Thousands Looking for an Alternative to Frothing Teabagging Crowd Find Refuge in Newly-Formed 'Coffe

[Joanne98]

Tapping into widespread thirst for a potential alternative to the Tea Party movement, the Coffee Party is launching real life, off-line, on-the-ground activity across the country.
March 1, 2010 |

It might have been inevitable that the answer to the movement that calls itself the Tea Party would be labeled the Coffee Party, but it wasn't exactly by design.

"et's start a coffee party … smoothie party. red bull party. anything but tea," activist and filmmaker Annabel Park wrote on her Facebook page one day in January, adding, jokingly, "ooh how about cappuccino party? that would really piss 'em off bec it sounds elitist … let's get together and drink cappuccino and have real political dialogue with substance and compassion."

Little did Park know that the idea would seriously catch on, tapping into widespread thirst for a potential alternative to the Tea Party movement and launching real life, off-line, on-the-ground activity across the country.

This, anyway, is the story as told by the Washington Post last week, in a profile of Park and her fellow "Coffee Party activists," who are portrayed as the progressive response to the right-wing Tea Partiers. It's a bit of a false dichotomy and some of the comparisons are dubious -- "The Coffee Party believes the middle is consensus. The Tea Party believes the middle is the Constitution" -- but it's more than a little heartening to see a media spotlight on people who are working to push back against the Tea Party right. There are now more than 45 Coffee Party chapters in the country, with "over 300 more requests for local chapters that we haven't yet fulfilled," according to its website. A series of online videos shows a diverse cross-section of Americans who care about their country, making the case for civic engagement, and recalling the sincerity of so many of those who joined the ranks of Obama’s presidential campaign.

http://www.alternet.org/rights/145846/thousands_looking_for_an_alternative_to_frothing_teabagging_crowd_find_refuge_in_newly-formed_%27coffee_party%27

http://coffeepartyusa.com/

http://twitter.com/search?q=%23CoffeeParty

[Hell Hath No Fury]

1. I don't get this part ---

"The Coffee Party believes the middle is consensus."

Would someone please explain this to me? It sounds much like Obama's approach. :shrug: Though the WP is claiming it to be a "progressives" response, there is nothing about a progressive ideology on the site.

[OneTenthofOnePercent]

2. Tea is better than coffee though.

Much healthier and there are a great variety of teas.
I prefer a chai tea latte myself.

[Bitwit1234]

3. INcorrect Tea has 3 or 4 more times caffeine than coffee. The

thing is if a person drinks coffee they drink more. And Tea drinkers drink less so they don't get as much. But if you drink coffee to tea you get less caffeine...look it up.

[fasttense]

4. The first line of their mission statement sounds like the same old

crap about bipartisanship. I'm having post partisanship depression.

"MISSION: The Coffee Party Movement gives voice to Americans who want to see cooperation in government."

I'll take them seriously when they have their 1st protest march.