There has been all sorts of craziness leading up to Sarah’s upcoming appearance at the first annual National Tea Party Convention in Nashville. All kinds of lies, rumors, accusations, and so on. As Stacy Drake pointed out just a few days ago, these lies, rumors, and so one, have been made up out of whole cloth by leftist groups attempting to infiltrate and damage the grass roots movement. Pretty typical for the left wing, since they can’t compete in the marketplace of ideas, they try to stop people from hearing other people’s ideas.
One of the groups Ms. Drake uncovered was a leftist bunch posing as conservatives called "Patriot Majority." Come to find out this bunch was heavily funded by Barack Obama’s labor union, SEIU, a division of ACORN, Barack Obama’s previous employer.
You can read all about it here.
Of course, the left wasn’t the only ones trying to scuttle Sarah and the Tea Party Convention, as some from the rival CPAC convention were also outspoken and spreading false rumors, basically because Sarah had decided to forgo their convention for numerous reasons, including the fact that there were allegations of impropriety.
A certain blogger, from a website that is funded by the same people who fund CPAC was particularly irresponsible is his writing, and never fully disclosed the huge conflict of interest involved, in his many opinion pieces published. Not exactly the way to do business.
Through it all, the Tea Party Convention was coming together. The event, which is geared toward movement leaders and networking, is sold out.
With that in mind, comes this press release from Tea Party Nation via the Daily Caller:
This weekend’s Tea Party Convention in Nashville, made a surprise announcement late Sunday night that the convention will be televised.
Tea Party Nation, the group sponsoring the event that starts Thursday, said it is working with internet media company PJTV, FOX News, CNN and Reuters TV to "allow the millions of Tea Party activists who could not be in attendance to view many of the proceedings live along with special interviews of delegates and speakers alike."
Viewing times will be published on the National Tea Party Convention Web site, organizers said. Airings will include the live broadcast of the convention’s opening, keynote speeches during the conference and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin address
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Judson Phillips, president of Tea Party Nation, acknowledged the controversy surrounding the event, saying the group and "my family have taken much criticism over the weeks preceding the convention."
While working out the logistics to airing the convention, Phillips said the group has kept the "plans close to the vest."
"Obviously, we believe that the delegates and banquet attendees are going to enjoy the networking and the excitement of being here directly. However, as we are all committed to grassroots activism, we wanted to share this event with those who could not come to Nashville," he said.
Mark A. Skoda, founder of the the Memphis Tea Party and convention spokesman, also recognized the surprise element of the announcement.
"With our team effort and the many friends we had in the new media, we planned this surprise. We are hopeful that these millions of activists will participate with the local delegates through technology. As my father always said, you keep your powder dry until there’s something to shoot at," he said.
With all that said, Sarah came out with a stirring call to action today in an editorial in USA Today:
Why I'm speaking at Tea Party convention
By Sarah Palin
Later this week I'll head to Nashville, where I'll have the honor of speaking with members of the Tea Party movement. I look forward to meeting many Americans who share a commitment to limited government, common sense and personal responsibility. This movement is truly a grassroots, organic effort. It's not a top-down organization; it's a ground-up call to action that already has both political parties rethinking the way they do business.
From the town halls last summer to the protests and marches in the fall to the game-changing recent elections, it has been inspiring to see real people — not politicos or inside-the-Beltway professionals — speak out for common-sense conservative policies and values. As with all grassroots efforts, the nature of this movement means that sometimes the debates are loud and the organization is messier than that of a polished, controlled machine. Legitimate disagreements take place about tone and tactics. That's OK, because this movement is about bigger things than politics or organizers.
The soul of the Tea Party is the people who belong to it — everyday Americans who grow our food, run our small businesses, teach our children how to read, serve the less fortunate and fight our wars. They're folks in small towns and cities across this nation who saw what was happening to our country and decided to get involved. Thank God for them. Many of these good Americans had never been involved in their government before, but now they attend town hall meetings and participate in online forums. They write letters to the editor. They sign up to be precinct leaders and run for local office and support other independent patriots. They have the courage to stand up and speak out.
