There’s a new movement developing on the political horizon calling itself the Coffee Party. Apparently it’s not much more than a month old but it’s already picking up quite a number of followers on its Facebook and web sites. The founders seem to have had no idea what they were getting into when they launched the idea of a movement to embrace the grass roots efforts of the Tea Party but on a platform directed more toward the left of the political spectrum. What exactly the Coffee Party believes and supports is subject of much blogosphere debate with some conservatives painting them as anti-tea party, far-left radicals. But, according to their website, the Coffee Party has gone from 9000 supporters to 67,000 supporters in just the last 4 days with dozens of local chapters being established around the country following articles in the Washington Post and the NY Times. Make no mistake – this is about to take off! Given the early noise being made it seems worth a little time to explore what this is about and how it might shape the political landscape of 2010.
Let’s start with the Mission as expressed on the home page of the central website coffeepartyusa.com:
MISSION: The Coffee Party Movement gives voice to Americans who want to see cooperation in government. We recognize 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 that we face as Americans. As voters and grassroots volunteers, we will support leaders who work toward positive solutions, and hold accountable those who obstruct them.
I’ve probably read that statement 5 times and each time I come away with the same view – the Mission statement says absolutely nothingl. It is a jumbled pile of mush that is not for or against anything except “positive solutions.” Brilliant! Why didn’t I think of that? Some critics have jumped on the inclusion of the term “collective will” as an indication of the radical left agenda of the founders. Rubbish! This is no Communist Manifesto. In fact, it’s nothing whatsoever. It’s just – empty.
But okay, let’s look at the founders and see what we can learn because much has been made of their backgrounds. The driving force and face of the party is a woman named Annabel Park. She is a documentary filmmaker best known for a film called “9500 Liberty” that was released to much acclaim last fall. Personally, I never heard of it. Here’s a summary of the film from the Hartford Examiner:
“The film tells of the powder-keg style atmosphere surrounding Prince William County in Virginia in 2007 and 2008 over a law approved and implemented by the county’s lawmakers that required police officers to question anyone they have “probable cause” to believe or suspect is an illegal or undocumented immigrant. The law, spurred by a local anti-immigrant activist, engenders bitter racial hostility and tension throughout Manassas. Passions are sparked on both sides from many of the town’s older white residents and the Central American immigrant locals, some of whom carry their U.S. passports with them on an almost-daily basis.”
Critics of the film and the Coffee Party have labeled the film as supporting illegal immigration and being anti-white. Some of that may be based on Park’s heritage – she was born in South Korea and came to the US at the age of nine. As I haven’t seen the film I can’t express a view; but I will say that assuming the premise of the film, as described by the Examiner, is accurate then it’s hard for me to find any sympathy for detractors. Any county that would pass a law reminiscent of Nazi’s asking for “your papers” and requiring US citizens to carry a passport to prove their citizenship deserves all the scorn that may be heaped upon it. So I must on the face of it, and without complete information at hand, dismiss the criticism made of the founders (Park’s co-director/producer on the film is also a Coffee Party founder) as radical left wingers based simply upon their film.
Back to the web site. Here’s what you get under “About Us”:
“We are diverse — ethnically, geographically, politically, in age and in experience.
We are 100% grassroots. No lobbyists here. No pundits. And no hyper-partisan strategists calling the shots in this movement. We are a spontaneous and collective expression of our desire to forge a culture of civic engagement that is solution-oriented, not blame-oriented.
We demand a government that responds to the needs of the majority of its citizens as expressed by our votes and by our voices; NOT corporate interests as expressed by misleading advertisements and campaign contributions.
We want a society in which democracy is treated as sacrosanct and ordinary citizens participate out of a sense of civic duty, civic pride, and a desire to contribute to society. The Coffee Party is a call to action. Our Founding Fathers and Mothers gave us an enduring gift — Democracy — and we must use it to meet the challenges that we face as a nation.”
OK, that’s a little clearer…very little. But the line about the Founding Fathers (and Mothers??) giving us Democracy –I think the FF would have a problem with that sentence. Nevertheless we get a slightly better notion. They don’t like the Supreme Court decision giving corporations the right to spend endlessly on campaign advertisements (I wasn’t too happy with that one either). They want government to be functional as opposed to the dysfunction we’ve been witnessing. Good. They want the government to reflect the will of its citizens (that sounds very Tea Partyish). OK, but what are they FOR? Ahhhh, that takes a little digging. But they have a tab called “Inform” that’s broken down by subject and simply has url’s for articles on the various topics. Let’s look at the sections they created and some of the articles they highlight (many from Media Matters – a hard left leaning political site):
Health care reform – they support health care reform.
Immigration – they cite articles from Cato (conservative) and American Progress (center left) in support of immigration reform that would likely include some element of legalizing existing illegals.
