Sarah Palin was confirmed by Tea Party Nation
as the featured speaker at this event.
How many jobs can Pelosi and
Reid save in 2010 - in the House and Senate? Not even their own?
The Tea Party movement will create more new jobs for principled
candidates. Primaries, here we come.
Patriots Heart Network
has covered many of the Tea Party events since the beginning. See
their
9/12 March on DC photo coverage. Support
them. Build up online media channels which will listen to
you.
As we did for the April 15 Tax Day Tea Parties, we try to
share reliable Tea Party crowd estimates and Tea Party news
(links to news reports, blog coverage, videos, photos).
We welcome reports with such links so that we may openly share
them, but please don't email the original photos or videos to us.
Given the hundreds of events and hundreds of thousands of participants,
that quickly becomes overwhelming. Thanks for your patience!
November 18, 2009 -
Violence at Tea Party rally: bare-knuckle politics in the streets -
Comment: Note the pattern in who is attacking whom. The
violent thugs are on the left, not the right. They keep trying to
provoke confrontations with peaceful protesters - and aren't getting
prosecuted yet for assault and battery, as in the
St. Louis incident, where political bias seems to be stalling the
case.
November 5, 2009 - "House Call" at the U.S. Capitol - see the
Michele Bachmann page for details
October 25, 2009 -
Tea Party
Express II: Countdown to Judgment Day - The Tea Party Express
rides again! After the well-publicized series of Tea Party rallies
prior to the March on Washington on September 12, the organizers are now
planning another tour in preparation for the 2010 election cycle.
October 29, 2009 - Tea Party Express rides again - with Deborah Johns on
Fox News on tour from San Diego to Orlando - 38 cities in 19 days,
ending November 12
October 16-17, 2009 -
Operation: Can You Hear Us Now? List of nationwide
protests planned outside of the local offices of "main stream media"
affiliates. (i.e., left fringe media)
Facebook page. Refer also to information at
The 9.12 Project website about these and other rallies.
FreedomWorks has also maintained the social
networking portal which was set up for the 9/12 March on
Washington DC.
There was some
advance coverage on Fox News online, with many comments. These
were generally much smaller events than on April 15 or September 12,
with different organizers behind them. Like the initial Tea Party
protests in February, these were organized locally by volunteers within just a few
weeks.
September 9, 2009 - Big Hollywood blog by Mike Baron -
Forming the 'Leave Me Alone' Party - Comment: One
reader suggested a party name of STOMP - the "Stop Treading On Me
Party". Nice graphic to go with the story about the
political continuum from Progressive to Free.
September 8 - see why many parents are concerned about the Obama speech to children in school.
It's about more than just the direct, uninvited intrusion into every
school in America with questionable curriculum guidance for teachers.
Look at the "Get Schooled" initiative, which builds up a social
networking channel on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube to communicate
directly with kids and parents about the Obama education agenda,
including the lobbying of governors up for election in 2010.
September 1, 2009 - Professional activist teaching pro-Obama
attendees at a health care town hall rally by a leading Obama supporter
in Illinois, Jan Schakowsky, in how to shout down anybody who has the
audacity to question the health care agenda.
September 1, 2009 - Dana Loesch talks about the Whole Foods "BUYcott"
response by Tea Party enthusiasts in St. Louis to oppose the progressive
radical efforts to boycott the chain because the CEO dared to suggest
alternatives for health care reform in a Wall Street Journal article.
August 21, 2009 - What really happened when Obama visited Bozeman,
Montana to push his health care agenda at a staged town hall
meeting? Read a local eyewitness
account - provided by a local resident whose identity has been
protected since the White House is looking for conservatives to
demonize, rather than looking for real feedback from Americans who
aren't embracing his "astroturf" world.
August 8, 2009 -
Chamber at odds with Obama - Comment: Unfortunately, it
took a while for business leaders to wake up to the serious threat posed
by Obama's policies, as opposed to trying to gain some advantage by
currying favor during his campaign or soon after his election.
August 8, 2009 -
Demonstrators disrupt health care forums - Comment: The AP
is buying the DNC party line that the justifiably angry protesters or
phone calls by frustrated voters to hold their members of Congress
accountable are a dangerous threat, while largely ignoring the union
thugs and activists who were encouraged to intimidate protesters in St.
Louis, Tampa, and elsewhere.
July 4, 2009 - Chicago Tea Party - see the
Founding Bloggers post about the confusion surrounding various Tea
Party plans in Chicago. Meet at Gateway Park at Navy Pier on July
4th, noon to 4pm.
