David Brooks has an extremely fantastic view of the tea party movement (link):

The tea party movement is a large, fractious confederation of Americans who are defined by what they are against. They are against the concentrated power of the educated class. They believe big government, big business, big media and the affluent professionals are merging to form self-serving oligarchy - with bloated government, unsustainable deficits, high taxes and intrusive regulation...

Over the course of this year, the tea party movement will probably be transformed. Right now, it is an amateurish movement with mediocre leadership. But several bright and polished politicians, like Marco Rubio of Florida and Gary Johnson of New Mexico, are unofficially competing to become its de facto leader. If they succeed, their movement is likely to outgrow its crude beginnings and become a major force in American politics. After all, it represents arguments that are deeply rooted in American history.

Please compare that with our tea parties summary. While the "partiers" might be popular in polls, that's only because most people aren't familiar with what they're really about and because they're an alternative to the two major parties. In a poll someone might support the tea parties, but tell them what would happen to them if libertarianism is imposed on them and they'll realize just how much the "partiers" are not on their side.

What we need is a smarter, more American, more mainstream group that would come up with pro-American solutions to the problems we face. The solutions offered by the "partiers" only serve the interests of the partiers themselves and those who are pulling their strings. They have little or no concern for the majority of Americans. That same group could oppose the corrupt elites, but would do so in smart and effective ways.

UPDATE: I'm aware that not all the "partiers" are libertarians. However, all or almost all of their leaders either lean in that direction, are outright big or small-"l" libertarians, are former Ron Paul supporters or activists, or - even worse - are Randroids. And, the entire tea party movement is steeped in libertarianism and strong fiscal conservatism to the exclusion of other topics. And, some of the string-pullers - such as Grover Norquist or Freedomworks support amnesty, illegal immigration, or just plain massive immigration. I'll support the tea parties when they expel the libertarians and the corrupt DC hacks and when they realize that there are people besides themselves in the U.S. and when they realize that not everyone who disagrees with them is a traitor and a Communist and when they realize that their flamboyant techniques aren't effective. And, yes, that means I'll never support them.