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"In heels, she towers over the tiny people around her, and she is wearing all the colors of beige that have special names: taupe, sand, cream," wrote New York Magazine's Emily Nussbaum in a breathless October 2006 puff piece on Arianna Huffington, the woman who was literally in bed with Al Franken for cheap laughs in Comedy Central's 1996 "Strange Bedfellows." (Detail of Chris Buck photo)

"Arianna Huffington is as closely linked to George Soros as a woman could get without being in an actual bed with him," writes Kyle-Ann Shiver at The American Thinker, :

Soros used Arianna Huffington as the public face and co-stager of his Shadow Conventions in 2000 …

In the lead-up to the Shadow Conventions, Time magazine did a piece on Ms. Huffington’s newfound love for liberal politics which hinted at Soros’s shadow influence, naming him as the convention’s largest individual donor and noting the extreme liberal tone of the events in spite of their bipartisan billing. Time’s author noted that only three Republicans (John McCain was a keynoter) were slated to speak, and that one of those was having second thoughts, evidently due to Soros’ backing. This was in sharp contrast to the image Ms. Huffington was attempting to project as the voice of a new ‘grassroots’ and ‘bipartisan’ political coalition.

Now comes something calling itself Coffee Party USA claiming the grassroots/bipartisan mantle that will always elude the left, as Glenn Reynolds and several of his readers noted wryly the other day. There's no evidence of shady Soros backing, but the Koffee Klatchers have a structural problem. Charlesmartel explains in the comments at RedState:

The problem with this, and any other wannabe leftist TEA Party equivalent is this: The TEA Party began and has flourished because those involved felt — rightly — that they had no voice in our country today, that they were being ignored or outright mocked by government and the media. The TEA Party has given us back power and a voice.

Any such group on the left is going to run into the very real problem that they already have a voice. The media, Hollywood, academia, basically the entire government — they’re all saying the same thing this Coffee Party will be saying. And the movement loses any motivation and drive right from the get go.

More insight from Newsbuster reader c5then commenting on the Washington Post's Coffee Party USA coverage:

I guess the WaPo agrees that to them and this liberal facebooker, it's all about style over substance and looks over content.

They don't even attempt to point out WHY the term Tea Party was chosen and what historical significance it has.

I guess that it's appropriate that this was in the style section. I wonder if the democrats are capable of a grass-roots organization. Every liberal "cause" in my lifetime has been driven by the George Soros' and MoveOn shakers that control and direct the democrats.

No wonder the truly grassroots — and, yes, bipartisan — tea partiers terrify these deeply disingenuous astroturfers.

In possibly related news, Business Week reports that "George Soros is helping drive up gold prices by doubling his bet in a market even he considers a 'bubble' as Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Barclays Capital and HSBC Holdings Plc predict more gains before it bursts."

Update: "Coincidence?" asks The Other McCain conspiratorially:

Arianna, George Soros and John McCain: The three people who did the most to ensure the election of Barack Obama.

Strange bedfellows, indeed. Thanks for the link!

Update II: Professor Jacobson of Legal Insurrection looks behind the curtain:

"It is very clear from [founder Annabel] Park's background, and her own Tweets, that the Coffee Party simply is part of the perpetual Obama campaign, a means by which to subvert the real grassroots Tea Party movement by co-opting part of the message, but in a way which supports keeping Obama in power."