A reader writes:
Just wanted to let you know that Mark Thompson is right. The tea party idea has actually been around for a while now. It grew out of the left over Ron Paul supporter groups from the last election. I was heavily involved in that campaign and, as such, still am on the contact list for a lot of the grassroots groups that were created during it. The first time I heard about the "Tea Party" idea was probably well over a year ago.
More recently, a flurry of e-mails started to show up from those groups that led to the first couple of tea parties being organized. However, since the lost in the woods Bush conservatives and mass media have picked it up, all the grass roots libertarian organizations have pretty well backed off. Like so many other things, it is now a casualty of Republican party political leaders and those who follow them blindly.