Hamilton County GOP Chair To Tea Partiers: 'Welcome' Even If You Hate Our Guts

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- He must have a dagger behind his back. Hamilton County GOP Chair Alex Triantafilou thinks the Tea Partiers can be his kind of traditional Republicans even though they've filed candidates to run against 11 GOP congress people in Texas. Chairman Alex welcomes them in SW Ohio while there's a civil war under way. Of course, he hasn't put any of the insurgents into office locally, nor has he given them any choice party leadership spots. Down in Texas, establishment figures like the head of the National Republican Congressional Committee are being challenged. Even Ron Paul is among those being challenged. Maybe Alex figures they are right and his party has been wrong all along. About Texas, TPM notes:

"Around 20 candidates identifying with the Tea Party movement are running for Congress in Texas, most of them against Republicans. More than half of the Republican incumbents in Texas face primary opponents who claim to be affiliated with the Tea Party movement. That includes big names in Republican conservatives like Rep. Pete Sessions and even Rep. Ron Paul.The tea partiers are [also] taking on NRCC-selected candidates in elections where the seats are held by Democrats, making it tougher for the GOP to focus on flipping the seats to their side."

But Triantafilou extended an olive branch today in Cincinnati:

"I am pleased to report that we have an influx of new energy and excitement coming to our Republican party. Many of those energized by the Tea Party movement are coming into our party and seeking to become precinct executives and to become involved in other ways. My message to these great conservatives is very simple: WELCOME! The energy and enthusiasm demonstrated by this movement is important to what we are trying to accomplish in Hamilton County. While many Tea Party activists are unhappy with the direction of the GOP, I believe that our local effort to recruit, retain, and promote strong local candidates can only benefit from new energy and new ideas from strong conservatives."

Who is Triantafilou kidding? The Tea Party is a grass roots conservative movement begun by people who are fed up with the corporatist wing of the Republican Party, the people who put Bob Taft and his ilk on the ballot and into office. They aren't going to be fooled by the 4th Street Gang that runs the GOP. These people are storming the Bastille.