Where the Tea Party Idea Began

It started off as a rant from a reporter on a cable business show, and it's snowballed into a conservative movement against President Obama's agenda. 

Organizers behind these Boston tea party style rallies say these events, featuring some tough anti-Obama rhetoric, may just be the beginning of a new, energized Republican party.

What Rick Santelli unleashed has this way come.  Ever since the CNBC reporter's rant against President Obama's plan to help troubled homeowners.

Conservatives have staged Boston Tea Party-style rallies across the country to protest what they describe as budget-busting bailouts gone wild.

The granddaddy of them all set for tax day.

"I think, in this situation, you have people who are genuinely upset about how much money we are spending," said
Roger L. Simon, from Pajamas TV.  "And they are scared. So they're organizing."

Simon is promoting the tea parties on his conservative web site, pajamastv.com, where you can watch Sam Wurzelbacher aka Joe the Plumber interview protesters at the rallies.  As Wurzelbacher found, some of the rhetoric can be extreme.


Republican strategist Keith Appell says conservatives have borrowed a page from the president's net-roots playbook: Organzing tea parties online.

"Now you've got conservatives tweeting to one another on Twitter," Appell explained. "I think there has to be a new Republican Party. The Republican Party we've seen over the last few years hasn't done very well."

Some familiar faces are also at work.  Promoters include former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Fox News personality Glenn Beck who argues the tea party outrage hearkens back to Howard Beale in the film "network."

"I don't think I've ever seen a news network throw its weight behind a protest like we are seeing in the past few weeks with Fox and these tea parties," said Howard Kurtz, Washington Post Media Critic.

The White House has plans to counter the tea party message, with an event to remind Americans the president cut taxes in the stimulus.