Principles Matter - Tea Pary Express Raising Funds from Tucson Shooting

Most everyone believes that they have principles that guide their lives.  The true test of these principles come when things are hard.  I would like to think that any thinking person would realize that trying to raise money from a tragedy is a bad thing.  I have seen a few things come across my facebook page on how some on the left are trying to raise money off the shooting in Arizona over the weekend.  I didn't click the link as I was busy and didn't have the time.  But, I have since tried to find that information and found a letter from a progressive democrat group.  The letter didn't overtly ask for money, but the wording was distasteful, because it gave the impression that the organization was looking to get some funds to continue to help elect people like Congresswoman Giffords.  I was horrified when I read that someone would try and raise money off this tragedy.  There was some hay made on the blogosphere about how the left was using this to raise money. 

This morning I while checking my email, I came across an appeal for Tea Party Express:

Dear Friends:


The attack on conservatives and the tea party movement has continued over the past 24 hours. Media figures and liberal activists continue to falsely suggest that Rush Limbaugh, Gov. Sarah Palin and the tea party movement had anything to do with the shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords.


They've launched this attack even though they know it is a total and complete lie.


During the past few days friends of the shooter, Jared Loughner, have stepped forward to say that they knew him to be a political liberal. He admired the Communist Manifesto and burned the American flag.


But many in the news media and the political Left are nonetheless still trying to use this awful tragedy to make people think that somehow Limbaugh, Palin and the tea party were responsible for this attack.


They are doing it for one reason: it is an attempt to silence us and make this patriotic, constitutionalist movement controversial - so they can try and stop the momentum this tea party movement has built.


Last night on MSNBC and liberal websites, we here at the Tea Party Express were called despicable and shameless because we won't back down.


Well guess what, friends - we're not going to back down. Not when we have nothing to apologize for, and certainly we won't just sit back while the media and liberals think they can slander us by calling us responsible for a mass murder.

Instead, do you know what we're going to do? We're going to fight back with even more determination and pride. Since we have to "pay" to get our message heard (the liberal media bias is on display like never before with this tragedy), we're asking our supporters to help us fight back.


We want to have our largest fundraising day in the history of our organization and we need your help to achieve this success.


Please, make a contribution online right now to the Tea Party Express - CLICK HERE TO CONTRIBUTE.


You can contribute as little as $5 all the way up to the maximum allowed $5,000. And since the 2010 Midterms are over, our "maxed out" donors from before can once again contribute as much as they so choose.


To contribute, just click the button below. We're hoping more than 1,000 patriots such as yourself can afford a more generous contribution of $100, $250, $500 or more.


As always, if you prefer, you may also make a contribution via mail, by sending a check to:


Tea Party Express
8795 Folsom Boulevard, Suite 103
Sacramento, CA 95826-3720

This is even more morally repugnant as it is a direct appeal regarding the murder of a 9 year old child many others.  This is the same organization that released a letter about the NAACP that was called nothing more than satire.  While the author of that letter no longer is with Tea Party Express, but it certainly seems that they learned nothing from that experience. 

While I agree with the Tea Party movement I cannot sit back and not say anything about this.   Tea Party Express not only needs to apologize, but they need to fire the person who came up with this idea.  Principles only matter when you stand by them.  While I don't want to go after a tea party organization, I cannot allow this pass.  I have sent them letter to voice my disgust with this, and I hope that everyone else will do the same.  If it was distasteful when the left did it, then it has to be equally distasteful when the right does it. 

 info@teapartyexpress.org is the email address. 

Shame on you Tea Party Express.  This type of depraved indifference to the lives lost over the weekend are not principles that I choose to stand by and I find it disgusting that you are an organization that does.