As commented previously in this space, I identify very little with the tea party movement. It strikes me as a predominantly far right conservative effort. It did exhibit some merit early on when it was more true grassroots, but since then the far right-wing powerbrokers have dug their little tenacles into the movement such that much of its original grassroots spirit seems to be only feigned these days. And as also previous noted here, I've yet to see any effort by the tea partiers to reach out to anyone but fellow conservatives.With those prefatory remarks in mind, I come to the subject of this purported "National Convention" that the tea partiers are holding next month. As a preliminary matter, I must say that nothing says "grassroots" quite like the $549 per-head fee that they will charge to anyone who wants to attend. But even more noteworthy, I was reading today about the line-up of speakers, and frankly it reads like an attendee list at a Barry Goldwater birthday party. First, you have zany, nutty right-winger Sarah Palin as keynote speaker (although she is hot). Next, you have "members of the GOP's far-right flank" in Congresspersons Michele Bachmann and Marsha Blackburn. Finally, and just for good measure, you get a few samples of those wonderfully tolerant folks known as the Religious Right -- former Alabama Supreme Court justice Roy Moore and Jerry Falwell disciple Rick Scarborough.
To me, the idea of sitting and listening to this motley crew rant all day is about as appealing as the thought of (1) sitting in on an Obama/Reid/Pelosi back-room meeting or (2) contracting a nice healthy pack of hemorrhoids -- Pick Your Poison. And so as to the question of whether Independents should pay any attention or interest to this event next month? I don't think so -- Unless a cast of characters like that described above happens to float your boat. And if it does, I got news for ya -- You ain't an Independent.
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