Tea Party Is 5! No More Tantrums?

[DonViejo]

The movement’s most-ardent followers whooped and hollered in Washington, flattered, fawned over, and urged by luminaries of the far right to never, ever stop.

Mardi Gras came a few days early to Washington, as Tea Party Patriots from around the nation gathered to celebrate the movement’s fifth anniversary.
The press release touting the event promised a rollicking good time: “Tea Party Rocks Washington.” Admittedly, it wasn’t the sort of party that anyone outside of politics would consider fun: The day’s schedule consisted of eight hours of speechifying, largely confined to meeting rooms in the basement of the Capitol Hill Hyatt Regency. But for Tea Party die-hards, the lineup was enough to get hearts a’ thumping: Sens. Mike Lee, Rand Paul, and Ted Cruz; Reps. Michele Bachmann, Raul Labrador, Steve King, Matt Salmon, Jim Jordan, and Louie Gohmert; the Heritage Foundation’s new chief economist, Stephen Moore; Tea Party Patriots President Jenny Beth Martin, and radio gas-bag extraordinaire Mark Levin. There was even a former Reagan administration official in the mix!

And that was just the formal entertainment. In between speeches, striving Tea Party candidates rubbed elbows with potential supporters, political reporters chatted up impassioned celebrants about government run amok, and some guy who’d made a documentary about the evils of the IRS kept button-holing folks about attending a one-night-only, limited-release showing of his film on April 15th. (Tax day. Get it?) Best of all, Breitbart radio had set up shop just outside the general session hall, drawing a parade of Tea Party luminaries, who, in turn, drew a crowd of gawkers and photographers. (When I arrived mid-morning, Bachmann was patiently explaining to Breitbart listeners how she had managed to be so successful in Washington.) Not even the announcement that a family emergency had forced Sean Hannity to cancel as the keynote speaker at dinner was enough to dim the carnival feeling in the air.

The program itself was part celebration and part encouragement to keep on fighting the good fight. Martial language flowed thick, and variations on the word “tyranny” were hot, hot, hot. Speaker after speaker lauded the crowd of 300—maybe even 400—patriots for their perseverance in the face of unrelenting abuse by the usual rogues’ gallery of detractors: liberals, establishment Republicans, and the lamestream media.

more
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/02/28/tea-party-is-5-no-more-tantrums.html

[albino65]

1. All in one place? An opportunity lost. n/t

[NuclearDem]

2. Can we finally take David Vitter out of diapers now?

[sufrommich]

3. "a crowd of 300 to 400"

Winning!

[SummerSnow]

4. lol...