Newsweek Writer Claims 200,000 Coffee Party Members

NewsBusters ^ | April 24, 2010 | P.J. Gladnick

[PJ-Comix]

Does anyone out there remember the Coffee Parties?

You can be forgiven if you have forgotten them. They made a brief appearance due to media driven hype over a month ago and then quickly disappeared from view when they inspired a collective yawn from the public. The photo at right shows a typical Coffee Party "rally" from back then. Typical in that few people showed up to protest against private ownership (aka free enterprise). Even the organizer of the Coffee Party non-movement, Annabel Park, seems to have lost her enthusiasm for the cause as evidenced by her Twitter page. After an initial flurry of posts, Park's interest pretty much petered out as you can see.

However, despite the utter failure of the liberal Coffee Parties to counter the popular Tea Parties, the MSM continues to hype them to the point of absolute absurdity. And the latest entry in this category comes from Steve Tuttle of Newsweek with his claim that the Coffee Party now has 200,000 members and that they had 500 meetings one one day recently.

Here is Tuttle in the midst of extreme hype mode. Please be prepared to have your BS meters fly off the scale while reading:

[tiredoflaundry]

I guess this is where they get the #s

http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/coffeeparty?ref=ts

[Jack Hydrazine]

If this number is true why do I keep hearing crickets?

[longtermmemmory]

Newsweek is the epitome of ignorance about history.

The reason we are a coffee drinking nation (you are welcome starbucks) is BECAUSE of teaparties.

We dumped the tea and picked up the coffee.

In the ultimate irony these coffee parties are advocating for tyrany.

[kcvl]

Annabel Park worked briefly for the New York Times as a strategy analyst

NY Times, Washington Post Hide Phony ‘Coffee Party’ Astroturf ...

******

Annabel Park: From Netroots Nation To Coffee Parties?

she has been associated with a large number of leftist groups including, Asian Pacific Americans for Progress, Asian Americans for Obama, and she started the 121 Coalition

Annabel Park already has a group.

Annabel’s video blog (youtube.com/9500liberty) documenting the immigration battle in northern Virginia is considered a breakthrough in new media activism. She is currently finishing a feature-length documentary version of the story. Annabel also produced youtube.com/UnitedForObama featuring the viral music video “Si Se Puede Cambiar”and created the grassroots campaign, Real Virginians for Webb, in support of Senator Jim Webb. In 2007, she coordinated the historic grassroots campaign for H.Res.121, the “comfort women” resolution, addressing the trafficking of girls into sexual slavery by the Japanese Army during WWII. She studied political theory at Oxford University as a Marshall Scholar.

Panelists will discuss and share analyses on the role of race both following President Obama’s inauguration, and its impact on progressive thinking and communication.

******

It seems Annabel “Q public” Park went to an advanced screening of Michael Moore’s recent crockumentary in San Francisco.

Review of Capitalism: A Love Story
by Elisa :: Fri Sep 18, 2009 at 05:00:04 PM PST

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. — Last night, I went with DH and friend and filmmaker Annabel Park to see an advanced screening of Michael Moore’s latest documentary Capitalism: A Love Story. Initial reaction? We were ready to pick up our torches and pitchforks as we were reminded of how greed — I would not necessarily call this capitalism — caused for so many hardworking Americans to experience stagnant wages, predatory lending practices and lose their homes.

http://www.mothertalkers.com/story/2009/9/18/6233/-Review-of-Capitalism:-A-Love-Story

Riehlworldview.com -

http://www.riehlworldview.com/carnivorous_conservative/2010/03/annabel-park-from-netroots-nation-to-coffee-parties.html

[kcvl]

Annabel Park (Korean) is a documentary filmmaker, political activist and community volunteer.

Born in 1968 in Seoul, South Korea, Annabel immigrated to the United States with her family when she was nine years old, and was raised in Texas and Maryland. She was educated at Boston University and Oxford University

Political activism

Park was instrumental in the passing of House Resolution 121. She co-directed and produced the documentary, 9500 Liberty, about the battle over the “Immigration Resolution” law in Virginia. She is a founder and defacto-coordinator of Coffee Party USA. She has volunteered for James Webb’s 2006 US Senate campaign and for Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign.

http://www.facebook.com/annabelpark

Killian, Linda (2010-03-15). “Meet the Coffee Party, a Kinder, Gentler, More Liberal Tea Party”. U.S. News & World Report. http://www.usnews.com/blogs/linda-killian/2010/03/15/meet-the-coffee-party-a-kinder-gentler-more-liberal-tea-party.html. Retrieved 2010-03-16.

Linda Killian is a Washington journalist
She is a columnist for U.S. News & World Report.com
She is the former senior editor of National Public Radio’s “All Things Considered”

http://www.usnews.com/blogs/linda-killian/2010/03/15/meet-the-coffee-party-a-kinder-gentler-more-liberal-tea-party.html

[PA Engineer]

And the latest entry in this category comes from Steve Tuttle of Newsweek with his claim that the Coffee Party now has 200,000 members and that they had 500 meetings one one day recently.

