Where's the Tea Party?

By Richard K. Barry

BuzzFeed raised an interesting point a couple of days ago, which is that the words "Tea Party" have not received a single mention in prime time during the GOP convention.

The "Tea Party" band — which energized and even seemed to overtake the Republican Party in 2010 — has been virtually invisible at this Republican National Convention.

Not a single one of the 38 speakers during the convention's key prime time hours has even mentioned the phrase, according to an examination of their transcripts — a sign both of Romney's own distance from the movement and that polls have suggested that voters view the movement negatively.

Senator Rand Paul, another Tea Party favorite, didn't mention it at all.

To be accurate, because the truth is important, one major speaker, Texas Senate candidate Ted Cruz, did allude to the Tea Party directly, though he referred to it only as a "great awakening." Still, that was it.

Considering that the Romney campaign must approve all speeches, this is interesting.

So what gives? If I was one those crazy people who likes to dress up in Revolutionary War costumes, I'd be pretty annoyed. Where's the love? Could it be that the whole thing really was just an astroturf movement, bought and paid for by rich donors, that ended up pissing off more people than it energized?

(Cross-posted at Lippmann's Ghost.)