Tea partiers air doubts about Armey

Roy Beck of NumbersUSA, a group opposing illegal immigration, since February had been working with local tea party leaders across the country to disseminate a detailed fact sheet chronicling the congressional votes behind Armey’s low rating from NumbersUSA on immigration issues.

Beck told POLITICO he decided to take his anti-Armey campaign public after Armey in last week’s press club appearance blasted the GOP for ostracizing Hispanic voters by calling for an immigration crackdown and declared “there is room” for immigrants in America, which he called “a nation of immigrants.”

In a blog post entitled “Dick Armey stuns tea partiers with open-borders advocacy,” Beck charged that Armey “wants immigration to be treated as a social issue with no place in the tea parties,” and suggested he and FreedomWorks may be trying “to intimidate local tea parties” to shy away from the issue at the behest of “corporate benefactors (who) want the foreign labor to keep pouring in.”

Beck offered no proof of any link between FreedomWorks’ donors and Armey’s stance but said, “We’re seeing lots of traffic that shows a lot of anger at (Armey). I would think that he’s endangering his entire standing among the patriots.”http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0310/34990.html

By: Kenneth P. Vogel — Politico