Remember in the early days of the Tea Party movement, say, in the spring of 2009? First the media ignored the growing phenomenon, and after it could not longer ignore it, it demonized it? Democratic members of Congress called the brown shirts and violence-prone when they wouldn’t listen to the standard Washington-insider blather designed to make citizens feel they didn’t know enough to ask questions.
Well, things are different now. Reports are surfacing of Democratic candidates for local office actually showing up at Tea Party gatherings:
The significance of this can’t be overestimated. For over a year the media has been painting tea party members as wild eyed extremists. Congressmen and women have avoided town hall meetings in fear of encountering them and now sitting democratic members of the General Court attend events.
When N.C. Democrats Brad Miller, Bob Etheridge and David Price show up at a Tea Party rally, we’ll really know the the movement has succeeded.
