Tea Party Prepared For MoveOn

Most will remember that last June 1 a subscriber to ReturnToExcellence.net presented an excellent heads up for any of us across America who planned to attend Tea Party or Town Hall meetings.  The message detailed how MoveOn.org planned to attend such meetings for the purpose of disrupting or controlling them – I experienced such an event myself @ a FairTax seminar @ a Tea Party meeting last fall.  

Last Wednesday night many readers of these messages attended such a meeting in Scotch Plains, NJ & thankfully we were prepared for the invasion.  MoveOn was not anywhere near as successful as they were on June 1 in disrupting the meeting  because Tea Party people outnumbered them 4 to 1 @ the meeting even though MoveOn had scores of people in attendance.  The enemies of America (& so many unsuspecting Americans) are many & I sincerely thank the subscriber who attended both meetings & took the time to detail the thoughtful message below (like she did the one on June 1).

---Details Of Scotch Plains NJ Tea Party Meeting---

The Scotch Plains/Fanwood Tea Party held a town hall meeting with Congressman Leonard Lance on Wednesday evening and it was very well attended.  The Tea Party had received word a few days before the meeting that MoveOn.org would be attending and contacted other local Tea Party groups asking them to be there.  The meeting room was so crowded that some people had to stand and others sat in an adjacent room. Others stood outside with signs. I estimate that there may have been 150 to 200 people in attendance.

After preliminary introductions, the Scotch Plains/Fanwood Tea Party and Congressman Lance acknowledged the presence of MoveOn.org. He explained that a group of MoveOn members had visited his Flemington office earlier that day.  Congressman Lance went on to speak to the audience and shared a slide show about the national debt.  He noted that there were several people taking videos of the meeting and had them identify themselves.

The next phase of the meeting was a question and answer period.  Again Congressman Lance asked each person who wanted to ask a question to identify himself and tell which group they represented.  The first question was asked by a Tea Party member and then other members of the audience, both Tea Party and MoveOn, asked questions.  The meeting went smoothly with the exception of some moderate noise coming from outside.  I assume the noise came from some MoveOn.org protesters outside.

When one woman, who identified herself as a progressive, MoveOn member, started to make a speech, some members of the audience shouted out "What's your question?"  She was rather indignant, but finally relented and asked a question.  She clearly wanted to hold the floor. The last two questions were given to Scotch Plains/Fanwood Tea Party members. 

I am convinced that if Scotch Plains/Fanwood Tea Party had not notified other local Tea Parties, the meeting could have been dominated by MoveOn members.  There is strength in numbers and I am sure MoveOn was surprised by the large crowd of Tea Party members. This meeting demonstrated that Tea Party groups must prepare for opposition groups.  It also proved that both groups can sit in a room together and be respectful of one another even though differences of opinion were very pronounced.