Reports in the New York Times and on the Think Progress blog suggest that next month’s National Tea Party Convention in Nashville is unravelling due to infighting among grass-roots groups. A number of activists are accusing the corporate Tea Party Nation of trying to profit from the convention — and are particularly exercised over the $549-a-ticket cost of attending. (Check out the Tea Party Nation website: TICKETS TO THE BANQUET WITH GOV PALIN ARE STILL AVAILABLE!!!!! These guys are selling, hard.)
But now groups are actually pulling out. Philip Glass, national director of the National Precinct Alliance, issued a statement as he withdrew from the jamboree:
We are very concerned about the appearance of TPN profiteering and exploitation of the grass-roots movement. We were under the impression that TPN was a non-profit organisation like NPA, interested only in uniting and educating Tea Party activists on how to make a real difference in the political arena.
One of the possible reasons for the exorbitant cost of attending the convention is Sarah Palin’s reported speaking fee of $100,000. This is yet to be confirmed, but if it’s true it places her not that far off Tony Blair in the unbelievably-overpaid-speakers-who-really-know-the-meaning-of-personal-profit category. (Maybe Blair and Palin should team up — as a sort of political double act — where gullible audience members turn up and stuff their pockets with hard cash as they pirouette to the tune of “Money Money Money” on a vast golden stage.)
According to Think Progress, however, the Tea Party rebels are not going to let the so-called exploitation continue without a fight, and demonstrations are being planned outside the convention. It wouldn’t exactly be a sign of great unity in the grass-roots movement:
“It would really look bad for tea parties to be out there protesting the Tea Party,” said former Tea Party Nation member Anthony Shreeve.
And that’s where you get to the beauty of the tea party situation, with official Tea Parties versus independent tea parties and the overriding sense that this is one elaborate tea party spinning wildly out of control. As for a tea party protest — it sounds so genteel, so very decorous. Of course, it will be anything but . . . Beware the fury of a Tea Party scorned.
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