The Glade 4.0

New Hampshire Democrats are engaged in a statewide search for liberal activists willing to attend so-called tea parties on Thursday and carry signs expressing racist or fringe sentiments, a Democratic source with knowledge of the effort tells NowHampshire.com.

According to the source, who sought anonymity for fear of reprisals, the Dems’ last minute scramble reflects a growing obsession among party leaders that they need to discredit the tea party movement soon or it will overwhelm them come the November election.

Former Democratic State Party Chairman Kathy Sullivan is heading up the search, the source said. Sullivan has been calling and e-mailing liberal activists trying to get them to attend tea parties in different parts of the state and hold signs denying the authenticity of President Barack Obama’s birth certificate and make racially disparaging comments to reporters.

“This is Kathy’s [Sullivan] project,” the source told NowHampshire.com. “She is absolutely obsessed with painting the tea party people as racists.”

Similar “crash the tea party” efforts are taking place throughout the country on Tax Day.

If she pulls it off, this won’t be the first time Sullivan has endeavored to manufacture a racist controversy regarding the tea party movement. Last month Sullivan and other Democratic leaders attempted to portray a “white pride” rally in Concord held by a Massachusetts-based white supremacist organization as a tea party. Sullivan was forced to retract her bogus accusation.

Nor would this maneuver be a radical departure from other stunts the party has engaged in recently. Around Easter the Democrats sent someone dressed in a bunny costume to the Republican State Committee headquarters. The stunt was widely panned, though thinly covered, and some internet wags speculated Sullivan herself was inside the suit (see below and judge for yourself.)

Sullivan has also been making herself a bit of a nuisance in Manchester. She has been attending meetings of the Board of Mayor and Aldermen to glower at Mayor Ted Gatsas.

But you don't need that support! You've already got it! When you're the status quo, you've got the support of the people who matter. It's rather like a bully picking on a smaller kid, and then when the smaller kid says something mean in retaliation to the bully, people rally around the bully. I suppose maybe the recruiting center thing is a bit different, as they're more akin to a third party that got dragged into the fray, but that's a rarity among the "protest" and "counter protest" crowds.

That's just part and parcel of being in power...those who aren't currently in power are going to be pissed off and vocal about their perceived lack of say in matters. You need to just suck it up and go about your business, and leave the rabble to either change the minds of the ambivalent masses, or implode.

I suppose a third option is to listen to the minority opposition and bring some of their ideas into the fold to strike a balance between the two opposing viewpoints, thus paving the way for an era of unbridled bipartisanship and fostered cooperation, but I mean, c'mon...I'm not writing a science fiction tale, here.