Tea Party Convention – Final Comments
As we were driving to the Tea Party Convention in Nashville, I was wondering what questions the press would be asking the attendees. I quickly realized that their questions would be the same as what they were asking before the event. The media would focus on the controversy and not the substance. Since I had commented on these questions already, I am going to give my answers from before the convention and after the convention.
1. People cannot buy tickets to the event because it is limited to 600 people.
Answer before:
The tickets were originally available through Jan. 4th, 2010. The deadline was extended to Jan. 19th, 2010 and the 600 tickets were sold out close to the deadline. The waiting list was over 300 people at the last week of January.
Answer after:
The event was booked for 600 people by Tea Party Nation. The Opryland Hotel monitored the number of attendees and would not allow any more people to attend under the conditions of their contract. The waiting list when the convention opened was over 500 people.
2. Tea Party Nation is a “for profit” organization and will make money off of the event.
Answer before:
This organization was “for profit” since last April. The controversy only started after the event sold out in January. What part of Capitalism don’t you understand? Isn’t this the economic system that we are fighting to keep?
Answer after:
The people attacking the organizers had no problem if the event failed and they lost money. The story broke only when the possibility of a profit might be realized.
3. The media outlets are limited at the convention.
Answer before:
It is up to the organizers who they want to allow into the event. This is when the “controversy” started.
Answer after:
The media was everywhere at the convention and the initial delay to their requests was due to volume of media requests coming in from all over the world which overwhelmed the organizers.
4. Judson Phillips is not defending himself against the personal attacks so they must be true.
Answer before:
Since I and my wife get personally attacked regularly, I gave him the benefit of the doubt that the attacks may be unfounded. As in the Bible, if you are not being persecuted, you are not doing the work of the Lord.
Answer after:
The so called “controversy” was barely mentioned. Judson Phillips took the high road at the convention and moved us all forward. Sarah Palin addressed this in her speech.
5. The Tea Party Convention is getting a large amount of media coverage but the 9/12 March in DC was barely covered.
Answer before:
The media was reporting on the controversy in an attempt to discredit the event.
Answer after:
The media coverage was from all over the world. Watch Andrew Breitbart’s speech that addresses this issue very succinctly. It the media in our country knew that the convention would be a success, I guarantee that they would not have shown up.
6. Michele Bachmann cancelled her scheduled appearance.
Answer before:
I lost respect for her since she would not honor a commitment.
Answer after:
Thank you Lord. Her cancellation allowed Andrew Breitbart to speak which was the highlight of the convention for me.
7. The price is too high for people to afford.
Answer before:
I agree that price was high but it is my decision how I spend my money. Tea Party Nation did provide lower priced alternatives which people were not discussing.
Answer after:
This was an incredible bargain. The training sessions, speeches and connections were invaluable.
8. Sarah Palin is going to start a third party.
Answer before:
I was told that this is not true.
Answer after:
Watch her speech.
I told people that the success or failure of the convention would be dependent on the people attending it. The patriots in our country did not disappoint us: we are moving forward.
Some comments have come up that I would like to address. Even though Erika Franzi and I conducted two seminars at the convention, neither one of us received any compensation for our time. We also received no discount on our tickets, travel costs, hotel costs or meals. We used personal funds completely for this convention: no Asheville Tea Party or NC Freedom funds were used to subsidize us (or our spouses) in any way. For any other comments, see number 4 above.
I do not have a problem with people making an honest profit but this profit is being made off the Tea Party movement which causes me to look closer at the promoter to see if he's the real deal or just out to make a buck. In reference to number 4, the things being said about Judson Phillips certainly cast doubt on his credibility and some answers would be nice. I for one do not think we should be opposed to challenging the character of those that would want to be "leaders" in the movement. That being said, I'm glad David was able to attend the event and get the exposure for our state. He did represent North Carolina well.