Odd That British Journalists Understand The TEA Party Better Than American Journalists

From Toby Harnden:

Tea Party insurgents prepare to seize power in 2012

First they were ignored. Then they were derided as the tools of Big Money. Then they were branded as racists, the unhinged, the unwashed, the paranoid, the subversive and the ignorant - or some combination thereof.
Now, they stand accused of aiding and abetting the enemy by splitting the Republican party and giving Democrats hope for the November mid-terms. It has been a rough ride for members of the Tea Party in the 19 months since their movement sprung up.

But each insult and attempt to marginalise them seems only to have stiffened their resolve and swelled their numbers. Polling indicates that they are now more popular than either Republicans or Democrats. Despite all the claims they are extremists, around half of the electorate now identifies with the Tea Party and up to a quarter view themselves as members.
The time for them to be taken seriously is long overdue. The Tea Party will be pivotal in November. It has ripped up the playbook for the 2012 Republican primaries. Asnd it could just end up kicking President Barack Obama out of the White House.

OK, he gets a few facts wrong, like "1773 Boston Tea Party protest against British colonialists.", but overall a good article.

Actually the way American "journalists" have behaved the last ten years, not so surprising.