Richard Carter, Chairman of the Ventura County Democratic Party.

That should be a surprising outcome, considering he was the moderator. I've publicly criticized him in the recent past, but fairness dictates that I credit him when he performs a good deed.

Carter and his team reached out to a libertarian and a conservative Republican and invited them to debate a Democrat (and an independent, who couldn't make it to the event). They sponsored a fair and open debate, and gave each participant an even chance to convince the left-leaning audience of the superiority of their positions.

No minds were changed.

I have a soft spot for people that make an effort to try to open a dialogue with ideological opponents in good faith--it's a naivete of mine I hold onto tightly so it's not lost in the glare of the endless daily partisan political war that's fought on print, TV, radio, and online all the time. Seeing an invitation go out for a friendly debate to me is like seeing a white flag of truce. For centuries, the flag ensured that the bitter fighting could stop for a few moments and combatants could sit down to reason together, even in enemy territory with safe passage ensured. To show my support for this idea, I traveled to Simi Valley to watch the debate. And if the panel were the combatants, then that would make me a war correspondent whose role it is to publicize any incidents of disrespect to the flag of truce.

As I stated before, Carter deserved credit for refereeing a fair match. How did the audience behave? There was a lot of hooting and hollering from the heavily Democratic audience, but guess what? It's their club, their home turf. I played against other town's baseball teams in the Midwest and I never expected their fans to cheer for me. When you're the visiting team, you don't have the advantage of having the crowd on your side, but so what it's fair.

I did hear some inappropriate things from a few individual audience members, but it wasn't anything egregious. The worst breach of the truce came when a Tea Party supporter tried to start a shouting match with the Democratic debater about abortion.

Now, I realize abortion is an emotional subject. I have strong feelings about it. But let's think about this practically. I previously opined that this debate was an opportunity for Tea Partiers to show mainstream Democrats that they aren't the irrational, angry people the elite media portrays them to be.

How do you think shouting like an irrational, angry person comes across to a Democrat? Like you just confirmed every single suspicion they had about you. Great job, way to influence others.

In contrast to that unruly audience member, the Tea Party organizer who was on the debate panel embodied the exact opposite of angry. She was quiet, calm, and didn't even want to comment on social issues. However, she didn't quite have the polished talking points at her disposal that her opponents possessed, and so she did not sway the crowd.

Incidentally, I don't regard having polished talking points to be a good thing, but nevertheless that's what the debate degenerated into--the professional Republican and the professional Democrat trading statistics and cliches and getting nowhere.

I do have to point out one low blow the Democrat took. Setting aside the fact that she was perhaps the smuggiest smug that ever smugged during a debate--she couldn't help but to make childish faces during her opponents' responses--she resorted to calling her conservative opponents "tea baggers" for identifying Obama's healthcare plan "Obamacare."  As the Republican pointed out, that's a descriptive and political term, not an insulting sexual term like "tea bagger." Republicans do not get upset when Reaganomics is discussed, why should Democrats melt down when Obamacare is mentioned? Oh, and just to show you how classy this lady was, she said that trickle-down economics is when the middle class "gets pissed on," which is sort of what she did to the flag of truce.

She, and a few of the audience members, seem to be the type of people that would invite someone to a "pig party." A pig party is where some cool kids invite some nerds to a party, pretending they like them so that they can get them in a room to sneer and make fun of them in not-so-subtle ways.

She could have learned a lesson in civility from Carter, who--even though he had opportunities to embarrass the participants--compensated for her intransigence by acting appropriately and courteously to the panel. Due to that, and the absence of a masterful performance by one of the conservatives, he (and by extension his organization) walks away from this one the winner.

The Tea Party movement has an undeserved reputation for being comprised of angry protesters, but the reality is that your typical rally features nothing more than patriotic Americans peacefully gathering to wave flags and register their discontent with government growth and taxation.

The false impression is generated by the out-of-touch elite media and the hostile liberal blogosphere, who are waiting to pounce on anything that will cast the Tea Partiers in a bad light. Progressives are even going so far as to pose as them and behave badly in the hopes that the media will cover it. And you never know, there may be a genuine nut or two that comes out along with millions of other Americans on Tax Day.

Carla Bonney, the chief organizer of the protest in Ventura, is taking the security challenge very seriously.  She's worked with the county and the police department, and she's urged her followers not to engage in verbal confrontations or physical violence (or even the perception of it).

"This is precisely what counter-demonstrators are looking for," she wrote in an email to her list of supporters.

If confronted, people should withdraw to a safe distance immediately, alert those nearby, and notify Tea Party security personnel.

Bonney's even appointed a security director and has 15 volunteers with policing experience patrolling the crowd, and they'll be in close contact with the Ventura PD watch commander should any disturbances arise.

"The police department knows me quite well and they're happy with the way we run security," Bonney told Tim Conway, Jr. during an interview on KFI Wednesday night.

Just how many people will be on hand?

"I'm expecting minimally, at least 5,000, and I'd say more towards possibly as high as 10,000," she said.

Over in Thousand Oaks, Carolyn Guillot is organizing a rally at the Post Office. Last year, two events she organized had incidents of violence, despite tight security precautions--in one, a crazy man charged a doctor that was speaking out against universal health care, and in another, a man got into a fist/teeth fight and ended up losing his finger.  In the former, plainclothes security tackled the man before he could do any damage, and in the latter, the altercation took place right before the rally even started, leaving no chance for anyone to intervene. Guillot bristled at the attention generated by the scuffle, and felt that it made the movement look violent. She was heavily critical of the 9-finger man for throwing a punch before losing his pinky. She's very vocal about protesters ignoring confrontation and dealing with it peacefully.

"Don't argue with anyone who disagrees with our core values," she wrote in an email to her mailing list. "Instead, smile, walk away, and find someone wearing a red-white-blue lei." The people in leis are security personnel. She's notified police that troublemaking infiltrators might show up, and she's arranged to have people observe the crowd for any problems.

Bonney's group is meeting at the Ventura County Government Center from 4pm to 7pm on Thursday. Guillot's group will be at the Thousand Oaks Post Office at Duesenberg Dr. from 12pm to 2pm.