As a tea party, what happened in Lafayette Square across from the White House yesterday was a washout.
There were no buttered scones, none of those dainty cucumber sandwiches and, as it happens, not a spot of tea. Organizers of the conservative protest were told at the last minute that they didn't have a permit to dump a million tea bags in the square, as they had planned.
Instead, they served up a rather noxious brew.