Conservatives question whether John Birch Society should be accepted as part of the Tea Party movement

The Daily Caller reports:

Though the John Birch Society is making a comeback through the Tea Party movement, at least some conservatives question whether the group really belongs apart of the movement.

Heritage Foundation fellow Lee Edwards, who authored “William F. Buckley, Jr.: The Maker of a Movement,” thinks the John Birch Society, which was forced out of the mainstream by Buckley as a result of several conspiracy theories, has no place at all in the Tea Party movement. Edwards said the only way he thinks the John Birch Society could ever be taken seriously again is if the organization denounces its founder, Robert Welch, who believed that President Dwight Eisenhower was a communist and that world leaders were conspiring to create a “New World Order.”

“If the John Birch Society, in its present incarnation, was to repudiate Robert Welch and his fantasies about Dwight David Eisenhower, and was to repudiate the many issues of [the organization's magazine] American Opinion, then maybe, maybe you could begin discussing whether or not they have any place in the current political discussion,” Edwards told The Daily Caller. “But, until, and if, that day comes, show them door politely, but firmly.”

Here's Ron Paul addressing the John Birch Society.