Statistics on Tea Party (how many)

These figures are from Frank Rich's column today. I think they deserve their own separate thread so more people can see how small this media-driven phenomenon is:

Tea Party Patriots has claimed anywhere from 2,300 to nearly 3,000 local affiliates, but even with its assistance, The (Washington) Post could verify a total of only 647 Tea Party groups nationwide. Most had fewer than 50 members. The median amount of money each group had raised in 2010 was $800, nowhere near the entry fee for the country club.


Cher

note: link to Frank Rich opinion piece: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/31/opinion/31rich.html?_r=1&hp

why I say fear is all it takes to make people think ill rationally. The media has played this drum for the last two years. Look the majority of those rallies you see have people bused in from other areas.

The Tea Party is the republican party who is trying to act as if they are brand new. They are not. Corporate America has taken some very concerned citizens and racked them up with fear that the Government,Black people,Muslims,Latinos,The New Black Panthers(that consist of two),Democrats,Socialism,and any other thing that they can make stick to scare the people so they can't think with an open mind. They have gotten in their little repug think tanks and a psychologist told them how fear makes one react. It clouds your critical thinking skills. If you tell them they are going to be like the other 14 million people out of work unless you turn back to the old ways, you get your fear. That is scary!!!Going back to the old ways!!!!!!! Thats whats f--king scary to me!!!!But for some it provides comfort at knowing what to expect. If they have been stealing,oh well as long as I have a job. But what they don't understand is if we don't put in protections for American workers, their job will last only as long as the executives of the company don't have the whim to blacken their bottom line. Then your job is outsourced.
You can't have every ethnic background angry at you and expect them to vote for you. The Democrats outnumber the repugs in registered voters. The problem they think is getting the voters to turn out. But if they don't they get what they get.And nobody deserves that.