Trouble in Teabaggistan

Image from source, DBKP

I've covered the "tea party" movement here on the blog rather a lot, and not just to throw around "tea bagging" and "tea bagger" (though I've done that rather a lot too. . .it's fun!). I've written about how it was initially a libertarian idea, co-opted by conservatives who really, really didn't like losing in 2008 (and to a black guy, yikes!). Mostly, I've written about how what was briefly a "grass roots" movement very quickly was taken over by corporate interests (mostly behind the scenes), and mainstream Republicans. Or what passes for them these days, like batshit crazy Michelle Bachmann (R-Minn.) and Sarah Palin (R-Facebook).

It has been with a mixture of fascination and amusement that I've watched the tea partiers fracture and splinter into warring subgroups. I don't know if any of them is truly grass roots anymore, or if their scatter shot anger has focused into a real message. But the view from the sidelines is still entertaining.

[Excerpt]

NASHVILLE IS HOSTING “A” TEA PARTY CONVENTION,NOT “THE” TEA PARTY CONVENTION

The group, Tea Party Nation held a convention this weekend in Nashville and I’m not there.

How can this be? I’m conservative, in the “new media” and a supporter of the Tea Party movement. How did it come to pass that I’m at home while a mediafest seems to have broken out in the Volunteer State?

I guess I can mark it down to “poor communications. . .”

Read more at: Death by 1000 Papercuts