Prior Tea Party news content - April
15 Tax Day Tea Parties - see
list of links below
Scroll down to links to national and local news coverage of the
800+
Tax Day Tea Party protests nationwide in April 2009, and related
links to videos, photos, and blog coverage of the events.
Please send us relevant links to share, and help us to
spread the word about SurgeUSA too. With
more than 750 protests planned, and published reports scattered across
thousands of sources on the Internet, we appreciate your assistance and
patience as we try to document the national impact of these unique
protests, which are organized almost entirely by local volunteers taking
the initiative as a grassroots movement. Refer also to
other sources listed at right.
We identified 829 protests on April 15,
although there may have been a few more. This just includes the
April 15 protests - and there have been dozens of other large
protests before and since in many cities, plus many more were planned
for July 4.
We
also encourage active support of Memorial
Day celebrations (not protests) to honor those individuals who
have bravely defended our Constitution and the principles and values by
which this country has become uniquely successful in this competitive
and dangerous world. That should fit the basic "Silent No More"
theme of standing up for what we firmly believe, rather than attacking
those who are now trying to change our country beyond the limits of our
Constitution.
On
the other hand, it is time to encourage the early "selection out"
of many politicians for actions which are harmful to our country from a
conservative perspective. In that context, we are now accepting
nominations for the bipartisan 2009 Specious
American Politician Awards.
Our Surge by State
feature also lists planned and prior protests as well as other resources
by state.
Please
e-mail your most reliable crowd size estimates for whatever
event you attend. Links to published photos or videos which
substantiate the crowd estimates are welcome - but please do not email
the actual photos or videos to us. Just help us to find and share
such image links.
Don't forget to
prepare for July 4, when more Tea Party
protests are planned nationally on a "Learn the Constitution" theme
related to the concepts of limited government and individual
responsibility.
One
of the many groups which got involved in the Tea Party movement in
various cities has just launched a new "After
the Tea Party" website with their ideas about the way forward (and
seeking donations to push their own plans). This is tied to
American
Majority, a new organization formed in 2008 as an idea related to
the Sam Adams
Alliance, based in Chicago They intend to focus on training
conservative political activists and assisting candidates for state and
local offices. It's an interesting concept. We shall see.
Keep in mind, however, that no
single national organization is behind all of the tea parties, which
remain locally organized by volunteers with diverse backgrounds and
personal organizational or party affiliations. The future
direction of the Tea Party movement is not driven by any specific
national organization or individual. It has grown out of the
voluntary collaboration and efforts of many individuals.
Thus, conservatives nationwide will continue to make
their own choices about the way forward. After all, the founders
of this country trusted all of us to be capable of looking out for our
own interests - to have a republic, if we could keep it. That
decentralized power may
seem chaotic by comparison to a model in which everyone rallies behind
the vision of one charismatic leader or gives power to one political party
to do as they please, but it has served us well for 230+ years.
The way forward is up to each of us.
here are also multiple websites related to Washington
DC protests planned on 9/11/09 and 9/12/09, such as the 9/12/09 National Taxpayer
Protest in Washington. The bottom line is that, as a
grassroots movement, there will sometimes be conflicting agendas and
plans.
We are not following the master political
strategy of any national leader. We're standing up individually
for what we believe, rather than to do the bidding of national
politicians. We're looking for new leaders at the local and state
level who will will respect us and replace the tyrants in Washington DC
who scorn us. In that context, nominations are now open for the Specious American Politician Award.
The
Americans for Prosperity blog described their participation in
various Tax Day Tea Party protests, and their plans for one in
Washington DC on October 2. They have launched a new "Defending
the American Dream Summit" website with details, including many
Republican speakers and
sponsors. This follows a similar summit event in 2008 which
attracted 1800 people. There are also state events planned at the
end of May 2009 in
Oregon
and in New
Jersey.
April
20, 2009 Dennis Miller had a good observation about the Tea Parties on
his radio show. Why can't Obama, Axelrod, Emmanuel and others be
as conciliatory toward the hundreds of
thousands of patriotic Americans who stood up for what they believe
at the Tea Parties as Obama has been toward Castro, Chavez, Ahmedinejad,
etc.? Instead, they scorn those Americans who they perceive to be
a potential threat to their own political power, while reaching out the
hand of friendship to some of the worst tyrants.
April 19, 2009
- David Gregory of Meet the Press tried to bait Dick Armey of
FreedomWorks into taking responsibility for the Tea Party movement, and
he was promptly set straight about it. See our comments about
related news of the day in which
David Axelrod, Rahm Emmanuel, and others showed the same arrogant
ignorance or condescending scorn about what is happening as Nancy Pelosi
did on April 15.
