The first time it happened it was five o'clock in the morning in a car park in the town of Virginia Beach. I was waiting to board a bus full of Tea Party enthusiasts who were intent on storming the Capitol armed with the umbrage and righteous certainty that seems to come with all forms of political zealotry.

They don't have violent intentions of course, they don't throw molotov cocktails at the police and they don't sport multiple piercings or spike their hair. In fact on the whole I've found the Tea Party people to be polite, friendly and particularly keen to accommodate a TV crew from Australia. But beneath their smart-casual country club facade lurks a self belief and determination the equal of any modern Euro anarchist or anti-globalisation socialist. These people might look like a country bowls club on tour but they are determined to change the world.

The thing is they also think we're kindred spirits - a belief based in large measure on what they read on the internet about what our prime minister is alleged to have said about Muslims and Sharia law.

Bob introduced himself as we stood in line.

"We've always wanted to go to your country," he said. "My wife, she's just crazy about koala bears. Also we love what your prime minister Rudd has had to say about Muslims. If only our own politicians had the courage to do that."

Since then people have said the same thing to me at Tea Party rallies and events all over the country - from Virginia, to DC, to California and most recently at a Tea Party meeting in a small town in southern Arizona.

"By the way, we really like what your prime minister - John Rudd is it? - has said about Muslims. We read about it all the time on the blogs you know." And that's the other thing about this crowd - when it comes to the net they're as savvy as any 13-year-old and it seems, like them, prepared to believe almost everything they read.

And so here it is. It's all the rage in that section of the blogosphere that devotes itself to questioning Barack Obama's nationality, decrying the one-world banksters and championing the gold standard and the second amendment right to buy machine guns and semi-automatic pistols with silencers.

Whole world Needs Leaders Like This!

Australian Prime Minister had this to say recently;

"Muslims who want to live under Islamic Sharia law were told on Wednesday to get out of Australia..."

Quote:

IMMIGRANTS, NOT AUSTRALIANS, MUST ADAPT. Take It Or Leave It. I am tired of this nation worrying about whether we are offending some individual or their culture. Since the terrorist attacks on Bali , we have experienced a surge in patriotism by the majority of Australians.

This culture has been developed over two centuries of struggles, trials and victories by millions of men and women who have sought freedom.

We speak mainly ENGLISH, not Spanish, Lebanese, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Russian, or any other language.. Therefore, if you wish to become part of our society. Learn the language!

Most Australians believe in God. This is not some Christian, right wing, political push, but a fact, because Christian men and women, on Christian principles, founded this nation, and this is clearly documented. It is certainly appropriate to display it on the walls of our schools. If God offends you, then I suggest you consider another part of the world as your new home, because God is part of our culture.

We will accept your beliefs, and will not question why. All we ask is that you accept ours, and live in harmony and peaceful enjoyment with us.

This is OUR COUNTRY, OUR LAND, and OUR LIFESTYLE, and we will allow you every opportunity to enjoy all this. But once you are done complaining, whining, and griping about Our Flag, Our Pledge, Our Christian beliefs, or Our Way of Life, I highly encourage you take advantage of one other great Australian freedom, 'THE RIGHT TO LEAVE'.

If you aren't happy here then LEAVE. We didn't force you to come here. You asked to be here. So accept the country YOU accepted.

* * *

This screed often comes with the kicker - "Maybe if we circulate this amongst ourselves, WE will find the courage to start speaking and voicing the same truths."

Mostly this is attributed to Kevin Rudd but sometimes the source is cited as John Howard and lately even Julia Gillard has started to get the credit for it. And it's been going on so long that there's now no chance of dissuading the Tea Partiers of its veracity. They simply don't believe you when you tell them it's not true. It's on the net. It crops up in their email traffic all the time. It must be true.

And here's the thing about the Tea Party revolutionaries - they are all too willing to believe almost anything if it fits their political agenda and although they spend a lot of time and energy criticising what Sarah Palin calls the "lamestream media" they actually spend no time at all reading, watching or listening to it. An increasing number of people on the left and the right in this country now get much of their media input from people and organisations that simply reinforce their own beliefs, for the Tea Party crowd that means Fox News, Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh and the like, but above all the internet is where the Tea Party lives, breathes and organises.

Witness last week's strange Tea Party reply to the Barack Obama's state of the union address delivered by Michelle Bachmann, the ultra-conservative congresswoman emerging as the new Sarah Palin.

If you were watching CNN she appeared to be looking at someone else while she harangued the president for his fiscal indiscipline and that's because she was looking directly into the Tea Party supported web camera that was off to one side.

This is the woman who recently claimed the president's trip to India was costing the US taxpayer $US200 million a day. A claim apparently based on an Indian newspaper report that quoted an unnamed Indian official.

For the Tea Party activists and political representatives alike it's all about the net - because here you can say pretty much what you like to people like you and get away with it.

On the net the founding fathers are infallible, the constitution is inviolable, Barack Obama is a Kenyan socialist conspiring with Wall Street bankers to undermine the US currency and destroy America and unlike him, prime minister Kevin Howard of Australia has the courage to stand up to the Muslims.

Michael Brissenden is the ABC's Washington correspondent.