Man. This is just classic. The Washington Times reports that “tea party leader” Dale Robertson is warning the GOP that the teabaggers are “turning their guns” on Republicans who aren’t far enough to the right.

A founder of the Tea Party movement said Wednesday he had a warning for Republican leaders: Back conservative candidates or else other states will suffer the same backlash that toppled Florida’s Republican Party chairman this week.

“We are turning our guns on anyone who doesn’t support constitutional conservative candidates,” said Dale Robertson, who operates TeaParty.org out of Houston and helped start the movement nearly two years ago.

He declined to say which states are next on the Tea Party’s hit list. He said party leaders in those states would be warned privately, but the movement’s wrath “will be very clear publicly” if they don’t listen.

“If they continue to do things like they did in Florida, it’s not going to be good for them,” Mr. Robertson said. “If they don’t get that and their party chairmen don’t get that, they are going to be ostracized.”

If the name “Dale Robertson” sounds familiar, it’s because we featured him just last Monday, for showing up at the February 2009 tea party in Houston with this sign:

The Washington Times doesn’t mention this little embarrassing incident, of course.

These are the people who think they have the GOP by the short and curlies. And the sad, pathetic fact is that … they do.

(Hat tip: KT.)

UPDATE at 1/6/10 4:36:09 pm:

I’ve received several emails full of insults from people saying that Dale Robertson is not a leader of a tea party organization, but in fact was kicked out of the rally at which this picture was taken. Apparently I was supposed to know this, somehow.

I suggest these people save their insults for the Washington Times — because I quoted their article citing Robertson as a founder of teaparty.org.