In a conversation before the presser, Luke Livingston, the director of Tea Party: the Documentary Film, credited Skoda with turning around the “bad PR” and opening up the convention. When Skoda took the stage he unleashed a long monologue about the values and strength of the movement before announcing the formation of the Ensuring Liberty corporation and Ensuring Liberty PAC. It would be incorporated in “the heartland of America, Memphis, Tennessee,” and would employ a team that wasn’t yet assembled but might include “former K street people” who wanted to change the way Washington worked.

Skoda was peppered with questions on what money the PAC would accept. Corporate money? Yes. Lobbyist money? “We’ll determine that.” One thing that Skoda made crystal clear was that he and the Tea Party Convention “absolutely do not support a third party.”

The NYT reported that Lloyd Blankfein, the man who engineered the government's bailout of Goldman Sach's, will get a bonus of "only" $9 million for 2009. The use of the word "only" in the headline of this piece displays questionable judgment. Without the help of tax dollars from bus drivers and school teachers, Goldman Sachs would have collapsed in 2008 and Mr. Blankfein might well be on an unemployment line right now.

In short Mr. Blankfein took his company to the edge of bankruptcy (and caused enormous damage to the economy in the process). He was subsequently rescued by his former colleagues who occupied top positions in the government. "Only" might not be an appropriate word to describe his $9 million bonus.