GOP establishment stays away from latest Tea Parties
Published: July 4, 2009
Updated 4 months ago
The organizers of the latest round of Tea Party protests must be wondering whether the Fourth of July is the right time for political activism.
On a day usually reserved for barbecues, family outings and fireworks displays, the Tea Parties held at some 600 locations across the country appear to have drawn considerably fewer participants than the much-ballyhooed Tax Freedom Day protests on April 15.
Preliminary news reports from Saturday’s Tea Parties suggest public participation fell far short of the April protests. In Morristown, NJ, attendance was down by a third compared to this spring’s event. In Fort Lauderdale, FL, the Sun-Sentinel reports a crowd of “hundreds,” compared to an estimated 5,000 in April.
And in Syracuse, NY — where protesters waved the American flag upside-down — organizers had expected 1,000 people to show, but only 200 did.
Yet warm weather and patio parties may only be a part of the explanation. Unlike with the April protests, the Republican party’s establishment didn’t throw its weight behind this latest round of rallies.
“The collaboration between the official Republican establishment and the Tea Parties has not lasted into June,” writes the Washington Independent. “The RNC has no plans to get involved with any Tea Parties. A spokesman for [House minority leader] John Boehner (R-OH) … said that [Boehner's] holiday plans were private but would probably not include Tea Parties. [Newt] Gingrich will not attend any of the Tea Parties, although he recorded video messages for events in Birmingham and Nashville “at the request of the respective organizers’.”
Part of the reason for the more subdued atmosphere this time around may have had to do with the negative coverage the Tea Parties received in the media — Fox News excepted.
“There was a novelty last time that isn’t there now,” media analyst Seton Motley told the Independent. “Also, if you’re talking about the networks that made light of the Tea Parties back in April, they might have realized that opposite of love isn’t hate. It’s indifference.”
But it may be Fox News’ muted coverage this time around that explains much of the disparity between April’s protests and Saturday’s. The Independent notes that, in April, Fox sent five of its highest-profile anchors and correspondents on the road to cover the protests, but this time around, “sources at Fox … confirmed that no anchors would be attending and that the attendance and news value of the events looked to be lower than that of the April rallies.”
Tea Party organizers are already planning the next protest: A large “unity” rally in Washington, DC, on September 12, the day after the eighth anniversary of 9/11.
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Should have used “white” flags instead of Red,White and Blue. After the news of their whore palin, probably stayed home and mustered their weinies.
These tea parties are, quite frankly, useless. Look, the Boston Tea Party was a very bold political act that forced the government to respond with very harsh measures. These measures led the colonists to empower the First Continental Congress. The people that threw that tea into the Boston Harbor would be considered “terrorists” today and were, truthfully, considered “terrorists” back then.
How many of us believe strongly enough in our cause to commit an act of terrorism? Not me, I’ve seen what the state does to terrorists. No, nobody really wants to go down that road especially in a very “just in time” kind of world we live in. Mess things up a little bit and the stupid fascist republicans would begin to starve in their suburbs.
You can throw tea bags all you want and wave signs around all you want and it isn’t going to change a thing. Change will only come with bold measures but those measures just are not possible in a modern, interconnected country.
Bold measures don’t have to involve violence/destruction, and shouldn’t. Fascist regimes require cooperation from the laboring masses and cannot survive without it. Non-cooperation with the regime done in sufficiently large numbers and in a sustained and organized way would bring them to their knees. Gandhi and MLK both demonstrated the effectiveness non-violent non-compliance — we must revisit these lessons and then put them into practice.
Kurt, I would have to respectfully disagree with you.
The state understands one language and that language is a violent one. See, when the state wants you to do something like, say, pay taxes, they back up that request with the threat of violence. They fill the streets with armed thugs (some might call them policemen) and they build an entire infrastructure of courthouses, jails and prisons to make sure that you do exactly whatever they want you to do.
It is a violent response. Don’t pay taxes and what will happen? You’ll go to prison where you will be abused and raped. What could be more violent than that. Go to jail for even 90 days for something minor and what will be waiting for you when you get out? Not your job. Probably not your car and home and, finally, not your reputation. Good luck finding new work with your felony record if some cop ever fabricates a report about you attacking them.
No, what really changed things in this country was the Black Panthers and the rioting following Dr. Kings death. It was the violent response, the terrorist response that the state understood and acted upon. Next, as far as Ghandi is concerned, he was not a minority trying to work with a local government but was attempting to break ties with a government that ruled from 1000’s of miles away. India was also a very low tech country. Non compliance didn’t cause anyone to starve. If those working transportation in this country (truckers, rail workers) went on a three month strike, this nation would see millions of its citizens dead. Different worlds indeed!
Finally, this isn’t the 1930’s and we no longer have laboring masses. We are a nation of consumers and bureaucrats. Consequently, 95% of us would not know what to do if the grocery stores were empty tomorrow. That and the never ending threat of violence will keep the masses in line forever.
