TPN Fires Back

Tea Party Nation, the organizers of the Tea Party Convention, is finally firing back. Texas for Palin has the full letter. Here are some excerpts from the organizer's wife, Sherry Philips:
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Judson and I have stayed silent in the face of intense media scrutiny and attacks by former members. As a wife and a mother, I have stood by my husband and family and stayed strong in the face of many baseless accusations and criticism. We have refrained from responding to many of the attacks that have been thrown at us from other "Tea Party" groups, in the belief we did not want to spread the divisions that are already hurting this movement even though that does not seem to be the consideration of some others involved in this movement. Because of the many TPN members' requests and encouragement, I have decided to provide comment about Tea Party Nation and the National Tea Party Convention. We will stay silent no longer. I hope my comments and the issues I deal with in this note will provide some clarity.

[She then goes on to explain the various organizations involved and why some pulled out, etc...]

We fully expect to break even during this event. We may even make a few thousand dollars to cover local operating costs of TPN. We have made the best of a tight budget and scaled back the price of attending this convention as much as we could without putting TPN into bankruptcy. The convention is sold out and we have a waiting list of over five hundred people. We never did this to make us rich or famous. 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.

For all of you who will be attending, we look forward to meeting you this upcoming week and we thank everyone for the support and patriotism in this fight against liberalism. God bless you all and I thank you for your prayers and words of encouragement.

Visit Tea Party Nation at: www.teapartynation.com

[Josh Painter had this to say] -

Editor's Note: We have posted this e-mail from Sherry in an effort to help Tea Party Nation get its side of the story out. As Sherry states, a few former TPN members with obvious axes to grind have been talking to liberal media outlets. What she is too gracious to say is that they have also talked to conservative bloggers, some of which have been only too happy to join their counterparts on the Left in piling on TPN. Some of these conservative bloggers, after having heard only one side of the story, rushed both to judgment and publication. Thus they are responsible for much of the negative spin that we have heard in the media about TPN and the National Tea Party Convention.

For Sarah Palin supporters, this is an all too familiar story. We have seen it before in the way the former governor has been treated by self-styled "conservative" pundits and again when some McCain campaign staffers leaked a series of outrageous lies and distortions concerning Gov. Palin to a media which is always happy to get free ammunition. When that ammo comes from across the aisle, they make as much hay from it as they can, thinking that it gives the crap they dish out some kind of special "credibility."

It's all so very strange. But when multiple agendas are at work, we see some strange bedfellows indeed.

- JP

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I honestly don't know why this whole thing is such a big deal? Is it jealousy? Is it an effort to not steal thunder from CPAC? Is it a legitimate concern about hijacking? Is it a complaint because of the high price? Is it the media and the Left trying to make sure we don't get organized?

I don't know. But I don't see what the big fuss is all about. All I know is that this Politico article is one of the most loaded articles I've ever read.

Idiots!

And this is why conservatives suck.

The media and the Left, in my opinion, have been ginning up false controversy over the Tea Party Nation Convention. "Oh, my goodness! Look at how much it costs! The guy in charge wants to make money! They're hijacking the movement!"

And what do conservatives do?

"Oh, my goodness! Look at how much it costs! The guy in charge wants to make money! They're hijacking the movement!"

Times like this I just want to scream at the top of my lungs, "Would you all just SHUT UP!"

Thank you.

Now, calm down. Breathe. Let me explain something to you - The TPNC is an event in Nashville where there will be workshops and speeches for anyone who maybe wants to learn how to organize better, etc.... or if you just want to hear the speakers. The price is steep, and the event is for-profit. Period.

It's a free market. Got a problem with the price? Don't go. It's as simple as that. As for profiting off of the Tea Party movement, are you mad at Glenn Beck? You think he's not profiting off of all this stuff? What about CPAC? They charge money. I can't afford to go to CPAC, does that mean I'm mad at the event for "taking the conservative movement away from the little people"? What garbage.

It's a load of bull. It's the opposition trying to divide us over something stupid and conservatives suck because they march right into it. The very people, the Tea Partiers, who know that the media is biased and doesn't represent hardly anything correctly, are falling in lockstep with their interpretation of the TPNC.

It's enough to make me pull my hair out by the roots.

Bachmann and Blackburn are looking at pulling out. I don't blame them for this, as it has to do with the fact that they are candidates for political office and therefore they have to abide by a certain set of rules when it comes to for-profit events. My hair-pulling is reserved for the hand-wringing of the conservative blogosphere and many grassrootsers who should know by now that we have an enemy and should be able to recognize the tactics of that enemy.

Ugh. Okay, I'm done now.