Missouri Senate Candidate Guilty of 'Stealing Tea'

When men who didn’t serve in the armed forces pretend to be decorated war heroes, they’re labeled as “fake veterans” and can even be prosecuted for for what many call “stolen valor.” Recently, one Missouri politician began mailing campaign literature that leads me to believe he’s guilty of stealing the valor of members of the Tea Party Movement (i.e., freedom-loving patriots who sacrifice time, talent and treasure in an effort to save their country from socialism). In short, he’s guilty of “stealing tea.”

The politician at the heart of this matter is Scott Rupp, a RINO Republican running for re-election in Missouri’s 2nd Senatorial District.

This week, I learned from friends in the Tea Party Movement that Rupp had mailed a four-color piece that features a photo of him standing, arms crossed, in front of a bright yellow Gadsden (a.k.a., “Don’t Tread On Me!”) flag. In addition to featuring the flag that’s become a symbol of the Tea Party Movement, the photo features people holding up signs in the background.

The problem I have with Rupp’s brochure is that it gives voters a false impression about a candidate who, according to everyone with whom I’ve spoke, has never been to a single Tea Party event in the district — and I’ve attended dozens of ’em!

Chuck MacNab, one of the leaders of an anti-socialism group in O’Fallon, Mo., shared feelings about Rupp’s tactics with recipients of his RITEON.org e-newsletter. An excerpt of that e-mail appears below:

As we see it, his flyer attempts to create an illusion. For instance, we have never seen him show up to meet people or to help out at a Saturday rally of K & N Patriots, the largest and primary “tea party” group that has met every Saturday for over a year in his District. Cynthia Davis, his opponent, has shown up to help out, hold a sign and converse with participants at the corner of K & N almost every Saturday, sometimes for the entire duration of the rally.

MacNab had better things to say about Rupp’s opponent, Cynthia Davis, the owner of a Christian book store owner and member of the Missouri House of Representatives since 2003:

Cynthia Davis is definitely the underdog in the 2nd Senatorial District race. Her success may depend, given her limited funds, on how many constituents can be reached with the message that she is the conservative in the race and has the record and the endorsements to substantiate it. One of those endorsements is the Missouri Right to Life (MRL), our state’s oldest and largest grassroots pro-life organization. Davis has worked hard to represent the people who actually live in her District. She has thus far demonstrated through her eight years in the Missouri House that she will not be a carpetbagger for outside, big money interests and indications are that she will not compromise “tea party” values because she is beholden to interests outside of her District.

Because I don’t know Rupp personally and he has never responded to questions I submitted to him via his Facebook page, I must base my political assessments of him on impersonal factors such as the flyer and the manner in which the liberal news media treat him and his opponent.

On Wednesday, the ultra-liberal St. Louis Post-Dispatch seemed to give Rupp a pass while lambasting Davis for her die-hard conservative, small-government, pro-Constitution beliefs.