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Updated: 11:13 PM Mar 13, 2010
Coffee Party Aims to Create Civil Discourse; Tries to Find Identity
Members of a new organization, the Coffee Party, rallied at a Charlottesville coffee shop on Saturday as they try to counter the more established Tea Party. The Coffee Party's goal is to bring a more civil tone to civic conversation.
Posted: 6:23 PM Mar 13, 2010Reporter: Bianca Spinosa Email Address: bianca.spinosa@newsplex.com |
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14 Comments 
March 13, 2010
A new political movement called "Coffee Party U.S.A" met across the country Saturday. It's an effort, organizers say, to give a voice to the concerns of Americans and encourage cooperation in government.
Congressman Tom Perriello had never heard of the Coffee Party until Saturday, and after the meeting, they are hoping to cause a stir.
Ideas flowed as freely as the coffee at the Charlottesville Greenberry's. The dozens in attendance all agree that politics in Washington is leaving a bitter taste.
"The Congress... all of this discourse that is going on in the Congress, that was the one thing that drew me here," says organizer Mary Lee Washington.
People like University of Virginia student Dany Navarro, a child of immigrants, feels unrepresented.
"The party institution doesn't reflect what I want or what I feel are important. The views one has get diluted once you get into higher positions of authority," says Navarro.
But what about the Tea Party? They represent a similar anti-Washington movement, but the Coffee Party resents their strategy of rallying.
"I saw the uprising of the Tea Party, and I see the great potential of an uprising from the grassroots movement," says Dick Wilz, a Louisa resident. "But I think that they have a component missing that this group has: civility."
They also have different goals. Topping the list of the Coffee Party:
"We want health care reform. We don't want it scratched, and we want to be able to move forward with it," says Linda Capacchione.
Rep. Tom Perriello tells the Newsplex that he's still deciding how he'll vote.
"Most people like some of the components of the bill, but they're pretty anxious about the bill as a whole," says Rep. Perriello, 5th District (D).
The kinds of political negotiations surrounding the current health care bill are causing folks in the Coffee and Tea Parties to boil over.
But as for whether they'd make a toast together? That seems unlikely.
The Coffee Party has not articulated any specific stance that they uniformly take, but they tend to agree that they are in favor of regulation on big corporations, job creation, and a health care reform similar to what President Obama wants. Most people in the Coffee Party say they identify themselves as Democrats.
Latest Comments
Don, I'm not the one with my mind in the gutter. There's a neighbor on my street who fancies herself a Tea Party-er who proudly wears a hat with tea bags stapled all over and that's what she calls herself. Go to the Tea Party website and the links take you direction to FreedonWorks, which is Dick Armey. I'm just saying that the argument that the Coffee Party is a wing of the Democratic party is equally applicable to the Tea Pary being a totally owned subsidary of the Republican party. I have no interest in going to a tea party and being called names.
Once again we are exposed to the crude sexual act insult by one of the "civil toned" who profess to bring "civil conversation" to us. Thank you crozetstruggle. Please attend a Tea Party and ask questions. Remember this, it was not a consevative who wrote "Rules for Radicals". The Cloward-Piven Strategy to create crisis was also not the brainstorm of a conservative. One must read both of these to get into the minds of those in the White House. Progressives have taken to the streets to smash and burn for decades, whereas the Tea Party cleans up before it leaves. Kind of "civil" by comparison. The Coffee Party is still young. Shall we wait and see what kind of noise it makes?
Oh please, the teabaggers office is INSIDE the GOP corporation headquarters in DC. Don't get all high and mighty about how the tea party is a gress roots movement. It was formed and pushed and paid for by Dick Armey, who sends his corporate-paid organizers out in the field to make locals think its grassroot. Talk about drinking the Koolaid! Sounds like a wee bit of jealousy on this board. If a group wants to get together for coffee, why do you care so much?
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