If you were looking forward to laughing at the participants of National Tea Party Unity Conference, I have bad news for you. Without Republican astro-turfers to pay their expenses, the Teabaggers don’t want to go.
The Tea Party is off.
At least, the National Tea Party Unity Convention that was being planned for mid-October in Las Vegas is off. It was supposed to be a repeat of the convention in Nashville last February, which drew 600 “delegates” (and almost as many reporters) and an adoring audience for Sarah Palin, the keynote speaker.
Sponsored by Tea Party Nation [Teabaggers delinked], a social networking site, the convention was supposed to emphasize Tea Party groups working together — a contrast to the convention in
February, which was plagued by infighting among groups, with sponsors and speakers dropping out right up until its opening hours. Organizers chose Las Vegas not least because it is the center of the Senate race that Tea Party activists would most dearly love to win: Sharron Angle, a Republican supported by Tea Party groups, is challenging Harry Reid, the leader of the Democratic majority.
Barbee Kinnison, a Tea Party activist in Las Vegas who had been helping organize the convention, sent an e-mail to supporters saying that it was with “deep sorrow” that she had to announce “the convention is just not going to happen.”
Tea Party Nation still draws scorn from some other Tea Party groups, which have raised eyebrows at asking people to spend more than $200 to attend a convention, so it was not clear what this said about the strength of the movement. Tea Party Patriots, a large umbrella for about 2,700 local Tea Party groups nationwide, had criticized the media attention on the convention in February, saying it was not a real representation of Tea Party activism.
But Ms. Kinnison said in her e-mail that “the various large ‘other’ Tea Party organizations have slid in their participations and donations across the country, and their events are free.”… [emphasis added]
Inserted from <NY Times>
The money is the key. Whenever I want to attend a progressive or Democratic convention, or even a convention pertaining to my volunteer work, if I can’t pay, I can’t go. Sadly, no lobbyists, criminal corporations or millionaires will step up to pay my way. Tea Party Nation is the only Teabagger group that is not astro-turfed, and this just goes to show that whatever real grass roots Teabuggery may have had, they are burned out now. What’s left is the insaniTEA wing of the Republican Party.
In a fashion right out of the annals of right wind [sic] demagoguery, September 26th, 2010 brings us the third installment of "
Despite promises of Senate Democrats to amend their signature campaign disclosure legislation, a unified Republican caucus today again blocked the legislation from an up-or-down vote in Congress’ upper chamber.
The House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, said Friday that Democrats in her chamber may still force a vote next week on the expiring Bush-era tax cuts, even though their counterparts in the Senate have decided not to bring the issue to the floor until after the November elections. 
…Those damned waitresses, expecting to get money on top of the $8.50 an hour they’re bilking employers for. This is coming from an NBA pro, who 
Senate Democrats said Thursday that they would postpone a highly contentious floor fight over what to do about the expiring Bush-era tax cuts until after the November elections, a decision that spares some politically vulnerable incumbents from casting a potentially difficult vote to let taxes rise for the rich.