The Chamber Chums it up with the Tea Party, Sarah Palin

Publicity over the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s questionable practices has earned the Chamber some new buddies – Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck. 

Despite the Chamber’s repeated claims to be non-partisan and representative of small businesses, voices on the extreme right are lending the Chamber their support and the Chamber doesn’t seem to mind.  In fact, ChamberPost bloggers are even thanking them.

Here’s a recap of the Chamber’s cozy relationship with the right wing:

Sarah Palin Attacked Obama’s Criticisms of the Chamber: 

"If you believe in commerce and you're called a chamber," she said, "maybe that's enough to get you on the White House enemy watch list."

She added: "Did you ever think our White House would go to war with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce? The Chamber of Commerce isn't a threat. … Who are they going to go after next? The Boy Scouts? The Girl Scouts? The way the White House talks, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is an international terrorist."

Chamber Thanked Glenn Beck and His Listeners for Fundraising Appeal, Disclosing Some Fundraising Details in the Process (although it refuses to do so for anything else):

Yesterday, Glenn Beck urged listeners to his radio show to make a donation to the Chamber. He logged onto our site while on air and gave a $10,000 donation himself, to start the giving - and start an avalanche.

And what an avalanche it was. We can say with confidence that yesterday was the single largest day of online fundraising that we've ever had. Some details:

Almost 6,000 people made donations; We raised more than a quarter of a million dollars; Our server crashed!

So we just wanted to say thank you to Mr. Beck and his many loyal listeners who believe in our mission of protecting and advocating for the principles of free enterprise.

Chamber Bloggers Gave Shout Out to a RedState Blog Post Parodying the idea of Chamber Secretiveness. RedState touts itself as the “most widely read right of center blog on Capitol Hill,” and the “most often cited right of center blog in the media.” It says it “is widely considered one of the most influential voices of the grassroots on the right.” The site endorsed Florida senate candidate Marco Rubio, and frequently offers commentary supporting the tea party and tea party candidates. The Chamber revealed how chummy it is with RedState and got in on the joke, saying, “We expect this kind of stuff from the left, but from RedState?”