April 19, 2009 - Christian Science Monitor -
Axelrod comment that tea parties are 'unhealthy' stokes militia fears
- Comment: A somewhat misleading headline for an interesting story.
The fear is all on the side of Axelrod, not the Tea Party participants.
There's no evidence of such militias or fear at all. These were
remarkably well-behaved groups of average Americans, not angry or
violent extremist radicals. Did any of the academics who opined as
experts on these rallies actually attend one? Drawing such
conclusions without looking at the facts objectively is not a healthy
academic practice - but typical.
April 18, 2009 - Christian Science Monitor - "Arguing
the size of the 'tea party' protest" - Comment:
comparisons in scale to other large mass protests - including ones which
received a lot of media attention and support by well-funded activist
groups, rather than just grassroots volunteers
April
16, 2009 - Sean Hannity had this follow-up segment, including the biased
CNN coverage in Chicago.
How
about that huge
counter-protest at the Madison, WI Tax Day Tea Party?
(3 people!) There had been serious concern in advance about such
activists at this liberal "Berkeley of the Midwest".
This seems to have been typical of the few other cities
where a few counter-protesters showed up, most of whom were so
hopelessly outnumbered that they soon drifted away or kept a low
profile. As Glenn Beck put it a few weeks ago, "we surround them".
We can respectfully and peacefully stand up for ourselves, despite any
provocations. Like that biased
CNN "reporter" in Chicago.
They may take this movement more seriously as a threat
to their agenda next time around - but let's see how they deal with
patriotic, flag-waving crowds of Constitution supporters on Memorial Day and July
4 for an Independence Day Tea Party celebration of what
made America great.
The
San Antonio, TX Tax Day Tea Party had an estimated 16,000 people
or more at The Alamo, where
Glenn Beck did his show for Fox News.
Other reports about Tax Day Tea Party
protests - local news coverage, blogs
American Solutions has posted several Tea Party interviews,
including this one with the video of Katrina Pierson speaking at the
Dallas Tax Day Tea Party.
There
was a Philadelphia Tax Day Tea Party with an estimate 500 - 600
people in the rain, as well as two other events on April 18 in
Philadelphia (est. 1000-1200 at Independence Hall) and in Bucks County
The
Detroit Free Press reports on 3 tea parties - Livonia,
Plymouth and Troy
Spokane, WA Tax Day Tea Party - KXLY reports thouands attended -
estimated at 2300
Daily Uprising reported on the Antelope Valley and Studio City,
CA Tax Day Tea Parties
Third Wave Dave posted photos from the Sacramento, CA Tax Day Tea
Party
Orange Juice Blog reported on the Santa Ana, CA and Mission
Viejo, CA Tax Day Tea Parties
Michael Laprarie at Wizbang posted some interesting
comparison photos between the February 27 and April 15 crowds for
the Oklahoma City, OK Tax Day Tea Party. He also posted
some interesting observations and links about how the liberal news media
has been
handling the crowd estimates, including comparison to the
fuzzy math out of Organizing for America.
Media coverage prior to the Tax Day
Tea Party protests
April 15 - Rick Santelli of
CNBC is "pretty proud" of the grassroots Tea Party movement
At the Chicago Tax Day Tea
Party we didn't really expect objective CNN coverage, and we
certainly didn't get it. Note that the reporter in the clip below,
after badgering the attendee and talking over his attempt to answer her
question, went on to allege that this was all some sort of right wing
conspiracy cooked up by Fox News - even though in Chicago, Fox News had
no involvement in the protest preparations. It just tried to cover
the story - as did the local CBS and WGN News, and CLTV. If NBC
was there at all, it wasn't obvious.
Instead of reporting
objectively about the event like a professional journalist, this
reporter was just trying to create her own story by selectively baiting
people until the very respectful crowd got fed up with it. Note
that although Fox News got involved in several of the Tea Parties in
other cities, that was after they had already been organized and were
becoming a pretty significant story. Their coverage was useful,
but all other networks were equally free to pay attention.
April 14, 2009 - The Financial Times - Obama faces tea party protests
- Comment: How ironic that this global British newspaper is
reporting on the Tax Day Tea Party protests while many in the US news
media still seem determined to ignore or denigrate it, despite 750+
protests nationwide tomorrow. It may not be a very positive or
accurate story, but at least they are paying attention now.
April 14, 2009 - ABC "World Newser" has many negative comments
about the Tea Parties after repeating Paul Krugman's mocking comments.
Krugman's arrogant dismissal of these protests is typical of him.
Don't let the facts get in the way of your liberal talking points or
snide remarks.
