Tea Party event cancelled... was to have featured Sarah Palin and Rick...

A tea party event that I had heard almost nothing about has been cancelled... gee you think? It was less than two weeks away and almost no advertising... there was also some grumbling about Sarah Palin charging 100 thousand dollars to appear. The Austin American Statesman has the story (link). Excerpt follows...

A San Antonio event that was slated to feature Gov. Rick Perry and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin later this month has been canceled.

The National Conservative Symposium was also supposed to feature conservative commentators Sean Hannity, Michelle Malkin and Laura Ingraham.

But a group called Tea Party Support, which is coordinating the event, has posted this message on its Web site: “Due to circumstances beyond the control of Tea Party Support, we are forced to cancel the National Conservative Symposium. More information will follow soon. Please check back. We have started processing refunds.”

The event was scheduled for Jan. 22-24.

Perry spokesman Mark Miner could not immediately be reached for comment. Perry’s campaign has long counted on an appearance with Palin in the weeks leading up to his March 2 primary challenge from U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, so expect his team to find another opportunity to showcase Palin’s endorsement.

According to a December story from the San Antonio Express-News, “The National Conservative Symposium promises to be a coming-out party for Tea Party Support. It’s a splinter group formed by former members of the San Antonio Tea Party, the organization that hosted a large Alamo Plaza protest rally — headlined by Fox News talk host Glenn Beck and rock guitarist Ted Nugent — in April. Matt Perdue, San Antonio Tea Party’s former president, left the group two months ago, arguing that it suffered from a lack of financial transparency. Julia Hayden, media representative for the San Antonio Tea Party, explained the split by saying Perdue did not share her organization’s mission.”

The Express-News reported that Perry was going to introduce Palin on Jan. 24.

Looks like the San Antonio tea party may be fizzling out a little bit... it started as a spontaneous reaction in anger against Obama and the Democratic majorities in Washington... plus some anger directed toward the Republicans who sold out and became part of the problem...

Now it may have lost some of its luster as it tried to be too much of a true third party... I think some of the tea party groups have rejected some of the candidates that they should be embracing while allowing some of the fringe conspiracy theorists to spout at the microphone...

At the same time I think a lot of these tea party events are being micromanaged by Dick Armey, county GOP chairs, or other well intentioned organizations that are more just trying to tap into the tea party for their own gain... not a terrible thing but also not a way to grow a true grassroots movement.

Even the July 4 tea parties were a lot more "corporate" feeling than the April 15 tea parties, which were very very grassroots.

It sounds like this event was cancelled because it never really got off the ground... it was never really promoted. I never saw any chance to purchase tickets. I never saw any finalized calendar. There was never a real event planned... just an idea for an event... and the peeps who organized the extremely well done San Antonio tea parties with Ted Nugent and Glenn Beck couldn't get their act together...

As Benjamin Franklin said...

"We must, indeed, all hang together, or most assuredly we shall all hang separately."

The anti Obama sentiment is very real... and there is no denying the tea party strength in 2009... but if it can't be harnessed in a real way behind a set of strong conservative Republicans at the polls it may let Democrats keep their majorities... to be relevant the tea parties need to rally behind something not just against everything...

Omar Villafranca tweeted about it too (link)... these are in reverse chrono-logical order...

1. BTW, @JasonEmbry broke this story. But the info below I confirmed with @GovPerry campaign. Nice job by Embry.about 1 hour ago from web
2. RE: Canceling of Perry/Palin event--When asked why event was canceled? Perry aide didn't know.about 1 hour ago from web
3. RE: Canceling of Perry/Palin event-- Perry aide said the big fundraising campaign event with Palin is still on...but no details.about 1 hour ago from web
4. RE: Canceling of Perry/Palin event. Perry aide says event wasn't campaign event. Also, Perry campaign didn't collect any $$ from eventabout 1 hour ago from web