With both mainstream Republicans turning against the event and other legitimate elements of the Tea Party movement generally ignoring it, the environment seems to have turned rather strange. The huge number of press representatives who were invited are being excluded from many of the events and the convention has already attracted national negative attention when opening speaker Joseph Farah launched a birther screed about President Obama's Birth certificate, garnering major negative response from left and right alike.
As a result of all of this, attendance is embarrassingly low, with an official estimate of only 600 paid attendees, which is far less than the left's similar Netroots Nation event which intentionally capped attendance at about three times that size. I've run a lot of conventions, and with that few attendees and paying for Opryland and $100,000 for Sarah Palin's speech, even at $549 a head it seems very unlikely that the organizers will see more than a modest profit, and the new Ensuring Liberty PAC which they are launching out of the convention isn't going to have a lot of cash to throw around as a result.
Now I have to admit that everyone has a right to make a buck, and if turning the Tea Party movement into a circus and inviting the scorn of the left media and genuine grassroots activists is worth enduring to make some money, then Mark Skoda and Justin Phillips of Tea Party Nation have every right to do it. And we can't blame Sarah Palin for banking another six figures in her bank account. But I think that there is reason to be concerned about what this event will do to the grassroots movement which it represents so poorly.
Obviously an event like this isn't going to put an end to the genuine discontent among working Americans which motivated all of the protests over the past year. Yet it really does highlight the biggest problem that these loosely associated Tea Party groups have, which is their lack of nationwide organization. They are inherently leery of some of the organizations which could provide them with guidance and structure like FreedomWorks and don't want to sell out to the corporate interests they feel those groups represent. But it's clear from this convention that even some from within their own ranks are pretty eager to sell out and turn a profit from the movement without really moving them any closer to unity.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - concerned
I agree, the tea party has a decent concept but is being mislead by people like sarah palin and corperations that see the movement as just a tool to further their own agenda. The fire and anger you have toward government and big business is great, but be careful, corperations will try and harness that and get you to move towards ideals that are completely against your own best interest
2 - jeannie danna
Dave,
You mean the hard working people at Freedom Works, don't you? You know who I mean ?
Dick Armey's lobbyist group.
hard-working people who made up the crowds at authentic protests this past year mostly can't afford to attend.
So,we can both agree on something now; the Tea Party will most likely go away.
:*shoooe!
3 - jeannie danna
The second link's video has already been removed.
4 - Ruvy
I sipped my cup of coffee while watching Sarah Palin excoriate Obama. She got her $100,000, and I didn't have have to pay to attend. Besides - why would I want to go to Tennesee? Feh!
Now I have to shave and go to Jerusalem in a bit to do patrol duty, and maybe visit a friend in the hospital. Maybe, when I get home, I can watch Joe Farrah make his speech about Obama and his oh-so-absent birth certificate.... It's always a pleasure to see an Arab tear down a sympathiser with Wahhabi terrorists.
5 - Eric Dondero
Dave, Erick Erickson who was extremely skeptical of the event, and even downright nasty towards them, showed up. He was interviewed and he recanted just about all of his former skepticisms.
I'd say the event was a smashing success. I wish I had been there. I was going to go, but then was disuaded in attending by others who said it wouldn't be worth it.
I watched Sarah's speech last night, and it was superb. I wish we Libertarian Republicans would have taken a more active role in the event.
6 - libhomo
When crazies like Michelle Bachmann bow out, you know they are in trouble.
7 - jeannie danna
Dave,
"The stronger part of me - the part that still believes in the American ideal - will simply keep on supporting our democracy."- Glenn Contrarian
There are many people in this country who feel this same way. We just aren't organized into the streets, on-line magazines, and newspapers of this country fighting against ourselves.
Don't the Tea Baggers realize that they are the government, along with all the rest of us?
Most people sat home watching their TVs last night in utter revulsion. They paid her how much?
:0 Just how many of these paid- commenters are out here at the bidding of the special interest groups any way?
8 - Eric Dondero
Jeannie, we "teabaggers" are NOT the government, rather we're the taxpayers, working Americans funding the government which is robbing us of our hard-earned dollars.
We're the ones paying the bills of all of society's moochers who are sitting on their couches muching Cheetos and watching Jerry Springer and Ophra all day long. And you have the audacity to say that we're the ones who shouldn't have a say in how our government is run?
9 - jeannie danna
RE.8,
The comment above my head right now is a perfect example of why your brand of Tea will never fly in this country. Bigotry, and ethnocentrism has no place at the table of our countries future.
Now, go back home and get ready for the Superbowl.
10 - jeannie danna
RE 8.5
What a fool, to be so ignorant as to not know that our government is made up of TAXPAYERS...We do need better education in this country.
:0 and I'm worried about my sentence structure?
