More about the research and other random tidbits...

As my co-writer has stated, this all started last year on tax day as we discussed the news of the Tax Day Tea Party gatherings across the country. From there came three weeks of hell, and I don't just mean the course work and the original paper, listening to Michael Savage spout off about H1N1 being some kind of terrorist plot involving Mexican mules certainly wasn't my idea of fun. However, the project grew from there and we realized something, this attack style commentary is something that fueled the fringe element of the Tea Party. I guess the argument can be made that the group is by and large a "fringe" group, at least from where I am sitting, but I have met enough of those who subscribe to their basic tenets who weren't batshit crazy that I will at least grant the benefit of doubt.

It's quite fitting that we started this now, on the eve of a crucial event in the history of the Tea Party. I will be in the audience as Sarah Palin delivers a speech that is sure to be full of the "political goodness" I promised. I am going incognito and cutting the hippie hair for this one. So by god, they better let me live tweet. If not, be sure to keep an eye out here, and for random updates whenever I can run enough interference to type out #nashtea on my cell phone.

From here, it's a little housekeeping. There are some things I am following that I will should be all over in the next few days, after I take a little time to watch the Super Bowl and maintain some semblence of a social life.

1) A little bit of uneasiness from Democratic incumbents in conservative districts. It will be interesting to see how this all plays out. With losses in the House and Senate looming, we'll see where this takes us over the next few months. I expect to see a lot more centrist talk for those in trouble, and even those who are comfortable.
2) I feel the need to take this back to where this Tea Party started (or at least, where a lot of folks think it started) and look at the Rick Santelli rant on CNBC. Look for that next week alongside some Palin work.

Finally, I feel like this blog just looks a little too plain. Hopefully my more technologically proficient friends can help out with that, so we'll go ahead and give this thing a new look early.