Thanks but NoThanks

Guess what some local Democrats found in their email today? Invitations to Tea!

You are invited to attend the Gorge Constitutional Tea Party at the Maryhill Winery Amphitheater on September 12, 2010 from approximately 2 pm to 4pm. Lars Larsen will be our keynote speaker and we can accommodate up to 4,000 patriots from all over Washington and Oregon.

I don't know about you, but there is NO amount of Maryhill wine that would make me listen to Lars Larson (the email spelled his name wrong). Warning: if you click this link, be prepared to be appalled at the anti-Obama visuals.The invite included a huge photo of Maryhill Winery's amphitheater showing throngs of people. It was OBVIOUSLY not a Tea Party gathering. Wonder if they'll use it in their post event press? Keep an eye on it...You can check it out on their new website, gorgepatriot.com

The other thing that I really object to is the implication that if you are a patriot, you will go to this event. In my warped mind, Tea Party gatherings have been anything BUT patriotic.

The Gorge Constitutional Tea Party which is a non-partisan group of people who are dissatisfied with the direction our elected representatives are taking our country. At our last Tea Party on May 15, 2010 and we featured speakers ranging from Supreme Court Justice Richard Sanders to Dave Hendricks running for Congress in District 3 to Tom Hann from We the People and more. We also had a roving mike that allowed between 700 and 1000 people from all over Klickitat County, Skamania County, Wasco County, Hood River County and beyond to share their concerns about the transgressions against our constitutional rights. We received excellent coverage on our event in all of our local papers as well as on Oregon Public Broadcasting radio.

I don't see nonpartisan here in any of the speakers...except a strong right wing Republican and Constitution Party lovefest. Does inviting Democrats and mentioning coverage by OPB make it so?

We hope that our events will help educate, motivate and spread our message to the people in our area.

Educate???? Really????

Now, you might wonder who is behind this Tea Party extravaganza, which follows on the heels of the well signed May event in Dallesport. Key word. Signs. Someone must have stock in a sign company....Have you guessed? None other than Assessor Candidate Darlene Johnson. The woman who stood at a recent candidates night telling us disingenuously that she wasn't political. The same one that has been pushing misleading statistics on a state report to further her campaign.

She asked for an rsvp so I had to send regrets.

Thanks but No Thanks.

No thanks because I strongly feel there is nothing constructive about the Tea Party. It is a vehicle to anger, inflame and divide, and the results of all this 'pot stirring' are far from Patriotic.

There seems to be very little (non)partisan* about The Tea Party except to join together rightwing Republicans and the Constitution Party. There is no hint of compassion, respect for diversity, for our President or our shared responsibility as Americans for The Common Good, in Tea Party gatherings. That doesn't look like Patriotism to me. One need only look at your speakers representing far right Republicans and the Constitution Party. My time is too precious to spend a second of it listening to Lars Larson and his ilk.

Thanks , because I am more inspired and energized than ever to work for and elect/reelect hard working, forward thinking (and patriotic) Democratic Candidates from the top of the ballot on down.

Lorrie DeKay
Klickitat County State Committeewoman
N. Fruit Valley PCO
Patriot

*had to fix a typo...had put bipartisan when I should have put non-partisan. Forgive me.

One last thing. If I find out that Maryhill is sponsoring this event by not charging a normal fee for use of the grounds, I will boycott their wine and their events from now on, and urge other like minded folk to do the same. There's a lot of other great wine in the Gorge.

UPDATE: Due to a "scheduling conflict" the tea party event will be held at the Dallesport Airport instead of Maryhill. What a relief. I have no reason to ever go to Dallesport Airport.