Likely they figured that "respecting" the movement might pacify and quiet them, muting their effectiveness.
In their minds "respecting" may equate to giving the Movement a giant Paxil...they think.
What they are up to, imo, is they are going to start finding all kinds of “moderates” in the tea parties to interview.
My wife and I are tea party supporters. We went to one and plan to go to the next in Tucson on 4/15. The media has, once again, made fools out of themselves. Polls show the folks consider tea party members more favorably than Obama. As a 67 yr old life long conservative who nearly had several strokes over the lies the media tells, it is great to see the folks recognize male bovine feces for what it is - bull(*&(*&.
What’s scaring them is only ~60% self-ID as Republicans.
That other 40 (27% Ind, 13% Rat) could easily turn on them in Nov.
I suspect they’re recalculating who to split off from who, to then isolate and ridicule.