Posted on 02/06/2010 5:20:07 AM PST by Kaslin
If you read any of the extensive coverage of the Tea Party Convention going on this weekend in Nashville, TN, be prepared for dramatic stories of rampant grassroots infighting, questionable convention finances, and radical convention-goers flocking after polarizing demagogues.
The real story? Much different.
Attendees are wildly enthusiastic, not just about speakers, but about ideas. Those ideas are focused almost exclusively on basic conservative principles like limited government and fiscal responsibility (not the Obama birther conspiracy). And attendees are barely aware of the criticism that has been launched at the Tea Party Convention by mainstream media outlets.
"It's a good idea," said one attendee, pithily, when asked when he drove in from Ohio to be participate.
Attendees are mainly being informed about the manufactured scandals through convention speakers, who have taken every opportunity to punch back — like Mark Skoda, head of the Memphis tea party group.
"We've come so far in the world of socialist values that we're now criticizing a for-profit event," he said, during a morning briefing on Friday. "We've put six thousand of our dollars into the Gaylord Hotel (where the event is being hosted). We didn't ask for a tax benefit, a subsidy, or a stimulus."
That point was echoed by several convention-goers, who questioned the media's skepticism about their gathering.
"So what if the convention price is what it is?" one asked. "It just shows that tea partiers exist at all different income levels."
In fact, it seems that the only people who are disappointed in the event are the media. A woman in Southern Baptist Pastor Rick Scarborough's break-out session explained why critics were wrong.
"For those who don't know why we're here, I'll tell them. You know what we're here for? A little bit of R&R: revival and revolt," she said.
Revival and revolt was a good way to sum up the opening night speech by Rep. Tom Tancredo, who got people so riled up that they jumped out of their chairs. Tancredo didn't mince words, saying that not just Democrats, but everyone, is wrong about politics. He launched sharp barbs at Barack Obama just as quickly as he launched them at George H. W. Bush, George W. Bush, and John McCain—even thanking God that McCain didn't win the 2008 election. Tancredo brought up his literacy test—a throwback to his failed 2008 presidential campaign—and insisted that the attendees were part of a counterrevolution.
Steve Milloy, science commentator for Fox News, gave a poignant talk on global warming. He took down everything from junk science to school indoctrination, and the faces in the after-breakfast crowd revealed that his words were a welcome morning jolt. Rick Scarborough gave a religiously-focused speech about why it was important to get pastors to preach politics in addition to bible verse. Not speaking about politics from the pulpit is not just "denying history, but the reality of God's world."
"I firmly believe that the Ten Commandments were not just God's ten suggestions. There comes a time in a nation's existence where if they forsake God long enough, God will start to forsake them," he said.
Those are the sorts of statements that the leagues of journalists—who number at least one for every three conferencegoers — seize upon, and will continue to seize upon, as Fox News analyst Angela McGlowan and World Net Daily's Joseph Farah take the stage tonight, followed by tomorrow night's much-anticipated keynote by Governor Sarah Palin.
The MSM is only there in an attempt to discredit the Tea Party people.....they are looking for any tidbit to trumpet over and over again so they can say "See, these people are racists, bigots, homophobes, etc".
First they Ignore you. Then they laugh at you.(Teabaggers). We are now at phase three: they attack you. In November we will win.
I can just hear the comments about the T-bagging party at the Gaylord hotel. Just run the ideas past somebody under 40 yrs old every so often. This is a war of ideas after all, stop giving the other side ammo.
I know they are gong to ridicule anyway no matter what is done, but you don't intentionally hand them the bat to beat you with.
Only the ignorant fools don’t know that the hotel is known as the Opryland Hotel
You got it
We're all ankle-dwellers now!
Never been there, but I did note during David Farrar’s speech last night that the podium said Gaylord.
If you are that sensitive to words, perhaps you should reconsider your screen name. Any word can be used for double entendre, but most people get over reacting in a juvenile manner after they get out of school.
I think that the constant deliberate use of “tea-bagging” by our critics has done three things:
showed how crude they are,
and
how afraid of the movement they are,
and
removed all insult sting from the word because it has not intimidated thousands of new American activists.
The MSM coverage as well as the liberal reaction to the Tea Party demonstrates how liberals view the average citizen in this country.
It's now the Gaylord Opryland hotel...and has been for a number of years. I have to stay there every couple of years for a conference or convention and the name ALWAYS exhibits snickers from us when we go. I stand by my premise, this either already is or will be a joke on the Daily Show and other places. Modern Politics is a war of ideas as well as images.
Can you imagine how many jokes would have been flung around on this board if Barney Frank was a speaker for some group or another at this hotel??
Many of us would have had a field day with it.
that is a beautiful place
All the snide remarks about “teabaggers” from the Democrats and the MSM have only shown how mean spirited and out of touch they are. Give them as much of that kind of “ammo” as you can. They will continue to shoot themselves in the foot.
It is
I think that the constant deliberate use of “tea-bagging” by our critics has done three things:
I'll take my hits as they come regarding my screen name, I've kept the same one on boards for over 10 years...this one since 2001.
Juvenile or not, the T-bagging mantra was a straight up Alinsky method of ridiculing your opponent. It keeps the younger folks from wanting to associate for fear of the name being used on them. The T-Bagging name calling will forever stick, though it's impact has lessened now because of a few wins under the T-partiers belt. Instead of a perjoriative, I now ask the opposition how it feels to get Tea-bagged in MA, or VA, or NJ. It took some wins to turn that back on them...IMHO. I'd rather be the T-bag-ER than the T-bag-EE...see how this works in a street fight?
There are several internet memes about Repubs or conservatives being closetly gay...or to explain the homophobia they use against us. We've been playing against these Alinsky rules for decades but only now have come to the realization of what those tactics were and who they came from. I'm only saying be sensitive to what we're up against and how it's spun. Young blood is what conservative movements need, to be excitiing, to be cool, to be hip. The left is winning that war, I'm just suggesting to be sensitive to that and not shoot your self in the foot by giving the other side ammo. Yes they are going to ridicule no matter what, just don't flipping give them the joke of the week.
Liberals have always used against us our willingness to be "Above the Fray" and to be respectful against us. They don't play by our rules, and haven't for decades, they've used it against us to their advantage. We've been in a boxing match and they've been in a gutter fight. I'm just saying don't give them the broken bottle to slice you with.
I disagree, there is no honor in a street fight, only survival. And like it or not, we're in a street fight and have been for years. They're fighting to hold on to Washington, we're fighting for our survival. In a back alley brawl, don't let the other guy near the beer bottle or trash can to use against you.
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