Personally, I prefer coffee.
LOL those stupid ball lickers got played by the gop. The gop used them long enough to see if these half-wits could actually generate a grassroots effort, but since their “grassroots” effort was corporate sponsored, the gop chose not to participate with the lunatic fringe any longer.
in effect the ball lickers have been thrown under the bus by the gop. LOLOLOL
so many tools in the tool shed.
people hitching their wagon to these ball lickers ron paul tools are nothing more then disgruntled right wing morons that vote and protest against their own best interests.
perhaps if these morons ever learned how to read, they would see they are nothing but puppets.
Protests don’t work anyway.
Remember the left’s protest in front of the Republican convention in 2004?
It was gigantic! It went on for hours.
There must have been over a million people marching by!
You couldn’t ask for a more impressive protest.
What did it change?
Not a goddamned thing!
July 2009 TX tea baggers….
What do ALL of the following items have in common?:
*Pistol Bag carrying case
*Glenn Beck’s - An Inconvenient Book : Glenn Beck, Kevin Balfe (Hardcover, 2007)
*Rifle laser light
*Civil War Bullets
*Rifle Kit
*NWT Qi Man White Full Coverage Training Bra Size
*Outdoor Survival Board Game
*Zimbabwe 100 Trillion Banknotes
*Silver Coins
*Cold Coins
*Jungle Boots
*Militar Field Wire Cable Phone Install Use Equipment
*Schnauzer Argyle Socks
*Tif 8800 Combustible Gas Detector
*NEW Transforming Werewolf Lumberjack Plush Toy Vault
*Rifle Site
*3” Cohesive Tape Bandage Vet Wrap Wound Care 24 Rolls
*Rifle Magazine Clips
*Oval Shooting Targets
*Fibercon - 140 Caplets, Fiber Therapy for “regularity” needs.
All are actual Fox Tea Bagger supporters’ purchases. Actual Ebay items purchased by the 33 Ebay users who also purchased the official T-Shirt for the July 4, 2009 San Antonio, Texas Tea Party protest.
TX-Sen. (R)- John Cornyn was in Austin and got booed so your headline is inaccurate.
I boo John Cornyn every time I see his molded white hair. He’s a pompous ass who cares for nothing except his own self-aggrandizement. The letter following his name is irrelevant . . . he’s a jerk.
As for these ridiculous tea parties, it amazes me that the attendees don’t get the fact that they are being used as an advertising stunt by Fox. They think that what they are doing MEANS something . . . it doesn’t. I loved that Fox was interviewing an organizer of the D-FW event and she was talking about 37,000 cars being counted. First, the event was held at Southfork Ranch and second, they had a huge fireworks display . . . . on the 4th of July. I would venture to bet that all but about 1,000 people were there, simply because they wanted to see Southfork and the fireworks.
Get these people’s names and addresses and promise them that we’ll restore their tax rates to what they were under clueless George, as long as they don’t make more than $250,000/ yr. And when their taxes go UP, then maybe they won’t have the extra money to dress up like Uncle Sam next time. And that would work out well, as they’re too stupid to be allowed outside unsupervised.
All the family values guys were teabagging at home.
Why do I get an image of people standing around with small paper tags hanging out of their mouths? Why? Why? Some of them even have two tags hanging out of their mouths! There’s got to be an answer to this important question. Oh, yeah. They’re just stupid…stupider than they were in ‘00 and ‘04. Next year they’ll gather in giant teacups at Disneyland to PROVE their fealty to Very Uncurious George and his xenophoic miasmacists. Sometimes life just leaves the sowbugs behind, but one can always assume there will always be a few sowbugs hanging around the back yard.
Ya mean Faux “News” wasn’t there?
I’m happy the GOP establishment and Faux News is sitting out. The real people who started these were grassroot supporters of Ron Paul’s Presidential run and now the Campaign for Liberty. The GOP and Faux co-oped our idea.
Live Rothchild’s Mk Ultra Victim under Protective Custody..
I remember in 2001,I think May, before I went into a coma shock,,
I remember seeing the TWIN of the attorney general of Florida,,
He was at Wal-mart and told me the other brand of cat food was on sale and a better buy,,then he ran way..
They say we all have a TWIN..
Then I remember this song popping into my thoughts,probably before the law tapped them on the shoulder,”77 sunset strip” ,,any thing happen on 77 ?
I have another wish,,,a would like a crop circle,
The evil force is still working the outer perimater(?) trying to Britney me..
I recognize it now, and all it does is pzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz me off!
Next time you see a teabaggers saying I am against socialism, say I guess we can count on you to forgo social security when you get of age then right ,since you abhor socialism..And if you have a fire or need protection from the police, you will say no I abhor socialism and I refuse to be part of it. As for postal system deliver your own package as that is socialism. As long as we the people pay all the bills we are going to get some benefits.