Coffee Party, With a Taste for Civic Participation, Is Added to the Political Menu By KATE ZERNIKE Published: March 1, 2010 fed up with government gridlock, but put off by the flavor of the Tea Party, people in cities across the country are offering an alternative: the Coffee Party. The Coffee Party began on Facebook as a Tea Party alternative. Growing through a Facebook page, the party pledges to “support leaders who work toward positive solutions, and hold accountable those who obstruct them.†It had nearly 40,000 members as of Monday afternoon, but the numbers were growing quickly - about 11,000 people had signed on as fans since the morning. “I'm in shock, just the level of energy here,†said the founder, Annabel Park, a documentary filmmaker who lives outside Washington. “In the beginning, I was actively saying, ‘Get in touch with us, start a chapter.' Now I can't keep up. We have 300 requests to start a chapter that I have not been able to respond to.†The slogan is “Wake Up and Stand Up.†The mission statement declares that the federal government is “not the enemy of the people, but the expression of our collective will, and that we must participate in the democratic process in order to address the challenges we face as Americans.†Local chapters are planning meetings in cities from Washington to San Antonio to Los Angeles (where there have been four in the last month.) The party (coffeepartyusa.org) is planning nationwide coffee houses for March 13, where people can gather to decide which issues they want to take on and even which candidates they want to support. This summer, Ms. Park said, the party will hold a convention in the Midwest, with a slogan along the lines of “Meet Me in the Middle.†The party has inspired the requisite jokes: why not a latte party, a chai party, a Red Bull party? But Ms. Park said that while the Coffee Party - and certainly the name - was formed in reaction to the Tea Party, the two agree on some things, like a desire for fiscal responsibility and a frustration with Congress. “We're not the opposite of the Tea Party,†Ms. Park, 41, said. “We're a different model of civic participation, but in the end we may want some of the same things.†The Tea Party argues for stripping the federal government of many of its roles, and that if government has to be involved, it should be mostly state governments. “The way I see it,†Ms. Park said, “our government is diseased, but you don't abandon it because it's ill. It's the only body we have to address collective problems. You can't bound government according to state borders when companies don't do that, air doesn't. It just doesn't fit with the world.†Still, she said, “we've got to send a message to people in Washington that you have to learn how to work together, you have to learn how to talk about these issues without acting like you're in an ultimate fighting session.†Ms. Park and chapter organizers said they would invite Tea Party members to join their Coffee counterparts in discussions. “We need to roll up our sleeves, put our heads together and work it out,†she said. “That's, to me, an American way of doing this.†Born in South Korea, Ms. Park moved to Houston when she was 9 and worked in the taco stand her parents bought there, which she said helps her understand average Americans. “We encountered racism, yes, but the majority of people were kind, they were good people, they were like our family,†she said. “I understand where they are coming from.†Eileen Cabiling, who founded the Los Angeles chapter, said she had campaigned for President Obama, but paid little attention to politics until the Tea Party convention and Mr. Obama's State of the Union speech, where he rebuked Congressional Democrats and Republicans alike for their inability to move on legislation. “I had withdrawn in campaign fatigue,†Ms. Cabiling said. “I was like, what happened?†Only 2 people came to the first meeting, she said, but 30 came Sunday, including some Tea Party members, who she said could agree with their more caffeinated counterparts on some things. “This is about recognizing that the government represents us,†Ms. Cabiling said, “so we need to step to the plate and start having a voice and start acting like bosses.†Coffee Party, With a Taste for Civic Participation, Is Added to the Political Menu - NYTimes.com is it time for an armed rebellion?
So the democratic party and george soros fund an astroturf group that has 30 people show up for a meeting in LA and the NYTs covers it. 1 million tea parties rally in DC and... silence. It's not their business model that sucks, it's them that sucks. And the newspapers wonder why they're going bankrupt.
Meh, I kind of like the idea of something like this. Criticizing the government for waste, criticizing congress for incompetence, yet not resorting to lobbing around 'Socialist' and 'Hitler' within the same sentence.
