Tea Party Infiltrator fails to understand the internet

This is a little story about grand political schemes in the Age of the Internet, and how those schemes were thwarted with the help of the internet, mostly by using humor and competition. One man took his political animus too far and is in a rather precarious situation at work now. But he seems the exception to the rule.

A Beaverton, Oregon middle school teacher, Jason Levin, who works in the media lab, faces an ethics investigation after starting a web site called "Crash the Tea Party" that he said was aimed at encouraging people to pose as Tea Party protestors while acting in outlandish ways in hopes of discrediting the movement. He attracted some 2000 members to his group.  He seems to openly favor socialism.

Parents in the school district seem to have picked up on this from the internet (perhaps clued in by news stories about him), and some seem not to be too happy with this despicable plan. Mr. Levin and his progressive non-judgmental, totally unprejudiced anti-tea party friends are just desperate to incite prejudice against their political adversaries. "For the children", probably. Though which children is unclear, as the policies they favor are so unfair to future generations. From the comments, he seems to be a popular, "cool" teacher who once "flipped off" a class.

But if he would do something as  devious as advocating the  impersonation of a political opponent in order to destroy the reputations of people he doesn't even know, what might he do to a child, parent, or colleague who does something he doesn't like? One commenter said that he advocated on his website obtaining personal information from Tea Party participants in order to create "mayhem" for Tea Party participants. If true, the man is dangerous and should not be teaching.

Today, Tax Day, was supposed to be the big day when Tea Party crashers did their best to make Tea Party participants look like dangerous, violent racists. Tea Party participants were advised to keep their cameras and video equipment ready to record the actions of the agents provocateurs, some of whom seemed to try to hide their identities as a result, on the Big Day. Bet this had a "chilling effect" on some of these jerks, too. And most of the bigoted (or desperate), leftist infiltrators who showed up found that their messages were quickly neutralized. Follow the links.

Guess the big subversive plan didn't work out too well.

But all hope is not lost. They still have until July 4 to become … something.

For now, though, Epic Fail. From the comments:

We had one guy crash our Party yesterday. 5000 Patriots waving flags and having a great time, and one guy shows up with a “Hope” poster and “keep hope alive” slogan. We pitied him, gave him a sammich, welcomed him and enjoyed his company. I think he enjoyed our company, too.

Mission Accomplished.

Key West Reader