MADDOW: Last night, we talked about the peculiar phenomenon of 18th century syndrome, whereby the tea party-affiliated facets of the moderate conservative movement have been trying to make the aesthetics of the revolutionary war their very own.
It‘s not just the double-breasted pants, the tricorne hats that are so in fashion at tea party events, or tea partiers pushing this year‘s conservative conspiracy theories on the poor, beleaguered, have-to-stay-in-character, historic re-enactors at places like colonial Williamsburg.
It‘s not just every other new conservative thing now being printed on fake parchment, so people might think it‘s time-tested. You guys, just because you named your thing after Thomas Payne or George Washington doesn‘t mean that actual historic feature approves of you. Step off. They‘re everybody‘s, not just yours.
Still, the tea party‘s 18th century affect, at times, is very literal right down to the fife and drum players, showing up in period costume at tea party events. You know, fife, right. And drum, right? Fife and drum. There‘s one fife and drum duo in Colorado that has been playing at tea party events for the last year and a half, until now.
Like Sonny and Cher, like Ike and Tina, like Lyle(ph) and Gallagher, like so many duos before them, the Liberty Leaders Fife and Drum duo have split up. They will be here live to discuss the tea party-related reasons for their breakup as well as their musical future. That‘s next. Seriously, I‘m so excited.
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MADDOW: The Liberty Leaders are a fife-and-drum duo. For 16 months, they attended and performed at tea party events in 9/12 rallies in the great state of Colorado. Organizers said their music gave the events a certain feeling of historical resonance. Of course, during the real revolutionary war, both British and American armies had fife-and-drum players in their infantry regiments.
But now, however, the “Fort Collins Coloradoan” reports that the Liberty Leaders have split. There‘s only two of them, fife and drum, but they are fifing and drumming together no longer. They‘ve gone their separate ways because of politics.
Joining us now are the two members of the duo, formally known as the Liberty Leaders, John Weins who is the fife player, and Mel Hilgenberg, who plays the field snare. Gentleman, thank you so much for being here tonight. Really appreciate your time.
MEL HILGENBERG, FIELD SNARE DRUMMER, LIBERTY LEADERS: Thank you for having us.
JOHN WEINS, FIFE PLAYER, LIBERTY LEADERS: Thank you.
MADDOW: Mr. Weans, let me start with you. How did you two meet up and end up playing together?
WEINS: Starting with me?
MADDOW: Yes, please.
HILGENBERG: Yes.
WEINS: We were both working on Rand Paul‘s 2008 presidential campaign, and that‘s how we met. I was fifing in a number of parades and other fundraising events of that nature. Then, I learned - somewhere along the line, I learned that Mel was also a drummer, so we began playing some other things at that time.
MADDOW: And Mel, Mr. Hilgenberg - what used to happen when you, guys, would show up at political events and rallies and you‘d start playing a fife and a drum - fife and drum, what sort of effect would it have on people there?
HILGENBERG: Well, it really had a good effect. We‘ve had an excellent tea party and 9/12 group here in northern Colorado. And it was really very motivational, going both ways because people got pretty pumped up. And I speak for myself and I think John would agree that it‘s a reciprocal kind of motivation.
MADDOW: Let me - Mr. Hilgenberg, let me stick with you for a second. I know a little bit about the story about why you, guys, decided to break up as a duo. I think it has something to do with the shirt that John is wearing there, the Carl Bruning, your constitutional sheriff candidate shirt there. Is that behind why you guys decided to break up?
HILGENBERG: Yes, that was the major thing. I‘m backing a guy named Justin Smith, and I‘m also pushing for clear the bench, sweep the boards, dump the dams, (UNINTELLIGIBLE) the bureaucracy, Republican renaissance and tea for 2010.
MADDOW: Now, Mr. Weins, you‘re supporting, obviously, the candidate whose name is there on your shirt for sheriff. Why did that become an important issue between you two?
WEINS: Well, Carl Bruning is a constitutional candidate for sheriff.
