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I was Tea Party years before there was an official Tea Party.

At root, the Tea Party is nothing more than a them-versus-us thing.

Let me tell you what the Tea Party stands for. It stands for the fact that we are taxed enough already.

So, a lot of my supporters back home are members of the Tea Party.

In many respects, I guess I would say I was into Tea Party before there was a Tea Party.

I think that, you know, when we start talking about the Tea Party, people want to marginalize that into some kind of organization or party, but it really isn't.

I think people are confused about what the Tea Party is. I mean, they were a broad cross-section of Americans who came together concerned about our debt and our spending. And they're interested in constitutional, limited government. And so they're not one group of people. They're thousands of small groups all over the country.

The Tea Party is simply a loose description of local activism driven by Americans who want smaller government and more self-reliance. That sounds like what the Founding Fathers had in mind, does it not?

I have never been a member of a Tea Party.

I think what the Tea Party movement is - I'm all for it; they're out there fighting for our rights, fighting for what our forefathers stood for.