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Sarah Palin's Tea Party Dinner Disaster
• Mother JonesWill Sarah Palin's Tea Party dinner be a bust?
Tea Party Nation founder Judson Phillips
likely assumed that scoring a dinner speech by the former Alaska
governor and GOP vice presidential candidate would guarantee a huge
turnout for his National Tea Party Convention,
scheduled to start Feb. 4 at Nashville's Gaylord Opryland Hotel. But
according to Tea Party insiders, the tickets for the Palin banquet
aren't selling—and some conservative activists who have already paid to
attend are now demanding refunds. With the controversial event shaping
up to be a potential flop, some Tea Partiers are urging Palin to cancel
her speech to avoid a humiliating public relations disaster.
The problems began after news broke that Phillips intended to profit
from the convention—which costs $549 a person for access to both the
conference and Palin’s banquet, or $349 for a ticket to the dinner
alone. With one prominent conservative blogger charging that the event
seemed "scammy,"
several key sponsors yanked their support, including the National
Precinct Alliance, the American Liberty Alliance, American Majority,
and the Federation for American Immigration Reform. As the rash of bad
press continued, this week Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), announced
that she’s considering pulling out as a convention speaker. And some
Tea Party activists think Palin should join her. According to internal
convention planning documents obtained by Mother Jones, Palin
will be paid $115,000 to address the attendees—as they dine on steak or
lobster. To some Tea Partiers, this lavish affair sounds suspiciously
like an exclusive GOP fundraiser and a betrayal of their grassroots
movement. (In mid-January, Palin told Fox News' Bill O'Reilly that she
will not profit from her appearance at the convention, suggesting she
would donate her speaking fee to Republican candidates. But she has not
provided any details on that, and a Palin spokesperson did not respond
to requests for clarification.)
Phillips has bragged publicly that the tickets covering both the
convention and the speech have sold out. Yet Tea Party insiders say
that's not the whole story. Anthony Shreeve is an activist in
Dandridge, Tenn. who quit the convention organizing committee over the
expensive ticket prices. He says he has it on good authority that most
of the approximately 500 speech-only tickets have not been sold.
Shreeve adds that Phillips "isn't going to sell any more," and says
other would-be attendees have been demanding—and receiving—refunds.
Late on Tuesday afternoon, I tested his claim by attempting to buy 10
tickets to the dinner. If I’d been prepared to shell out
$3,587.10, that would apparently have been no problem. "I really hope
that Sarah Palin doesn’t come to this event because it's going to be
really embarrassing for her to walk into a half-empty room," says
Shreeve.
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5 Comments in Response to Sarah Palin's Tea Party Dinner Disaster
All your tea party are belong to us.
They may have their own parties, but not tea parties. With the money moving in this event, shows that the republican party is business as usual.
I'm glad this is sinking fast for them. I didn't like them trying to high-jack this movement.
The Tea movement doesn’t belong to the Republic party or the DNC, it belongs to the people that want to get out of this paradigm and back to a Constitutional Republic.
Yeah, the left is picking up the story because they (correctly) see it as a wedge issue between conservatives and the Neocon GOP.
This is a very interesting developing story we all should watch as it develops. The Mother Jones story could be the left wingers attempting to interject doubt or division. This could be an RNC op also attempting to drive wedges into the grassroots republican movement and just being reported on by the left wing Mother Jones.
There's something fishy and stinking going on with the teaparty and 912 movements. I dont have it 100% nailed down yet, though I did a story several months ago on who the Tea Party EXPRESS people are. They are unmistakeably and OPENLY RNC operatives, not independent grassroots folks and openly hostile to the Ron Paul Republican movement.
Tea Party Express is different (I think) from other tea party orgs. However, they all brand themselves as "THE" tea party. And in may states and locations there is significant if not complete overlap.
This is turning out to be the best thing to happen in a while. I know it's painful but the nation needs to see there's a DISTINCTION between the movement and the GOP. Just an AWARENESS of this fact is needed right now. If people are aware there's a problem between us maybe they will investigate what it is. And so they are.
Oddly, Judge Napolitano understands an "establishment" takeover of teaparty, thence the reaction thereto, he just doesn't understand that he's part of the establishment.
Now I wonder what Glenn Beck's response will be. I think I'll go see what the Kosters are saying.