The problem with these tea parties is that they are really just expressions of unarticulated rage. And any successful piece of activism has to be specific and coherent. Even the core message (Taxed Enough Already) isn’t particularly helpful because the vast, vast majority of the protesters just received a modest tax-cut. Their grievances are all over the place, although they’re mainly pissed off about deficit spending. I think they’ve made it plain that they don’t want to pay more taxes to fix the deficit problem, but they have no message about what wars and programs they’d like to slash. We’re left with nothing to chew on.
It’s kind of like the McCain campaign without Sarah Palin. Except it’s also like a Palin Rally.