Climate Change – consistent with Obama and Gore….despite the “bad news” the facts are still in evidence of man-made global warming.
Economy/Deficit
Terrorism – oppose criticism of Obama on Xmas Day attack
Birtherism – refutes it
President Obama – they focus on the “myths and falsehoods”
Sarah Palin – not big fans
Worst Falsehoods Told in 2009 – pretty neutral pointing fingers at both sides
Torture – article denies any added intelligence value from waterboarding
Acorn – article slams FoxNews tired resurrection of bogus charges
You can see by their choice of topics and the angle they represent in the articles they site, that the Coffee Party is, in fact, supporting a left leaning political agenda but I still don’t see anything to confirm the worst fears of radicalism. The health care articles aren’t about the need for national health care. The immigration articles support a policy similar to the one introduced by George Bush. The “worst decisions” apportions blame equally. There is nothing about gun control, abortion, or term limits so we get no insight on those issues. Overall, the Coffee Party genuinely seems interested in supporting progressive ideas but not of a hard left nature; but for now that is purely speculation based on an educated reading of their chosen literature.
The Coffee Party has some similarities with the Tea Party. They have recognized the value of a grass roots movement, they want government to govern, they want politicians to be responsible to the people not to their political careers, they are weary of partisan politics hamstringing the political process, and they want to hold politicians responsible or show them the door. Politically they are miles apart on the issues but personally I see this as a very good development for our country by getting people of a different political bent more actively involved in the political process. If We the People are going to be represented then let’s get all the people involved.
But for now, Coffee or Tea? I think I’ll have a Bud.
Wow…Another movement that stands for ambiguity. If they really want to be effective, then they need to lead a march on Washington. This time, instead of the murky anger of anti-government, though, they should invite every American who is unisured,underinsured or losing their benefits. Call it the “This could be YOU” march…Alas, that brings too much turmoil to the surface, and isn’t very positive. But it would be effective.
Pass on the tea…Understand that the coffee is just another tea party with different chairs. Forget the Bud. I’ll have Absolut, up, three onions.
Elitist!
Mike,
I read about the “Coffee Party” yesterday. I see it as an affirmation as to how strong the “Tea Party” movement has become. Annabel Park (“Coffee Party’s founder?) seemingly has liberal outrage at the success of the TP movement (….same as i do), yet her actions do more to legitimize the movement.
I’m preparing my own post on this as well. It seems that Annabel Park was part of Obama’s campaign. It’ll eventually be revealed who is funding it, so I’m holding off on that aspect of it.
There are so many angles here. With ACORN busily renaming all of it’s parts so they can hide from DAs, and the SEIU caught on camera being what they are (thugs), there needs to be a fresh face to take on the tea parties.
Basically, I think they’re trying this to get some independents away from the Tea Parties. In the end, I think that will fail, but it’ll be fun to watch.
.-= Matt´s last blog ..Does Single Payer Kill? =-.
Interesting Matt. I’ve found a few other stories saying she was intimately involved with the Obama campaign and produced numerous videos in support. My characterization of this as a shoe-string launch may be well off the mark but it’s equally clear that they were completely unprepared for what has happened — the response has overwhelmed them. Frankly I don’t see what the Tea Party has to fear from this group or what the benefit is of badmouthing a grass roots effort from the opposite side of the political spectrum. In some sense the Tea Party success made this inevitable. So I don’t think it will fail but I don’t see it becoming the force of the TP except that the CP is centralized while the TP remains a disparate bunch of local groups with no central focus or platform. As you said, this will be fun to watch.
Forget the Tea and the Coffee. I will be announcing a new party of my own in the very near future. It will be called the New Coke Party and no Pepsi will be allowed.
Seriously, I haven’t had time to do an analysis of the Coffee Party, so thanks for taking it on, Mike. I think it will be interesting to see how this all unfolds and if the political process benefits from it, then so much the better.
“The New Coke Party”? Careful, Larry. In some parts of the country that have been ravaged by meth use and manufacture, that phrase has a whole new connotation.
That’s why I threw in the “no Pepsi allowed” phrase. Tried to nip it in the bud, but you guys still caught it.
This thing is falling apart already. That Park character is an Obama goon. Google her and the the whole ‘coffee party’ grassroots myth collapses. This thing is as astroturf as the definition can be. It’s a fraud.
.-= rjjrdq´s last blog ..Confirmed: Nancy Pelosi Still A Clueless Zombie =-.
What does it mean that this is a fraud? And what is grass roots vs Astroturf? I suppose it will matter where the funding comes from but it’s clear that this things has launched via a Facebook page followed by a hastily cobbled-together website. There are Coffee Party groups being formed all over the country. Now, if it’s found that those “sudden launchings” are anything but sudden, but were preplanned, THEN you have a fraud and it will quickly be decimated. But so far this thing appears to be growing spontaneously and I don’t see how a left-leaning party founded by former Obama campaign workers is a fraud or even surprising.
