“Despite what you might have been told, the Tea Party movement is not…"

Via Instapundit, The Truth about the Tea Party:

ANDY GARCIA ON FACEBOOK: “Despite what you might have been told, the Tea Party movement is not about national groups based in Washington, D.C. or those who arbitarily claim to be its national leaders.”

The "party" in "Tea Party" is a reference to the Boston Tea Party of 1773*, not to a political party like the Party of Evil, or the Party of Stupid.

People keep looking at one group of Tea Partiers who have money problems, or internal dissension, or at Tea Party-supported politicians who then go Full Politician and vote for unpopular bills, and say "See? See? I told you! I told you it couldn't last!"

Which is, I guess, understandable when it comes from a progressive/liberal/socialist/communitarian.  Coming from alleged libertarians or conservatives, well, they must get their news and opinions from CNN, which is kinds like being a Green Beret who only reads Pravda...

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*Note that, according to Wikipedia, there were least two other more-or-less contemporaneous Tea Parties, one in Chestertown Maryland, and one in Edenton North Carolina.