Coffee Party brews up rival for Tea Party

[alienlovechild 75]

Evolving in the United States over the last couple of months through social media in response to the conservative Tea Party movement, coffee partiers share the Tea Party's disillusionment with mainstream politicians.

Saturday saw over 350 Coffee Party events held in cafes across the United States and abroad, bringing activists together in person for the first time for a national day of conversation and, of course, espressos and cappuccinos.

We recognize that the federal government is not the enemy of the people, but the expression of our collective will

Coffee Party mission statement

"If our children acted like our politicians are acting right now they would be grounded for a very long time," says Ryan Clayton, a Coffee Party spokesperson in Washington DC.

Like the Tea Party, the Coffee Party is a movement, not a registered political entity. But that is where the similarities end.

The Tea Party is a loose affiliation of activists from all over America who are distrustful of the federal government, and what they see as bloated government spending.

Over the past year Tea Party groups have held a number of loud, angry rallies across America denouncing President Barack Obama and other politicians.

The first national Tea Party convention in February featured former Alaskan governor Sarah Palin as its keynote speaker. Unlike their Tea Party counterparts, who want a smaller government with less influence, coffee partiers believe government can provide solutions, and they want politicians to work together in a more civilised way.

Founder Annabel Park, who began the Coffee Party on her Facebook page out of anger at the Tea Party and its growing influence, has seen it rapidly gain traction on the internet.

While the Tea Party can claim to have already helped win elections, including the vote for the new Massachusetts Senator, Scott Brown, can the Coffee Party gain the same sway on American politics?

"We're trying to approach politics differently so it's hard to compare the level of influence," says Annabel Park.

"Changing the political culture is not something you can measure by saying how many elections you've won."

But she maintains the coffee party represents the silent majority, who feel angry at politicians but do not want to voice their frustration by adopting the same aggressive and frequently negative tactics the Tea Party has.

"The two-party structure is just not working. There are so many of us who feel these labels are outdated, that we're much more complex and interconnected. And people are coming to us exhilarated that there's finally a place for them to have a voice," she says.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8566574.stm

[Rebecca Jo 1,962]

"We're trying to approach politics differently so it's hard to compare the level of influence," says Annabel Park.

"Changing the political culture is not something you can measure by saying how many elections you've won."

But she maintains the coffee party represents the silent majority, who feel angry at politicians but do not want to voice their frustration by adopting the same aggressive and frequently negative tactics the Tea Party has.

lO_5HvnFEv0

http://coffeepartyusa.com/

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

We recognize that the federal government is not the enemy of the people, but the expression of our collective will

Collective Communist Coffee Clutches?

Coven of Communist Coffee Cluchers?

Edited March 14, 2010 by ##########

[Danno 1,228]

lO_5HvnFEv0

http://coffeepartyusa.com/

Actually this founder of the Coffee groups has been busted as a volunteer in Baracks Presidential Campaign.

So much for the "grass roots" style movement they are trying to portray themselves as, in fact, are their any points that this group endorses which clash with the Obamas Agenda?

========================

CNN Omits 'Coffee Party' Founder's Past as Obama Volunteer

By Matthew Balan (Bio | Archive)

Wed, 03/03/2010 - 11:44 ET

John Roberts and Kiran Chetry omitted mentioning that Annabel Park, the founder of the so-called Coffee Party, worked as a volunteer for President Barack Obama's presidential campaign, during an interview on Wednesday's American Morning. The anchors also didn't mention Park's past work for the liberal New York Times.

Roberts and Chetry interviewed the Coffee Party USA founder at the bottom of the 8 am Eastern hour. After an initial question about the origin of the name, the two asked about the principles of the nascent movement and if health care "reform" was going to be a major issue for it. In her last question to Park, Chetry did ask if the Coffee Party had any ties to a political party: "[T]he tea party movement really, in some ways, has been a challenge to Republicans to move more toward fiscal conservative ideals. Are you aligned with a party? I mean, as we know, passing health care reform has been a huge goal of liberal Democrats for decades. Are you aligned with the Democrats, trying to get them more to move to the left when it comes to health care?"

