The Maine Event In Tea Party Paranoia

Maine's Tea Party community is ripping itself apart, apparently.  TPM has the story to the state's largest Tea Party group, the Maine Patriots, as the group falls to pieces:

On Tuesday night, Amy Hale -- one of the leaders of the Patriots group -- posted an odd message to the group's website, suggesting that she'd been forced to give up control of the site, according to media reports (the post has since been removed):

I was cornered in the parking lot by 10+ people and told that bad things would happen to me if I did not give them the password and hand over Maine Patriots. Therefore, I no longer have control of Maine Patriots. Amy

Hale reported the incident to the police. Last night, she refused to comment on the matter because, she told me, "the investigation is ongoing." Details beyond what she wrote that first night are sketchy.

Piecing together posts from tea party websites in the past couple of days, however, paints a picture of a state tea party in disarray -- and a look at tea party paranoia.

Since Tuesday, other tea party sites in Maine have been hotbeds of conspiracy theories and accusations, with some claiming that Hale was undermining the movement and others suggesting that those who allegedly removed her from the Maine Patriots site are anti-tea party plants.

"You're the evil liberal who is undermining our glorious cause!"

"No I'm not...YOU ARE!"   *scuffle breaks out*

As long as the Tea Party guys are locked in their little high school cliques fighting each other, I'm not terribly worried about them taking over the country this fall, you know?