Obama will face a 'Texas Tea Party' on A&M trip

Well, it wouldn't be a presidential trip to Texas without a tea party.

Today, President Barack Obama will visit Texas A&M University, where he is set to attend a community service forum hosted by former president George H.W. Bush. The event was organized to honor the work of the Points of Light Institute, a volunteer-oriented organization founded by Bush back in 1990.

Handshakes! Bipartisanship! Community service! The spirit of public good!

Clearly, this is the perfect moment for protesters to flood the grounds of Texas A&M. "The opportunity to make sure Obama gets a very clear TEXAS SIZED MESSAGE to stop the liberal assault on our country cannot be passed up," reads copy posted to the meetup.com page of the Austin Texas Tea Party Supporters. (The caps are theirs, not ours.)

So far, 24 people have signed on at meetup.com to attend the protest. But posts on some conservative message boards estimate protest crowds of 50,000 or more. And as the LA Times notes there is some precedent here: "Last fall the school's Young Conservatives held an anti-Obama event on campus, encouraging students to throw eggs at a picture of the presidential candidate and participate in a 'socialist on a stick' Obama ring-toss."

For his part, the host of the event is urging people to, you know, behave themselves. Here's an excerpt from an open letter by George H.W. Bush:

I am honored that The President, our President, is taking the time and making the effort to come to College Station on October 16th to talk about an issue that unites all Americans -- namely community service and its vast importance to our continued well-being as a Nation.... This is not about politics. This is about the importance of service to our communities and our country.

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