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Rep. Alan Grayson Denies Launching Tea Party Candidate

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Florida Democratic Congressman Alan Grayson is mired in controversy yet again, this time facing the bizarre accusation that he is manipulating the Tea Party to split the Republican vote. Confronted by the question on today’s John King USA, Grayson first accused host Jessica Yellin of getting her facts wrong, then declared that Sarah Palin was a puppet under his control.

Yellin initially brought up the fact that a pollster working for Grayson had launched a campaign for public office under a Tea Party platform. This brought up accusations that Grayson had put her up to running in order to sabotage the Republican Party. Grayson clarified, rather aggressively, that “someone we used to poll republicans last year went ahead and declared her candidacy for a state house position and is not running against me” and told Yelling to “get your facts straight.”

Yellin insisted, however, that he respond to “the accusation that you are in some way supporting a Tea Party effort to help fracture the vote.” What followed seemed to be an attempt at sarcasm that was simply too weird to be funny– it’s a space Grayson’s jokes have inhabited before. He “fessed up” to not just manipulating the Tea Party, but creating it: “In the same way that Al Gore invented the internet, I invented the tea party. Isn’t that well-known? Sarah Palin is a puppet. She does whatever I tell her to.”

Like all bizarre clips, this one ends with an Alvin Greene reference.

Video from tonight’s John King USA below:

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  • ImNotBlue

    Out. Of. His. Mind.

  • NORBIT

    Where is the thread on the BIGGEST scandal of the day – the black panther Voter Intimidation support on behalf of the Justice Department!

    This one black panther on the tape is caught in another incident advocating “killing white babies’!

    DOES HOLDER & OBAMA WANT TO KILL WHITE BABIES, AS WELL?!?!

  • murf

    Fred Flinstone strikes again !

  • Big_F-ing_Deal

    NORBIT said:
    DOES HOLDER & OBAMA WANT TO KILL WHITE BABIES, AS WELL?!?!

    I’m pretty sure Holder wants to kill them all but Obama only wants to kill enough white babies to stuff, roast and eat on Black Thanksgiving Day.

  • murf

    Big F…Just got word the New Black Panthers called — they want their batons back .

  • mproust

    Look for Rep. Alan Grayson next to appear on X-Tube…

  • Moderate

    With people like Big_F-ing_Deal, I can understand how people like Alan Grayson and Alvin Greene can get votes.

  • Big_F-ing_Deal

    Why is everyone mad at me?

    I LOVE roast White Babies.

    It’s all White meat!!!lolol

  • goodolgil

    Again, the right wing meme to paint Grayson as “crazy” emerges.

    “What followed seemed to be an attempt at sarcasm that was simply too weird to be funny”

    Why exactly is that such a weird joke? It’s plainly obvious that it was absurdist sarcasm. And it’s no more absurd than the idea that Grayson would recruit a candidate to divide a state house race that’s completely irrelevant to a U.S. Representative.

  • shootfromthehip

    Grayson for the win, once again.

    This is insane. Is there no rumor so low or no conspiracy theory CNN won’t wallow in?

    Alan’s response was appropriate and showed the question to be ridiculous.

    The fact that his joke went over her head does not bode well for her career. being able to think on your feet is good on live TV.

    Talking points robots expecting robotic answers are bad.

  • Pablo

    They should just get it over with and give Grayson Bill Maher’s show.

  • Pablo

    goodolgil said:
    It’s plainly obvious that it was absurdist sarcasm. And it’s no more absurd than the idea that Grayson would recruit a candidate to divide a state house race that’s completely irrelevant to a U.S. Representative.

    Huh? You know Grayson is a politician, right? It’s absurd to think he’d play politics? Really?

  • Rogue-Comic

    Big_F-ing_Deal said:
    Why is everyone mad at me?

    I LOVE roast White Babies.

    It’s all White meat!!!lolol

    Some people probably don’t find jokes about cooking and eating babies funny.

  • http://apostrophejones.com Apostrophe jones

    No . Not psychotic at all . At least not Pelosi psychotic .

