Ed Martin

Tea Partiers Call Obama A Marxist And A Dictator ... Get Promoted On GOPer's Site

Zachary Roth | March 1, 2010, 11:47AM

Members of a Tea Party event attended by Republican Congressional candidate Ed Martin

As the Republican Party becomes increasingly dominated by an implacably anti-Obama far-right fringe, it's becoming difficult for even mainstream GOPers to avoid endorsing the loonier rhetoric of the Tea Party wing.

Consider Ed Martin, a former chief of staff to Missouri governor Matt Blunt, who's mounted a strong bid to challenge Rep. Russ Carnahan (D-MO) in the fall. This weekend, Martin campaigned at a Tea Party rally at the Arch in St. Louis, and his campaign posted photographs of the event on his official website. Most of the pictures are unremarkable. But a few show people expressing sentiments that -- though perhaps not so unusual for a Tea Party event -- might raise some eyebrows when they're being promoted by a serious candidate for Congress.

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