Dim Jim Hoft’s Occupy Phoenix Neo-Nazi Previously Attended Tea Party Rallies
On top of what is reported at MM J T Ready is also friend and supporter of GOP anti-immigration star Russell Pearce. Pearce is famous for putting together Arizona’s draconian anti-immigrant bill with fellow GOP rising bigot star, Kris Kobach. So “Dim Jim” Hoft is once more caught way off base trying to portray JT Ready and his right wing extremist pals as left.
For some time, the right-wing media has been attempting to brand Occupy Wall Street and related protests as anti-Semitic. In the latest example, conservative blogger Jim Hoft is pointing to video of heavily armed Neo-Nazi J.T. Ready patrolling the Occupy Phoenix protest and saying nice things about the movement.
Hoft sarcastically concludes, “Yup. They’re just like the tea party.”
It’s worth pointing out that much of the rhetoric Ready spouts during the video — decrying fiat money, saying that he and others were “exercising our Second Amendment right so that everybody can have a First Amendment right,” claiming that Operation Fast and Furious was intended to “take away our rights” and the perpetrators are traitors who should be put to death — sounds much more like the rhetoric of a conservative protestor than an OWS supporter.
And indeed, that’s the problem for Hoft: Ready previously attended and reportedly spoke at Tea Party rallies.
In July 2009, Phoenix New Times reported that according to multiple sources, Ready spoke at a July 4 Tea Party rally at the Arizona state capitol.
In November 2009, PNT reported that Ready had attended “a recent anti-amnesty tea party” on the capitol lawn.
In April 2010, PNT reported that Ready had organized a “recent tea party protest” at Wells Fargo’s Phoenix headquarters. Then-Senate candidate and Tea Party favorite J.D. Hayworth reportedly spoke at the event.
What this tells me is that the OWS protests actually have legs, and everyone is trying to hop on the bandwagon, even those who very obviously do not belong. If you want to see a long long history of J T’s connections to the GOP, Stephen Lemons posts can be searched to find a multitude of examples like this one.