April 13, 2009 - The Atlantic -
The Tea Party Movement: Who's In Charge? Superficial
attempt to blame a few people nationally for organizing the April 15 Tea
Parties. Spectacularly wrong.
CBS News has apparently ignored the Tea Party movement completely so
far. A search of their website on the evening of April 14 turned
up no references at all to it.
CNN has admittedly paid little attention to the Tea Party movement,
while MSNBC personalities have predictably ridiculed it as NBC
News ignored it. The fact that Fox News as well as some
Republican politicians have now started to take the Tea Party movement
seriously - after hundreds of protests were already organized without
their involvement - is now being used as an excuse to denigrate the
entire movement and claim that it is nothing new, or just some
right-wing sore losers. Fox News is not the story, nor the
organizer or sponsor. Their coverage has helped to spread
awareness of the movement. The same is true of some talk radio
hosts who have made positive references to the movement.
All other networks were equally free to cover these
protests. They chose to ignore them - even when some of the
initial protests in February were directly outside their windows, as in Chicago.
Now, one of the largest protests will be in Atlanta.
Will CNN pay any real attention to it? Or will it simply denigrate
the entire movement just because those on Fox News decided to take it
seriously?
Nobody expects MSNBC to cover it fairly. That's
their prerogative as a liberal commentary network. If CNN is to be
taken seriously as an independent news organization, however, then it
should cover this story - because it is a unique grassroots movement
among thousands of Americans in 750+ cities.
It's time for all the liberal media channels (TV news,
radio news, news magazines, and newspapers) to report the news fairly as
professional journalists, or to at least make no secret of their
partisan editorial bias like bloggers and other commentators, rather
than pretend to be doing objective news reporting.
Williamsburg, VA Tea Party - an estimated 300 people showed up
despite the rain at the College of William and Mary as reported by the
Hampton Roads Daily Press.
Yakima, WA had a Tea Party protest on April 11. News coverage
included the NBC affiliate for the Tri-Cities region,
KDNO/KNDU, which estimated a turnout of over 500 people. There
will be another rally on Wednesday in Yakima, and in nearby Richland,
WA.
March 7, 2009 - the Fullerton, CA
Tax Revolt Rally on March 7 in Orange County, CA attracted an
estimated 8,000 - 15,000 attendees after just a few days of preparation
with the active support of local talk radio hosts John & Ken at KFI AM
640, who broadcast live from the rally. Some more coverage:
Orange Juice Blog
Hot Air blog
Orange County Register
March 5, 2009 - The Economist - Lexington US column - Anger management
- Comment: Interesting observations about the early stages of the Tea
Party movement. It's interesting that British publications seem to
be paying more attention to this growing movement than American ones.
Perhaps they have the perspective to see that small protests can lead to
big changes in a few years.
Another source of information about Tea Party protests
and other initiatives in many states can be found through the "Patriotic
Resistance" -
http://www.resistnet.com . See also
www.grassfire.org
March 13, 2009 - Glenn Beck of Fox
News launches his "9/12 Project"
with "viewer parties"
As
chronicled on the Chicago Tea Party page, Fox
News started to take the Tea Party movement seriously even though other
national networks ignored the story, even if local affiliates in some
cities gave some coverage of their own events. The typical
narrative seemed to be to underestimate the turnout and denigrate the
protests as small and irrelevant - even for crowds which were vastly
larger than other protests by liberal activists which got national and
local media attention.
February 27, 2009 -
Chicago Tea Party
protests and coverage of other Tea Parties that day
The
initial Tea Party protests were organized by local volunteers in over 40
cities in just one week, and attracted over 15,000 participants
(conservatively - some estimates were much higher).
How did this nationwide grassroots
Tea Party movement
get started in February 2009?
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.
Refer to the
Chicago Tea Party page to follow more news about this story.
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". By 10pm that evening, after an
online poll was added to the blog, there were over 61,000 responses,
with 91% voting yes to join the tea party. 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.
Thanks to Fox News for
deciding that the Tea Party protests were worth significant coverage
even though other national networks scorned or minimized them.
Note that local media coverage - even by the affiliates
of the major TV networks - was generally very positive. They
attended, talked to people, and generally weren't quite so arrogant in
their coverage.
They actually reported the story more objectively as
journalists, for which we thank them all - as well as all the bloggers
and others who shared their information openly.
For those who may not yet be familiar with The Christian
Science Monitor, it is an excellent objective source of independent
national and global reporting. We have no affiliation with it, but
respect it highly as a news source which focuses on more in-depth
research and analysis than just the latest bad news event of the day.
The
inclusion of any website links on this site does not reflect any endorsement
of their content, or vice versa. This information is just shared
openly for the convenient reference of our visitors.
