Inside the Beltway

COLONIAL UNDERGROUND

MoveOn ain’t got nothin’ on a new breed of “conservative radicals” rising up in the age of town halls and “tea parties.”

“The original conservative radicals were George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, and we follow their traditions. Our main point is that conservatives should follow the tactics of Saul Alinsky - updated - but apply the moral principles of Martin Luther King as well,” Michael Patrick Leahy tells Inside the Beltway.

The author of “Rules for Conservative Radicals” will teach community organization tactics at numerous tea party gatherings in Quincy, Ill.; Bremerton, Wash.; and elsewhere, including pointers on how to be an “effective servant-leader,” lead a “buy-cott” and sway voters. Prospective students can consult www.conservativeradicaluniversity.com.

“I’ll be stressing lessons from Alinsky, the tea party movement and the Apostle Paul in the age of collaborative technology,” Mr. Leahy adds, noting that he is a third cousin to Sen. Patrick J. Leahy, but has yet to meet the Vermont Democrat.

“People ask me all the time, ‘What can I do?’ Here’s the answer: Get trained now on local grassroots leadership,” Mr. Leahy says.

SPEECH HANGOVER

Yes, you can come out now. The speech that ate Washington is finally over. Really. President Obama’s address to Congress, treated by the press like a State of the Union speech - or maybe New Year’s Eve - is now signed, sealed, delivered, replayed, spun, picked apart, fawned over and bloviated upon. It’s history.

Or not. The old hands know that the much ballyhooed speech is, well, a cog in the White House wheel of fortune, or words to that effect.

“I’m not sure the health care debate will ever be over,” CBS News veteran Mark Knoller tells Beltway.

“If a bill passes, opponents will continue to argue it’s ruining health care in America. If a bill isn’t enacted, it’ll be the top issue Democrats try to use against Republicans in next year’s midterm elections,” the White House correspondent explains.

Oh. Nuts. We forgot.

FROM THE HEARTLAND

It’s rolling through Pennsylvania now, big wheels humming. The Tea Party Express bus - and a cast of thousands - is due to arrive in Washington on Saturday for the “March on Washington,” the mother of all town meetings. The energy level is rising among those waiting en route.

“We’re not like Congress, stuck with a big bill. We know what we want; we’ve got a simple platform. We want to sue the drug companies for price fixing, fire the czars, reduce doctors’ malpractice insurance. We must pay China back, tax imports, get our jobs back. That’s right on the sign I’m waving,” Micki LaBate-Watterson tells Beltway.

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