For reasons I cannot comprehend, I am on the Tea Party e-mail list.
Take a gander at the interesting little message I received this weekend from TheTeaParty.net (excerpts below).
Dear Patriot,
To many of us the Tea Party is more than a political movement, it is a calling. I have talked with thousands of fellow Tea Party members who were motivated to action, by the feelings of rage and frustration about politics and Washington. I have spoken with enough of you to know that most of you share the paternal(and maternal) instinct that our kids are in danger and the determination to fight for their future.
What better way to fight for our kids' future by ensuring that they will not have Social Security (while generously paying for ours)?
I tell you all of this because the Tea Party movement that I have devoted my life to, is being threatened by the insidious propaganda of the establishment and their lapdogs in the media!
Well, if their view of the media is any indication, maybe we're not as far apart as I had thought. (Pardon the snide aside. Read on.)
When I used to tell people outside of my political circle of friends that I was a proud member of the Tea Party most of them would light up. It was usually something like, "good we need somebody to take care of those crooks!" Now when I tell people about my political affiliation, more and more of them respond with a look of suspicion or even outright hostility!
Imagine that.
Now here's the kicker:
All week we have been telling you about the PR campaign we are producing to combat these malicious attacks made by the most vile of sellouts. It is with a deep sense of embarrassment that I tell you we have only raised about $30,000 of the $50,000 we need to get this project underway.
Embarrassing indeed. Is the Tea Party an Emperor with no clothes? If it admits to being "embarrassed" and only raising $30k, is this supposed people-powered movement, not much of one? And is its influence more a result of media obliviousness than actual strength?
If we fail to expose the distortions being spread about who we are, we will become unable to recruit new patriots to our cause. In politics a movement that is not growing, is dying.
From their mouth to God's ears.
UPDATE: Just received another email from them saying they were able to get that elusive $20k to hit their $50k goal. Either way, this operation does not appear to warrant the juggernaut status the press has accorded it.