|
See Glenn Beck's show on May 1 with many
participants about the Tax Day Tea Parties.
See "Tea Party Tactics" for our
local action suggestions.
We have also offered suggestions for "Restoring
A Limited Federal Government" as Republican politicians launch
their own "National Council for a New
America" and "Resurgent Republic"
initiatives. |
|
Hundreds of people showed up for the Chicago Tea Party
taxpayer revolt on February 27.
See our photos from the
February 27 protests and various news videos, news reports, and other links.
We have also shared photos from the larger
April 15 Chicago Tax Day Tea Party.
There were 800+ Tax Day Tea
Party protests on April 15, and July 4 Tea
Parties are being planned. See
crowd estimates and
news coverage from April.
There are photos on many of the Facebook pages and
websites related to the 40 or so events across the country (list of
links below). For example - on
Michelle Malkin's blog , where there was also a
link to coverage in the Christian Science Monitor - one of the few
to cover the story |
|
April 20, 2009 - Were Rick Santelli and others at
CNBC ordered to stop bashing Obama?
Blog post commenting on an April 16
New York Post commentary about a CNBC meeting with GE / NBC leaders.
This seems credible in the wake of how the online
response to Santelli's rant was spiked in February, and how quickly
Jim Cramer reversed his commentary. Coincidence? Given GE's
recovery ties to Obama?
Or their large financial interests in health care and "green energy"
spending? |
|
March 31, 2009 - Rick Santelli vs. Arianna Huffington
-
blog entry and CNBC video. Why is CNBC pandering to the
liberals? Rick Santelli and Jim Cramer need to change business
networks. |
|
February 27, 2009 - Christian Science Monitor - Budget debate launches
new tea party |
|
Chicago Tea Party at Daley Plaza, 11am, Friday February 27.
Contact us to follow-up.
Bio. Register at the
Official Chicago Tea Party website for more details about their event
on Friday.
FreedomWorks has a list of the many simultaneous events
which are being planned nationwide.
Refer to this Facebook page for the
Nationwide Chicago Tea Party with links for each city. You
can also find local event information at one of the sponsor sites,
Smart Girl Politics There's also an update on
Michelle Malkin's website, including Senator Jim DeMint's remarks on
WND, and
PJTV
event links.
See
www.NewAmericanTeaParty.com
. There's also a list of FaceBook links to the various events in
cities nationwide at
TCOT Report (Top Conservatives on Twitter). Thanks for other
suggestions below.
The
Conservative Underground is also sharing a list of event
times and locations.
Various other websites and groups have quickly emerged, such as www.chicagoteaparty.com . Users are cautioned as
always that the bona fides of such sites and groups may not be easily
verified. There's already a lot of liberal hate mail and hate
groups out there. They don't like being challenged. Be
careful! |
|
Our 3 day Google advertising campaign reached over
500,000 search users relevant to this event. |
|
February 28. 2009 - Obama's budget: huge ambitions, huge obstacles -
Comment: Hopefully this budget plan will face insurmountable
obstacles if Republicans get organized and hang together. Even the
U.S. Chamber of Commerce now seems to be having some doubts about his
real ambitions. |
|
February 26, 2009 - Dem spat delays mortgage relief bill in House -
Comment: Not so fast! |
|
February 26, 2009 - Mortgage relief bill set for house vote Thursday
- Comment: Just in time for the Chicago Tea Party events on Friday!
more news below and refer to other
News Highlights |
|
February 25, 2009 - WorldNetDaily - "Join more than 40 nationwide tea
parties" - includes list of events |
|
February 25, 2009 - CME Group issues disclaimer after Rick Santelli's
CNBC rant - Comment: These leaders or their lawyers may be
afraid of political retribution, so they're covering themselves by
distancing themselves from what any journalists or individuals may say,
while asserting that they as an organization are supportive of
government efforts to improve the economy, without being specific.
