CNN Fact Check: Ticket to the Tea Party
(CNN) - The National Tea Party Convention is going on through Saturday in Nashville, Tennessee. On CNN's "American Morning" on Thursday, the Washington bureau chief of left-leaning Mother Jones magazine, David Corn, said of the convention, "The only thing that is happening is people that can afford $600 tickets in order to pay Sarah Palin a $115,000 speaker fee will be eating steak and lobster. It's not the heart of the movement."
Fact Check: Are Tea Party Convention tickets $600, and will Sarah Palin be paid $115,000 to speak at the convention?
- Convention organizers told CNN on Thursday that about 600 people paid $549 each for convention tickets. Tickets for the banquet alone are $349, and some are still available.
- A spokeswoman for Palin and convention organizers would not confirm to CNN reports that she will be paid about $100,000 for the appearance. Palin said in an opinion piece for USA Today that "any compensation for my appearance will go right back to the cause."
- The convention center chef's office said that filet of beef with grilled shrimp will be served as the entree at the Palin banquet. No lobster.
Bottom Line: David Corn overshot on the ticket price. It cost $549 to attend both the convention and the banquet. Palin won't say how much she's being paid, but she apparently won't be eating lobster.
From CNN Politics
- Biden designates area sacred to tribes as largest national monument of his presidency
- 10 Cards Charging 0% Interest Until 2024
- Wisconsin Supreme Court candidates clash over 1849 abortion ban in lone debate
- Leader of White supremacist group arrested for threatening to kill journalist trying to report on organization
- Saudi Arabia releases dual US-Saudi citizen who was imprisoned for posting critical tweets about the kingdom
- Idaho lawmakers approve execution by firing squad
Well this give hope to all of those majoring in communication. You can get name recognition and then start charging $150000 for speaking fees.
I was the idiot who got a degree in engineering.
AS far as news coverage, it would really be nice to see organizations who contribute to progress actually getting some coverage.
If the convention wanted to pay Palin that is their choice. If they charge 349 per plate that is CHEAPER compared to democrats that cost from $10,000 to $20,000 per plate. So enough of criticizing the TEA party convention. I swear CNN has nothing better to do than talk about tea party which doesn't improve rating of their network.
Think Again – Very nice...Karen is like all the rest of the whiners that have no clue as to what to whine about. They could check facts and find a very embarrassing FACT: Bush and Reps led us to this catastrophy. They are fighting for the same people that got us here!!! The Reps are siding with the big banks that received our tax dollars as bailout money that don't want to pay it back! They are the people you should be attacking. Obama is trying to get YOUR money back for the country, idiots!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WAKE UP!!! These are the facts!!!!
My, my just mention the word Palin and the loonies come out in mass and reinforce their loonieness for every one to see. They certainly are afraid of her and are even obvoius in there fear.
My favorite tea-bagger sign: "Keep Government out of my Medicare". Classic how clueless this lot seems to be. No wonder Sarah is their queen.
Sgt. USMC February 5th, 2010 4:31 pm ET
Karen, poor thing... I think you just got told that we don't want your hate, your lies and your hypocracy. We spoke in November 2008 and it hasn't been that long since GWB, we still remember. We don't want palin near Washington, we don't need another 8 years of lies and destruction. Just sit back and enjoy your freedom! Or leave!
----–
I am so glad we have intelligent people protecting our country. Idiots like Karen are too easily fooled by these "fringe" hypocrits. Their protesting being charged higher taxes when 95% of us got tax cuts under the current administration. Talk about being idiot enough to vote against your own best interests.
I consider myself grassroots...but there's no way I could ever afford what they are asking for a dinner!!! There are enough times I can barely pay the bills and get the groceries I need! And don't tell me Palin won't keep the money being paid to her...she is a liar through and through...and a quitter. It wouldn't surprise me if she backs out of one (or more) of these speaking engagements like she's done before! Oh wait...maybe she won't since she loves the sound of her own voice and thinks the rest of us wants to hear her!
I like to think I can make my own decisions without a "movement" like the tea party thinking that they have to decide things for me or let me know what I should do regarding certain things. I just wish they'd all go home and keep their mouths shut already!!!
They certainly are afraid of her and are even obvoius in there fear.
------
Yeah, that's why people bash articles about "Heidi and Spenser" or "Paris Hilton".. because we're "afraid".
Tea Baggers are all BIGOTS and IDIOTS!!!!!
To recap: Everything he said was either wrong or made-up.
I hate our over spending.
I hate when the reflex reaction to balancing the budget is tax increase.
