Ron Paul started it, Sarah Palin fucked it.
Ron Paul, whom I respect, didn't start it either.
Actually, the Tea Party was started by the Ron Paul supporters to get people to fund Ron Paul 2008 campaign. When the presidentials were over, Fox News, in their line of copying Ron Paul rethoric, co-opted it.
No, sorry. The 'Tea Party' was started many years after the Tea Parties on April 15th and on the anniversary of the Boston Tea Party. The idea was started by libertarians & like people, picked up by Ron Paul supporters leading into the 2007 Republican nomination cycle (who are also far more libertarian than the rest of the Republican Party), and co-opted by the Republican Party around 2009 after it became apparent that it wasn't going to fade away.
I was there for most of it, I watched it happen.