WILL JOHN MCCAIN need Sarah Palin to save him in Arizona? J.D. Hayworth is polling well against him, and would likely enjoy Tea Party support in the primary . . .
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TEA PARTY FISTICUFFS: I don’t think that this CSM piece descends into blaming the victim, but you’d have to read it closely to figure out who was at fault. Hint: Not the Tea Party people.
THESE MUST HAVE BEEN THE ONES WITHOUT GUNS: Video: Tea Party Protesters Attacked, Beaten by ANSWER Thugs. From the comments: “I am sure that Eric Holder will act swiftly – just like he has in St. Louis.”
UPDATE: Power Line: “We conservatives have long talked about our willingness to fight for freedom. In a sense, that’s generally been metaphorical, especially when talking about domestic rather than foreign enemies. With the far left now on the march, however, it isn’t metaphorical any more. It’s just one more sign of the Age of Obama–fighting in the streets, as the extreme Left has been empowered as never before.” Cram the video down their throats. Figuratively, this time.
ANOTHER UPDATE: Reader Joe Barnes: “Of course, this would be a racist hate crime if the situation in Ft. Lauderdale had been reversed. It would be all over the MSM nonstop. Olbermann’s head would explode. The violence and the resort to foul name calling (’teabaggers’) demonstrates the complete moral and intellectual bankruptcy of the left. I expect more of this, particularly since there will be no prosecution of these thugs.” You know, the Fred Phelps gang seems to manage to file a lot of lucrative lawsuits over the violent reactions of those they protest against, with the help of on-the-scene video. That’s their real business, by some accounts. Perhaps the Tea Party movement ought to try the same. It shouldn’t be all that hard to identify the folks involved and sue them, and the organizations they’re affiliated with. It would be nice if some friendly public interest lawyers would help out.
IN ST. LOUIS, WHERE STUFF IS ALWAYS HAPPENING, they had a “rolling Tea Party” this weekend.
A TEA PARTY PROTEST IN SALT LAKE CITY: Reader David Kirkham emails:
Saturday we had the most important Tea Party in Utah to date! We have a delegate system here in Utah. If a candidate wins 60% of the delegate votes at the convention they become the party nominee and there is NO PRIMARY election–the winner immediately advances to the general election. This delegate process levels the playing field and allows for challengers with relative little money to take on an entrenched incumbent like Senator Bennett.
We (Tea Party and 912ers) decided it was time to put down our protest signs and start to organize for the convention. Notice there are no signs in the pictures. This was strictly business. We got all our email lists together and put out a call to action for a Tea Party/912 event to train people how to become delegates. During the event, I asked how many people were currently delegates…no more than 8-10 people raised their hands. There were all NEW people to the political process.
We had the Utah State Capitol people (GREAT guys) set up 500 chairs and it was standing room only. There must have been 600 people at the event–they all drove through a snow storm to be there. Everyone one of them wants to be a delegate. There are only 3,300 delegates in the state. We gathered names and emails and are currently breaking them down into the precincts. We are setting up precinct captains for further training mobilization. A State Representative told me he simply could not believe the turn out. The most telling comment of the day came from another State Representative, “Bennett’s toast.”
No media–oh well. We’ll do it without them.
I guess I’m a community organizer now LOL.
Those are springing up everywhere lately. Pic below.
A TEA PARTY PROTEST IN HARRISBURG, PENNSYLVANIA:
The Pennsylvania Tea Party took its message of limited government to this capital city Saturday.
Hundreds of protesters from regional groups that came from as far as the Ohio and New Jersey borders gathered at Harrisburg’s City Island early yesterday afternoon for a march through the city to the Capitol.
Twisted Sister’s “We’re Not Gonna Take It,” blared over a loud speaker as the protesters, a mixed bag of blue jean-clad participants sprinkled with some activists in camouflage and colonial garb, signed petitions and waved flags while they waited to march. A handful of people wore holstered handguns.
“Can you hear me now? Can you hear me now?” they chanted in response to organizer Diana Reimer as she called the group to action with a bullhorn.
The Tax Enough Already Party — TEA — that grew out of a series of April 15 Tax Day rallies, joined forces with more than three-dozen like-minded regional groups, for its first march on Harrisburg. Capitol police estimated that 1,500 to 2,000 protesters ultimately massed on the Capitol steps where the march ended.
This stuff just keeps going on, underneath the national-media radar.
TEA PARTIERS making a difference in Utah.
MARY KATHARINE HAM: Who I Met At The Tea Party: A Veterans’ Day Tribute.
VIDEO: SCENES FROM THE TUCSON TEA PARTY. “Once again, what’s remarkable about this protest is how absolutely ordinary it is. No one is foaming at the mouth; they’re mostly laughing at Giffords’ hypocritical attempts to cast herself as some sort of moderate while mindlessly following Pelosi and her radical agenda. They’re not an angry mob, as the media has cast the Tea Party movement — they’re a motivated group of voters who are sending a message that will only get louder in the coming year.”
READER JOHN MARCOUX sends these pictures from the Tea Party in Beaufort, South Carolina today.
THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU DROP THE BALL: “While DHS was busy putting tea parties and anyone who dares fly the official military Gadsen flag on the domestic terrorist watch list, a real terrorist was spouting off online, glorifying suicide bombings and our mission in Iraq. I mean, I’m sure if I drink enough I might be able to understand the perception that a bunch of middle-class people peacefully dissenting with certain Washington policies are way more dangerous than a dude who talked about terrorist stuff on social sites and had gotten authorities’ attention six months ago.”
Yeah, Napolitano, et al. seem to have had their priorities misplaced. Here’s more on what they missed. And don’t forget what NPR reported.
UPDATE: Reader C.J. Burch emails: “Ah, but those middle class protesters are a threat to politicians’ power. Terrorists are just a threat to their constituents’ lives. See the difference?” Such a cynic.
ANOTHER UPDATE: Washington Post: Officials may not have heeded warning signs. “Law enforcement officials also faced questions about whether they had missed possible warning signs. Six months ago, investigators came across Internet postings, allegedly by Hasan, that indicated sympathy for suicide bombers and empathized with the plight of Muslim civilians killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to a federal official briefed on the situation. The official, and another source, said investigators never confirmed whether Hasan was the author of the postings and did not pursue the matter.” Too busy worrying about Glenn Beck viewers, military veterans, and Tea Party organizers, I guess.
YOU CAN FIGHT CITY HALL: An election victory for the Tucson Tea Party. Next week they’re dropping by Rep. Gabriell Giffords’ office. . . .
ANOTHER REPORT FROM THE ASHEVILLE TEA PARTY’S “House Call” On Heath Shuler. With photos.
FOR CERTAIN VALUES OF THE WORD “WE,” ANYWAY: Chris Matthews: We may never know if religion was a factor at Fort Hood.
Plus this: “You’ll know it’s okay to start speculating about Hasan’s motives when cops find a Glenn Beck book on his bookshelf. In fact, if the same ‘PTSD by proxy’ elements had been present in Hasan’s bio but it turned out he’d attended a tea party or two, we’d already be well into hour 30 of a full-on media speculation orgy.”
DANIEL HENNINGER: The Permanent Tea Party. “What was learned Tuesday is that the American voter is absolutely, totally, unremittingly disgusted with both political parties. More than anything, the American voter is desperate for political leadership.”
DON SURBER: Is the Village Voice Trolling Me? Well, that’s pretty much Roy’s job description. . . .
UPDATE: RELATED: ERIC BOEHLERT DOESN’T JUST PLAY DUMB. In criticizing my Wall Street Journal piece he quotes a bit on White house criticism of Fox News, but leaves out this part:
Bert Gall and Robert Frommer of the Institute for Justice have made a compelling case that the Obama administration’s word choice is quite significant. They think that by branding Fox as something other than a “legitimate news organization,” the White House is actually setting up a more brutal attack using campaign finance laws. News media organizations are exempt from campaign-finance laws’ speech regulations. But if Fox is not a “legitimate news organization,” then federal election authorities might be able to argue that its political speech can be regulated like that of any other non-news corporation.
The implications would be far-reaching. Messrs. Gall and Frommer write on PajamasMedia.com: “Of course, if the media’s speech becomes illegitimate—and thus subject to restriction—when it turns critical, then the same is true for everyone else, including ordinary citizens.” Imagine if the administration applied disclosure laws not just to Fox, but to groups like the tea-party protestors. Faced with this restrictive bureaucracy, such groups would probably be paralyzed.
Contrary to Boehlert’s misleading suggestion that this is just what we saw under the Bush Administration, it’s not. And, in fact, although the Bush Administration didn’t get along with the press, it didn’t evince the Obama Administration’s thin-skinned thuggishness, which of course has also applied to scientists and university administrators. Whatever Soros pays these guys, it’s more than they’re worth. But to be fair to Boehlert, he was shrill even before he signed on as a flack for Media Matters, and even when I agreed with him. I just hope his attack produced more than Media Matters’ trademark 14 hits. Oh, well, I’m sure I’m sending him a lot more traffic than that, so he can count his own trolling efforts a success . . . .
GATEWAY PUNDIT: Team Obama Opens New Organizing for America St. Louis Office… Tea Party Breaks Out. That keeps happening.
MEGAN MCARDLE ON NORTH AND SOUTH IN THE REPUBLICAN PARTY: “As long as social issues dominate the Republican Party, they will continue losing their north–I had a lot of relatives who at least considered voting for Obama. Ironically, I wonder if the tea parties won’t help bring the two wings of the Republican party together: guns and lower government spending are the two things all members can agree on.” Sounds almost . . . libertarian!
HOUSTON TEA PARTY RALLY draws more than 10,000.
I heard Tim Cox, author of Get Out Of Our House! a book about a campaign for replacing the entire Congress, on local talk-radio today and there were a lot of enthusiastic calls. Everybody’s focusing on today’s special elections, but there’s a lot of other stuff bubbling under the surface all over.
SALENA ZITO: Mood Sours Toward Both Parties. “A sour mood exists among people, with close-to-10-percent unemployment, decreasing health-care benefits and rising taxes – and a view that the well-heeled get bailed-out but John and Joan Q. Citizen do not. . . . Has the anti-establishment ‘tea party’ movement had an impact on these races? Absolutely.”
TUCSON COUNCILWOMAN apologizes for “teabagger” slur.
THOUSANDS TURN OUT for Tea Party rally in San Diego.
SOME REAL TEA PARTY ACTIVISM IN CINCINNATI: Justin Binik-Thomas emails:
The Cincinnati Tea Party organized a four day demonstration to urge local congressman Steve Driehaus to vote against the Healthcare bill in the House. He is the only local representative who has not committed to a “ney” vote. We organized an unprecedented four-day “We Surround Him” demonstration to show our commitment to liberty and resolve on the issue.
The first three days of the demonstration were surrounding his district. We had members stationed at all busy exits around I-275 on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. These members passed out educational materials to vehicles and pedestrians. The finale was yesterday, Saturday, when we surrounded him. Members surrounded the Carew Tower in Cincinnati where his local office is located. We invited Congressman Driehaus and his 2010 opponent Steve Chabot to speak about Healthcare after the rally. The Congressman declined our invitation. Speakers offered solutions to the “crisis” such as allowing for the sale of insurance across state lines and tort reform.
Here’s a report, and here’s another. And, courtesy of Binik-Thomas, here’s a pic.
ST. LOUIS TEA PARTY to throw document parties.
UPDATE: Reader J.R. Ott writes: “What is so absolutely fascinating to me as a teacher is that adults are learning how to keep government in check even as the public school system stifles any civics education.”
INSTAVISION: I talk with Dana Loesch and Bill Whittle about NY-23, the Tea Party, and Third Parties. How big’s the GOP’s problem? Big enough that Tea Party stalwart and talk radio star Dana Loesch had to open by making clear that “I don’t hate the GOP and I don’t want to dump everyone in there.”
ZOMBIETIME: The 20 Best Signs At The San Francisco Tea Party. I like “Don’t Tell Obama What’s After a Trillion.”
CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR: Tea Party “Insurgency” Marches Into Key States.
Begun as a loosely affiliated groundswell of Constitution-waving protesters in tri-cornered hats, the Tea Party movement is now starting to rock the political establishment in key arenas.
The growing numbers of Americans coming out to the Tax Day Tea Party, the Fourth of July Tea Parties, and then the 9/12 Tea Party march on Washington are going back to their home districts and keeping up — even intensifying — the fight for smaller government and more transparency on spending and taxation.
In places like New York, Florida, California, New Hampshire, and Pennsylvania, local, state, congressional, and gubernatorial seats are suddenly being tugged to-and-fro by the new and unruly political force.
The upshot?
The street energy is welcome for an otherwise moribund Republican party looking for new moorings amid a tumultuous electorate.
The downside is that early examples shows that, in the short run, Tea Party-sponsored candidates could make it more difficult for Republicans as they — Ross Perot-like — split races as they target both “tax and spend” Democrats and those they like to call RINOs, or “Republicans-in-name-only.”
For the Republicans, the obvious solution is to run candidates who are less RINO-ish. For the Tea Party folks, the obvious solution is to push hard for their guys in primaries, then vote for whoever wins even if they have to hold their noses a bit sometimes. That’s politics. Though even RINO-ish candidates will be less so if they have to worry about primary challenges. (Via NewsAlert).
UPDATE: Michael Greenspan emails: “You’re exactly right, though if either the Republicans or the Tea Partiers learn their lesson before the 2010 elections I’ll be amazed.” Hey, I just blog this stuff. Whether people listen is up to them.
ANOTHER UPDATE: On the NY-23 race, reader Michael Kennedy writes:
Glenn, the Republicans are upset at the tea partiers in NY 23 for backing Hoffman but that will be a nice test. The election is only for one year so little is lost if the Democrat wins a split race. But, if Hoffman wins, they will have to start to take the movement seriously instead of trying to co-opt them. First, I think the tea parties are libertarian, not “right wing.” That’s what I’ve seen in Mission Viejo, where we have turned out 500+ on each occasion.
This will be a very important race, more so than Virginia or New Jersey which are old line pols running on both sides.
I do wish Hoffman’s donation software was better. I tried to give him money and couldn’t.
Stay tuned.
GREAT TEA PARTIES, KID: Don’t get cocky. “Do the failures of the current administration represent a fantastic opportunity for the Republican party come 2010? Absolutely. Is it a done deal? Not until the votes are counted just over a year from now. And a year in the political arena is an eternity.”
Related: Harris Poll Puts Obama Approval at 45%. But remember, Obama won’t be on the ballot in 2010.
UPDATE: Bill Quick: “Here’s the nut of it: The GOP establishment sees their problem as being that they are out of power. People like me see the problem as being that they are out of power because they have turned their backs on the principles those who once voted for them believe in.”
WALL STREET JOURNAL: Tea-Party Activists Complicate Republican Comeback Strategy. Well, they should.
CAMILLE PAGLIA ON OBAMA AND THE MEDIA. “The mainstream media’s failure to honestly cover last month’s mass demonstration in Washington, D.C. was a disgrace. The focus on anti-Obama placards (which were no worse than the rabid anti-LBJ, anti-Reagan or anti-Bush placards of leftist protests), combined with the grotesque attempt to equate criticism of Obama with racism, simply illustrated why the old guard TV networks and major urban daily newspapers are slowly dying. Only a simpleton would believe what they say.”
GAY PATRIOT: The (Unexpected) Integrity of Many Gay Left Bloggers. My advice to the Gay Left is the same as my advice to the Tea Party Right — if you don’t like what “your” politicians are doing, quit donating to ‘em and run somebody against them in the primary. They’ll notice. And the Gay Left and Tea Party Right might even want to talk to each other; they may find they’ve got more in common than they realize. . . .
WHITE HOUSE: Gay rights marchers? Where? “He knows this march is happening, and he can’t even acknowledge it?” Hey, that’s the same way he treated the 9/12 Tea Party protesters . . . .
UPDATE: White House official calls gays part of “Internet left fringe.”
ANOTHER UPDATE: Orin Kerr seems to think my linking of John Aravosis’ headline above is misleading. Well, follow the link and watch the video and make up your own mind. I think the White House is clearly trying to marginalize the gay-rights protesters which — as noted above — is their standard response to protest.
And hey, I was the one who was too quick to praise Obama for his gay-rights speech. So I could be wrong . . .
MORE: White House Retreats. Greenwald, Aravosis, not impressed.
TUCSON TEA PARTY UPDATE: “About 6,000 people descended Saturday on Tucson Electric Park for the Tucson Tea Party event, billed as Tucson’s Last Stand. The event kicked off with Tucson Tea Party organizer Trent Humphries expressing his own brand of hope for the future: ‘I love the smell of freedom in the morning.’ By 8:07 a.m., nearly two hours before the speeches began, the main parking lot of the Tucson Electric Park was filling up.”
A READER SENDS THIS IPHONE PHOTO FROM today’s Tucson Tea Party rally.
SO I’VE WRITTEN IN THE PAST ABOUT “OUT-OF-DOORS POLITICAL ACTIVITY,” and that’s led to some reader questions about what it might involve today.
As I’ve suggested, I think an early phase is internet satire. Tea Party protests are another. Or pranks. But what if you’re in the Hugo Chavez world — not quite outright military government, but not exactly democracy, either? Or just afraid you’re moving that way? One step going beyond mere protests and mockery, but well short of violence, is something like the U.K. fuel protests. Or what would happen if a lot of people showed up at banks and started withdrawing a lot of cash all at once? (Most banks couldn’t deal with much in the way of cash withdrawals — a few dozen people withdrawing a few thousand each at once would overload many, no doubt panicking the powers-that-be). Heck just a bunch of people driving at exactly the speed limit might have a drastic effect on some areas . . . .
I don’t have any answers, and we’re pretty clearly not at that point yet. At any rate, I’d encourage those interested in this to read Pauline Maier’s book. We’re not in colonial times any more, but while the specifics might change the principles are evergreen.
THE TUCSON TEA PARTY FOLKS are planning a big event for tomorrow.
AT BLOGCRITICS, an interview with Kevin Jackson, author of The Big Black Lie. He talks about the Tea Party movement, health care “reform,” and more.
CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR: Black Tea-Partyer calls out Garofalo over ‘white power’ statement.
THINGS YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED THIS WEEKEND:
My Washington Examiner column on Roman Polanski’s Hollywood defenders. “Technologically and market-wise, Hollywood is in the weakest position it’s ever been, and yet it is also more arrogant than it was in its Golden Age.”
World Bank running out of money?
John Holdren worries about an Ice Age.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s Jewish roots.
What they promised versus what they delivered with the stimulus.
A roundup of Olympic recriminations.
Pocket video cameras for Tea Party coverage and more.
Frank Rich on hubris.
Unemployment from small businesses Going Galt?
THE TUCSON TEA PARTY FOLKS WON’T BACK DOWN:
The group has already proven to be a thorn in the side of the dominant local Democratic Party. Chairman Jeff Rogers sent out a scathing press release last week, his second in recent months on the topic, saying the Republican Party has been taken over by radical “tea partiers.” Robert Mayer, the UA marketing student who formed the Tucson Tea Party group with Trent Humphries, quickly turned the attack into motivational fodder for the upcoming rally and for campaigning in favor of the Republican candidates for City Council.
“Jeff Rogers says that he is going to ‘call us out,’ ” Mayer said in an Internet message “I think it’s about time that we call him out, along with Nina Trasoff, Karin Uhlich, and their new candidate, Richard Fimbres.”
The “we” Mayer referred to is a collection of residents who say they were mostly politically quiet in the past but were prodded from their living rooms by federal bailouts and stimulus bills of the last two years.
Read the whole thing.
FROM ED MORRISSEY, A STRONG REVIEW for the Flip Ultra HD camcorder. Those are good. I just got my Kodak Zi8 in the mail and I’ve played with it a little — it seems very good so far, with surprisingly good video quality from something so small.. Advantages: Removable SD card, and jack for external microphone (importance of good audio is often underappreciated, but it’s huge), plus 5MP stills. These days, the more people out there who have some sort of camera, the better.
UPDATE: And not just for Tea Party coverage. J.D. Johannes emails:
On my last trip to Afghanistan I shot what was essentially a TV news package on a Flip Ultra HD.
I had hit Afghanistan expecting to spend the month with Soldiers and not turn any products until I got back to the US so I only had a net book instead of my large editing lap top. I shoot my video with a Canon XL-H which requires a fire-wire and/or a 1394 card bus and lots of processing power to handle the full quality HD video.
A friend of mine asked if I could turn a report for them in Afghanistan. By chance I bought a Flip to take snap shots and record other little clips with right before I flew to Afghanistan.
I double filmed everything on the Canon and the Flip. When it became obvious I would not be able to find a proper lap top, firewire and card bus in Afghanistan I had to use the Flip. I downloaded some inexpensive editing software from Pinnacle, transferred the video from the Flip to a lap top with slightly more horse power than a netbook and edited the package.
We even recorded all the narration tracks on the Flip.
The video held together very well when we played it through a projector onto a 60 inch screen. I knew the audio quality would not be great, so made sure I got right on my subjects during interviews.
The end product turned out better than I had anticipated. It also helped that I used the Flip like I would a real camera so I had all my shots and enough material to turn a package with.
The Flip was perfect for the ultra-low-profile work I did out on the streets. It fit in my pocket so I remained fairly anonymous while doing man-on-the-street style interviews. It also looks enough like a cell phone that you can record things without drawing any attention.
Everything in this blog post was done with a Flip Ultra HD.
The only thing it lacks is a plug for an external mic. If it had a plug for a lav or small shot gun mic, the Flip would be the perfect on-the-fly news gathering tool.
Well, the Kodak has an external mic jack. But this is pretty impressive stuff for a small consumer-grade gadget.
TIGERHAWK ON THE MEDIA’S VARIABLE TREATMENT OF PROTESTS AND VIOLENCE:
A few clowns shout at a “tea party” and the media starts worrying about the resurgent Klan, but the left literally attacks the police at the G20 protests and nobody says anything.
There are two possible explanations for this different approach of the media to edgy demonstrators of the left and right.
First, the mainstream media are completely in the tank for the Democrats, and want to help them push the talking point that the tea-partiers are both extremists and typical Republicans (neither of which is generally true).
Second, the left benefits from the soft bigotry of low expectations: People expect leftists to act like thugs at these gatherings as they have for 40 years, so when they do again it is the same-old same-old.
Sorry, I’m going with number one here.
UPDATE: Related thoughts from Jesse Walker.
ANOTHER UPDATE: Not condemning G20 violence at The Huffington Post.
MORE: Moe Lane chimes in.
REMEMBER HOW WE HEARD ABOUT THE DANGERS OF THE ENTIRELY NONVIOLENT TEA PARTY PROTESTS? But will we hear the same clucking-of-tongues about the G20 riots?
The marchers included small groups of self-described anarchists, some wearing dark clothes and bandanas and carrying black flags. Others wore helmets and safety goggles.
One banner read, “No borders, no thanks,” another, “No hope in capitalism.” A few minutes into the march, protesters unfurled a large banner reading “NO BAILOUT NO CAPITALISM” with an encircled “A,” a recognized sign of anarchists.
The marchers did not have a permit and, after a few blocks, police declared it an unlawful assembly. They played an announcement over a loudspeaker telling people to leave or face arrest and then police in riot gear moved in to break it up.
Protesters split into smaller groups. Some rolled large metal trash bins toward police, and a man in a black hooded sweat shirt threw rocks at a police car, breaking the front windshield. Protesters broke windows in a few businesses, including a bank branch and a Boston Market restaurant.
Nothing like this at the Tea Parties.
More here: “The peaceful protesters started throwing rocks at police and police cars, and dragging trash containers into the middle of the street to block traffic. No surprise, the police fired canisters of pepper spray, white smoke and some rubber bullets into the crowds. . . . The folks that organized Thursday’s unauthorized march, the G-20 Resistance Group, is encouraging members to spend the morning, before the march, to take unspecified actions against local offices of corporations deemed evil.”
No arrests like these at the Tea Parties, either. Until we see scenes like this, I don’t want to hear yammering about the violence inherent in the Tea Party movement.
DAN RIEHL: “Get ready for a round of stories debating whether it is the Tea Party movement, Glenn Beck, or a color blind racist that led to this alleged homicide.”
INSTAVISION: I talk with Mark Levin about Liberty and Tyranny, the Tea Party movement, Obama’s speech, and whether conservatives and libertarians need a “leader.” Plus, I offer an apology to Talk Radio.
SMART GIRL POLITICS: The Insta-Wife talks with Michelle Malkin about women, tea parties, the Culture of Corruption, and who’s fighting it. “Go to any Tea Party and you see an increasing number of young women in the movement.” Plus, the power of Twitter.
TEA PARTY OR THIRD PARTY? I talk to Roger Stone about whether the Tea Party movement will lead to a third party.
THOUSANDS RALLY at Milwaukee Tea Party.
Plus, Nearly 10,000 gather for ‘Tea Party’ along Milwaukee’s lakefront.
PJTV: The first of my interviews from the Quincy Tea Party is up.
PHOTO: On board the Tucson Tea Party Bus. The blonde woman is Morgana Gallaway, author of The Nightingale.
TEA PARTY UPDATE: Okay, I was busy this weekend in Quincy and didn’t have time to cover all the tea parties going on outside of Washington, DC and, of course, Quincy. But there were a lot. Here’s a picture from El Cajon, California, sent by reader Josh Swanson:
Reader Thom Stratton writes from Boise, Idaho: “I decided at the last minute today to take my kids to the Tea Party rally here in Boise. We were a little late, but joined the crowd marching down Capital Blvd. toward the park across from the capital bldg. I’m not good with guesses, but I’d estimate at least 1-2,000 people there. My kids, aged 4, 6, and 8 thought the “parade” was great fun, but got bored quickly when the speeches started. Still, it got my 8-year-old daughter interested in what’s going on, so I was able to explain some things to her. I’ve never been to any type of political rally or demonstration before. I’m going to make sure it’s not my last. Unfortunately I forgot to take my camera so I could send you some pics. I’d planned to, but getting three young kids ready and into the car is a trick in itself. Still, between myself and the camera, I’d say it was better that I got myself there.”
And luckily, reader Jim Verdolini was there and sent this pic:
And here’s a blog report from Lakeland, Florida. I’m sure there are more — please send me links to anything that deserves attention.
Meanwhile, here’s some video from L.A.
BYRON YORK: Inside the 9/12 Tea Party Protest. “Some people were animated by a single issue — health care, taxes, the Second Amendment. But in dozens of interviews with marchers, the picture that emerged was of people who believe things are racing out of control along a whole range of fronts in Washington, and that no one is representing their interests. . . . You’ve probably heard descriptions of the marchers as crazies and haters and fanatics. Perhaps there were some in the crowd. Far more important, though, was the very presence of so many everyday Americans protesting in Washington, just eight months into unified Democratic control of the White House and Congress. What did Barack Obama and his party’s leadership on Capitol Hill do to bring doctors and truck drivers together in common cause on the streets of the nation’s capital? More than anything, these people are afraid that the new president is running the country off a cliff. They’re in no mood to remain silent now.”
REPORTS ON THE QUINCY TEA PARTY from the Quincy News and the Quincy Herald-Whig.
THE TEA PARTY MOVEMENT: How We Got Here.
QUINCY WRAPUP: I’ve been involved with a lot of events over my life, from civil rights protests to rock concerts to science fiction conventions, and I’ve never been involved with an event that ran with such well-oiled efficiency. I was going to say “ruthless efficiency,” but of course it was cheerful, considerate Midwestern efficiency and not ruthless in the least. The Quincy folks were charming hosts, and threw a dinner party for us last night where all the food was homemade, and delicious.
One interesting note: I’ve said this before, but those in the GOP who think that the Tea Party movement is for their benefit need to think again. Roger Stone spoke, and while nobody had anything against him in particular, several people told me that they thought the GOP was trying to co-opt the Tea Party Movement, and they weren’t happy about that. My advice to the GOP — and, for that matter, to those Democrats who care — is to try to find a way to address the Tea Party crowd’s interests, bearing in mind that if you don’t they’re just as happy to throw Republicans out of office as Democrats.
But it probably doesn’t matter. Based on the level of organization, commitment, and sheer likability I saw this weekend, the folks from Quincy are going to wind up ruling the world anyway . . . .
ROGER SIMON: America Goes to Washington: I Was Wrong About The Tea Party Movement. “Boy, was I wrong. I can remember telling Glenn Reynolds during CPAC that these Tea Party demonstrations were rinky-dink and going nowhere. Barely more than a half-year later, they’re putting two million people on the Washington Mall. Wow! If I were Obama & Co., I’d be afraid, I’d be very afraid. . . . Rahm Emanuel and David Axelrod are going to be looking at each other like nervous apparatchiks in the Politburo because someone is going to have take the bullet for the disaster they have wrought. Emanuel is looking like a particular dummy right now for opening his mouth about not missing a good crisis.”
UPDATE: “Two million people with jobs.“
So maybe I was wrong to be so skeptical. But cut it in half and it’s still a huge number. And this is priceless: “Many protesters said they paid their own way to the event – an ethic they believe should be applied to the government.” Why is the British press more honest in its reporting on this stuff than the American press?
Meanwhile, a reader emails: “I’ll tell you what I find impressive. I’m watching the Fox news video about 15 minutes after the end of the event. The crowd has thinned out enough that you can see the ground and there is not a speck of trash on the grass. Absolutely clean. To contrast, google ‘pictures of litter on the mall after the inauguration.’”
FROM ED FRANK, VIDEO FROM TODAY’S D.C. TEA PARTY:
MORE ON THAT bomb threat against the Tea Party organizers in DC.
Mary Katharine Ham emails this pic from the Newseum balcony in DC.
And Stephen Green is posting reports from the ground.
IN THE MAIL: From Michael Barone, the 2010 edition of The Almanac of American Politics. Likely to be popular with the Tea Party crowd, and those following them.
ANOTHER TRAFFIC-CAM PIC FROM D.C.:
UPDATE: Reader Debra Fitz writes: “Are you aware that your link to the DC rooftop camera now shows empty streets and a flag at full staff, while your screen shot from awhile ago shows thousands of people and the flag at half staff? What’s going on?” Beats me. Either it’s an old pic now, or the crowd has moved on.
And another reader emails: “Is someone tampering with the DC Traffic Cams? The pictures on Fox News don’t match what is being displayed by the Cams. Could they be running a closed loop from an average Saturday? I can’t find any demonstrations on the Traffic Cams!” I doubt it, but maybe someone can look into things.
ANOTHER UPDATE: Reader John Coppella writes:
I’ve been watching them all morning. The view from the cam you initially
posted showed a sizable crowd gathering for quite some time (about 2 hours?)
and then it quite clearly began moving toward the Capitol. You could follow
the crowd’s progress very clearly on the other traffic cams positioned along
Pennsylvania Ave. I don’t think there’s any conspiracy or technical
problem — it’s just that everyone’s on the Mall now and you can’t really
see the crowd from that specific camera.
That makes sense.
IT’S EARLY YET, but the Tea Party crowd in DC is already looking pretty big, judging from these traffic cam shots.
UPDATE: A reader sends this Blackberry pic:
HMM: Pelosi, Dems Bracing For Huge Turnout At Glenn Beck/Tea Party Gathering. Actually, I think they’re floating huge numbers — two million? are you kidding? — so that they can paint it as a disappointment if we see “only” hundreds of thousands.
But no, that can’t be it: “The House leadership memo predicting huge turnout could have been written in hopes that it would leak and inflate expectations for turnout, anticipating that it will fall far short. But Dems on the Hill insist they’re genuinely worried about what tomorrow will bring.” Well, if they insist that they’re genuinely worried . . .
UPDATE: Moe Lane shares my suspicions:
I am certain of three things:
1. The Democrats are trying to manage expectations about today’s DC demonstration by coming up with a number of ‘expected’ protesters that is far above actual expectations;
2. The media will play along;
3. It won’t actually work.
He’ll be there.
ANOTHER UPDATE: Reader Matthias Shapiro writes:
As a numbers guy, I’d like to ask: What numbers you think would constitute success or failure for the Tea Parties?
I think the “2 million” number is hilarious. Do the Dems really think that the Tea Party will be 3 times bigger than the biggest Iraq war protest in the country (Feb 13, 2003) ? A protest whose organizers hired hundred buses across the nation to ship protesters in?
I think that meeting the 200,000 mark would actually mean far bigger things for the Tea Parties than for the Iraq wars. It would mean either 1) a higher percentage of those who disagree showed up (since urban areas tend to lean heavily Democratic and liberal), which means the topic reaches far closer to the middle or 2) more people came in from out of town.
Given that, I think 200,000 is a huge number for a protest. And, if you’re counting protests across the country, I think it the Tea Parties will reach that number and more.
Iagree. Two million would be about double the turnout of Obama’s inauguration. I don’t believe the Dems really expect that.
SO WHAT AM I DOING FOR SEPT. 11TH? In the past I’ve given shooting lessons to a Marine, and over the years I’ve blogged, not blogged, etc. This year, I’m going to a Tea Party.
UPDATE: Andrew Breitbart, hanging with his homies.
Plus, me with Jim Hoft, Andrew Breitbart, Dana Loesch, and Adrian, whose last name never heard. He came all the way from Texas, though, which is pretty cool.
More pics at Foundingbloggers.com.
TEA PARTY PLANNERS hit with bomb threat.
TEA PARTY CARAVAN heading to DC after passing through Knoxville.
DAN RIEHL: “Why are there Tea Parties and large numbers of Americans feeling disconnected from media and politics? It’s because a large portion of America feels ignored by the culture. Trust me on this, the last time that happened it led to the Reagan Revolution when the usually quiet rubes decided that they wanted to be heard.”
