Dick Armey, ex-congressman and now Tea Party activist, targets 2010 elections

Once, when Republicans ran the House, he was majority leader, coauthor of the party's 1994 "Contract With America," second only to Speaker Newt Gingrich in ushering in what was called at the time the Republican "revolution."

Nowadays, former Texas congressman Dick Armey is out on the hustings again, this time inspiring Tea Party activism against a Washington run by Democrats. As chairman of FreedomWorks, an advocacy group that promotes lower taxes and less government, he was one of the first Republicans to endorse conservative Doug Hoffman in that controversial New York District 23 congressional race. His current mission: Stretch the political map to empower more conservative candidates like Hoffman in the 2010 elections.

In a recent speech in North Carolina reported by the New York Times, the 69-year-old Armey said, “Nearly every important office in Washington, D.C., today is occupied by someone with an aggressive dislike for our heritage, our freedom, our history and our Constitution.”

Today on MSBNC's "Morning Meeting," Armey said President Obama's healthcare proposal is about "power and political control, not healthcare." If the Democrats were serious about healthcare, he said, they would enact tort reform, allow purchase of insurance across state lines and reduce government mandates.

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Comments

[R.I.P. GOP]

The correct term is Tea-baggers.