Where to go to learn how the tea parties went
Bookworm on Apr 15 2009 at 1:25 pm | Filed under: Uncategorized
Obama may not care about the tea parties (or even know about them), but a lot of people do care. Here’s an excellent link with updates about the turnout at tea parties all over the nation.
As for me, I’m working hard today to earn money to pay my taxes.
Email This Post To A Friend
5 Responses to “Where to go to learn how the tea parties went”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
I just returned from the San Francisco tea party about 20 minutes ago. It went far better than I hoped.
I’m an old newspaperman, so I learned long ago how to estimate a crowd size within 10 percent accuracy. I’d say the turn-out was about 700 people—three or four times what you would have expected in a socialist burg like S.F. Some people said they though it was around 1,000, but the crowd just didn’t look that big.
The very good news, besides the large number of participants, was that there were no attempts by leftist thugs or provocateurs to crash the party. I didn’t see even a single incident of outright hostility or counter demonstating.
A news helicopter arrived right as the festivities got underway in the park that fronts City Hall and hovered about 1,000 feet above us for maybe 15 minutes, later following us one block over to the Federal Building where Nancy Pelosi occasionally shows up for work. It seemed that the helicopter news crew was waiting for something to break out—Klu Klux Klan sheets, a confrontation with cops, bad manners, whatever—but it was a very civil crowd.
At the Federal Building there was a lot of speechifying through a bargain-rate bullhorn, which drew the usual hurrahs and applause from people who were enjoying what was being served. Speaking as an old peace march demonstrator from the 1960s, it got boring pretty fast so I spent a lot of my time schmoozing with the very amusing former head of the Marin County GOP.
The cops were cool and I think impressed that we actually stayed on the sidewalk when they asked us to. There were dozens of people taking photos, most of them sympathetic to the cause from what I could see. There was some horn honking in supprt from people driving by. Although there were some folks in cars who gave us long and grave faces, they didn’t shout out anything against us or make any rude gestures.
I think there was a lot of genuine surprise among passersby not only at seeing several hundred conservatives in the middle of Little Cuba, but at how civil and polite they were. No public defecation, no really bad haircuts or crappy cliched-looking black clothes, no pissing on the U.S. flag or exulting in Jew hatred.
A highlight was comments by Melanie Morgan, a former morning talk show host on the local conservative radio station who for years was called “The Babe in the Bunker.”
I could see why. I casually offered to escort her home and wash her car or pick fleas off her dog, but she politely declined.
Attended the local ( Joliet, Illinois ) Tea party at the courthouse. Arrived about 11:30am to find about 50 people already gathered. Event began around noon, by then the crowd swelled to more than 300. The event kicked off with a reading of the preamble to the Constitution and the Pledge of Allegiance, given by a few school children.
The local organizers spoke mostly about the unfair tax burden and the crushing debt.
A candidate for the Republican nomination for Governor spoke also, mostly about ways to curb the debt through spending cuts.
Met many people. Heard nary a disparaging word, even saw a sign that said Democrats for lower spending, but I suspect the majority of the crowd was of a Libertarian/Conservative bent.
There was no out of bounds behavior. The crowd was as polite as can be. Lots of clapping and cheering for a prayer and a rendition of The Star Spangled Banner.
For my first protest, this was absolutely fabulous. Decent turnout without much advanced advertising. The local paper only mentioned the gathering in this mornings paper.
Looking forward to the next one.
For any of this to have any lasting meaning, these events must continue, even blossoming into a true national movement.
And, here’s the report from Chicago: I counted about 5,000 – 7,000 participants packed into the Federal Plaza. Everyone was very well behaved. It looked like a very diverse crowd – suits, jeans, black, white, Asian, old, young, very young (many people apparently took their kids out of school). I did see one of the Chicago Bulls players there, I believe that it was Ben Gordon. Everyone was polite. We kicked it off with the Star Spangled Banner and some fiery warm-up chants of “USA, USA…”. No counter protesters showed up – there were a few odd Ron Paul supporters and about a dozen people from the pacifist Friends Service Committee protesting against military spending, but apparently they show up every year on Tax Day. I did chastise one of them for being an “enabler of war” when she tried to buttonhole me, but it was a polite exchange. Best posters included “Chains we can believe in”, Obama: One Big Awful Mistake, America, and a large picture of George Washington asking “WTF?”. It was loads of fun! Let’s see how the media spins it.
I went to one in Ventura. It seemed well attended, but I’ve never been to a protest before either…so who knows! In the designated area by the County Courthouse where they had a microphone and speakers, someone said that they had about 500 people. It didn’t look like that many to me, as I was on ground level and in the back – they were up about 4 ft on the dais and had a much better view. On the other hand, the usual corner in front of the Courthouse where protesters gather, there were scads of folks. They reached from the corner up the block to the next corner and even some on the corner across the street. Lots of signs, lots of supportive honking going on.
For the last 1-2 years (I’ve lost track), this corner has had a demonstration (with about 20 people, I’d guess) on the first Friday evening of every month protesting the war in Iraq (until Obama was elected – they aren’t out there any more). If I heard supporting honking going on, it wasn’t more than a half a dozen times. Today though! Cars slowed, honked, traffic jammed…it was a sight! A couple of trucks – which I didn’t see but I sure heard! – honked their big deep loud honks as they passed on their way to the freeway. The other thing I noticed was that the folks up by the speaker stand by the Courthouse itself were mostly gray heads, with a few people with small children in tow. Most of the “street” demonstrators seemed to be younger people – very enthusiastic, very interactive with the passing cars. I don’t know what that indicates, but that’s how it seemed!
The speakers were mixed. I came a bit late, left a bit early, but heard 3 speakers, I think. One was a Cuban American, one a professor from Cal Lutheran who is also apparently running for assemblyman from one of the districts (looked young enough to be my son – which is scary!) and one whose name was given, but I’m not sure what his claim to fame is. Auerbach? An organized speech, but not especially well delivered. The Cuban was the best speaker… He has a website asking support for an initiative – if I can find it, I’ll let people know. Our Representative – Elton Gallegly – was supposed to speak. Either he wasn’t there or I missed him. I don’t know which. The sun was shining , but the temperature was chill and the wind was cutting. After a short hour, I was windblown and sunburned. Didn’t see any counter demonstrators. No press either, as far as I could see. We’ll see if there’s anything in the Ventura Star Free Press tomorrow. Bet not.
I forgot…one of the speakers said that he estimated that the “street” people numbered about 1500. That seemed high to me…but in all honesty, I have no idea how to estimate crowd numbers. What’s more, they were all strung out along the block…in singles, pairs and groups. I’ve no idea how to estimate the numbers. There were a lot – more than I expected – but I don’t know how many there were.