Mitt Romney To Speak In NH On Sunday; Tea Party Organizes Protest Using Social Media

A social media storm is brewing. And unfortunately for presidential hopeful and former Massachusetts governor, Mitt Romney, he is at the center of it.

Romney has plans to speak on Sunday at 6 p.m. in Concord, NH as part of a Tea Party Express bus tour rally. Upon learning this news, the Tea Party-aligned non-profit organization, FreedomWorks, pulled out of the bus tour to express its disapproval. But instead of simply skipping the speech, FreedomWorks is organizing a full-blown protest to take place on Sunday at 5:30 p.m. in Concord’s Rollins Park. FreedomWorks called for the protest on its blog as well as through Twitter:

So why is a conservative organization protesting the appearance of a Republican presidential candidate at a Tea Party event? One of the primary reasons is that Romney has been largely absent from Tea Party events in the past and has never really aligned himself with movement. As Brendan Steinhauser of FreedomWorks noted, Romney has been “distancing himself from the Tea Party” for months, and is now, rather suddenly, vying for Tea Party attention.

Another underlying reason for the protest is Romney’s record, which — according to Steinhauser — “represents everything the Tea Party stands against.” Steinhauser is by no means the only Tea Party supporter who feels this way. Just take a look at what has been turning up in the Twittersphere:

Not surprisingly, the organizing of the Romney protest has also spilled over into Facebook. As of Friday afternoon, the Public Event, Protest to Stop Mitt Romney from Co-Opting the Tea Party, has over 40 people who are confirmed as attending and over 20 who are “Maybe Attending.” As is the case with Twitter, Facebook is teeming with Tea Party supporters who are voicing their dissatisfaction with Romney as a presidential candidate:

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Posted by erik devaney on Sep 3 2011. Filed under Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry