will.

I don’t get why Ed Martin hates businesses and job creators so much other than the fact they won’t give his campaign money. Not sure if he is a conservative running for Congress or the leader of Occupy Missouri 2. Oh wait forgot they’re leaderless, and that’s probably better for any movement where Ed Martin is aspiring to be their leader.

I could tell Ann is running to serve. Ed seems like he is running just to hold office-is he running for Govenor this week?????

...What did someone say, the truth will set you free. Perhaps Ed and his people should start seeking.

I used to like Ed Martin, even after the stories about the emails he deleted hit. I voted for him against Russ Carnahan in the last district. My family has since moved to Chesterfield, the district which Ed Martin is running for but doesn’t live in, and the same time I hear that he’s now also running or considering a run for the governorship? He’s not committed to the race that he’s in. I’ve also seen people behave very unconservative like online and making up stories about candidates that aren’t true but they call it vetting anyway. I attended the last, and only I think, debate with Both Ann Wagner and Ed Martin. I’m not impressed with Martin’s unprofessional way of jumping around, playing musical chairs to see which race will earn him that long awaited victory, and as a family member of an individual who, after seven months of unemployment, was just hired on at Enterprise, seeing a business that creates jobs and adds to the economy be defamed in the way that it has by this man’s campaign. It’s the height of hypocrisy to say you’re standing up for the little guy but go after the little guy employers if they don’t donate to your campaign. It’s truly a nasty thing to watch someone I once voted for lower themselves to such an unprofessional standard. I had been open to Ed Martin in my district, but seeing as he is not even committed enough to those of us that live here to move here himself, seeing also how he turns on and lies about businesses who supported him all this time, and now seeing how he may not even be running in this race, I have resolutely decided that I will be voting for Ann Wagner.

Ed Martin has a track record of being a GOP insider and the lapdog of RINOS like Matt and Roy Blunt. His sleazy antics cost the governorship of MO with email scandle and his own poor leadership and unwillingness to step up and take the blame like a man. Now Ed the perennial Republican candidate wants us to believe he is some sort of outsider? HA! How about all the big medicine money coming from his doctor friends that work at institutions that support Obamacare?

The days of Ed’s sleazy politics and left-wing OWS ideology are over, he should try to not be a politician for a while but that would be hard for a young career politician who has been a GOP insider his entire career.

Poor, poor, Ed. Ann is getting all the dough. . .shocking, after 20 years of her raising money for everyone else. . .including Martin.
Martin was foolish for jumping in Wagner’s race (as he was in the Senate, knowing full well Akin was going to run). Really, he couldn’t raise enough to beat Carnahan in the 3rd. . .there’s no way in hades he has a shot at raising enough to beat BOTH Wagner and Carnahan.
Sad. I don’t think Martin was behind the DC hack piece, but I do think he knows who is. . .some poor, pathetic dude who probably lives in his mom’s basement.

Tea Party Blogger Laughs At Gateway Pundit's Defense of Ann Wagner

Darin Morley:

I saw a picture over at Big Journalism with the sub-title: "Ed Martin, left, talks with Roy Blunt" and I just had to laugh. Roy Blunt's popularity among Tea Partiers and conservatives is pretty low, so Ed Martin probably doesn't want to be seen with him and certainly hasn't been seen with him recently. In short, the photo was a nice, subtle attempt to associate Ed Martin with Roy Blunt.

Of course, there are several reasons beyond Blunt's waning popularity why Ed Martin doesn't want to be seen with Missouri's newest US Senator. First, Roy Blunt has endorsed Ed's primary opponent Ann Wagner. Second, Ann Wagner chaired Blunt's 2010 Senate campaign. And third, Roy Blunt's daughter, Amy Blunt, works for the Bespoke Group and they provided "FEC Compliance" to the Ann Wagner campaign as documented above.

He has a point. There's no question Wagner is closer to Blunt than Martin is, so Hoft's photo was pretty misleading.

Ed Martin Beclowns Himself With Dirty Tactics, As Usual

Ed Martin's staff tried to send around an anonymous letter attacking Republican Gubernatorial candidate David Spence. Sadly for Martin, they're just not very good at the "anonymous" thing. Eli Yokley at PoliticMo caught the name of Ed Martin's political director on the pdf document's meta-data, and also notes similarities to a hit job on Sarah Steelman from a year ago, back when Martin was considering running for Senate.

Pretty amateurish, but nothing surprising from a guy who cheered his supporters burning photos of his opponents and hinted at "voter fraud" after losing to Carnahan two years.

Also: does this mean Martin knows he's going to get walloped by Ann Wagner in Missouri's Second District primary?

Highly Credible Tea Party Claims They Were Assaulted At McCaskill Event - Updated

I know this is going to come as a shock, but the St. Louis Tea Party has decided that, rather than talking about the actual issues, they'd rather scream that there was a OMGZ #BLOODBATH ASSAULTZ!!! at a recent McCaskill event. The incident wasn't caught on video, and the claim is apparently based entirely on the testimony of Jen Ennenbach, who says that two large men were "somehow standing on her legs:"

Finally, the second man went for John’s camera and in a final push, knocked John into me and I was then slammed into the wall, hitting my head and shoulder, and somehow had two men standing on my legs.

Ennenbach called the event a "bloodbath" on Twitter:

And the story was pushed by, of course, Ed Martin:


Since this entire story is based on the claims of Ennenbach, I thought it might be helpful to share some of her other recent blog posts. My favorite is a post I affectionately call "I Saw a Military Truck! Martial Law is Coming!!!"

I noticed lately, that I had been seeing an unusually higher number of military convoys with large/ heavy equipment moving through both Illinois and Missouri as of late, but never really gave it a second thought. . .that is until I ran across THIS today:

Now I want to know what is really going on. . .far too many reports to be pure coincidence! Why the secrecy? Are we gearing up for the 10 year anniversary of 9/11? Preparing for Libya? Is Martial Law about to be enacted?

If it is the latter, I’m headed out to stock up on water, batteries and toilet paper. . .you can never have too much!

She also had a nice post titled The FED Will Take Over ALL Communication on 11-9-2011!!!

After the shooting in Arizona, Ennenbach declared that this was the beginning of "civil war."

She also declared that Carnahan's victory over Ed Martin was the result of a conspiracy and claimed that her phone lines were tapped.

I'm also pretty sure that during the Prop B debate, she tweeted that a Prop B supporter jumped over her fence and punched her dog before disappearing into the night, but I'll have to track down the screen shot to make sure of that.

Yeah, so maybe, just maybe, the tea party and sketchy politicians like Martin should exercise some caution before declaring this a brutal beatdown.

Update: As if on cue, Ennenbach now claims that "progressive thugs" have hacked her Twitter account, apparently being especially sneaky by using the exact same spam that every other spam account uses: