Early Report from Anti-Obama “Tea Party” Rally–No Tea Thrown (Yet)
Posted on April 15th, 2009 in Organizing, Tax Day Tea Parties |
- Tax Day Tea Party Protest, Boston Common, 4/15/09
I just returned from the anti-Obama Tax Day Tea Party Protest in Boston. I was only able to be there from 11am-1pm because I have to go to work this afternoon. I will write a full report of my experience later and post many more pictures, but for now, just a few thoughts.
I interviewed several friendly protesters at the event, and they were tolerant of having an avowed liberal in their midst. I will report on what they said later. While I will stick to labeling this event an anti-Obama protest (because the “tea party” language is just propaganda), I must say that I support the grassroots enthusiasm that these folks have for their cause, even though I think this cause is misguided. But so long as the protests against Obama remain nonviolent and are focused on organizing, I see no harm.
The size of the crowd was a bit underwhelming considering all the media attention that this protest was getting, especially from Fox News and talk radio. There were probably between 1,000 and 2,000 people out there. While it was a work day–and tax day, no less–it still seemed low for the city known for the original tea party.
While the people I talked with were friendly, there was a lot of stereotyping and denigrating of liberals and supporters of President Obama. That wasn’t exactly a surprise though. It made clear to me that for all the talk of this event being non-partisan (mainly coming from the organizers), it was a completely partisan protest. Some people called themselves “independents”, but they were strongly opposed to the President.
Interestingly, there was no tea thrown into the water, at least not while I was there. The first part of the protest was held at Boston Common, so maybe they will move it to the harbor area later in the day. Also, there were no counter-protests that I saw. Maybe Organizing for America and liberal groups are just trying to ignore this event and hope nobody pays any attention. While that urge is understandable, I think that supporters of Obama would be wise to pay attention to what seems to be a genuine desire to start an anti-Obama movement among conservatives.
Again, I’ll write more about this later, and add more pictures.
3 Responses
Greetings:
The preliminary comments, promising more later, prove that you just don’t get it.
The fifty percent who are paying taxes are getting fed up at providing the free lunches and circuses to those who do not.
As to stereotyping: Facts is facts. Liberals want hope and change. Conservatives (not Republicans) want rational solutions to real problems. They want facts and numbers because they know who has to pay for all of this.
And you are correct about one thing…we were polite. Having been to a few liberal protests, maybe liberals could learn something about politeness and debate, not shouting and threats.
We spoke, you and I, about left wing media bias.
Please note the silence in the media, the tea bag jokes, the ‘CNN reporter’ in Chicago, the Boston Globe printing a story about a Tea Party in Kentucky and not the one in Boston on the COMMON infront of the STATEHOUSE!…
Then ask me your questions about ‘left wing media’ and why the Boston Glob is going out of business.
People see this and it is obvious the government is very concerned about ‘people’ knowing anything. Better they should know about Obama’s new dog.
Hi Tim, I didn’t see the Globe this morning. That’s ridiculous that they didn’t cover the tea party here. I’ll have more to say later.