Coffee Party

The “coffee party” is the political left’s answer to the anti-big government “tea party” (TEA=Taxed Enough Already) that was popularized in 2009. The coffee parties began to organize in February 2010.
 
The party is a political gathering, and coffee (or tea) is not necessarily included.
 
   
The Coffee Party USA
Welcome to CoffeePartyUSA.com
Mon, 2010-02-22 23:55 — admin
MISSION: The Coffee Party Movement gives voice to Americans who want to see cooperation in government. We recognize that the federal government is not the enemy of the people, but the expression of our collective will, and that we must participate in the democratic process in order to address the challenges that we face as Americans. As voters and grassroots volunteers, we will support leaders who work toward positive solutions, and hold accountable those who obstruct them.
 
Washington (DC) Post
Coffee Party activists say their civic brew’s a tastier choice than Tea Party’s
By Dan Zak
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, February 26, 2010; C01
Furious at the tempest over the Tea Party—the scattershot citizen uprising against big government and wild spending—Annabel Park did what any American does when she feels her voice has been drowned out: She squeezed her anger into a Facebook status update.
 
let’s start a coffee party . . . smoothie party. red bull party. anything but tea. geez. ooh how about cappuccino party? that would really piss ‘em off bec it sounds elitist . . . let’s get together and drink cappuccino and have real political dialogue with substance and compassion.
 
New York (NY) Times
Coffee Party, With a Taste for Civic Participation, Is Added to the Political Menu
By KATE ZERNIKE
Published: March 1, 2010
Fed up with government gridlock, but put off by the flavor of the Tea Party, people in cities across the country are offering an alternative: the Coffee Party.
 
Growing through a Facebook page, the party pledges to “support leaders who work toward positive solutions, and hold accountable those who obstruct them.”
 
It had nearly 40,000 members as of Monday afternoon, but the numbers were growing quickly — about 11,000 people had signed on as fans since the morning.
 
“I’m in shock, just the level of energy here,” said the founder, Annabel Park, a documentary filmmaker who lives outside Washington. “In the beginning, I was actively saying, ‘Get in touch with us, start a chapter.’ Now I can’t keep up. We have 300 requests to start a chapter that I have not been able to respond to.”
 
Hot Air 
Surprise: NYT now covering lefty “Coffee Party”
posted at 10:14 pm on March 1, 2010 by Allahpundit
First WaPo picked up the beat, now the Times chimes in with a flattering profile penned by Kate “Is Jason Mattera a racist?” Zernike. The first blog post on the CP website is dated February 23, as is the “About Us” page, which means it took the two biggest papers in America less than a week after the new site started posting in earnest to catch lefty grassroots Coffee Party fee-vah. (Their Facebook page has been up since last month.) Fancy that.