The modus operandi of the big lie is both large and round numbers.

[longtermmemmory]

Rendel was on FNC saying there were only 1000 people at the Tea Parties. (he was calling it “tea partiers” in a play on the vulgar term)

[kcvl]

Coffee Party activists say their civic brew’s a tastier choice than Tea Party’s

By Dan Zak
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, February 26, 2010

Furious at the tempest over the Tea Party — the scattershot citizen uprising against big government and wild spending — Annabel Park did what any American does when she feels her voice has been drowned out: She squeezed her anger into a Facebook status update.

let’s start a coffee party . . . smoothie party. red bull party. anything but tea. geez. ooh how about cappuccino party? that would really piss ‘em off bec it sounds elitist . . . let’s get together and drink cappuccino and have real political dialogue with substance and compassion.

“It’s like trying to perform surgery in the dark,” says Park, 41, a documentary filmmaker. She’s exhausted, overcommitted, passing whole days on Facebook, not collecting a paycheck, hopping between conference calls, sending e-mails at 4 a.m., smoothing out conflicts over strategy. She has been swept up in this project, and so have others. Within two weeks of forming, the Los Angeles chapter produced a five-minute video in which citizens yearn for sensible progress and lament obstructionist truth-twisting.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/25/AR2010022505517.html

[kcvl]

Annabel Park is the founder of Korean American Community Corp (KoAmCo) in the D.C. region. Previously, she organized the Asian American outreach for James Webb’s 2006 Senate race in Virginia and co-founded the multi-ethnic coalition, Real Virginians for Webb, that helped him win the election. Therefore, she already had a close network of political and social activists, in addition to some filmmakers, to initiate the 121 network.

http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/include/print.asp?newsIdx=6169

[Palladin]

Oh,WOW! These people are so original. What creative thinkers. Where do I sign up?

< / sarc>

[McGavin999]

Sooooo, where are the videos of their massive protests? Oh, they must be at the same place as the videos of the Teapartier’s shouting racial slurs and spitting. Uh huh.

[kcvl]

Annabel Park

[Palladin]

Dear sweet Annabel. Just what America needs—one more COMMUNITY ORGANIZER.....BWAHAHAHAha

[Utilizer]

"200,000" members? "500" meetings?

*Spock eyebrow-raise*

If that does not scream Made-Up / Imaginary numbers I do not know what does.

[HarleyD]

This picture

looks like about 500 members as this one looks like about 10,000.

I think they have a problem with numbers.

[Palladin]

You cynic, you!

;)

[kcvl]

washingtonpost.com > Live Q&As

Coffee Party movement: Alternative to tea

Annabel Park
Coffee Party USA Founder
Friday, February 26, 2010; 2:00 PM

Annabel Park, founder of Coffee Party USA, a grassroots online Facebook/Coffee Party) network which advocates cooperation among elected representatives and promotes civil public discourse, was online Friday, Feb. 26, at 2 p.m. ET to discuss an alternative to the Tea Party movement.

Coffee Party activists say their civic brew’s a tastier choice than Tea Party’s (Post, Feb. 26)

Oak Hill, Va.: Hi Annabel: In some respects I thought the article made too much of the “similarities” between the Tea Party and the Coffee Party....could you give your perspective on the key differences? Thanks.

Annabel Park: A key difference is in our emphasis on the democratic process, on respectful and civil engagement with one another and with our elected officials.

In the current climate, too many Americans are afraid to participate, and find the process itself too alienating, because it is dominated by people with extreme opinions and extreme tactics.

It’s hard to speak up when others in the room are screaming.

So in the end, we may want some of the same things, but we our hoping our journey getting there will be very different.

Philadelphia, Pa.: Is the Coffee Party turning out to align to a specific party —Republican, Democrat, or another party — or is it striving for non-partisanship?

Annabel Park: We are purely grassroots movement, independent of any party, corporation, or lobbying organization. That is our strength and we plan to use it to facilitate a collaborative process that would encourage people to come together as a community, checking party affiliation at the door.

Boston, Mass.: What is one key point that you would like to stress to your early followers and participants in the Coffee Party?

Annabel Park: We want to shift the paradigm from thinking of politics as a zero-sum game with two opposing sides. If one side loses, the other side wins. This is not a democracy. This is a misunderstanding of the tenets of democracy.

Democracy is based on the notion of the common good. People should come together to go through a deliberation process to produce collective decisions that benefit the common good.

As citizens, we need to find ways to, first, create a stronger sense of community and common good among Americans. And this is precisely why we believe that the rhetorical frameworks currently dominating our political process is not good for the country.

We want to offer an alternative, and lead by example.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2010/02/26/DI2010022602928.html

[gwilhelm56]

A NEWSPEAK article makes a claim that Rod Serling would shake his head in disbelief!!

I guess they counted the TEA Party on the other side of the building???

No wonder that NEWSPEAK is dying a slow agonizing death.

[Rocky]

200,000? Boy, you can sure work wonders with Photoshop.

Leeches.

[Moonman62]

There's a lot of Obama on her screen. There must be a well fed pigeon flying around her office.