HOUSTON, Texas – Congressman Louie Gohmert was greeted to a war hero’s welcome by Tea Party Patriots in Houston on Saturday. The grassroots training meeting was planned before this week’s historic House of Representatives Speaker’s vote and Gohmert had agreed to be the keynote speaker. Gohmert received three standing ovations, one lasting over a minute long. The Congressman, who was weary from lack of sleep, doing battle, and being criticized, told the group that his being at the meeting right after the vote was a “God-thing.”
The group surprised the unassuming and humble Texan when Texas Tea Party leaders took time off during the training sessions to honor him. They gave him a framed Gadsden “Don’t Tread on Me” flag signed by the Tea Party Patriots in attendance. They had Gohmert sit in an over-stuffed red chair while they told him how much he meant to them.
Gohmert told them he was still “immensely uncomfortable about taking a compliment.” He quoted Stephen Curtis Chapman and his song “the only good in me is Jesus.”
The Congressman told the patriots that he has “been praying for wisdom since I was six years old and I do not need prayers for courage.” He said he put his name in the Speaker’s race “because ya’ll it was just too much [after the Cromnibus bill].”
Gohmert told the activists he understood that the only time he could actually win the Speaker’s race was “in a time of all-out war,” however, he “did not realize how deep the animus would go … I knew people would be upset with me, but I did not know how much.”
Jeff Sadighi, Chairman of the Southeast Texas Tea Party who serves on his local Republican Executive Committee said there was a Tea Party event in 2013 where a handful of Congressmen participated. He said they “spoke of adherence to the Constitution, representing their constituents, the need for a return to conservatism, and combating Obama’s policies but of those who came and spoke to us, only one has been true to his word – that is Louie Gohmert.” Sadighi said Gohmert’s comments from the podium and in private conversation with Tea Party activists, were “identical. He does not change his message, nor back away from his beliefs.”
Kelly Canon, an eighth generation Texan and Vice President of the Lone Star Tea Party, told fellow patriots that Gohmert had “been an unwavering example of what it means to step up, and fight the good fight, no matter the odds.” She said “there are but a few leaders who really inspire us to the point where we’ll go that extra mile, knock on that extra door, lick that extra stamp, call that extra voter, work that extra day at the polls in the rain, and hold our breath that extra minute when the polls close [and ask] did we do enough? … Did we get that extra vote needed to get our candidate over the finish line? We look to those who lead us, for that ‘extra something.’ That extra ounce of inspiration. We find it with Louie Gohmert. He’s an inspiration to all of us.”
Canon delivered messages from other Tea Party leaders from her “neck o’ the woods – North Texas.” Ray Myers, President of the Kaufman County Tea Party near Gohmert’s district thanked Gohmert “for standing strong in the face of the establishment.” He told Gohmert that his “courage is so appreciated by your fellow Grassroots Texans.”
Michael Berryman Smith, founder of the Texas Grassroots Conservative Activist Group had this to say about the Congressman. “Though I reside in CD12, as a Tea Party activist, I have gazed with wonder upon the principles and character of the Herculean strength Representative Gohmert has exhibited. We find ourselves precisely in a situation of having to rebuild our foundation which is cracked nearly beyond repair. It’s during these times under which we now labor, that America is in dire need of more men and women that will stand in the cause of liberty, limited government, and a firm moral foundation like that of Rep. Louie Gohmert!”
Josh Finkenbinder, President of the Arlington & Lone Star Tea Party said “Politicians calculate their decisions based on what is popular amongst other politicians. Statesmen make their decisions based on principles of what is right or wrong.” He said “Congressman Gohmert – you are a Statesman.”
Kelly Canon invoked Val Kilmer in the movie Tombstone when comparing the support the Tea Party Patriots and other activists have for Louie Gohmert. Val Kilmer played Doc Holliday, Wyatt Earp’s best friend. Doc had Wyatt’s back, and in the movie he often said to Wyatt – “I’m your huckleberry! Canon told Louie Gohmert “Louie, we are ALL your huckleberry!
Heidi Hansing, radio personality, member of the Board of Directors at Clear Lake Tea Party, and a City Council Member in League City, Texas, probably summed it up best when she said that Louis Gohmert “has not caught the Potomac fever.” Speaking to the Congressman she said “You stand strong even if you stand alone.” She told the patriots gathered – “Louie Gohmert is a National Treasure … and I mean that in the TEXAS sense of the word.” Hansing said “We believe in you. You are one of us. We claim you as one of us. When Washington, D.C. gets too yuck, as it did this week, remember the words of our Texas hero, Davy Crockett, and say: “Y’all can go to hell, I’m going home to Texas!”
Lana Shadwick is a contributing writer and legal analyst for Breitbart Texas. Follow her on Twitter @LanaShadwick2.
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