{"id":1827,"date":"2010-06-26T13:47:44","date_gmt":"2010-06-26T20:47:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=1827"},"modified":"2010-08-01T10:14:48","modified_gmt":"2010-08-01T17:14:48","slug":"tea-party-convention-failure-to-launch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=1827","title":{"rendered":"Tea Party Convention: Failure To Launch"},"content":{"rendered":"

The much ballyhooed Tea Party Unity Convention has announced that they will be postponing plans<\/a> for their summer gathering. Originally scheduled for mid-July, organizers are now looking at an unspecified date in October. Tea Party Nation founder Judson Phillips attempted to characterize the rescheduling as strategic asserting that…<\/p>\n

“…it would more [sic]<\/i> advantageous to hold the convention in the middle of October just prior to the November elections.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I’m not sure why delaying a conference of activists until a couple of weeks before an election is advantageous. It seems to me that it wastes the efforts of their most motivated allies. They could have been working all summer to achieve their electoral goals instead of waiting until the last minute when it is too late to have much of an impact.<\/p>\n

\"TeaMoreover, additional comments by Phillips suggest that the convention was actually suffering from a dearth of interest. He cited the summertime heat in Las Vegas as a deterrent to attendance. He also revealed that many potential guests complained that they would have to decide between family vacations and attending the convention. And finally, he claimed that the delay would allow other Tea Party groups more time to participate.<\/p>\n

All of these explanations point to a more plausible reason for the postponement: Not enough people were registering.<\/p>\n

It seems unlikely that this list of excuses played a role in their plans. First of all, the air-conditioned eco-system of Las Vegas hasn’t kept millions of people from visiting regardless of the season. In fact, July will see many conventions take place, including Netroots Nation (which I will be attending) and the conservative RightOnline. It isn’t as if the conventioneers are going to be spending much time outdoors.<\/p>\n

Secondly, if conflicts with family vacations were a real concern, then how is it better for families to go in October when the kids are stuck in school? The parents can’t just leave town without them. Also, with three months of summer why would there be any conflict in scheduling to begin with?<\/p>\n

Lastly, are there really any Tea Party groups that have not had sufficient time to prepare for this event? It was originally announced last February. I can’t imagine that in the four months that have transpired they are just now becoming aware of groups who haven’t been able to make plans to attend.<\/p>\n

It seems obvious to me that the real reason for the postponement is to buy time. They probably don’t have enough participants to make the event viable and they hope that three extra months of promotion will fill the empty seats. The delay will give them more time to get the Fox News machine cranked up to sell tickets.<\/p>\n

This looks bad for the Tea Party Convention and for the Tea Party in general. If they can’t whip up enough excitement to populate their big “unity”<\/i> conference, they are going to have a hard time motivating voters who are not nearly as engaged as the sort of people who flock to these gatherings. Time will tell if the rescheduling has the desired effect. If not, the next press release we see may be the one announcing that the convention was canceled.<\/p>\n

This Just In, 8\/1\/2010:<\/b> The convention is now scheduled for October 14-16. Be sure to snap up your $400.00 tickets and reserve your $160.00 per night rooms ASAP. I’m sure they’re selling like hotcakes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The much ballyhooed Tea Party Unity Convention has announced that they will be postponing plans for their summer gathering. Originally scheduled for mid-July, organizers are now looking at an unspecified date in October. Tea Party Nation founder Judson Phillips attempted to characterize the rescheduling as strategic asserting that… “…it would more [sic] advantageous to hold […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[311,534],"class_list":["post-1827","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","tag-netroots-nation","tag-tea-party"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4Ijg-tt","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2745,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=2745","url_meta":{"origin":1827,"position":0},"title":"Tea Party Convention: Failure To Launch [Update]","author":"Mark NC","date":"9\/18\/2010","format":false,"excerpt":"The Tea Party Nation appears to be coming apart. Plans for the National Tea Party Unity Convention have been in turmoil since it was first announced last February. Their original date was in mid-July, but that was scuttled for a variety of reasons that all sounded like excuses to me.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1468,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=1468","url_meta":{"origin":1827,"position":1},"title":"The Tea Party Nation Is Revolting","author":"Mark NC","date":"11\/19\/2009","format":false,"excerpt":"This just in: The Tea Party Nation will be holding their first convention in Nashville, TN, this coming February. This AstroTurf gathering of Baggers should prove to be a lively affair with panels on how to disrupt town hall meetings, forums on the similarities between President Obama and Hitler, workshops\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1522,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=1522","url_meta":{"origin":1827,"position":2},"title":"Sarah Palin And The Birth Of The Tea Party Media","author":"Mark NC","date":"1\/14\/2010","format":false,"excerpt":"It's official. America's most ludicrous, harebrained, unbalanced, politically naive collection of cantankerous, hateful, rightist zealots (Tea Baggers), has spawned its own media association to bring to journalism the same type of biased, counter-factual, willfully ignorant, propaganda pioneered by the AstroTurf lobbyists, evangelists, and politicos who brewed up the Tea Parties\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1540,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=1540","url_meta":{"origin":1827,"position":3},"title":"Bachmann, Blackburn Out Of Tea Party Conference. Is Palin Next?","author":"Mark NC","date":"1\/28\/2010","format":false,"excerpt":"The upcoming Tea Party National Conference has been reeling from reports of infighting amongst the rival Tea Bagger groups. Much of the controversy concerns the convention's steep ($549.00) entry fee and allegations of financial improprieties on the part of the organizers. The convention has already lost a number of sponsors.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2181,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=2181","url_meta":{"origin":1827,"position":4},"title":"Tea Party Caucus Forms As Tea Party Fractures","author":"Mark NC","date":"7\/18\/2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Michelle Bachmann (TP-MN) has received acceptance of her request to form a Tea Party Caucus in the House of Representatives. In a report on Fox News it was heralded as a \"victory in Congress for the Tea Party.\" It was further stated that the approval was acquired in record time\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5468,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=5468","url_meta":{"origin":1827,"position":5},"title":"The Tea Party Con","author":"Mark NC","date":"10\/1\/2011","format":false,"excerpt":"I always knew that the Tea Party is a con. I've written extensively about the small numbers of people associated with it, its low approval ratings, and the fact that they are all Republicans anyway. 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