I hate when one (either) party takes over and pushes extreme agenda.
I hate when the government gets too big.
I hate when politicians think that we should become more socialistic.
Keep the government out of our personal and economic lives!
I'm not a Republican or a Democrat....if that makes me a tea bagger than so be it!
@ Karen....
the REAL problem with your Tea Parties is not the so-called media bias against them....FACT CHECK...one major media giant is even BACKING you so you can get off that high horse. The Tea Party movement may have been a good idea UNTIL you allowed the right wing hate monger fringe to try and take it over and get the message less about goverment spending and more about the president and his background. FACT CHECK..listen to your opening speaker and tell me I'm wrong.
Who would pay 5 cents to hear her talk. That voice and the stupdity, lies and bigotry that comes from her mouth. UGH! And I don't believe for one minute that she is giving the money back to the "cause".
How many really ordinary Amerivans can afford the ticket price? And to hear Palin?! Will she be reading her speech or speaking extemporaneously? The latter is more fun, because it's like listening to a foreign language. Even Ebonics makes more sense. Will she follow the script? And if it is written for her, how much $ does she share with the writer? Does she pay a penalty if she deviates from the script?
Hello Tea Partiers !
I got a tax cut ! If you check, about 95% of all tax payers got the same cut. What is it you guys are protesting again?
David...you say "If no spending happens nothing gets done"
Do you often outspend your household budget every month? Do you run up credit card balances to their limit every month and then request increases to your limits?
Do you own anything, or is everything on loan that you and your family own????
Have you borrowed against your mortgage until you don't even own the doorknob?
This is exactly how the fed. gov. is conducting it's household budget. It doesn't work.
Tea Party and Republicans are all BIGOTS AND IDIOTS!!!!!!!!
the tea party group is what the name suggests "party' and parties do not last forever. When they are tired of hanging out together they will go home. These are folks who are being used by the republican party to keep the heat on the present president. Lot of them are unemployed, so this is an opportunity to vent their frustrations. While they have that right to be disgruntled due to their economic situation, they do not have the right to be disruptive, rumor mongering and spreading false information everywhere. We can see through them. Its all politics. They can spend all this money they are using to hire cruise lines and big halls to help their fellow neighbors instead of going around, rowdy, uninformed and giving the impression America is at war with itself and divided. A friend called me a few minutes ago. Am going to meet him somewhere and put $10 gas in his car. Thats how bad things are, and this tea party folks got a lot of money to squander. "Unfortunate"
@ once upon a horse....what exactly is the difference between the right wing hate monger fringe and the LEFT wing hate monger fringe?????
Hey RON, can you say KENNETH LAY? Yep, that Ken Lay...the real good buddy of GW Bush that helped get this country into this mess by "COOKING" the books!!! Now that's cooking the book. Ya betcha!
Washington Post:
A federal judge in Houston yesterday wiped away the fraud and conspiracy conviction of Kenneth L. Lay, the Enron Corp. founder who died of heart disease in July, bowing to decades of legal precedent but frustrating government attempts to seize nearly $44 million from his family.
The ruling worried employees and investors who lost billions of dollars when the Houston energy-trading company filed for bankruptcy protection
The Cause is CASH and the acquisition of it!
Nothing high minded about greed and self adulation...
Some people write about disaster of Obama adminstration.
Can you give one example what disaster he did?
Ha gave 95% middle class tax break,extended unemployment and gave unemployed reduce rate COBRA medical insurance.
Just give me one example of republican helping middle class.
They alway think that if we give big tax break to rich it will trickle down to middle class.
Yes it did but in the forms of big fall like niagra where they all drown.
I'm surprised CNN is allowing comments on these imbeciles. They usually don't. With that being said, it continually amazes me how such a small minority is getting such grandeous coverage from the national media. They are like a pinprick on the body of politics. A wart on the navel of America. They are a bunch of loudmouth white milk toast brats crying because everything isn't going their way. Sarah Palin, in being their spokesperson/figurehead proves how low they really are. Uneducated quitters without the self-discipline to make something for themselves.
Is that why the other speakers have pulled out? Cause they're not getting paid like Sarah's getting paid?
Where ever Sarah goes, drama follows. Is Sarah going to come out with another tell all "Get even with the Tea Party" book, like she did on the McCain campaign staff?
Better yet, she should just do a reality tv show... "Real Politician from Wasilla"
Grassroots???It is all about the last election. Where were the tea baggers when GW was running up the debt over 2 wars?????It was because GW was a republican and Obama happens to be a Democrat. Republicans get over it and stand up with the President to get this country back on track that GW derailed.