# Dick Armey receives $8 million payday for walking away from tea party group. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [December 26, 2012, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dick-armey-receives-8-million-payday-for-walking-away-from-tea-party-group/645201 "2012-12-26T18:04:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2012, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dick-armey-receives-8-million-payday-for-walking-away-from-tea-party-group/645201/21 "2012-12-28T01:04:23Z")
[More from _Mother Jones_](http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/12/dick-armey-freedomworks-hostile-takeover-memo) about the fight for FreedomWorks. (Guns weren’t scary enough, so they broke out the lawyers.) ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2012, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dick-armey-receives-8-million-payday-for-walking-away-from-tea-party-group/645201/22 "2012-12-28T01:52:47Z")
> [@Agent\_Foxtrot](#): > > I also just realized that this article was written by a close personal friend of mine IRL. I could just ask her. Do. ---
**Author:** ![anya\_marie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ebca7d/32.png) [@anya\_marie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anya_marie)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2012, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dick-armey-receives-8-million-payday-for-walking-away-from-tea-party-group/645201/23 "2012-12-28T01:58:11Z")
[Lawyers Guns and Money from Warren Zevon](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5puAN1PGQw) ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2012, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dick-armey-receives-8-million-payday-for-walking-away-from-tea-party-group/645201/24 "2012-12-28T02:36:07Z")
I can’t hear “Dick Armey” without thinking of Marilyn Manson’s line about it sounding like the name of a gay bar. ---
**Author:** ![al27052](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/41988e/32.png) [@al27052](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/al27052)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2012, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dick-armey-receives-8-million-payday-for-walking-away-from-tea-party-group/645201/25 "2012-12-28T02:39:19Z")
> [@waterj2](#): > > …as the professional right-wing in this country devolves into an ouroboros of grifters trying to outscam each other. This happened at least 10 years ago, and probably a lot longer. My best friend, who worked in politics for about 15 years, told me, in 2002, that every good political operative has two options: 1. work for the Dems, or for the better liberal causes, and know you’re making the world better 2. work for the Repubs, or especially the nastier conservative causes (like the big tobacco lobby), and get PAID. PAID as in, probably about 3-4 times as much money. He said this in 2002, and I’ve guessing this has been true since AT LEAST the late 80s, if not earlier. There’s just a whooooooole lot more money on one side of the equation. It’s just not even close. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2012, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dick-armey-receives-8-million-payday-for-walking-away-from-tea-party-group/645201/26 "2012-12-28T02:55:25Z")
Oviously, think tank staffers need to be armed to defend themselves against such invasions. ---
**Author:** ![enomaj](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/59ef9b/32.png) [@enomaj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enomaj)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2012, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dick-armey-receives-8-million-payday-for-walking-away-from-tea-party-group/645201/27 "2012-12-28T03:24:40Z")
Doesn’t the chairman need a quorum or something? ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2012, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dick-armey-receives-8-million-payday-for-walking-away-from-tea-party-group/645201/28 "2012-12-28T03:26:28Z")
> [@](#): > > Oviously, think tank staffers need to be armed to defend themselves against such invasions. If it were muskets, that would have a certain degree of cool. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2012, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dick-armey-receives-8-million-payday-for-walking-away-from-tea-party-group/645201/29 "2012-12-28T04:13:05Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > I can’t hear “Dick Armey” without thinking of Marilyn Manson’s line about it sounding like the name of a gay bar. It was\* going \*to be the name of Andy Dick’s fan club, but that would require someone no one likes to have fans. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2012, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dick-armey-receives-8-million-payday-for-walking-away-from-tea-party-group/645201/30 "2012-12-28T04:24:43Z")
It seems like the only person who really lost anything here was Stephenson. For everybody else, it was a win. Armey got money, the fired staffers got their jobs back, and the tea partiers got control of their group. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2012, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dick-armey-receives-8-million-payday-for-walking-away-from-tea-party-group/645201/31 "2012-12-28T04:28:22Z")
> [@Captain\_Amazing](#): > > It seems like the only person who really lost anything here was Stephenson. For everybody else, it was a win. Armey got money, the fired staffers got their jobs back, and the tea partiers got control of their group. Ain’t FreedomWorks the loser here, if it has to pay Armey $8 million to go away? ---
**Author:** ![Bouncer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9d8465/32.png) [@Bouncer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bouncer)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2012, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dick-armey-receives-8-million-payday-for-walking-away-from-tea-party-group/645201/32 "2012-12-28T04:30:55Z")
> [@enomaj](#): > > Doesn’t the chairman need a quorum or something? If he’s got 13 in the mag and 1 in the pipe, he’s got a fucking quorum. You unnerstand what I’m a sayin’? Cause you know, it’d be a shame if we wuz unable to find some ground which is common. People break. Happens alla’ time. I’m just sayin’ is all. Regards, -BouncerWithTheFedora- ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2012, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dick-armey-receives-8-million-payday-for-walking-away-from-tea-party-group/645201/33 "2012-12-28T04:52:39Z")
> [@enomaj](#): > > Doesn’t the chairman need a quorum or something? Nah, in most cases there are topical creams that will make it shrink without that procedure. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2012, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dick-armey-receives-8-million-payday-for-walking-away-from-tea-party-group/645201/34 "2012-12-29T21:37:08Z")
> [@waterj2](#): > > I wonder how much of his own cash Karl Rove blew in the 2012 election. Max Bialystok: _NEVER PUT YOUR OWN MONEY IN THE SHOW!_ ---
**Author:** ![Agent\_Foxtrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc29f/32.png) [@Agent\_Foxtrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agent_Foxtrot)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2013, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dick-armey-receives-8-million-payday-for-walking-away-from-tea-party-group/645201/35 "2013-01-02T14:49:06Z")
> [@digs](#): > > Do. So this is embarrassing… apparently there are two journalists at WaPo named Amy Gardner. This one was not written by my friend. I emailed the other Amy Gardner, but no response yet. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dick-armey-receives-8-million-payday-for-walking-away-from-tea-party-group/645201.md?page=1)