What if you throw a party and nobody comes?

Photo: Mike Tripp/The News Leader

Americans for Prosperity and the Shenandoah Valley Tea Party threw a rally on a beautiful October Saturday at the Wharf in Staunton. But, what if you throw a tea party, call and invite everybody you know, and still nobody comes? What an embarrassment! A party crashed by apathy! A party crashed by empty seats representing those who refuse to associate with their message of racism and hate.

With empty seats and hollow rhetoric the organizers lamely blamed "Dancing with the Stars," "TV," and "too many other events going on..." for the poorly attended rally. Yesterday reminded me of an Americans for Prosperity bus tour in late June that drew virtually nonexistent crowds and petered out before the day was done.

The irony of the backdrop - the shell of a old building for lease - captures completely the crumbling and desolate movement that was the Tea Party.

Coverage of the "rally that wasn't" at The News Leader.