And related thoughts from Ann Althouse, with an assist from Camille Paglia.
THINGS YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED, THIS HOLIDAY WEEKEND:
My Washington Examiner column on Tea Party history. Plus, 18,000 at Cincinnati tea party, and 10,000 in Joliet/New Lenox, and thousands in Austin and Louisville. And Morristown, N.J.
A pattern of incompetence? And, certainly, a pattern of unemployment.
State government finances are a wreck.
Creating a storyline by misquoting Mark Steyn.
Sweet deals for Charles Rangel. Plus, “Ethics for sale?”
My liking for the iPod Touch.
Let My People Go-Go.
Repeating Depression-era mistakes?
Stories the press isn’t reporting. The cover-up is worse than the crime!
A Saul Alinsky boom on the right?
Something to mail your Congressman!
Pizza! On a stick!
And if you don’t think Elvis is Number One, you’re full of Number Two!
UPDATE: This blog report disputes the 18,000 number for Cincinnati. Well, who knows? It was a sheriff’s estimate, but all crowd estimates are iffy.
NEW JERSEY: Hundreds take part in ‘tea party’ protest against high taxes in Morristown. If you can get a crowd like this in bluest New Jersey, well . . .
Here’s a photo from reader Richard Driscoll.
UPDATE: Sorry, wrong link before. Fixed now. And here’s another pic, by way of recompense.
OVER 10,000 TURN OUT FOR TEA PARTY RALLY in New Lenox / Joliet.
UPDATE: Here’s a picture from reader Robert Avery.
STACY MCCAIN: Are You Ready to (Tea) Party?
ANDREW BREITBART: COURIC SHOULD LOOK IN MIRROR.
Now that White House “Green Jobs Czar” Van Jones has resigned, what’s next?
Inevitably, the American mainstream media – ABC, NBC, CBS, the New York Times, the Washington Post, Time, Newsweek, et al – must be held to account for sitting on the sidelines as this major story kept building without them, went viral on YouTube, and then became so large that a key appointee of President Obama was forced to step down.
But with their decision to ignore the Jones story, they may have actually done Mr. Obama far more harm than good: Who vetted this guy? How did he get past the FBI? What did he say, and how did he answer the infamous seven-page questionnaire that all Obama appointees were required to fill out? Inquiring Freedom of Information Act minds want to know.
For most people in this country, the resignation was the first they had heard of Van Jones. For this sin of journalistic omission, there’s institutional media blame. Bias is too tame a word for the utter shamelessness on display: Only Republican scandals – real and imagined – matter.
And it’s not just those the Democratic-Media Complex dub as “mobs” or “tea baggers” that are taking notice. Diminishing audience and evaporating subscribership reflect widespread consumer dissatisfaction. Eventually, the money will run out. . . . All eyes are on the media. We are judging them by the standard they taught us during Watergate: “The cover-up is worse than the crime.”
What other major stories are they missing — or sitting on? Stay tuned . . . .
UPDATE: A reader emails:
Well, there’s:
—the public pension tsunami headed our way
—the funneling of billions to ACORN, union pals, etc. to be used to fund the Democratic Party
—the stated intent to create 650,000 additional government jobs in the next 4 years
—the almost-universal collapse of unionized sectors (including governments)
—vote fraud—in all its various forms
—corruption in the bureaucracy (not one SEC bureaucrat was fired over the Madoff debacle)
—fraud in Medicaid, Medicare, workers comp, etc. (they could run a story every day)That’s just off the top of my head. Given time I could come up with dozens of other examples where they miss the big story.
Yeah, that’s just scratching the subject. I think a good investigative journalist could do a lot more.
IN CALIFORNIA, a funeral for ObamaCare.
SOME HISTORICAL BACKGROUND ON THE TEA PARTY MOVEMENT, in my Washington Examiner column today. With reference to Pauline Maier’s From Resistance to Revolution, an excellent piece of historical scholarship on popular resistance to government overreaches.
TEA PARTY FILLS LOUISVILLE PARK: “Thousands packed Louisville’s Central Park Saturday for the “Tea Party Express,” the third such event in Jefferson County since April to serve as a forum for opponents of President Barack Obama and his plans for health care reform.”
UPDATE: Dodd Harris took this “amusingly sad” photo of the counterprotest.
18,000 AT CINCINNATI TEA PARTY EVENT:
It was festival-like atmosphere of patriotism, with food vendors, face-painting for kids and live music for crowd that Butler County Sheriff Richard K. Jones estimated topped out at 18,000.
People of all ages were wearing patriotic clothing in hues of red, white and blue, many carrying American flags and hand-made signs with myriad slogans.
Plus, an Austin Tea Party:
The debate over President Barack Obama’s healthcare reform plan spilled onto the south steps of the State Capitol Saturday afternoon.
Thousands of people from across Texas who don’t support the president’s plan rallied with signs as several guest speakers took the stage.
One was Steve Crowder of PJTV fame.
JUSTIN BINIK-THOMAS sends this cellphone picture from today’s Cincinnati Tea Party rally and reports over 7,000 already there with more arriving.
UPDATE: Another pic a couple of hours later, and this: “18,000 and counting per Butler County Sheriff Jones.”
THOUSANDS SHOWED UP for Rep. Gabrielle Giffords’ Town Hall in Tucson.
The auditorium at Sahuaro High School in Tucson quickly filled its 1500 person capacity, and the 1000 or more seats outside easily filled as well. It is easily possible that 3000-4000 people tried to attend Rep. Giffords’ townhall but could not make it inside. Even though the event started at 6 pm, people started lining up at 2!
