Alabama Tea Partier Defends 'Gather Your Armies' TV Ad (VIDEO)

[one_voice]

Rick Barber, an Alabama tea partier running for Congress in the Second District Republican run-off, told me this morning that his controversial new television ad -- which features images of pistols, calls for impeachment and a founding father calling on conservatives to "gather" their "armies" against the IRS -- is being misunderstood by critics.

"They need to not look so deep into things," Barber told me when I asked about his response to people who might say the ad might suggest he's calling for an actual revolution rather than an electoral one. "It's definitely not an inciteful call to arms."

Barber said that using the phrase "gather your armies" and stroking revolutionary-era pistols could lead some to get the wrong impression of his message -- but there's nothing that can be done about that.

*snip*

Barber stood by the ad's message -- namely that the men who took up arms against the British government in the 18th century would be stirred to do the same thing again by federal policies like the income tax (which Barber says means Americans are "forced to spy on ourselves" in the ad) and the new health care law.

"I think the founding fathers would be absolutely appalled," Barber told me. "If not with the actual policy changes we have made, with the lack of engagement by the people."

*snip*

Video at link.

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/06/alabama-tea-...