Tea Party - Time to Get On Brand

The most recent news about the new Tea Party movement is just so sad; not because of the violence, and the racial slurs that come out of the party, but because of how much opportunity they had to be a real movement of change. Don't get me wrong - I'm not a member of the party or a card carrier on the left. I'm just a guy who liked the fact that a group of Americans had gotten together and had taken action on something they believed so strongly in. Whether it was on the right or the left of the political spectrum - they had started to make a difference.

What makes it sad is that this group has started to turn into something worse than an unruly mob. They went from making valid statements and holding legitimate protests, to throwing bricks through windows and degrading their detractors with racial slurs. When reports sound about Tea Party members using the "N" word against the icons of the civil rights movements - like the 70 year old Emmanuel Cleaver - or the "F" word against gay members of congress, it just shifts the image of Tea Party members away from a being a valid political caucus, over to being a bunch of illiterate bigots. And no, that's not the same thing as being a redneck.

Now I know some people may be saying "that's not us." But when you have Tea Partiers like Amy Kremer show up on Fox News to dismiss what she called an "isolated" incident [I'm sorry Amy, it's still NOT OK if only a few are racists - racism is BAD in any number]. Or when you have bricks with misspelled messages coming through the windows of the Democratic Committees [I mean seriously, you can't take 60 seconds to do a quick dictionary check?]. You have to admit, even the Tea Party is taking these actions seriously. It's just a shame they can't stay on message long enough to establish themselves as an informed group.

Monroe County Democratic Committee, via Associated Press

Some have even accused the democrats of infiltrating peaceful Tea Party crowds with plants who shouted the slurs in question. But seriously, the democrats aren't even coordinated enough to keep a majority in the House and Senate. Besides, I don't think the Democrats would shoot out their own glass doors in Phoenix.

So to all the Tea Party acolytes out there - get it together. I may not like everything you say, but you are at least a step toward everyone seeing some kind of ongoing change in Washington. The only thing you have to do is to keep it together and maintain a DIALOGUE that supports the brand and message you started. Yes, it means policing your own and weaning out the racists [nobody said brand management is easy], but if you can do that, you have a chance of making history. If not, you'll be quickly relegated to being just another fringe group of bigoted, angry, and narrow-minded people who are being backed/used by wealthy individuals with larger agendas - which is something this country just doesn't need on either side of the conservative/liberal coin.



http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/26/us/politics/26threat.html?scp=1&sq=brick%20rochester&st=cse

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/03/25/wealthy-donor-sues-tea-party-convention-organizer-palins-fee/

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/03/22/tea-party-protesters-dispute-reports-slurs-spitting-dem-lawmakers/




Jeff Cannon

www.ThinkCannon.com