Tax Day Tea Party - UPDATE!!

The latest count for tea party attendance nationwide is 281,488!

Regarding yesterday’s nationwide Tax Day Tea Party, the best way to start is to quote Michelle Malkin.

“Wow.” Wow indeed. Attendance was over 225,00 and still counting.

But some people want to rain on our parade. According to MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow, these demonstrations are to be mocked.

Rachel Maddow


Why was Maddow so amused by the idea of hundreds of thousands of conservatives exercising their freedom of speech and freedom of assembly that she appeared unable to control her deep throaty laugh? The term “tea bagging” set her off and seemed to be an inside joke between her and her cameramen, who could also be heard laughing. I realized that I was in the dark, so I looked up “tea-bagging” in the Urban Dictionary. Don’t bother – it’s disgusting, and something we don’t really need to know about. I mention it because it illustrates Maddow's woeful lack of professionalism.

Moving on to the Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, Tea Party demonstrations are to be feared. (Read my post on Homeland Security.)

So, what are these foolish and frightening people really like? My observations from the Tax Day Tea Party in Chicago are quite different from those of the main stream media and the Obama Administration, who of course have never actually observed a Tea Party demonstration.

Let me clarify that the demonstrations were not funded by “the usual group of right-wing billionaires”, as Paul Krugman wrote in his column in the New York Times. If that were the case we would have had radio and TV promotion, billboards, matching t-shirts, professionally printed signs, and a lot less fun. I would have liked a t-shirt, though.

We enjoyed the weather, the speakers, the homemade signs, and the camaraderie. We found like-minded people who are grieved over the direction that America is taking toward socialism and bankruptcy. We are businessmen and women, tradesmen, soccer moms, teens and grandparents. We’re afraid for our children and our grandchildren. We’re angry about the chipping away at the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence and the freedoms that they guarantee.

We didn’t resort to attention-getting antics such as those of Peta, Code Pink, or ACT UP. We didn’t symbolically dump tea into the Chicago River, although many of us really wanted to. We were peaceful. And I repeat, we were over 225,000 strong.

Is the Tea Party movement a joke? I think not. Is it made up of violent racists and skinheads? Definitely not. Is it something to be feared? Perhaps.

Pictures of the Chicago Tea Party here:

Chicago Tea Party