It was obvious to anyone in attendance that 2/3 to 3/4 of the people there were against the public option. In fact, when one man who was able to speak into the microphone suggested that we throw all the bums out of Congress, nearly 90% of the people in the auditorium gave him a standing, shouting ovation that lasted nearly two minutes.
News report from KGUN TV9 is here.
MARK TAPSCOTT: Tea Party leaders are wasting chance to replace Congress.
AND THEY CALL THE TEA PARTY FOLKS CRAZY: Green jobs ‘czar’ signed ‘truther’ statement in 2004.
CONGRESSMAN DRIEHAUS breaks Tea Party promise.
JIM LINDGREN: “The biggest problem with the media’s understanding of the Tea Party movement is that some on the left assume (1) that the Tea Parties are Astroturfed at least as much as some of the left’s own demonstrations and (2) that the educated right hates Obama at least as much as the educated left hates Bush and Cheney. So far, I haven’t seen much evidence of either.”
READER MAUREEN DUFFY WRITES:
I was in an Indianapolis hospital parking lot and noticed a van covered with all the usual “progressive” bumper stickers. Except for one.
Looks like the Tea Party philosophy is taking hold in the most unexpected places.
Indeed. I find this less surprising than some might.
FAKE DEATH THREATS against Rep. John Salazar. First the Democratic vandalism of Democratic HQ, now this. It’s almost as if someone’s trying to stage events to make the Tea Party crowd look bad. Not trying very successfully, but . . . .
FROM NPR: A very positive and straightforward piece on Tea Party music star Lloyd Marcus.
UPDATE: Meanwhile, reader Matt Holzmann writes:
It was interesting to note the pro Obamacare protest outside of Congressman John Campbell’s office in Newport Beach yesterday. There were 300 pro Obama protesters and perhaps 125 anti Obama counterprotesters. Very civil.
The Obama protesters are personalizing their message, and they stayed away from the pre-printed signs. The Antis were mainly our version of tea partiers. A lot of Paulians and conservative Republicans. What is weird is that OC is very conservative and completely lethargic. There is not much of a “there” here. People are angry, but not yet ready to say so publicly.
I think the message I took away from this was that the Left is now going to catalog their own demonstrations and protests and use this as a meme in their effort. I expect them to come out with all guns blazing next Monday/Tuesday. I believe we are going to see one hell of a propaganda campaign. It’s going to be interesting.
Indeed. Kind of fits with this report.
UPDATE: Related: Busted… HCAN Organizer Hands Out the Astroturfed Signs at Illinois Town Hall (Video).
It’s good that lots of people take video cameras to these things.
AMERICAN ROYALTY: A tale of two newspapers. “Glenn Greenwald is right. This nation might as well embrace royalty and be done with it. The only part I don’t get, is how he can get snarky about the fact that Jenna Bush just got a part-time TV gig, without once mentioning the colossal royal funeral we just witnessed or the subsequent succession struggle now starting to play out in the party of the little guy. Kennedy succession tea-leaf reading follows.”
THINGS YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED THIS WEEKEND: Congresswoman Carol Shea-Porter has constituent arrested for disrespect.
Thoughts on the Singularity.
Next California Governor: Tom Campbell?
Poll: 57% would replace entire Congress.
Feds looking forward to de-suburbanizing America?
Dems moving to cover for Charlie Rangel. But their patience is running out.
1,000 show up for Tucson Tea Party town hall meeting.
Heath Shuler says healthcare bill should start over from scratch.
Dog abuse that would chill Michael Vick’s blood. Or William Shatner’s.
Stephen Green visits Bikini Bottom.
NPR: “Tea Party Express” Takes Protests Cross-Country.
UPDATE: A report from the Rush Holt town hall in New Jersey.
THE TUCSON TEA PARTY’S RECESS RALLY: Robert Mayer sends this link to a blog report, and this collection of pictures and videos.
KOLD-TV reported a thousand there. Robert emails:
The townhall went very successfully, with a local news channel reporting 1000 in attendance.
However, one thug showed up at the very beginning and elbowed one of our attendees in the face. . . . The news coverage between the two stations were worlds apart. KOLD 13 gave us great, on topic coverage while KGUN9 focused on the imbecile who disrupted the event. It just goes to show that the mobsters are not the Tea Partiers, but the thugs who are trying to cram through the government takeover of health care.
It does seem that way.
THERE’S NOW A TEA PARTY PATRIOTS CHANNEL. With Austin Bay.
A FALSE-FLAG OPERATION IN DENVER? Lefty vandalizes Democratic Party HQ, Tea Partiers blamed. Some people are suspicious.
All I know is that while these folks are talking about violence on the right, it seems like the actual violence is coming from the left.
UPDATE: Denver vandal has an SEIU connection?
ANOTHER UPDATE: Moe Lane: “I think that it’s time that extremist fringe supporters of health care rationing stop using violence to accomplish their goals. It’s not going to derail the democratic process, and it’s bad for the country in general.”
Plus, more from Westword.
OKAY, SOME REAL TERROR IN THE HEARTLAND: New bizarre twists in Clayton bombing. “A federal search warrant obtained by the Post-Dispatch connects a former Democratic campaign strategist to a Clayton bombing last year that seriously injured an attorney. About two months after the October bombing, federal law enforcement officials searched the downtown loft of Milton H. ‘Skip’ Ohlsen III, seeking ‘evidence related to the planning, execution, and/or cover-up of the bombing in Clayton, Missouri, on October 16, 2008.’ Ohlsen in recent weeks has been at the center of a swirling political scandal that is threatening the political careers of at least two Missouri Democratic legislators. . . . Ohlsen was arrested on federal fraud and firearms charges on Dec. 18, 2008, in an unrelated case, according to federal court records.” (Via Gateway Pundit).
But remember, it’s the Tea Party folks who are the “terrorists.” The people who actually make bombs are just “activists.”
