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View Full Version : John Birch Society reborn in Tea Party movement?




bobbyw24
11-29-2010, 07:29 AM
The John Birch Society, a group denounced by the late conservative icon William F. Buckley, has been making the rounds at several Tea Party events and will host a table at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in February for the second consecutive year after having not attended for two decades, save one year in the 1990s. Though marginalized by Buckley in the 1960s and 1970s, the society has started to make a resurgence of sorts by tying itself to the Tea Party movement.

Buckley pushed the John Birch Society and its followers, called “Birchers,” out of the American conservative movement after the group’s founder and leader, Robert Welch, expressed his view that President Dwight D. Eisenhower was a “dedicated, conscious agent of the Communist conspiracy.” In a column, Buckley denounced the John Birch Society and called Welch’s views “so far removed from common sense.” Buckley even went as far as not allowing any person who contributed to a John Birch Society publication to appear in the masthead of the National Review, the influential conservative news journal he founded and edited.

But Birchers don’t agree with Buckley’s assessment of them. Several think the reason Buckley disagreed with them was because of personal gripes he had with Welch, and that Buckley used Welch as a scapegoat to eliminate the threat of the rising populist movement, similar to the Tea Party movement.



Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2010/11/29/john-birch-society-reborn-in-tea-party-movement/#ixzz16g6YTaqU

Vessol
11-29-2010, 07:31 AM
Lol, labeling Buckley as a conservative. That's a good one.

As for the JBS. I don't think they need to be reborn. While I may have a few disagreements with them, I'm pretty sure right now they have a bit of a smile on their face because after 50 years of being attacked and marginalized, people are realizing they were right.

FrankRep
11-29-2010, 08:44 AM
Buckley pushed the John Birch Society and its followers, called “Birchers,” out of the American conservative movement after the group’s founder and leader, Robert Welch, expressed his view that President Dwight D. Eisenhower was a “dedicated, conscious agent of the Communist conspiracy.”

Robert Welch was Right!

http://www.thenewamerican.com/images/stories/AP-1-2010/bensoneisenhower-t-ap.001.jpg
Ezra Taft Benson, left, Secretary of Agriculture, reaches over to get some papers as
he meets with President Dwight D. Eisenhower in the president's temporary offices
in the Gettysburg Hotel, Aug. 19, 1959:


Secretary of Agriculture Ezra Taft Benson: Robert Welch was Right about Eisenhower (http://www.thenewamerican.com/index.php/history/american/5207-benson-letter-backed-welch-against-ike)

A confidential letter from Secretary of Agriculture Ezra Taft Benson said John Birch Society founder Robert Welch was right about the tragic effect of Eisenhower's policies toward Communism.


FBI files shed light on Ezra Taft Benson, Ike and the John Birch Society
http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/50349153-78/benson-hoover-fbi-society.html.csp

Pericles
11-29-2010, 09:33 AM
In the last couple of years, my opinion of the JBS has risen dramatically, and I'd say they have it about 95% right, which is about as good as any organization can get.