No it wasn't. If anyone is to get credit for that, it would be Rick Santelli.
The Paul acolytes are showing up at Tea Party events with their pamphlets about trutherism and other such moonbattery and trying to hijack an excellent movement.
They are falsely taking credit for starting the movement. But the Tea Party movement is about true conservatism, not moonbatty libertarianism.
I’ll will conceed and say Rick was the spark.