Tea party movement

Paul Rahe at Hillsdale College writes, in part:

Back in early September, I attended the annual meeting of the American Political Science Convention, which was held -- for the first time -- outside the United States in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

One of the panels I attended had as its focus the first eight months of the Obama administration and that administration's prospects. Those on this particular panel were for the most part on the right, and in an utterly sober fashion they discussed the stimulus bill, the likelihood that the Democrats would pass a health care bill, and the prospects of the two parties in the 2010 midterm elections.

I was struck by one thing. No one even mentioned the tea-party movement and the explosions that had taken place at town meetings throughout the country in August.

So I asked why no one had mentioned it, and one political scientist -- an exceedingly distinguished and astute student of presidential elections -- responded that the tea-party phenomenon was, indeed, strange. It had, he noted, no institutional support. Nothing more was said. That was the beginning and the end of the panel's discussion of this phenomenon.

I guess that means the tea parties can't be cited as an example of "astroturf", then?

(HT: Power Line.)