Now let me start off by first stating I know very little about this group and in fact they sound to be a little moderate but that doesn't mean I agree with their views as a whole, I figure that this group might be something to watch out for in the near future, either good or bad I can't say but I have see this name pop up in a few articles here and there. But the fact that Palin is in this cause also doesn't hold them very high in my book, yes Palin gets a big 
in my book!
Source : http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/02/05/tea.party.convention/index.html?hpt=T2
in my book!Nashville, Tennessee (CNN) -- The organizer of the Tea Party Convention says he agrees with Tom Tancredo's description of President Obama as a socialist.
The former congressman from Colorado and 2008 Republican presidential
candidate blasted Obama, saying "people who could not even spell the
word 'vote', or say it in English, put a committed socialist ideologue
in the White House. His name is Barack Hussein Obama."
Tancredo made his comments Thursday night as he gave the kickoff speech for the
convention, which is being held at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel and
Convention Center in Nashville.
Judson Phillips, a Tennessee lawyer who formed Tea Party Nation and who organized what's being
billed as the first national Tea Party Convention, told reporters
Friday that "Tom Tancredo gave a fantastic speech last night. I think
he is an amazing politician."
Asked if he agrees with Tancredo's
description of Obama, Phillips said, "The word 'socialist' is a word
you don't want to be labeled with in the American political system.
It's got a lot of negative connotations, but it also has a very
specific political meaning. It refers to a specific political ideology.
I think it is very clear that that is the political ideology of Barack
Obama."
Phillips added that he thinks "Tancredo doesn't feel
like a lot of people who supported Barack Obama understand the basics
of this country."
A spokesman for the Tea Party Nation, the
group that organized the convention, said Tancredo's speech may have
provided some red meat but termed it problematic.
"It doesn't further the dialogue," said Mark Skoda, a businessman and
founder of the Memphis Tea Party, who is also serving as spokesman for
the convention.
In his speech, Tancredo also slammed the 2008 Republican presidential nominee, saying "thank God John McCain lost the election.
Phillips agreed, adding, "I think a McCain presidency would have been far worse
than Bush one or Bush two. I think it would have been a total disaster.
I think we would have gotten the worst of what we are getting in the
Obama administration and really nothing positive from what would have
been allegedly be a conservative party, or allegedly be a conservative
leader."
Phillips also announced that he will hold another Tea Party convention in July. He declined to name a location for
the event.
The other major news to come out of Friday's news conference: some of the
organizers are forming a tax-exempt, nonprofit corporation called the
Ensuring Liberty Corporation and a soon-to-be-established affiliated
political action committee.
Skoda says the formation of the corporation and the PAC is a way that the Tea Party movement can
participate in politics and termed it "a conservative effort in support
of candidates."
Skoda predicted this would be an outlet for
people who took part in Tea Party protests to get involved in campaign
politics. He listed six congressional races in the Southeast where
endorsements may be made.
Along with the corporation and PAC,
Skoda announced that candidates seeking backing would need to agree
with a list of "first principles" consisting of fiscal responsibility,
lower taxes, less government, states' rights and national security. He
said he did not consider those principles a litmus test for candidates.
Skoda also said he does not support a third-party movement.
Contrary to Tancredo's remarks, the Tea Party is not about "name-calling," said
Rand Paul, whose campaign for a U.S. Senate seat in Kentucky is
supported by the Tea Party.
"There are politicians who have gone
into the movement and tried to become part of the movement," he said on
CNN's American Morning."But really the movement is about individual
people."
The activists are mostly concerned about the "fiscal
insolvency of our nation," he said. "We have to do something, and it's
not going to come from the career politicians."
Speeches are not
the focus of the convention. Panels, sessions and workshops are the
bread and butter of this event. Among the sessions scheduled for Friday
are ones on how to conduct voter registration drives and where to find
conservative votes, women in politics, how to organize a Tea Party
group, how to involve youth in the conservative movement, grass roots
"on the ground," how to unite state Tea Party groups, technology in the
Tea Party movement and why Christians must engage.
"This convention is a way to galvanize the conservative movement in a way
that the general rallies do not," said Skoda, leading a panel on
technology in the movement.
Organizers hope the three-day event
will help strengthen the anti-big-government movement. On its Web site,
Tea Party Nation says the event is "aimed at bringing the Tea Party
Movement leaders together from around the nation for the purpose of
networking and supporting the movement's multiple organizations'
principal goals."
There has been pushback against the convention
and its organizers from both outsiders and some in the movement because
of the Tea Party Nation's for-profit status and because the price of
entry attendees have paid for access to the workshops and seminars
being held through Saturday.
Red State blogger Erick Erickson
wrote that while he has good things to say about some groups within the
Tea Party, "this national Tea Party convention smells scammy."
Mark Meckler said he and Jenny Beth Martin, co-founders of the Tea Party
Patriots, aren't participating in the convention because "it wasn't the
kind of grass-roots organization that we are, so we declined to
participate."
Organizers say some 600 people have paid $549 each
to attend the convention and that the event is sold out. But they add
that tickets costing $349 are still available for Saturday night's
banquet, where former Alaska governor and 2008 GOP vice presidential
nominee Sarah Palin will give the convention's keynote address.
Neither convention organizers nor a spokeswoman for Palin would confirm reports
that she's getting paid around $100,000 for her keynote appearance.
"I will not benefit financially from speaking at this event," Palin said
in a statement this week. "Any compensation for my appearance will go
right back to the cause."
Sherry Phillips, who along with her
husband, Nashville attorney Judson Phillips, founded Tea Party Nation,
said earlier this week in a message to supporters that "we fully expect
to break even at this event. We may even make a few thousand dollars to
cover local operating costs of TPN."
Phillips also fired back at
her critics, saying, "We never did this to make us rich or famous.
Quite the contrary, we are patriots who love our country, our members
and the people who are coming to Nashville to attend this great event."
As controversy surrounds the convention, tensions have been rising among
Tea Party activists. Rival factions are battling over who will carry
the Tea Party banner, and others worry that powerful groups are
"Astroturfing" what they think should remain a grass-roots group.
Last week two major speakers scheduled for the convention dropped out of the
lineup. Rep. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee and Rep. Michele Bachmann of
Minnesota announced that they would not attend the convention, which is
being held at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel and Convention Center in
Nashville.
Blackburn was scheduled to serve as a featured
speaker and introduce Palin. Bachman was scheduled to serve as one of
the convention's kickoff speakers. Both are strong supporters of the
Tea Party movement.
Both said the House
Committee on Standards of Official Conduct advised them not to
participate because of the convention's for-profit status. And both
said the canceling of their speeches is not a sign that their
commitment to the Tea Party movement is fading.
Source : http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/02/05/tea.party.convention/index.html?hpt=T2
Yea I remember that from last year, which is why I said I never really heard of them much except for the past couple of years, to be honest I'm not ever sure when they formed or how long they have been around, I really haven't done much research on them but they also don't really interest me much, I mean Palin is part of them... This is a lady who quit being the Gov. of Alaska to be a freaking commentator on FOX!? I mean come on... FOX!? To me she is just going to try to become the next Rush and she'll be just as annoying in the process "Oh I know everything and I'm always right *Fart* oh Lord who let one rip.. oh that was me." You have to do that with an Elvis Accent, much funnier.
However, one of the references posted on the Wiki page lands at