11 - jeannie danna
Eric,RE.8,
Is this what you wrote?
we're the taxpayers, working Americans funding the government which is robbing us of our hard-earned dollars.
The right-wing extremists who are stealing our countries future through obstructionism and stalling are the same people who are robbing you blind.
: Hmm? I guess we do have something in common.
12 - jeannie danna
Eric,
As long as you do the bidding for big- special-interest groups like Freedom Works,then, you will be their pawn...Do you really believe that these people will allow you the same legacy that they are securing for themselves? Really?
13 - jeannie danna
Eric,
"The stronger part of me - the part that still believes in the American ideal - will simply keep on supporting our democracy."- Glenn Contrarian
I really love this quote! It speaks to my American heart...
14 - jeannie danna
I'll see ya all later.
15 - realcapitalist
Up to about six years ago, I would make fun of people who complained constantly about how the corporations run the country and own our politicians.
The Bush administration When I saw how changed my mind. I am former military and a military brat to boot, but when I saw how the Republicans shoveled taxpayers' money at their chosen favorites, resisting any call for accountability, and when I saw Democrats follow meekly behind Bush in the Congress, I realized that the Republicans don't believe in private enterprise and capitalism; they believe in cronyism and an entrenched herditary elite. Meanwhile, the Democrats mouth all the right phrases, but when push comes to shove, they won't push and shove to tear away government protection for the people at the top, who all feel entitled to huge salaries no matter how miserably they perform (see Wall Street). Now I believe in raising the top marginal tax rate to 91% again, just like it was under Eisenhower. The country seems to have been in better shape back then.
16 - jeannie danna
realcapitalist,
You are the American capitalist that I remember...before greed took over...
:] Tax is not an evil word!
17 - Dave Nalle
You mean the hard working people at Freedom Works, don't you? You know who I mean ?
Dick Armey's lobbyist group.
Actually, Jeannie, FreedomWorks had little or nothing to do with the original protests and has played a very limited but positive role since it got involved. And it's not Armey's group, he's a hireling. FreedomWorks is a front for the Koch Foundation. And in fact, I think that despite the suspicion of the group, FreedomWorks has the best position to provide legitimate organizationm to the Tea Party movement.
So,we can both agree on something now; the Tea Party will most likely go away.
So, you didn't actually READ the article, thn.
Dave
18 - Dave Nalle
Jeannie, the more you post the deeper the hole your ignorance digs you.
First off, Eric never said a single bigoted word. You just leapt to conclusions based on your own prejudices.
Second, what "special interest" do you think FreedomWorks is promoting? Are you at all familiar with the group and its agenda or the people behind it? Clearly not.
Like Realcapitalist you don't understand that the corporatists are just as much a target as the tea party movement as the government is. In fact, they are indistinguishable under the current administration. That's why the health care bill was so particularly objectionable.
If you had a bit of sense you'd be marching with the tea partiers like many who lean left politically are.
Dave
19 - jeannie danna
Dave,
See, this why I cannot trust you on other fronts here. I have clearly-established without a doubt who and what started this cut our taxes lobby and political action group that is now posing as the American populace.
I believe we have all had enough of Reaganomics for the last thirty years.
I withdraw my request to you again, and, I will contact another editor to handle my writings here.
20 - Dave Nalle
Jeannie, you really are terribly reactive. What do my comments here have to do with my ability to edit your article? Totally irrational to associate the two.
And whether you like to admit it or not, the public does not like being overtaxed - or taxed at all - and even moreso when government is the enemy of the liberties it is supposed to protect. No one wants to pay money for something which is bad for them.
Dave
21 - jeannie danna
So, you think I would let you infect my writing with this warped view?
I'll find someone to handle my work correctly or I'll wait until next Thursday for Clavos.
In the "mean-time", are you trying to push me away from this thread, because, you don't like what I am saying?
22 - jeannie danna
I didn't write this Dave,
Now I believe in raising the top marginal tax rate to 91% again, just like it was under Eisenhower. The country seems to have been in better shape back then.
realcapitalist did, A real capitalist!
I'm not alone.
23 - roger nowosielski
Dave,
That's just Jeannie's style to be provocative. Jeannie, all of us are real persons here regardless of what ends up being written on the computer screen. None of us, including Dave, are evil. We all want what is good for the country, however much we may disagree what good is.
Try to remember that, please.
24 - jeannie danna
Roger,
I never said he was evil. I said his attitude is atrocious towards me and everyone else he doesn't like..there is no separation here between the myth and reality.
and You, have not addressed me for days..so what are you doing now?
25 - roger nowosielski
Cindy, I very much doubt whether Dave or anybody else here dislikes you.
You should try to find some common ground so you can understand one another better. I'm not saying it's easy, but both of you should try. In absence of that, all you end up is sniping at one another, and that serves no purpose that I can see.
Talk to you shortly,
Roger