TRYING TO OUTREACT THE REACTIONARIES:

Schism brews in Coffee Party (Ben Smith, 3/24/11, Politico)

The Coffee Party, which launched last year to mild public curiosity in reaction to the Tea Party wave, has receded from public view -- in part because of a schism between its centrist leadership and some left-leaning grassroots.

The movement, co-founded by filmmaker named Annabel Park, was initially seen as a progressive alternative to the Tea Party.

As Newsweek reported of an early meeting, members "were angry. They hated the Tea Party, and the Republican Party. They wanted to get even."

Park, however, says she intended the group to be centrist and non-partisan. She at one point weighed legal action to prevent the left-leaning faction from using their copyrighted logo after Darrell Bouldin, a Tennessee-based activist, started an offshoot called "Coffee Party Progressives." [...]

"I feel the name Coffee Party attracted so many people because they assumed it was a reaction to the Tea Party and a progressive counter."

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