Taking a break to unwire for a few days.  But, in the meantime, enjoy this story about how people are starting to figure out that the Tea Party movement isn’t really a movement, it was a loud whiny moment in time.

And with that, I’m off to fish!

While South Carolina’s political establishment wrestles with the fate of Gov. Mark Sanford (R-S.C.), Ron Parks has already moved on. He’s one of the organizers of a July 4 Tea Party in Charleston, a rally that will celebrate America and protest the way that President Barack Obama is governing it.

“We had 6,000 people show up at the last Tea Party in Charleston, on April 15, when [Gov.] Sanford spoke,” said Parks, a contractor who lost his job earlier this year and quickly found work as a volunteer with the Tea Party movement. “We’re expecting fewer people this time, but I’d love to have to eat my words.”

Doubtful, considering your governor, with his anti-stimulus, anti-Obama rhetoric was your  ”Tea-Bagger In Chief” and is now in Florida trying to – his quote here – “Fall back in love with his wife.”  That’s gotta be a morale killer.

In the run-up to the first round of Tea Parties, conservative activists were aided enormously by coverage from Fox News and the endorsements of many Republican stars. Fox News ran dozens of segments about the events, dispatching five of its stars — Sean Hannity, Greta Van Susteren, John Gibson, Glenn Beck, and Neil Cavuto — across the country to cover them live. Newt Gingrichendorsed the events, speaking at a Tea Party in Times Square and dispatching talking points to protesters through his American Solutions organization.

Media coverage has also gotten a little bit more scarce. Coverage on Fox News has largely been limited to interviews with Tea Party organizers on the network’s morning shows. While sources at Fox would not discuss their plans for covering the weekend events, they confirmed that no anchors would be attending and that the attendance and news value of the events looked to be lower than that of the April rallies. Tea Party organizers are counting, instead, on local news coverage and on distributed reporting such as the conservative news site PajamasTV, which hosts an “American Tea Party” show and has asked readers to submit their own videos from their rallies.

Really?  You can’t even send Joe the Plumber?  That guy would show up at the opening of a soda can.

“There are legitimate journalistic reasons for why there’s less coverage this time around,” said Seton Motley, a spokesman for the conservative Media Research Center — a group that blasted CNN and MSNBC personalities for joking about the April 15 Tea Parties. “There aren’t as many rallies this time, and there was a novelty last time that isn’t there now. Also, if you’re talking about the networks that made light of the Tea Parties back in April, they might have realized that opposite of love isn’t hate. It’s indifference.”

Plus, Michael Jackson died.  And if you think the Tea Party loons are bummed about the focus of coverage shifting, I’d be willing to bet Iranian protestors – people who ACTUALLY know what it’s like to have an election stolen – are more annoyed, with a valid reason.

According to Jenny Beth Martin, a national organizer of Tea Party Patriots, there are advantages to media hype and to media indifference. In April, when Martin helped organize the Atlanta Tea Party, Sean Hannity asked for, and got, a starring role in the event — a decision that brought national coverage and 20,000 people. “But I couldn’t meet many of those people,” said Martin. “This past Saturday, we had an impromptu rally to protest the cap and trade vote. On the fly, organized with Twitter and Facebook. Only 70 people showed up but I got to speak to everyone and get to know them.” Martin did credit the media attention of April with letting the Tea Party organizers “reach an audience we simply wouldn’t have been able to reach on our own.”

This is pretty awesome spin.  ”With only 70 people, I got to talk to everyone!”   There are hosts on PajamaTV that probably use this same quote.

The result of all of this: lower expected attendance, with some of the difference made up by a more celebratory atmosphere. On April 15, the largest Tea Party in Texas was the Fort Worth rally featuring Gov. Rick Perry, who drew days of controversy for apparently endorsing the idea of Texas seceding from the union. The July 4 Dallas Tea Party, by contrast, will combine political speeches from columnist Michelle Malkin, Bosnia war hero Scott O’Grady, and local conservative activists with entertainment from ersatz Monkees drummer and singer Mickey Dolenz, a bluegrass Beatles cover band, and a program that lets kids edit themselves into rock videos (”Be a star — no talent required!”).

So, I suppose that’s the good news.  Everybody got it out of their system, and the wheels of our democratically elected government keeps on running.

Of course, this won’t stop a lot of people from screaming “socialism!”  But at least the yelling will be less loud.

So whether you’re a whiner eating a wiener, or just a regular American that can look at an election result, see a democrat win, and not cry like a child…

…have a great holiday.