Richard Viguerie Urges No Recriminations Against Tea Party Defectors

MANASSAS, Va., Aug. 2, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Richard A. Viguerie, Chairman of ConservativeHQ.com, issued the following statement regarding the disagreement among conservatives in the House and Senate on the increase of the debt ceiling:

"Now is not the time for recriminations against Tea Party-backed members of Congress who voted in the end for the debt deal. This is not the time to start fighting amongst ourselves. Nothing could make the Left happier than to see a splintering of the Tea Party movement.

"We have to agree that, no matter how disappointed we are with the final deal--and I am--that final vote was something on which honest conservatives could disagree.

"The President used his bully pulpit to argue that the Tea Party was leading the nation to Armageddon, and the compliant media acted as a thousand megaphones for that line. It is understandable that some Tea Party conservatives thought this would not help the Tea Party's standing with the public.

"There have been good and bad actors on both sides of the debt ceiling debate.

"Let's leave the recriminations to the liberals and stay united and focused on achieving the real spending cuts that Congress promised and electing a President and Congress to support, rather than fight, a balanced budget amendment and other limited government principles.

"That is what we should be concentrating on, starting today."

NOTE TO EDITORS: Richard A. Viguerie pioneered political direct mail and has been called "one of the creators of the modern conservative movement" (The Nation) and one of the "conservatives of the century"(Washington Times).  He is the author of Conservatives Betrayed: How George W. Bush and Other Big Government Republicans Hijacked the Conservative Cause.

Contact: Bob Sturm, (703) 396-6974 or Ryan Rogge, (703) 396-6971
After 6 PM Eastern & on weekends
(703) 307-8176 or (703) 674-6948

SOURCE ConservativeHQ.com