  • valkyrie101

    That was pretty funny, actually. Almost Beck-like.

  • NORBIT

    Somehow, I can picture Grayson, in an old tattered robe & slippers walking aimlessly about the Palm Beach Kennel Club mumbling “why didn’t I bet the #4 Dog!!! LOL!

  • Big_F-ing_Deal

    Rogue-Comic said:
    Some people probably don’t find jokes about cooking and eating babies funny.

    Some people probably don’t find posts about a Black President killing White babies appropriate either.

  • Rogue-Comic

    Big_F-ing_Deal said:
    Some people probably don’t find posts about a Black President killing White babies appropriate either.

    Two wrongs make a right?

  • Big_F-ing_Deal

    Rogue-Comic said:
    Two wrongs make a right?

    I don’t bring a knife to a gun fight.

  • Rogue-Comic

    Big_F-ing_Deal said:
    I don’t bring a knife to a gun fight.

    Now, see: that was funny.

  • MichelleF

    Dont’ credit him Rogue, he got it from Obama, who said “if they bring a knife, you bring a gun!”

  • Big_F-ing_Deal

    MichelleF said:
    Dont’ credit him Rogue, he got it from Obama, who said “if they bring a knife, you bring a gun!”

    Nope. Got it from The Untouchables. ;)

  • ImNotBlue

    Rogue-Comic says:
    July 7, 2010 at 10:14 pm

    It really explains his whole philosophy towards this place. Nasty, mean, lies, anything goes if he think it will annoy “Conservatives.”

    Well, that’s what he said anyway.

  • http://SailRabbits.com Magister

    Here’s a link to the 6/14 Orlando Sentinel story cited by Roll Call. It’s actually focused more on the potential “spoiler” in his own race and it also marks an earlier time, Grayson used the same “Tea Party/Al Gore/Sarah Palin” joke.

  • badr

    murf said:
    Fred Flinstone strikes again !

    Eh, no, it’s Shrek.

  • Big_F-ing_Deal

    ImNotBlue said:
    Nasty, mean, lies, anything goes if he think it will annoy

    Are you talking about Rush Limbaugh?

  • Rogue-Comic

    Big_F-ing_Deal said:
    Are you talking about Rush Limbaugh?

    I’ll see your Limbaugh and raise you an Olbermann and an Ed Shultz.

  • Big_F-ing_Deal

    Rogue-Comic said:
    I’ll see your Limbaugh and raise you an Olbermann and an Ed Shultz.

    Those two have never said that their goal was to be outrageous simply to enjoy watching the opposition go batshit crazy.

    That is Rush’s self-confessed MO.

    I respect the man and want to be just like him.

  • lanquihue

    A non-story. Grayson is a proven kook.

  • Rogue-Comic

    Big_F-ing_Deal said:
    Those two have never said that their goal was to be outrageous simply to enjoy watching the opposition go batshit crazy.

    That is Rush’s self-confessed MO.

    I respect the man and want to be just like him.

    You fold then!

    And here I was: itching to play my Bill O/Colbert Joker ace.

  • Big_F-ing_Deal

    lanquihue said:
    a proven kook.

    Besides that being a great band name do you have a link to where someone has actually “proven” him to be a kook?

  • Rogue-Comic

    Big_F-ing_Deal said:
    Besides that being a great band name do you have a link to where someone has actually “proven” him to be a kook?

    Impossible, and I know that you know that to be true by your use of quotes around the word proven.

    But come on, Grayson’s pretty kooky.

  • lanquihue
  • Big_F-ing_Deal

    Rogue-Comic said:
    But come on, Grayson’s pretty kooky.

    Yeah, he is.

    But he’s our kook and we love him.

  • Rogue-Comic

    Big_F-ing_Deal said:
    Yeah, he is.

    But he’s our kook and we love him.

    I hear ya.

    Bobby Hebert claims the title of resident lovable kook where I dwell so I feel the nature of the love.

    We got Edwin Edwards too, but we just send Garfield cartoons to him with Garfield edited out to his prison of residence.

  • PureFreedom

    I think the left and right both laugh at this guy! Like said above this guy deserves a TV show!

  • Big_F-ing_Deal

    Look, we’re tired of being “swift-boated” by the right wing scumbags.

    You guys have your attack dogs like Bachman and Beck and Palin and Rush and Newt and Hannity and King (actually, you have 2 crazy King’s lol)
    Alan understands you have to fight fire with fire, even if that costs him his job.
    Does he go over the top sometimes, yes.

    BUT WE WILL NOT BE SWIFTBOATED AGAIN!
    WE will be the swiftboaters, not the swiftboatees
    And we will swiftboat like a motherf**ker!!

  • NORBIT

    *Obama Times (NY Times) & CBS continue their COVER-UP of the black panther case!
    *Virtually no reporting on it at all!

    *Poll-watcher, Bartle Bull (NY campaign manager for Robert Kennedy & Jimmy Carter; civil-rights attny.; former Village Voice editor): – Panthers there to intimidate poll-watchers so 400,000 Acorn-sponsored illicit voters would not be questioned.
    *BB: “Robert Kennedy & Martin Luther King did not die to have uniformed thugs carrying weapons block the doors to polling places.”
    *Panther to Bull: “Now you will see what it means to be ruled by the black man, CRACKER!” (on video!)

    *HOLDER & OBAMA ADMINISTRATION DROP PROSECUTION OF THESE THUGS!

    *Is the Attorney General & ‘post-racial’ (LOL! LOL!) President Playing the Race-Card??? – pitting their black ‘enforcers’ against white voters?

    *REMEMBER IN NOVEMBER! – A vote for ANY Democrat is a vote for this Administration, and their apparent & blatant racial agenda!!
    Always said the true racists dwell overwhelmingly amongst the “group-identity” neanderthals on the LEFT!

  • Rogue-Comic

    Big_F-ing_Deal said:
    Look, we’re tired of being “swift-boated” by the right wing scumbags.

    You guys have your attack dogs like Bachman and Beck and Palin and Rush and Newt and Hannity and King (actually, you have 2 crazy King’s lol)blockquote>

    Say what not now about the Kings? Larry’s third favorite hobby is grunting in agreement with his liberal guests’ Palin bashing and John is actually a dying breed, a non-partisan who hosts a political talk show.

  • Big_F-ing_Deal

    No, the GOP Representative Kings.. lol

    There’s Pete King (NY) – who went batshit crazy when Michael Jackson died.

    And there’s Steve King (IA) – who is just batshit crazy all the time.

    And you screwed up your quote tags. ;)

  • Pablo

    Big_F-ing_Deal said:
    Besides that being a great band name do you have a link to where someone has actually “proven” him to be a kook?

    http://www.mycongressmanisnuts.com/

  • CarmanK

    Alan Grayson is a stand up guy who tells it like it is. I think he was being sarcastic, giving him too much credit for the disheveled fouled up mess the republican/tea parties have gotten themselves into. I admire Grayson, he is what he appears to be. FL voters are lucky to have him as their rep.

  • Founders_were_Liberal

    Allan Grayson, thy name is: Liberal, Progressive, Clear thinker, Intelligent, Factzilla, HERO!

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Richard-Riker/100000038032284 Richard Riker

    Well that confirms it Alan Grayson IS a backer of the political Florida Tea Party. We know for a fact that he already paid $30,000 to the Tea Party candidate, supposedly for her polling work, yeah right, and he paid the head Tea Party consultant for advertising on his now defunct radio show, yeah right. Now, when asked directly if he is connected with the Florida Tea Party third party he looks like he’s auditioning for “Dancing with the Stars”, he never answered the question, he’sjust dancing. He’s backing the third party Tea Party in the hope their candidate Peg Dunmire will take votes away from the true tea party movement candidate Patricia Sullivan. Patricia Sullivan is the candidate who Grayson fears the most. She’s the person who filed the complaint with the House Ethics Committee which forced Grayson to change his web site. She beat him once and now he’s smarting with the thought she can do it again in November. The political Florida Tea Party has been outed as nothing but a corrupt little organization that is out for their own financial gain. The leaders Doug Guetzloe and Fred O’Neil are nothing but self serving political fringe personalities who hijacked a popular name and are now using it to leverage any money they can from anyone they can get it from.

