Tea Partiers Reconsider Burning Effigies Of House Speaker And Moderate Congressman

The organizers of the upcoming Danville TEAParty in Virginia were surprised that their plan to burn life-size effigies of both the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, and a moderate freshman congressman, Democrat Tom Perriello, in a massive bonfire, replete (presumably) with half-and-half cocktails of Everclear and lighter fluid, drew some attention in the Liberal Media. They are now reconsidering their protest options.

The chairman of the Danville TEA Party Patriots said Sunday he was unsure about whether the group will continue with its planned effigy burning of Rep. Tom Perriello, D-5th District, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi at a bonfire rally Saturday in Blairs.

Hours after news of the bonfire hit the Internet on Friday, at least one national news outlet had the story on its Web site, among dozens of bloggers. Chairman Nigel Coleman said coverage of and public reaction to the event was “kinda strange.”

“We’ve been getting a lot of flack about this,” Coleman said, “about burning those two in effigy and a lot of people in the public are unhappy about it. The story has gotten so large, it’s kinda strange.”

Here's one of the great paragraphs on the Internet right now:

But Coleman said Sunday that some members of his group were “uneasy” with the idea of counter-protesters and that people might mistake the TEA Party Patriots for being violent. Coleman compared the event to similar acts of protest in the nation’s history, such as opposition to the Stamp Act of 1765.

Oh yeah, just like the Stamp Act, from history books.

They might as well give up at this point. Publicity stunts are never cool when people know about them.

 Danville TEA Party group unsure whether to burn Perriello, Pelosi in effigy [Lynchburg News & Advance]