If the TEA Party isn't a threat, why do liberals hate it so much?

The media of your persuasion tells you that, the tea party has very very small influence in my state. I guess as many as 3000 showed up in DC, but that is a very insignificant number compared to the population of voting people. If you want to change something and get it put to a vote you have to go through a process of collecting signatures. The tea-party would have a tough time with that. So a lot of yelling with no action is probably why people make fun of them..