Update: Palin Wants Press Allowed - How Bad Is Nashville's Alleged Tea Party Convention?

Update: I'm hearing that Palin has asked them to open it up to the media and Glenn Reynolds aka Instapundit may cover the event for Pajamas Media. Presumably they will be getting back to him.

It's bad enough to have just lost it's only Gold-level Sponsor and to have frozen-out Instapundit, along with other press. Glenn has been the most visible online supporter of the Tea Party movement and would have covered it for Pajamas Media. That is so stupid it actually hurts to type.

[W]e have to respond to the concerns and wishes of our membership. And quite a few of our members have asked that we consider sitting this one out.

In summary, the controversy surrounding the event involves conversations about the infrastructure of the Tea Party Nation and the way its finances are channeled through private bank accounts and paypal accounts.

Comments

[crosspatch]

Dan, see the update to Glenn's post. Well, since it is a single sentence, I will post it here: "Okay, I got an email from Judson Phillips who says that Gov. Palin has asked for things to be open to the media, and that they’ll be back in touch with me soon on PJTV coverage. So we’ll see." Ok, two sentences.

[Allen G]

Ouch. This is starting to hurt.

At first, I was willing to give the benefit of the doubt to the group. I think they got conned by Professional Organizers or some such, which lead to so many of the initial bad decisions. But this is getting ridiculous. Talk about tone-deaf. The one movement in Conservatism which should be so plugged-in that it can react virtually immediately to these things (or at least to set the record straight to help mitigate some of the bad PR) is the Tea-Party movement. It's basically run via Facebook, Twitter, blogs, and emails.

[Pops in Vienna]

Hmmm, this "convention" has a very bad smell to it. I'm wondering if somebody informed Palin that a number of conservative bloggers were expressing concerns about it over the internet? I hope the next announcement will be that she'll waive the speaker's fee ($100,000)and only ask that her expenses be covered. Either that, or donate the fee back to the Tea Party Movement.

I think the rank and file tea party folks will react negatively to her getting rich off their support. A lot of folks dug deep into their pockets to make it to the tea party in Washington. I think the mercenary aspects of the Nashville event will rub people up the wrong way. If it was Al Gore making 100 grand for speaking at a global warming event, we'd expect it. Part of Sarah's allure is that she isn't the typical politician.

[memomachine]

Hmmm.

Is this an effort at discrediting the Tea Party movement? Because so far it doesn't seem to be something that I'd either support or even attend.

[Pops in Vienna]

Another thought...what on earth was Palin going to speak about that caused the event organizers to initally lock out the press and conservative bloggers?

If anything, I would expect Sarah to deliver a Reagan like speech reminding people that there's nothing wrong with America, etc. Why would the Convention want to keep that a secret? Heck, 5 minutes after she makes the speech they ought to put it on YouTube. Isn't one of the objectives to spread the word and get more folks on our side? You can't do that in a secret conclave.

[crosspatch]

I think Palin has some standing boilerplate in her speaking agreement about press coverage which stands to reason considering the press treatment she has received. I seem to remember her Hong Kong speaking engagement had the same press restrictions.

This might be her "default" speaking contract requirement that she is apparently considering modifying for this event, according to Reynolds.

[Pops in Vienna]

Well, so much for transparency. I guess she better not plan on beating up Obama on that issue during the 2012 campaign.

[the405]

No its the organizers being sleazy...

If you read NTPC website they refuse to allow press in to cover it they are a "working convention". These guys have something to hide.

[Al in St. Lou]

You know I used to think I was cynical. Couldn't it just be that they want to come up with a nationwide strategy to defeat Dems and they don't want the discussions leaked to the Dems?

[Digger]

Vienna said:
"I hope the next announcement will be that she'll waive the speaker's fee ($100,000)"

Palin said she will not be receiving a fee last night on O'Reilly.

[Pops in Vienna]

Thanks Digger - that's good news. I am in Austria and we do not get Fox.

I still think Sarah better bail out. Sounds like a bunch of shysters are behind this affair.

Strategy for defeating the Dems? Vote.

[democratsarefascists]

It's starting to look to me as if scumbag mobs like Democratic Underground have done what they threatened to do and infiltrated the Tea Party movement to co-opt it.

[ktgreat]

Dan, go look at the post at HillBuzz about the Nashville Tea Party crew. They seem to know some of them and are, to put it gently, not fans.
But they love them some Palin.