Tea party implosion

29 January 2010 |permalink | email article

Next week’s National Tea Party Convention in Nashville. Tenn. has run into trouble with two of its top conservative stars – Reps. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) and Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) – deciding to withdraw their plans to speak at the event.

As first reported by Politico, the convention is being run by a for-profit Tennessee corporation called Tea Party Nation, registered to a little know Tennessee lawyer whose efforts to position himself as a national tea party leader have put him in conflict with some state tea party activists.

Both Blackburn and Bachmann cited the Tea Party Nation’s for-profit status as putting them in an awkward position on advice from the House ethics committee as to how the proceeds might be used.

Sarah Palin, another tea party favorite, is being paid a $100,000 fee to speak at the convention, and said as of Tuesday night that she remained committed to the event. “This is a not about politics or organizers, it is about the soul of our blessed country.” But organizers are struggling to sell tickets to her keynote address.

But Palin’s decision to endorse Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) as he gears up for reelection next year has angered many tea party stalwarts who are backing former Rep. J.D. Hayworth. The Phoenix radio talk show host is running neck and neck with McCain in a recent Rasmussen poll, even though he has not yet decided to run.

Quotable

“I forgot he was black tonight.” Chris Matthews, the liberal MSNBC commentator, in an embarrassing gaffe while assessing President Obama’s State of the Union address on Wednesday, and noting that he was a “post-racial” figure whose presence was no longer a surprise or novelty. The fast-talking former D.C. based columnist for the defunct San Francisco Examiner did not comment on his “Hard Ball” show yesterday but a Los Angeles Times political blog added the kicker: “Well, at least he didn’t say President Obama doesn’t speak with a Negro dialect – which got Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in recent hot water.” Other blogs were far less kind.

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