Coffee Party brews up rival for Tea Party

[AlphaCentauri]

Source: BBC

grassroots political grouping that has emerged in recent months in opposition to the conservative Tea Party movement has been holding its first national day of meetings in the United States.

The BBC's Madeleine Morris met some of the members of the Coffee Party in - where else? - a coffee house in Washington.

Looking for a little bit of civil political discussion with your decaf latte? Well the newly formed Coffee Party movement may be for you.

Evolving in the United States over the last couple of months through social media in response to the conservative Tea Party movement, coffee partiers share the Tea Party's disillusionment with mainstream politicians.

Internet traction

Saturday saw over 350 Coffee Party events held in cafes across the United States and abroad, bringing activists together in person for the first time for a national day of conversation and, of course, espressos and cappuccinos.


Read more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8566574.stm

[sakabatou]

1. "Give me coffee or give me death!"

I'll join this party. The one that truly stands for freedom.

[meow2u3]

11. NO--give me coffee or I'll give YOU death!

<just kidding>

[sakabatou]

12. LOL

That line is a quote in a local coffee shop.

[No Elephants]

17. LOL, that's my morning mantra!

ETA: Then, I wake up enough to remember that I'm the one who makes the coffee here.

[No Elephants]

16. The BBC article makes the Coffee Party sound like the party that stands for bi-partisanship.

That hasn't been working.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

2. I guess we already have a Koolaid one

[AllentownJake]

3. There is no Tea America or Coffee America there is the United States of America

:rofl:

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

4. That's the "The United Stimulant States Of America" to you sir! nt

[Tesha]

14. Fool me once; shame on you -- fool me twice; won't get fooled again! (NT)

[Sabriel]

5. They've already splintered into the Fair Trade Coffee Party

And the Folger's Coffee Party.

There's also an Espresso Coffee Party. It's small, but its members are energetic.

[Voice for Peace]

9. there's also the Tupperware Party for everyone else who's left over.

[AlphaCentauri]

20. and the starbucks communist party n/t

[JackRiddler]

6. Based on the spokesperson's appearance today on NPR (WNYC) radio, it's lame.

Asked to specify a position, any position, he refused. He claimed it was all about civil discourse and the people together would figure out common solutions to the problems that face us all, beyond polarization. He said this like six times - no political stance whatsoever. The hilarity came when a Tea Party type called in and claimed they, too, were all about civility and ending polarization and calmly as a people finding solutions to the problems we all face. They competed for two minutes in seeing who could say the least about whatever it was they refused to say they believed.

[bitchkitty]

7. Ha! Nicely put.

"They competed for two minutes in seeing who could say the least about whatever it was they refused to say they believed."

[Skelly]

8. It is not about a position

There are many from all walks of life joining the Coffee Party. It is not about positions on specific issues. We are Americans. We differ in our beliefs. That is good. What is not good is having politicians that do not represent us, but corporations.
If you know your history (and who at DU doesn't?), then you know that after the original "Boston Tea Party", tea was boycotted. We became a nation of coffee drinkers.
Obama said he wanted the American people to hold their representatives accountable. He wanted them to hold HIM accountable. That is what the coffee party is all about. To remind those in congress they are accountable to US, the American people, not just some lobbyist or corporation.

[JackRiddler]

10. Yes well.

I'm all for civil discourse when it's feasible, meaning that all sides allow it. Any one group with a minimum of power can make it very hard or impossible, unfortunately. Right now that's what the FOXNEWS-driven "Obama is the Antichrist" troops are doing.

Meanwhile, the positions on war and peace, health care, campaign finance, lobbying, banking and the rest have actually been staked out. The "coffee party" isn't magically going to discover ideas no one's thought before. To pretend one has no politics pending the results of a civil discourse over coffee is to invite definition and spin from without, or to fall into the centrist fallacy. (I'm in the middle, I'm "apolitical," therefore whatever it is I think once I decide that I think something must be right.)

I didn't hear this national spokesperson (as he was billed on the Brian Lehrer show) say anything about corporate influence. You can probably hear the show at WNYC or NPR.

His message was as I summarized it: Discourse should be civil. We are all Americans. Polarization is bad, "extremism" is bad. We don't have any positions until we all together decide that we do, and when we do these will be new and reasonable solutions to the problems "we" all share. But for now I refuse to say what I think. If I even think something.

[No Elephants]

19. What product are we supposed to boycott and why? And please see Reply # 14.

[SoapBox]

13. The Coffee Party: coffeepartyusa.com

...here is the link.

http://coffeepartyusa.com/

[No Elephants]

18. Thanks. Without the "usa" at the end, you get to website selling campaign buttons and the like.

[No Elephants]

15. OK, but it's ludicrous that Conservatives co-opted the Boston Tea Party.

When it happened, America's Conservatives were busy supporting King George.

um....

Well, I guess what the French say is correct: The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Still, the Boston Tea Party was a radical act, not a conservative one.

[Joey Liberal]

21. They did it with the Minutemen too. nt