  • mountdoravoter

    Alan Grayson gets more ridiculous every day, and now his paranoia is showing through his feeble attempt at sarcasm and humor. Pathetic. But pretty soon he’ll have gone back to wherever he came from and we will elect a shining star to take his place — patriot Patricia Sullivan — who offers all the character Grayson lacks. Conservative Republican Sullivan is the top choice in Florida’s 8th district. She is a fiscal conservative, a supporter of our Constitution, and able and ready to represent us in Congress. Vote for her in the coming August primary!

  • ChrisFromEustis

    Richard Riker and mountdoravoter, thanks for some observations that make sense. Patricia Sullilvan, co-founder
    of the North Lake tea party movement, will run on the Republican ticket for Congress in FL District 8. Patricia Sullivan moves with the heartbeat of the majority of the people; she scares the opposition with her integrity and with her history of doing good for the community. Patricia’s conservative core principles are what we need to help get
    America back on track. Let’s get rid of the deficit! It won’t be easy, but this craziness of throwing around borrowed money that we owe other countries has got to stop. I encourage readers out there to check out Patricia Sullivan and the other candidates and compare. Then get out and vote in the primary election. Your vote counts.
    Go to http://www.PatriciaSullivanForCongress.com to learn more about Patricia. God bless America, and
    God bless Patricia Sullivan!
    community.

  • ChrisFromEustis

    —Sorry about the typo in my previous posting. Kindly ignore the word “community” at the bottom!
    Again, check out Patricia Sullivan at http://www.PatriciaSullivanForCongress.com Thank you!

  • Integr8d

    I’m a Ron Paul Tea Party guy and I’d vote for Grayson any day.

    I’ve listened to Trey speak in Congress. And I appreciate his LACK of political finesse. We need more people like him (conservative, liberal or otherwise).

    I’m also very concerned about people claiming to be Tea Party. I’ve seen a lot of progressive neo-cons masquerading as Tea Party. They need to be vetted.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Patriot-Come-Lately/100000077210618 Patriot Come Lately

    Ms. Yellin has missed one other important fact. Not only was the Alan Dis-Grayson campaign associated with the pollster mentioned, the treasurer of the “Friends to Re-Elect Alan Grayson” committee is also registered as a (faux) Florida TEA Party candidate. Strange that such a person is working for TWO parties!
    Do you need more proof of Dis–Grayson’s dirty tricks to ensure his re-election. Not the sort of dis-honestly that I want to represent me. I am looking forward to a real citizen legsilator, like Patricia Sullivan, doing that for which we are all praying, booting our current representative out of DC.

  • Beth407

    If you live in Central Florida and are familiar with the guys that are behind the Fla Tea Party party then you know that Grayson is a part of them. I believe they are crooks and that Grayson is in with them. They are recieving money in different ways from him Doug and Fred have no ties with the tea party movement and if you look at the candidates most if not all of them have had no ties either. Money is flowing from all kinds of places and no one seems to be able to follow anything. And the FCC is on them yet again about it. Grayson you are a disgrace to Central Florida and we are tired of your antics. The people that truly look for someone they can stand behind and trust are putting their votes and support behind Patricia Sullivan. She will not be slamming downs in faces, calling people names, spending money we don’t have, sneaking around others and filming them, like our rep Grayson does. Patricia will treat the people of the district with respect.
    As for Integr8d, Patricia Sullivan is part of the real Tea Party Movement, but I know what you mean about candidates trying to act like they are. She actually started the North Lake Tea Party before she became a candidate. So maybe since you are a Tea Party guy, you might want to check her out.

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