See the original
CME Group press release. Note that this followed the
ridicule from the White House. |
|
Links to "Tea Party" events identified
so far - in addition to Chicago, listed above |
| See
the
FreedomWorks list |
Chicago Tea Party
Facebook |
multiple event dates in Chicago |
|
Washington DC - moved from the Washington Monument - now at
Lafayette Park opposite the White House 12 - 2pm Friday 2/27 - rain or
shine. |
New
York City Saturday, 2/28
2:00pm
Location: City Hall Park |
Most events
were on Friday, Feb 27 at 12:00 ET See links and the
national list on Facebook. |
|
Tampa, FL |
Atlanta, GA |
Sarasota, FL |
|
Orlando, FL |
Fort
Myers, FL |
Asheville, NC |
|
Fayetteville, NC |
Columbia, SC |
Greenville, SC |
|
Charlottesville, VA (pending) |
Shelby County, AL |
Nashville, TN |
|
Boston, MA |
Philadelphia, PA (Feb 28) |
Pittsburgh, PA |
|
Cleveland, OH |
Lansing,
MI |
Wichita, KS |
|
St. Louis, MO |
Kansas City, MO (Feb 28) |
Springfield, MO |
|
Fort Worth, TX
Dallas Ft Worth |
Houston, TX |
Tulsa, OK |
|
San
Antonio, TX at the Alamo |
Austin
TX - at State Capitol |
Oklahoma City, OK |
|
Denver, CO |
Omaha, NE |
Davenport IA |
|
Portland, OR |
Seattle, WA |
Phoenix, AZ |
|
Los Angeles, CA |
San Diego, CA |
Sacramento, CA
(again April 15) |
|
Hartford, CT |
LaFayette, LA
(March 7) |
Vancouver, WA (April 18) |
|
Trenton, NJ |
Cincinnati,
OH |
Gainesville, FL |
|
Please let us know if you are aware of other event links.
After the events, please also inform us of any significant local or
national media coverage, and where videos or event photos have been
published. |
|
Our thoughts on the Tea Party idea -
with more details below |
|
Wouldn't it be fun? Comments and
video below.
Invite top Republican governors and mayors to
Chicago. Shift the focus away from Washington, where
Republicans obviously have little influence these days. Remind
Illinois and other "blue state" voters that there really are viable
alternative approaches. Highlight what is being done locally to
actually develop economic progress again. |
|
Thank
you, Rick Santelli of CNBC, for voicing the growing frustration of the
"silent majority" of many successful Americans. There are deep
philosophical differences between the fundamental values on which this
country was established and where the Obama administration and new
Congress are rapidly taking the country. These are not abstract
academic debates about Keynesian economics versus the concept of limited
government. This is a nation of free individuals who learn to make
responsible choices and take risks carefully in their lives as they achieve
success over a lifetime. Such success should not be punished. Federal intervention in markets affects
all of our lives, and will do so for generations to come. It
rewards failure, not success. It rewards political connections,
not responsible choices. It punishes success through politically
motivated government transfers of wealth. Instead of encouraging
and recognizing private charity toward others, it rewards growing reliance on
government. |
|
February 25, 2009 - Biden warns states to use stimulus as intended -
Comment: So now we have the VP overtly threatening state governors
and legislatures, including use of news media to attack them. |
|
February 24, 2009 - Chicago Tribune - 'A
Chicago Tea Party'. They remain skeptical about the idea. |
|
February 24, 2009 - Full text of
President Obama's address to the joint session of Congress.
Read it and weep. Will Gibbs and others choose again to ridicule
whoever dares to express any disagreement? |
|
February 24, 2009 - Interesting Megyn Kelly video on Fox News about
the
"New American Tea Party" events on Friday. Don't
miss the Arlo Guthrie clip at the start of the video. How times
change! |
|
February 23, 2009 -
Real Clear Politics link to Rick Santelli radio interview with
Gordon Liddy talking about the veiled threat from Gibbs and the need to
go back to the original principles of this country. |
|
February 22, 2009 - NBC's Meet the Press had a short segment about
Rick Santelli's rant and the very offensive White House response, but it
is stunning how they brushed that response aside. Can you imagine
the response if Bush's spokesman had openly ridiculed an NBC reporter?
At least they played the January 22, 2006 video clip again of Obama
promising not to run for President in 2008. That was at the end of
the segment
pressing Bobby Jindal to indicate whether he had any such ambitions
- since he will be giving the Republican response to the Obama speech to
Congress on Tuesday.
|
|
February 22, 2009 - Seeking Alpha -
Santelli's Chicago Tea Party: The Quest for our Nation's Soul |
|
February 22, 2009 -
TheNextRight
blog had some thoughtful posts about the Chicago Tea Party rant |
|
February 21, 2009 - Michelle Malkin - Tea Party U.S.A.: The Movement
Grows - blog post This called attention
to Top Conservatives
on Twitter hosting an event on Friday, February 27. |
|
February 20, 2009 - Chicago Tribune -
AP - White House takes issue with cable TV reporter's 'rant', defends
housing bailout - Comment: Read this "Obama fights back"
story carefully. Then go to
C-Span for the full video of the White House press briefing, which
is even worse than the story. Watch the February 20 video
of The Kudlow Report for
a further interview with Rick Santelli, including his response to the
insulting White House attack on him today. Kudos to Kudlow for
standing up for him! CNBC started advertising the Chicago Tea
Party idea and soliciting
comments
through their website.