Their vision is what drew me to the Tea Party movement. They believe in the same principles that guided my work in public service — whether I was working on the PTA and city council or serving as a mayor, commissioner or governor. I look forward to meeting some of these great Americans this weekend.
Recently, some have tried to portray this movement as a commercial endeavor rather than the grassroots uprising that it is. Those who do so don't understand the frustration everyday Americans feel when they see their government mortgaging their children's future with reckless spending. The spark of patriotic indignation that inspired those who fought for our independence and those who marched peacefully for civil rights has ignited once again. You can't buy such a sentiment. You can't AstroTurf it. It springs from love of country and the knowledge that we can make a difference if we just stand up and stand together.
I thought long and hard about my participation in this weekend's event. At the end of the day, my decision came down to this: It's important to keep faith with people who put a little bit of their faith in you. Everyone attending this event is a soldier in the cause. Some of them will be driving hundreds of miles to Nashville. I made a commitment to them to be there, and I am going to honor it.
But participation won't be limited to those in Nashville who have a ticket. It's much bigger than that. Because the Tea Party movement is spread out across the country — with no central offices or annual events — this is an opportunity to connect with like-minded folks. Yes, there will be speeches given in a room in Nashville. But we'll also be speaking with thousands of Americans watching online at twitter.com/SarahPalinUSA, or through various news outlets. And the conversation will continue on my Facebook page.
I will not benefit financially from speaking at this event. My only goal is to support the grassroots activists who are fighting for responsible, limited government — and our Constitution. In that spirit, any compensation for my appearance will go right back to the cause.
The nature of the Tea Party movement means there may never be a "perfectly orchestrated" event: Democracy in action doesn't come with a manual. But we must not get caught up in the politics or the controversies that some hope will distract from the heart of the movement. The focus must remain on our ideas and beliefs, and on supporting those ideas and beliefs however we can.
This weekend, it's Nashville, but in March, I'll head to Searchlight, Nev., for the kickoff rally at the Tea Party Express III. In April, I'll be in Boston for a Tea Party gathering there. Across the country, tea-partiers will be sharing our vision for America's future, a vision that promotes common sense solutions to out-of-control spending and an out-of-touch political establishment.
The process may not always be pretty or perfect, but the message is loud and clear: We want a government worthy of the fine Americans that it serves. And we're going to keep spreading that message one convention, one town hall, one speech and one election at a time.
This, my friends, is the voice of a true leader. What Sarah is saying here is that yes, this sort of stuff is a tad messy at times, but the movement is important. More important than any one person, group, or faction.
Sarah is also sending a very strong message here. We are going to take our country back!
Now, it's time to get behind her, and the movement, and get this done.
Personally, I’ve quite had it with those whose big egos are not allowing them to move past petty feelings. I’m also quite fed up with those that think Sarah Palin, or any one else "owes" them something simply because they support her. Folks, there are tens of millions who support Sarah Palin. She simply can’t bend to the whims of every single supporter.
Something I learned a long, long time ago...If you try and please every body, you end up pleasing no one. In fact, you end up pissing off everyone!
I’ve followed Sarah Palin since she first became Governor of Alaska. I was drawn to her because she is a tough, no nonsense politician, and she has common sense values and ideas. Ideas that work.
After following her for all of these years, I have learned that Sarah Palin is someone who knows what she is doing. She has a keen eye for politics, and knows how to get things done. For people that see her doing this and that, and scratch their heads, my best advice is to just stand back and watch. So far, everything she has done has been the right thing to do. She has yet to make a misstep.
Sarah Palin is a woman on a mission. Sarah understands that our very way of life is under assault by a bunch of Marxists who are hellbent on destroying our way of life, in order to put in place their insane vision of the world. A vision that has failed every single time it has been tried.
Sarah is one of us. She is on our side. It’s time to set petty pride and big egos aside, and join in with her, and the other patriots who are trying to save our nation, and save our cherished way of life.
Seldom in one’s lifetime does a great leader come along. That leader is here. That leader is Sarah Palin. Let’s all get behind Sarah and help her accomplish her goal, and use our energy to fight the communists, the Marxists, and the Chicago street thugs who have this nation in a stranglehold.
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