He is - of course, the constitution is his main platform, liberty, standing
up for citizens‘ rights. And the other candidate is -
MADDOW: I‘m sorry, go ahead, sir. I didn‘t mean to interrupt. I was going to say - this is the way it goes with a satellite delay. I‘ll just bully you and get in there and say - I‘m sorry for interrupting.
Not so much in terms of why specifically you‘re supporting that individual candidate, but I‘m wondering, if you guys were working together so closely for 16 months for a long time, why is this so divisive between you?
Can‘t you guys sort of live and let live and each support a different candidate? Both candidates are on the conservative side of the spectrum, aren‘t they?
HILGENBERG: Yes.
WEINS: Well, well in - on the last parade, both candidates had their own - their own contingency, and so I was with one group and Mel was with the other group, so never the twain shall meet, I guess.
MADDOW: Now, Mel, your response to that is, yes, this shouldn‘t be that big an issue between you. Do you think that - does this have a broader political resonance for you? Do you think this is the sort of issue that shouldn‘t split up friends, fellow conservatives? And John, do you think that this is irreconcilable? Is that - Mel, am I right in sussing that out?
HILGENBERG: Well, I don‘t think it‘s irreconcilable. And no, I don‘t believe that politics, if it‘s between a couple of two different sexes or between a partnership like John and I have had, that that should be the deciding factor on it.
MADDOW: The reason that I wanted to talk to you guys tonight is, A, because I think fife and drum bands are really cool.
And B, because I just wonder if there is a bigger story to tell here about - I guess, about whether or not the tea party politics and the sort of idea that there are irreconcilable differences is a microcosm. Whether what‘s going on between you two guys is what‘s going on in the movement in general. Whether or not you can be flexible or whether or not this is a real time to demand purity.
HILGENBERG: Well, actually, it‘s not, because recently, we‘ve had an issue with both of our Republican candidates for governor. And the tea party 9/12 groups have shown a great amount of maturity and a great amount of growth.
There were a lot of people initially involved that hadn‘t been involved politically before, and they are signing in and saying, “Look, we‘ve got to get behind Republican candidates across the board from sheriff down to United States Senate, because to do otherwise really puts our freedom/liberty in this state and in this country in jeopardy.”
MADDOW: John, do you disagree with that strategy?
WEINS: Oh, I guess, yes and no. Well, liberty is very important. And I know, at least in the sheriff‘s race, that the other candidate running is representing the current regime, sheriff‘s regime. And there are certain things that need to be looked at and probably cleaned up.
And you know, that can‘t happen if you just continue on the same
path. You need somebody new like Carl Bruning to kind of clean things up
and get things back on track. So -
MADDOW: All right, well -
WEINS: So what I mean -
MADDOW: Go ahead, sir.
WEINS: Well, both, yes, both candidates are Republican, but there‘s
an awful lot of differences. So -
MADDOW: All right. Well, John Weins and Mel Hilgenberg, between you, sort of acting out the compromise is OK versus compromise is not OK fights happening within the conservative movement right now. They happen on the left as well.
We don‘t get to see a lot of each other across the partisan divide, but it‘s been a real pleasure for me to have you guys here on the show to talk about what‘s happened between you.
If you guys end up going out for a beer tonight because you like each other now that you‘ve seen each other again, if you send me the bill, I will happily pay for a reconciliation round between you. Is that OK?
WEINS: Oh, thank you.
HILGENBERG: That‘s great. Thank you very much.
MADDOW: All right. I absolutely will. John Weins and Mel Hilgenberg of the Liberty Leaders, thank you very much.
All right, I understand that - coming up on “COUNTDOWN,” Nevada Senate candidate Sharron Angle will explain. Keith has the tape of her explaining that she wants a press that asks the questions that she wants to answer. Wow.
Coming up on this show, Republicans in the Senate take a brave, brave stand against their own policies. Again, this is getting a little bit weird. Before we go, I‘m just wondering, hey, John and Mel, do you guys mind playing us out a little bit before we go to the commercial break here?
WEINS: Oh, yes.
MADDOW: Oh, I got them back together.
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All right. Two beers. Two beers. I‘ll go for two rounds now.
Thanks, you guys, so much. We‘ll be right back.