Minor Tea Party tirade in Bellevue

You know it pays to monitor the Tea Party when they pick a fight with the Bellevue Neighborhood Association, of all people.

You'd think the Tea Party would adore the BNA, because several years ago, the BNA encouraged the city's failed "rental conversion" program (a gentrification land grab). But now the Tea Party has the nonstory about the Nativity scene in Nagel Park to exploit.

I went to the BNA's public meeting tonight. I heard through the dingleberryvine that the Tea Party (which has hardly any members in Bellevue) planned to stack the event and shout down the BNA. Well, that turned out to be a bluff. Most folks at the meeting apparently weren't Tea Party followers, since they got through it without making a spectacle of themselves. But there were a couple of minor harangues that were of note.

A man in the audience spoke up and said something about the IRS probing the Tea Party. Unless I misunderstood him, his credibility was out the window when he said that. Then he said the Constitution isn't supposed to protect separation of church and state. That's another debunked Tea Party talking point.

Later, another man raised his hand and repeated the bogus claim that the Constitution doesn't safeguard separation of church and state. Everyone rolled their eyes, and he angrily stormed out.

What's even more hilarious is that right after the meeting, somebody on Facebook (who doesn't even live in Bellevue) complained that the Tea Party not getting their way is proof that "the devil is real and at work."

The meeting sort of reminded me of the one with Monty Burns in Highland Heights. Anyone else remember that?