Having had a look at some of the stuff they have online i kind of like these guys, they seem to be taking the middle ground without alienating (too much) the 2 poles in american politics. Best of luck to them as this seems a workable compromise that could bring an effective 3rd party into play as long as the GOP and dems don't try to usurp the cause with the usual underhand tactics.
With the growing anti-incumbency fervor going on in this country, the 'Coffee Party' could very well be black propaganda like Sir Elliot is trying to say. I can't know for sure, but it's not out of the realm of reality. Just look at all the people who are trying to corporatize the tea party movement, and have instead fractured it into many different factions. 'Ya never know.
Do you have any idea how long it took them to cover the tea parties? Even wen they started to, it was to demonize them as racists and extremists.
Perhaps, but I still think that's a little far fetched compared to the simplest answer, which is that Americans across the board are fed up with the government, the inefficiencies and the waste, but whereas Tea Party folk are for a smaller federal government in general, Coffee Party people don't seem to think a strong central government is inherently bad, just that it could be better. Granted, the distinctions are fine but nevertheless, significant.
More than anything the MSM just made them look uniformed and stupid - angry, yes, but also ignorant. I don't think they necessarily got it all that wrong. Are the basic issues of waste in Washington worth getting angry about? Sure, but SCREAMING LOUDLY calling the administration SOCIALISTS, some even beating the dead horse of whether or not Obama's really a citizen... These things aren't constructive beyond bringing attention to the fact that there's waste in our government.
It turns out the "coffe party" is directly connected to the Obama campaign. 'Grassroots' Coffee Party Organizer Exposed as Obama Political Operative
I think the language used in that link is grossly misleading. 'Political opperative'=/= once worked on the campaign trail. Hell, in the OP's posted nytimes article one of the chapter leaders readily admits she worked for Obama's campaign. Are Tea Party members 'Republican operatives' because they may have helped McCain's campaign or voted Republican in the past? I'd rather not play that absurd game, but if you feel like it, go ahead.
Anyone who worked for Obama at any point is discredited. Unless they renounced him, apologized for assisting him, and show they are not a part of the false left right paradigm anymore. How can anyone who worked for Obama be taken seriously? Unless of course you are a brainwashed follower yourself, but those people are past the point of rational discourse.
Have you not seen the non-stop smear attempts against the tea parties, by the media over the last year? Did you even bother to read the article I posted? No, you didn't.
"Anyone who worked for Obama at any point is discredited"... Okay, so if you supported Obama, you can't criticize him, or rather, you aren't really critical of him? I guess with that kind of logic anyone who voted for the man automatically becomes 'brainwashed... past the point of rational discourse'. As an aside, painting with a broad brush, such as concluding all _______ are ______, is not helpful towards finding solutions/common ground; it's only conducive for butting heads like animals.
I read the quote you decided to include in your post. I figured you thought that was the relevant information. And, no, my only connection to the MSM is nytimes.com and the Daily Show, as it is. No MSNBC, CNN or FOX news for me, thanks.
You realize the NYT is just as partisan and bias as Fox News right? I'd also like to point out we have another person who thinks the daily show is news.
hahahah wow the New York Times man, really? I bet you love the UN and the homosexual agenda but despise my right to have a firearm and not pay taxes for some loser to collect welfare. Wow you can read you are like sooooo intelligent. Can you please regurgitate some of the propaganda you learn so I can have a laugh? (here is a hint, read the documents published by the government, they are the most damning evidence)
And now its starting against the coffee party with the likes of you and newsbusters, so your point is what? That democrats and republicans use smear tactics in attempts to discredit possible threats to their power base is something everyone is aware of and i have to laugh at the fact that you complain about AND perpetrate it in the same thread and in the space of 20 minutes. I understand there is a word for a person who professes opinions that he or she does not hold in order to conceal his or her real feelings or motives
The New York Times is probably the best newspaper in the country. They have their bias, sure, but a critical reader can usually get through that shit, no problem. Oh, and I support all mankind including homosexuals, the poor, and dipshits who think they need to keep a double-barrel shotgun in the house to protect their family. And "Wow you can read you are like sooooo intelligent." is going in my sig, thanks