I made light of this in an earlier post, but I do have to ask:
Just like the active ingredient in the real coffee, I think the Coffee Party has made certain people jittery and nervous. Why?
Why does it make it fraudulent if the Coffee Party is a “planned” movement? The Tea Party Movement didn’t exactly evolve out of thin air. It was begun back in the early 80s, died down and then came roaring back in its current form when a well-funded conservative activist (funded from and using the networks of FreedomWorks and the conservative action committee America Coast2Coast) revived the cause. Even the much-hyped TP convention in Nashville last month was well funded by activists and structured in such a way to make some sitting politicians (who had been loud supporters of the movement) stay away and allowed a $100,000 speaking fee to be paid to Sarah Palin. And goodness-many of the top perspective personalities with millions of listeners have planned and orchestrated several of the biggest gatherings to date of the TP. That’s not planning? Fox News has been on a one network crusade to prop up the movement. That’s not planning-and a whole lot of valuable air time, which constitutes funding? And all allong-and still- the supporters of the TP have called it a spontaneous happening.
Given the amount of money running through it AND the number of sitting elected national officials involved in supporting it, I wonder if those calling for a peek into the funding of the Coffee Party are doing the same for the Tea Party?
I’d say it was then a fraud because that would completely contradict everything they are saying about it. If they were organizing a national effort to create a Coffee Party, and said that’s what they were doing, then it would not be a problem. But you can’t say “well, we were sitting around a coffee shop talking about this, and I posted this idea on Facebook, and it’s suddenly taken on a life of its own” if the real truth is quite different — a deliberate, organized effort funded by the DNC or the like. That would be a huge problem — and a fraud.
The Tea Party is clearly not organized. They have no national voice, no central organization, no platform, no comprehensive plan, and nobody to do that planning. They are 1000+ different groups around the country without a focus other than “we hate Obama, we hate Washington, we hate RINOs, we hate taxes, we hate abortions, we love guns….have a nice day.” The Tea Party “works” because it expresses a harsh view that no politician was allowed to state — it was considered too radical. The Tea Party legitimizes that radicalism — scary to many including me but that’s how I see it.
Thanks for the clarification. I wasn’t considering DNC funding, althought PLEASE tell me that both parties are savvy enough not to do that.
Not sure that I agree that the Tea Party movement has no national voice, though. Many Congress members and Senators have participated fully in their rallies, gone on talk shows and extolled the virtues of the principles the party represents, and expressed big support. National political figures taking time out of their taxpayer-funded jobs to lead/hold rallies and publicize them equates, for me, a national voice.
Laurie, you made the mistake of thinking that the guy down in Nashville and the sea of angry Americans under the umbrella name of “the tea party’ movement are one in the same. They are not. I never heard of that guy, and certainly never promoted, elected or otherwise propagated anyone that could be construed as a “leader”. I’m sure I’m not alone.
.-= rjjrdq´s last blog ..New York In Political Flames =-.
This is the first I have heard about the Coffee Party so I do not have much to add to the conversation but they certainly lean to the left. Far left? Maybe not, but this is certainly a group trying to answer the Tea Party movement. As for their having the same position as Bush on illegal immigration, Bush was much too far to the left on this issue for my liking. I think amnesty for illegals is the issue that pushed the most rigid supporters of Bush out of his corner.
I saw a post about the Coffee Party elsewhere … Rodney Thomas at Political Jesus is starting his own Chai Party.
Frankly, I don’t think that any of these parties sounds like much fun, and I prefer Pepsi over Coke, so I think I’ll go with the Hot Chocolate Party for the rest of the winter and maybe head straight for the Ice Cream Party come summer.
.-= WKenL´s last blog ..I love my wife =-.
I think we could have our own fad going here, Ken. What do you think?
Granted a right leaning bias, I’m not liking the comparison. So the tea gang took up an old (dead) label spontaneously. We were looking for a voice!! because we didn’t have one. The coffee party is (founded) by a former O supporter? and its not like there are oodles of lefties looking for another new image. (as they keep wearing them out with violence and outrageous behavior-SEIU, ACORN, socialists, gone liberals, gone progressives) That’s the source for the overnight sensational jump in numbers. Where are the founding former GOP pundits in the tea gang? Sarah? Palin was brought in to speak for hire. That’s like jumping in front of a stampede and screaming, “follow me!”
Thus far the tea gang have managed to keep icky labels (whackjobs) from sticking because of their outstanding behavior in the middle of their very real outrage over soaring tax debt and regulation and a fawning press corps over a radical candidate who is still not vetted. If he were he would not have the freedom to place officials still more radical than he or greatly widen the scope of his powers (as in czars)
.-= JudgeRight´s last blog ..The ‘New’ Dark Age =-.