Pundits and politicians want to make a big deal about what the Tea Party "Movement" means in terms of politics or zeitgeist or whatever other damn thing they can manage to throw into the mix. But at it's heart the current Tea Partiers come into sharpest focus when contrasted with the historical protest whose name they are appropriating.
Tea Party, 1700s: No taxation without representation.
Tea Party, 2010: Representation but no taxation. Oh, and could we get rid of those damn foreigners & queers while we're at it?
They are xenophobic, homophobic, everybody-that-isn't-me-ophobic thieves and freeloaders.
It really is that simple.