Gibbs made a flippant suggestion that Rick Santelli
should drink decaf. He asserted that Rick didn't know what he was
talking about, and dismissed him as a trader, as if that were an epithet.
Very unprofessional conduct for a White House spokesman. See his
appalling
White House statement which has links for more information about
their
Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan. |
|
February 19, 2009 - CNBC video - Rick Santelli's Chicago Tea Party -
Comment: Interesting rant about the mortgage bailout plan, as
traders react to the idea of hosting a "Chicago Tea Party" protest in
July.
Rick Santelli seems to recognize that this is just another transfer
of wealth from responsible people.
See the
reaction on the
CNBC Stock
Blog about the "Chicago Tea Party" idea, which was in response to
comments by Wilbur Ross, Jr. about consumer leveraging as a "giant
Ponzi scheme".
As of 2pm Chicago time, fairly soon after an online
poll was added to the blog, there were already 6827 responses, with 87%
voting yes to join the tea party. By 10pm, it was over 61,000, and
91% said yes. By midnight, it was over 90,000 votes, and 92%
said yes. By 10am Friday, it was approaching 190,000
votes, and 93% yes.
CNBC soon pulled that poll and the results off their
website, and Rick Santelli chose not to get involved in the actual Tea
Party movement which volunteers quickly launched that week - rather than
on July 4 as he had suggested. The general view among the
organizers was that we couldn't afford to wait that long, given the
rapid pace of the very costly changes which the new Congress was
seeking.
|
|
Interesting
suggestions received so far (just a few of many!) |
 | Organize something again on tax day - April 15 |
| Another event may be planned by the Burnham Harbor
/ Museum Campus area on July 4. |
| Do it like a tailgate party at a sporting event, as
on a Saturday, where people already gather. |
| Be animated in media coverage, but not crazy or
abusive. Normal people = more empathy. |
| Have simple talking points ready. Concise,
pithy, not easily distorted out of context. |
| See the useful tips at
www.NewAmericanTeaParty.com
about local media coverage. |
|
| Some local talk radio
shows in Chicago quickly picked up the story. For example, Don
Wade and Roma on
WLS 890 interviewed Rick Santelli during their show on Friday
morning, and featured it on their blog - "Do
you want to join Rick Santelli's Chicago Tea Party revolt?"
The Roe Conn Show also did an
interview with Rick Santelli when not busy humiliating Roland Burris
for sounding like Winnie the Pooh. "Oh, bother! I'm still in
trouble." Will they stop? "No!" Priceless.
Chicago's 560 AM
WIND also had shows which picked up the story. |
|
Thanks to the Chicago Sun-Times for also reminding voters that
the Democratic National Committee still owes the City of Chicago $1.74
million for the Obama victory rally in Chicago last November, as
Mike Bates commented in his February 20
blog at TownHall.com |
|
Additional information |
|
Try our
Conservative Search tool - and look up Santelli. There are
already posts on TownHall.com,
PajamasMedia,
Sean Hannity, and many
others which can be found easily this way.
Even Rush Limbaugh played audio clips
on his Thursday program and linked to the morning
rant. He also commented further during his Friday program. Other
talk radio shows also picked up the story.
Rush Limbaugh from February 19 - "The
Pulse of Revolution Has Begun"
The Heritage Foundation also picked up on the story on Friday.
CNBC video: Reality Check: Housing plan impact on lenders - also
Diana Olick - Realty Check column Larry
Kudlow of CNBC featured the story on his Thursday evening show, and in
the context of his Money &
Politics blog posting of February 20 -
The Obama Plan: Subsidizing
Bad Behavior?. |
| We
will continue to watch with interest how his suggestion of a "Chicago
Tea Party" this July proceeds, and will share updates as they come to
our attention. For now, here's the opening shot
of the revolution that was heard 'round the country today.
Hopefully it will be heard around the world, and motivate people to
defend the freedom to choose once more. Note
that July 31 would have been the 97th birthday of economist
Milton
Friedman , whose work at the University of Chicago became famous and
influenced economic changes in many countries, including the United
States under Ronald Reagan and the UK under Margaret Thatcher. His
best-selling book "Free to Choose" was published in 1980 during the
height of Carter's economic malaise. Contrary to all of the loose
political talk about the current economic crisis being the worst since
the Great Depression, that was objectively a much worse recession than
the present one by many measures. |
|
Comment: Wouldn't it be fun to combine
this with the July 4 celebrations in Chicago? |
| How
about the equivalent of a "million man march" on Chicago, at Grant Park?