Read more: http://newsbusters.org/blogs/matthew-balan...r#ixzz0i7nndFNK

Edited March 14, 2010 by Danno

[alienlovechild 75]

lO_5HvnFEv0

The people walking in front of her set the stage a party doomed to ignored by nearly everyone.

She's got little to say for an agenda other than to be against the Tea Party which isn't a party anyway.

See the Simpson's episode with the Hooray for Everything show for more entertaining comparison.

[alienlovechild 75]

Actually this founder of the Coffee groups has been busted as a volunteer in Baracks Presidential Campaign.

So much for the "grass roots" style movement they are trying to portray themselves as, in fact, are their any points that this group endorses which clash with the Obamas Agenda?

Why should anyone be surprised by Annabel Astroturf who thinks the two party system is now outdated but wasn't in 2008 when she was campaigning for Obama?

"The founder denied that her movement was aligned to any party, and actually criticized the longstanding two-party system in the United States as being "incredibly outdated." In reality, as William A. Jacobson of Legal Insurrection blog exposed, Park worked for one of the two parties, as an organizer and operator of the United for Obama video channel on YouTube (NewsBuster P. J. Gladnick blogged about Jacobson's expose on Tuesday evening). As the United for Obama page admits, "We are a network of Obama volunteers from all across the country and from all backgrounds working together to support Obama's message of unity and change....Some of us are filmmakers and we created this page to amplify Obama's message on YouTube...The filmmakers include...Annabel Park..."

Edited March 14, 2010 by alienlovechild

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

So much for the "grass roots" style movement they are trying to portray themselves as...

Unlike the Tea Party which is an angry mob organized and financed by such Right Wing staples as FreedomWorks and Americans For Prosperity.

[Dan J 277]

Unlike the Tea Party which is an angry mob organized and financed by such Right Wing staples as FreedomWorks and Americans For Prosperity.

I think they should really be calling themselves the whiskey party. It would better fit the anger and rhetoric.

[lostinblue 1,989]

<!--quoteo(post=3795407:date=Mar 13 2010, 11:39 PM:name=JohnnyQuest)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (JohnnyQuest @ Mar 13 2010, 11:39 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=3795407"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec--><object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="

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<a href="http://coffeepartyusa.com/" target="_blank">http://coffeepartyusa.com/</a><!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

<b>Actually this founder of the Coffee groups has been busted as a volunteer in Baracks Presidential Campaign.</b>

So much for the "grass roots" style movement they are trying to portray themselves as, in fact, are their any points that this group endorses which clash with the Obamas Agenda?

<img src="http://www.visajourney.com/forums/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/wow.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="" border="0" alt="wow.gif" />

========================

CNN Omits 'Coffee Party' Founder's Past as Obama Volunteer

By Matthew Balan (Bio | Archive)

Wed, 03/03/2010 - 11:44 ET

John Roberts and Kiran Chetry omitted mentioning that Annabel Park, the founder of the so-called Coffee Party, worked as a volunteer for President Barack Obama's presidential campaign, during an interview on Wednesday's American Morning. The anchors also didn't mention Park's past work for the liberal New York Times.

Roberts and Chetry interviewed the Coffee Party USA founder at the bottom of the 8 am Eastern hour. After an initial question about the origin of the name, the two asked about the principles of the nascent movement and if health care "reform" was going to be a major issue for it. In her last question to Park, Chetry did ask if the Coffee Party had any ties to a political party: "[T]he tea party movement really, in some ways, has been a challenge to Republicans to move more toward fiscal conservative ideals. Are you aligned with a party? I mean, as we know, passing health care reform has been a huge goal of liberal Democrats for decades. Are you aligned with the Democrats, trying to get them more to move to the left when it comes to health care?"

