@blueveinedthrobber,
I wouldn't call myself a Tea Party member, because there is no Tea Party of which to be a member, but I have been to a number of local rallies that were locally organized and used the Tea Party moniker.
The first one was on July 4th a couple of years ago. It was held at Southfork, the ranch used in the old TV series "Dallas." Although I never watched the show, it was a pretty cool venue.
In the ballroom there was a Texas BBQ buffet available for those who had paid a fee, and throughout the grounds there were booths selling food and drinks.
There were also booths selling t-shirts and bumper stickers and the like. While the merchandise was hardly flattering to Obama, Pelosi and Reid, I honestly didn't see anything that crossed the line and reflected racism or obscenity. I also didn't see any such sentiment expressed on the signs and clothing the attendees had. Obviously, I didn't inspect every sign and every t-shirt, and so there could have been a few, but certainly not in numbers that would have made them hard not to notice. In fact, a common subject in conversations I had with other attendees was such displays and how to react if one were seen. Everyone with whom I spoke agreed that we would ask the person to put their sign down (we weren't going to ask them to take off their shirts - beautiful busty women never seem to wear this sort of crap anyway).
Again, I never saw any so didn't have to act. I don't know if anyone else had.
The "show" consisted of musical groups and speakers. There was a Bluegrass band, a Swing Big Band from New Jersey, and a Country Rock band. All three were very good and the political comments made by their leaders were pretty tame and may have been intended just to fit in. I don't know, I never met any of them.
I don't recall how many speakers there were, but only two really stood out for me. One was a Michelle Malkin, but I have to say she spent most of her time praising America (it being its birthday) and very little time criticizing current government policies. Her speech was OK, but I remember it more because of her celebrity than content.
The other one was Wayne Allyn Root, someone who I had never heard of, but who calls himself a libertarian and has made a small deal out of attending Columbia at the same time as Obama. He actually is a pretty good speaker and had the crowd jazzed up about Big Government, Big Spending, and Big Intrusion, but then he went off on how Obama was not an American citizen.
Certainly the crowd wasn't silenced and no one booed or heckled him but it went flat and he was smart enough to figure out he should change direction.
Later that night, the main musical attraction came on stage: Micky Dolenz! He had a decent band accompanying him (including his sister CoCo who sang backup and looked a lot like Roseann Barr). At first he want to play songs from his "new album," which were horrendous, but eventually he settled into the purpose for which he was being paid: old Monkee songs.
I wondered why the organizers hadn't spent a little more dough on a better headliner until the fireworks display started and went on and on and on. The best I've ever seen, one typical display's finale after another. It must have cost a ton.
We left after the fireworks, but there was a sizeable cover band playing into the night for the "younger folks," of whom there were plenty.
Other than the fireworks, the best part of attending was getting to talk to so many other folks who were there. There's someing nice about being in a very large group of people with whom you share some pretty fundamental ideas.
That was the Grand Rally/Party. All the others I've attended have been much smaller and even more local. Typically there are speeches, but again the real draw, for me, is to get to talk to the other folks present.
As A result of attending these events I'm on several mailing lists. None of them are very professional and rarely, if ever, do they ask for money. They are also not national in scope. They stick to local issues, that even the local media doesn't cover.
Obviously I haven't been to all the Tea Party rallies or even any outside the Dallas/Fort Worth area and so what you assert may be happening at them, but I doubt it. Slick politicians haven't taken over the movement here and from what I've read, they haven't in many other places either. This doesn't mean they don't want to, they most certainly do, but a common thread at all the rallies I've attended and in all the conversations I've had is that all career politicians have, to one extent or another, abandoned their principles to obtain power. Some are far more preferable than others, but none of them can be completely trusted.
It's clear that the career politicians who claim to represent folks with opinions that conflict with self-described Tea Party members, have from the very outset, sought to demonize the movement; with help from their friends in the MSM. It's a political tactic that seems to work very well with their supporters, and may even be working with Independents.
The level of rage and the extent of vitriol "Tea Party" generates in some people is incredible and signals the efficacy of the political tactic being employed.
It's really a shame because this sort of a movement is what the country needs, and not just from conservatives. Liberals should be organizing at the same levels and with the same intent...to find politicians who will represent what they believe and what they want and not set themselves up in a cushy career.
Part of the negative campaign has involved focusing on how so-called Tea Party candidates refuse to compromise, and there's some truth to this because the people who have voted them into office are tired of the politically expedient compromises that in effect accomplish nothing but sending us faster down the path to ruin. I think you would be fooling yourself if you said you didn't often feel the politicians you support compromise too much.
If you get a chance, attend a local rally. Consider it an intelligence gathering exercise. I think you'll be surprised.
