I suppose history does have a way of repeating itself.
While a few places have jumped the gun, the majority of tea parties inspired by an on-air rant by CNBC’s Rick Santelli will be occurring on April 15th, the dreaded day of reckoning for many American taxpayers. (This includes one in Salisbury on the steps of the Government Office Building from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m.)
One thing that has struck me as hilarious is Media Matters whining about how much coverage these protests already get on Fox News. And this is a problem why? Seems to me we saw a lot of antiwar protests which made much more news than their feeble attendance would suggest they dictated.
It may be foreign to those who slavishly believe Media Matters, but there’s a lot of us who are fed up with government overspending and a lack of not only accountability but just plain humility among those who hold the pursestrings in Washington, D.C. President Obama, at the moment you may “trump us” but don’t count on that being the case after 2010 – I’m not sure you can get out enough government largesse fast enough to buy the votes you need to maintain your hold on Congress.
Still others may dismiss this as a Republican stunt, but as a member of the local GOP let me make clear that we as a party have NO official role in the proceedings. It sure doesn’t mean there’s not individual members who support it and will be in attendance – as I said I plan on being there.
Nationally this movement has attracted a number of heavy hitters. This update comes from a press release I got a few days ago from the Don’tGo Movement, a relatively new grassroots group:
The Tax Day Tea Parties are being held across the country on April 15th to protest the unprecedented wasteful spending by the Obama Administration and certain members in Congress.
(DGM) National Communications Director Juliana Johnson says, “As we get closer and closer to the Tea Party date we continue to grow stronger. We have over 300 cities planning Tea Parties with that number growing every day. If this doesn’t show that Americans are displeased that (sic) I don’t know what will.”
The Tax Day Tea Parties will be occuring in over 300 cities and have an expected turnout of over 150,000 people. The groups sponsoring the Tea Parties are Smart Girl Politics, the DontGo Movement, and Top Conservatives on Twitter. They have the endorsement of Newt Gingrich, Michelle Malkin, Dana Loesch, and numerous other groups.
In truth, the release was to announce that Sean Hannity had promised to cover the Atlanta protest live on his FOX News show that night. Obviously that will make for a spirited affair, and hopefully the Salisbury version will also bring out the local media too. By the way, I don’t believe any of these sponsoring groups is over one year old – all are very recent creations spawned by the monster that is online social networking.
While the long-range forecast is for a cool and showery April 15th, we are talking about Delmarva here. (They’re also predicting a sunny April 16th for the Shorebirds’ home opener – yeah right!) Either way, we can’t let a little rain deter us from making our feelings known.
It also will make for a good photo-op as tea mixes with the rain and flows toward the Wicomico River. Make sure to be there and watch it run.