Read more: <a href="http://newsbusters.org/blogs/matthew-balan/2010/03/03/cnn-omits-coffee-party-founders-past-obama-volunteer#ixzz0i7nndFNK" target="_blank">http://newsbusters.org/blogs/matthew-balan...r#ixzz0i7nndFNK</a>

http://www.leftcoastrebel.com/2010/03/bitter-cup-of-coffee-party-digging-up.html

Your link seemed not to work for me Danno .... here is one that does

As has been pointed out by many today, Annabel also has a large number of MSM contacts. She previously worked as a Strategy Analyst for the NY Times and has been interviewed a number of times prior to the Coffee Party’s break out Washington Post article. Here is Annabel being interviewed in the Washington Post in 2008. Here she is with Anderson Cooper of CNN.

The Washington Post reported that Annabel started the Coffee Party movement with a Facebook post expressing her frustration with the Tea Party Movement. The Washington Post goes on:

Friends replied, and more friends replied. So last month, in her Silver Spring apartment, Park started a fan page called "Join the Coffee Party Movement."

The real question Annabel needs to answer is, "exactly who on Facebook answered your post?" Or perhaps, that question is better left to Kalpen Modi (stagename Kal Penn), who is a friend listed on her Facebook page. See screenshot below; click to enlarge

When last we saw Kalpen, he was sailing off into the rising Obama sun and leaving his acting job as Kutner on Fox’s TV show House to take a position in the Obama administration. Kalpen Modi is now the associate director for the Office of Public Engagement. The purpose of Kalpen’s job is to coordinate with organizations associated with Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. An itinerary for a conference call sent by Kalpen to Asian Pacific Americans for Progress gives you an idea of how Obama is coordinating with these organizations. Kalpen's job in the Obama administration put him directly in contact with the same groups, organizations, and personal contacts as Annabel.

We broke the story last week that Annabel Park and Eric Byler had interviewed Kal Penn Modi for Obama propaganda during the 2008 campaign. However, Annabel’s friend Eric Byler may have known Kalpen previously (Perhaps while they were both speaking at an APA Five conference together).

This Annabel-Kalpen connection creates a series of conundrums for the salivating MSMs, like the Washington Post and NY Times, who want to spin this AstroTurf group, the Coffee Party, as grassroots. How could the MSMs have known? Annabel said herself that the Coffee Party was grassroots, why do any investigative journalism?

Even without Annabel’s links to the Obama Administration, her associations don’t pass the sniff test. If it smells bitter, tastes bitter (h/t to Jacobson again), it must be Coffee Party.

[Danno 1,228]

Unlike the Tea Party which is an angry mob organized and financed by such Right Wing staples as FreedomWorks and Americans For Prosperity.

We have heard this "astroturf" charge made of the Tea Party right from the beginning, yet no one posts the names or proof.

I am not really involved myself enough to know if in fact they are paying people to attend or show up at events, if so, I got robbed as we went for free.

The only based charge I have heard was the high cost of the Tickets for the Convention in Nashville..... which that charge was that someone was trying to profiteer from it in a big way.

I think where your charge falls apart is evidenced by the lefthand not knowing what the right hand is doing among the many groups..... hardly a sign of being "organized or financed" by much of anyone to any great degree.

Spin it anyway you want, I doubt few people doubt the Tea party is the best example of a modern grassroots movement we have seen in decades.

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

_5HvnFEv0

Isn't that creepychan?

Edited March 14, 2010 by ##########

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

Unlike the Tea Party which is an angry mob organized and financed by such Right Wing staples as FreedomWorks and Americans For Prosperity.

Angry mob.....

[lostinblue 1,989]

Angry mob.....

Please post where the national guard was called out and arrests were made. The way the media reported it hardly anyone showed up.

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

Angry mob.....

strong centralized government types have an inborn fear of populist uprisings.

[alienlovechild 75]

I think they should really be calling themselves the whiskey party. It would better fit the anger and rhetoric.

Coffee makes some people pretty wired as the Coffee Party was founded by an angry woman.

"Founder Annabel Park, who began the Coffee Party on her Facebook page out of anger at the Tea Party and its growing influence, has seen it rapidly gain traction on the internet."