Tea Party Gone Wrong

It was my great honor to not only attend, but greatly enjoy, a wonderful tea party earlier today.

Yes, that Tea Party.

I was able to find about an hour to visit the “Tea Party” in New Haven, CT. I know this was an Astroturf campaign, and the fact that I had even heard about it was due to Keith Olberman’s fascination with Fox News, causing him to poke fun at the fact that they were the only news organization (?) covering the rallies, and in fact, were outright promoting them. Nevertheless, I wanted to go. Maybe I would find the logical Republican. The one logical Republican.

Please allow me to catch my breath.

At most, there were 300-350 people standing around, holding signs, and being relatively quiet. Between patriotic songs by no name musicians blaring on the radio, a woman would yell into a microphone words that were simply read off the placards being held, generally something about Marxism or Socialism. Most disturbing was the signs that mentioned teabagging, as these were all held by what seemed like 15 year old girls, who were the only ones that looked excited to be there. That one adult could not see the irony, and perhaps illegality, in this is astounding. Needless to say, I found it entertaining.

I asked a few of the older protesters, all of which seemed to be veterans, what they were rallying for. All responded that Obama was destroying the country, and they were tired of taxes. Since I was committed to walking out with my nose intact, I barely responded, but am still left with a query. Unless all millionaires now dress in flannel, no one there saw any tax increases whatsoever. In fact, they are paying less. As I could not figure out the point of this gathering, I took my leave.

A few days prior, on meetup.com, I joined a group of Glenn Beck fans for shits and giggles. I had no intention of much interaction, but simply wanted to observe the posts and ideology (yeah I know, there isn’t one). I will now share with you the email interaction between one of the members and myself, as I just could not keep quiet:

Member 1: Thanks for going. I am sorry I had to work. You and everyone who attended were on my mind throughout the day. Do you have an estimate of how many attended? When I hear the news (ha!) cover it I want to know if they are lying. Thanks for being my voice when I could not speak!

Member 2: Sorry we missed you, I couldn't even guess but there was a lot! More than I thought would show. I'm happy we're taking this seriously. I wonder who might be losing a bit of sleep in Washington and every State tonight, or where ever they might be?

Member 3: Hi everyone! Thanks for coming out today, I think it was a great success. We stopped counting people at 1600, but the general consensus is almost 2000 at the height! Well done!

Me: There is no way I can be quiet about this. If you counted 1600, you must be the same that counted the attendance to the Million Man March or the Garth Brooks concert in Central Park. I was there for an hour, and at no point was there more than a few hundred, and some of those were walkers that are there every day at noon. And general consensus is that there were 2000? I feel your pain, but this is a joke.

Member 3: There were 2000, you have to count groups of 100 then guesstimate as you walk along, your being dishonest by saying a few hundred, there were 200 there at 10:30 Am have you ever ran an event or sold tickets to a show??? I have, I have ran several boxing events and 12 bodybuilding shows, 2000 people isn't that big of a crowd, the normal elevator fits 10! easy...

Me: Look, I wish it were true. Once I left, I returned to (the College around the corner), where those that did not know about the rally referred to it as a picnic. The road would certainly have been closed, or at least diverted, for 2000 people. Let’s not be revisionists a mere few hours after the fact. And suggesting that I cannot count because I have never sold tickets to a boxing match? Really? "2000 people isn't that big of a crowd, the normal elevator fits 10!"
Is this a joke?

Member 3: Ok to the rest stop regulars you hang with then, we here need not nor want a punk in the group and I have a personal mail if you want to discuss this face to face.

Apparently a face to face meeting through email is possible. Gotta love modern technology. After this, I stopped replying, as this was beyond idiotic. But how on earth is participating in a fraudulent “grassroots” campaign, where few if any of the protesters know what they are protesting, followed by the most inaccurate head count I have ever witnessed, going to help the party? This is laughable.

The truth is, I am starting to feel sorry for these people.