Tea Party Nation head lashes out....at everyone

[Jennicut]

The organizers of next month’s embattled National Tea Party Convention on Saturday lashed out at everyone from former sponsors and allies to the convention’s financial backers to House Democrats to Rep. Ron Paul’s political group, suggesting all have tried to sabotage the event.

As first reported by POLITICO, the convention came under fire from former supporters and conservative leaders for its high ticket prices, top-down structure and selling of sponsorships for as much as $50,000, as well as the for-profit status of the company running it, Tea Party Nation. The company shelled out $100,000 to pay Sarah Palin’s speaking fee, while its president Judson Phillips planned to turn a profit from the convention, which he said he intended to use to seed a so-called 527 group.

As sponsors and top speakers have withdrawn and the event has struggled to sell tickets – at $350 a pop – to Palin’s keynote speech, former allies and prominent conservatives have accused Phillips of trying to use the convention to turn a buck or vault him into a leadership role in the decentralized tea party movement. Yet Phillips and his wife and co-organizer Sherry Phillips have largely left these criticisms unanswered until now.

But in an email to members of Tea Party Nation, the social network run by the company putting on the convention, Sherry Phillips launched a blistering attack against her perceived foes, and defended her motivations and her husband’s.

“We never did this to make us rich or famous,” she wrote. “Quite the contrary, we are patriots who love our country, our members and the people who are coming to Nashville to attend this great event.”

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0110/32255.html#ixzz0eD5wWUgJ

Ha ha! It is now everyone else's fault that these idiots cannot get their act together with their own convention.

[tridim]

1. People who refer to themselves as patriots are generally not patriots

I think he meant to say "racist".

[opihimoimoi]

2. Dispite the excuses/ whining/blaming...A BAD IDEA is still a BAD IDEA

$350 is a bit much to hear an AirHead who likes to use EMPTY LANGUAGE...
We realize we got some peeps who like Palin.....but they number only 4% to 12%

Not enough power

similar to Carl Sheeler from RI

[proud2BlibKansan]

6. There is a group here that has a big conference once a year and charges $1

Yes only one dollar. And they manage to cover the cost of the venue as well as other fees. The secret is that when the cost is that reasonable, attendance goes way up. They also ask folks who can afford it to pay more. I worked the registration desk one year and lots of people paid $20 or more if they could afford it.

The point is the conference itself is more important than making a profit. The teabaggers who organized this convention are obviously into it for the profit instead of the convention.

[opihimoimoi]

8. Puns are known for their need for greed...and very poor perspectives and myopic visions

They will lose their asses in Nov

Obama has let loose the

[XOKCowboy]

11. Most conventions make their revenue from exhibit booth sales...

The exhibitors in turn buy space in hopes of large crowds to view their merchandise. If the convention has no attendees then the exhibitors won't come.

It sounds like this is the usual TeaBagger cluster****. Let's face it their potential audience was huge but greed got in the way. I hope they go bankrupt paying the hotel charges.

[opihimoimoi]

18. Bingo :o)

[Mz Pip]

3. Why all the whining?

Doesn't their idea of America at its best revolve around profit? Profit is good. Greed is good. Don't conservatives want people (especially their people) to make a profit?

[Hansel]

17. Good question. It's not like it's government run.

Sheez!

[brewens]

4. Amazing that they were thinking tea baggers could spend big bucks

to go to this thing. Did they not pay any attention at all to who their people are? You would want to keep the cost way down and try to make money off t-shirts and bumper stickers with those people.

[proud2BlibKansan]

5. Ok, if they didn't do this to get rich, then why the high price tag?

I have organized a few events at hotels and convention centers and know that it is indeed possible to price them in an affordable range and to offer scholarships and still break even.

Most speakers will even volunteer to wave their fee if their traveling expenses are covered. At least most progressive speakers. LOL

[monmouth]

7. Money talks and BS walks...Seems to be true in this case at least...n/t

[whyverne]

9. Maybe she'll have an epiphany and say:

Sorry, I just realized what a smug, self-righteous person I am. All I wanted was for everyone to be like me and think like me. I guess that's a poor model for a political movement. Sorry to have wasted your time.

Nah, probably not.

[Brother Buzz]

10. Sherry, look at the bright side, your headline speaker, Palin, has not backed out....

YET.

Maybe you should held this fiasco in a big tent so everyone attending would be happy.

[XOKCowboy]

12. So besides the HUGE hotel charges you're also on the hook for Palin's $100K...

speaker's fee. Ain't that a shame.

[Clio the Leo]

13. I only live two and a half hours away from the Opryland Hotel...

.... anyone wanna take a road tip with me? :)

[Historic NY]

14. Did they work out a deal with the local street talent? ...........

That might help raise some funds....:rofl:

[yellowcanine]

15. It was my fault. Why didn't Sherry blame me also? I made a doll named "Tea Party Convention" and

stuck pins in it. It worked! If anyone needs any evil spells cast on wing nuts, I am your man. I will work for gas for my motorcycle.

[peggygirl]

16. When will someone on our side stand up and say paying taxes is "patriotic?"

How can the wealthy not understand that their high living standards and expectations of social niceties require a well paid, healthy, and relatively satisfied workforce? Most of the services required in my neighborhood require excellent sanitation services, clean water, top rate public schools, low crime, firemen, policemen, and transportation. In rural areas farmers demand farm subsidies, in dry lands the ranchers demand water subsidies, dairy subsidies and Wall Street and bankers demand bailouts and backing. It takes the taxes of the middle and lower income working folks to provide the resources for this high standard of living. Yet the wealthy and upper-middle classes scorn paying a fair share of taxes to maintain their comfort levels. They would rather increase the misery level for the many to support the comfort level of the misers. When will someone from the media call the anti-government folks on their hypocrisy and bigotry? What do they mean by "big government?" What do they mean by government run healthcare and insurance? What do they mean by "big spending Democrats?'" What do they mean when they say, "I don't want my tax dollars going to support (fill in the blank)? What to they mean by "socialized medicine?" Do they think that the largest amount of basic biomedical research is NOT supported and funded by this "big government?" What do they mean by "our government is broken?" Compared to what government?...Maybe Denmark? (Oh, yeah. Show them how much Denmark pays in taxes and the services they get in return). Just for once, when will some Dem stand up and say these things and when will the media give open and honest discussion to these issues?

[Cass]

20. Joe Biden said it during the campaign.

WASHINGTON - Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Biden said Thursday that paying more in taxes is the patriotic thing to do for wealthier Americans. The Republican campaign for president calls the tax increases their Democratic opponents propose "painful" instead of patriotic.
...
"We want to take money and put it back in the pocket of middle-class people," Biden said in an interview on ABC's "Good Morning America."

Noting that wealthier Americans would indeed pay more, Biden said: "It's time to be patriotic ... time to jump in, time to be part of the deal, time to help get America out of the rut."

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26771716/

Welcome to DU!

[Blue_Tires]

19. LOL those fuckers couldn't organize a lemonade stand

[JoeyT]

21. Funny how they didn't seem to mind

bus rides paid for by corporations, but the second it's time to put a little of their money up for their idiotic "movement" they scream bloody murder and bail on it.
Apparently among the many things that are now considered nazi socialism are "Not providing us free transport and tickets".