Give lots of active and potential Republicans across the country a good
reason to come join the party in Chicago this summer.
It might be tough to work it around "Taste of Chicago"
and other summer events downtown, but this is the "city that works".
There should be some way to work it out, even if City Hall isn't
thrilled with the idea. After all, a major event would bring money
to the hotels, restaurants, and so forth, right? It might just
have to work around the usual busy schedule of major conventions in the
city.
If not, take it to the more Republican suburbs.
There's the new
Schaumburg Convention Center, the new
Sears Centre Arena in Hoffman Estates, or other potential venues in
the surrounding area. Contrary to the image of Illinois as a "blue
state", there are still heavily Republican areas outside of Chicago.
Sure, there may not be that many Republicans left in
Chicago, but if millions of Democrats can descend on Washington to push
their social agenda, why can't millions of Republicans come here to
Chicago?
Much of downtown Chicago was burned to the ground in
the Great
Chicago Fire of 1871 and yet was quickly rebuilt to greater glory by
business investment, as evidenced by the work of many great architects
and soon promoted through the
World Columbian Exposition of 1893. As it rebuilt, it also
became one of the pioneers in urban mass transit systems and
environmentally responsible approaches to development, as reflected by
the "Prairie
School" architects and leaders such as
Jens Jensen who helped to create some of the forest preserves and
parks which Chicagoans take for granted today.
Was Chicago rebuilt from the "Great Chicago Fire"
disaster by a federal bailout plan, as was expected by Democrats for the
innocent victims of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans and much of the
Gulf Coast? No. It was developed by local leaders who found
many innovative ways to make Chicago a great city.
|
|
Why not invite
Republican governors and mayors to Chicago? Shift to a local
focus. |
| Why not invite
Republican governors from the South, such as Bobby Jindal, Haley
Barbour, Bob Riley, Rick Perry, Mark Sanford, Sonny Perdue and other national
Republican leaders in the US Senate
and the US House of Representatives
to come to Chicago to talk about economic development from a
conservative perspective? Closer to home, invite
Mitch Daniels to talk about what he has been doing to improve the
business investment climate in Indiana, and let Tim Pawlenty to
talk about such initiatives in Minnesota. It should be
self-evident that Sarah Palin could also help to draw an
enthusiastic crowd here.
Help Illinois voters, and those in other "blue"
states, to better understand how conservative leaders have been
achieving economic and social progress in spite of the challenges which
we all face. Show the difference from "community organizers" who
focus on seeking more money from government programs.
Don't just talk about the
Reagan legacy of the 1980's.
Don't just talk about bad policies in Washington. Show what
Republican leaders are doing in states and cities today to create a
better future.
There will be many important state races for
governor across the country in 2010. This could be a chance to
draw attention to the difference between conservative and liberal
approaches to job creation needs and issues such as the housing and
financial market problems or the health care system.
Make it the media event of the summer - by
which time far more Americans should be starting to wonder whether the
Obama initiatives are really proving to be the changes which they
believed in. |
|
This would be fitting as a follow-up to the Obama
election night rally, or the elaborate inaugural. Given the state
of the economy, it shouldn't be such an extravaganza. It should be
a sober wake-up call to Americans who are starting to feel the
consequences of the last election, and are looking for alternatives.
I doubt that it would get as much political support in
City Hall, or the tearful celebrity shots of Oprah Winfrey, Jesse
Jackson, Jr., etc. It also may not really fit NBC's agenda,
particularly with Jeffrey Immelt of GE now on Obama's "Economic
Recovery Advisory Board", along with Penny Pritzker from Chicago.
There are many Chicagoans who are very excited about
the chance to attract the summer Olympics, but are reluctant to incur
the debts of other host cities. A "Chicago Tea Party" might do
more for Chicago's image. The Blagojevich drama and the Roland
Burris news hasn't been particularly helpful recently. This could
also be a good start toward replacing Pat Quinn and Roland Burris with
Republicans in 2010.
The millions as spent on the elaborate Obama election
night party in Grant Park probably couldn't be so easily raised in a few
months for a Chicago Tea
Party, but if Republicans want to stage a comeback in Illinois or other
states in 2010,
here's a challenge to make it happen now, even with a more modest
Chicago Tea Party.
|
| Since Democrats aren't really listening to Republicans
in Washington DC these days, why not take the message to the heartland?
|
|
Incidentally, remember the original Boston Tea Party? It would
probably be hard to stage another one in Boston these days. The
environmentalists would have lawyers ready to sue all the participants
for the damage they would be doing to all the fish, rather than just to
their competing tea suppliers. I'll bet that the
British never even thought of that response. |
|
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