One protester's handwritten notes from behind the tea party lines

If there's one thing that the folks who work and spend so hard to get to Washington don't like, regardless of their profession or political persuasion, it's thinking that they don't run or know all things in this country from their perch down in that ex-swamp that Maryland gave away as useless.

So, much of the commentary emanating from Washington and its self-important sister city of New York on last week's several hundred tea parties was how they were so well-organized by unorganized, leaderless Republicans desperate for anything to oppose the awesomely popular President Obama.

From working our local sources, reading comments and blogs and exchanging Tweets with many Ticket followers, the tea parties struck us much the same as the Ron Paul movement of 2007-08, a semi-spontaneous grass-roots eruption of emotion, unease, anger, inchoate thoughts, coherent arguments, cultural variations and anti-big-government sentiments with the main targets of spending and taxes by big government, in that order.

To the extent that elected Republican politicians were involved, they seemed to be kinda out of shape trying to catch up and join in. And that noted GOP member George W. Bush wasn't coming off too well in the criticisms either, primarily for his immense late-term spending. Later, expanded greatly by No. 44.

One of the more interesting things to watch in coming months is what the staying power of these protests is; many messages are already flying around about organizing similar parties on July 4. We'll see.

If the protests do last, they could well become factors for politicians on all sides to work into their electoral equations for the 2010 campaigns right around this time next year.

So, as an experiment we asked one of our loyal Ticket readers and Twitter followers, Dann Selle up in Spokane, Wash., to keep some notes for us to share with Ticket readers around the world.

His full report is below. And he sent us a video clip below too. Let us know what you think.

-- Andrew Malcolm

Speaking of Twitter, click here to register for automatic alerts on all new Ticket items at @latimestot

Compiled by Dann Selle from his notes: 

Spokane Tea Party is a non-profit, non-political grassroots effort with a mission to create public awareness of the practices of past and current career politicians in Washington D.C. 

Our volunteers are just ordinary small business owners, deeply concerned citizens, mothers and fathers and, grandparents expressing anger at the government for taking hard-earned dollars out of their pockets and giving it to failed mortgages of others and to major corporations. They do not believe this is the role of our government and flies in the face of the Constitution and Bill of Rights. 

Spokane Tea Party was founded by Gary Edgington and partner Kirk Smith approximately 5 weeks ago. A Spokane Tea Party web page was started at www.spokaneteaparty.org.  A massive media blitz was started about two weeks prior to the scheduled event  News Releases were sent out to all newspapers, TVs, and Radio stations within a 100 mile area. 

Local talk show hosts Mike Fitzsimmons on KXLY radio, Spokane, WA. in addition, Dr. Laurie Roth, a nationally syndicated host on KSBN radio, Spokane, hosted Gary Edgington two times each respectively.  

Dann Selle dug into his own pocket and cut a  public service announcement airing on KQNT news radio in Spokane that aired 15 times in a three-day period around the Dean and Angela news program and Rush Limbaugh. KHQ television interviewed Media rep., Dann Selle on the eve of the event, near the chosen location. Selle stated the organization expected at least 1,000 to 1,500 people to show up. 

At 3pm on April 15, people began filing in, near the Convention Center and Opera House. By 4:15pm, approximately 2,500 to 3,000 had arrived standing shoulder to shoulder. 

By 4:45p.m. over 5,000 were officially estimated present. Thousands were carrying signs, banners and flags expressing there grievances to both Republican and Democrat national representation in Congress.

Edgington worked the crowd and directed them to come closer to the stage to make more room while, Kirk Smithcontinued signing up people for event news, and he underestimated the crowd and was concerned he might run out of sign up sheets. Later, Edgington spoke giving thanks to all who made the event possible. *bright sunny day etc…… 

Cathy McMorris Rogers, Washington’s 5th district  U.S. representative spoke very briefly before the 5,000 plus attendees.  She simply said she was not there for speeches and this was not about her. She was there as a citizen like everyone else. She was there to say thank you to Spokane for the turn-out and would continue the fight against government spending in D.C.  She left the stage after about 1½ minutes and joined the crowd.  *She was a class act .

*Other speakers where lay people with no reference to party affiliation expressing their heartfelt concerns over the massive U. S. debt…. “We the People will pay for it with higher and higher taxation.”  “It will not stop there; our children and grandchildren will pay for the next 40 years for what congress has done in less than 40 days.”  

People further expressed anger that “taxation would rival the amount they have lost in their 401k's over a ten-year period doubling losses.” People milled around for an hour after the party closed at 6:00pm  sharing and discussing other concerns about US Gov.

*Many car companies have folded over the years and we still have plenty to choose from."   ###

Photo credits: Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times (Anti-spending protesters assemble in Santa Ana, Calif.); Al Grillo / Associated Press (Alaskans protest big government on Anchorage street); Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times; Bob Chamberlin / Los Angeles Times (A Los Angeles protester). .

Comments

[Lloyd Revalee]

Full speed ahead - keep up, and improve on, the job to stop Obama's chaange in government. If not, we will soon be like Cuba, North Korea, etc., where one man will make all the rules. And, it is up to we the people to do this, as our representatives in Congress will do nothing but set there and allow Obama to have his own way. Some talk about how great he is, and how he calmly goes about getting things done. Of course he is calm - he doesn't really care what happens to our country, a long as he can convince enought people that he should take control. Democracy is not his "cup of tea", and the sooner we realize it, the better off we will be. Be prepared for the big fight that is bound to come, when he tries to take full control of our government. He has unlimited funds from his backers, much of it from foreign sources. Our liberal media is probably owned in a large part by foreigners. Some, like the Obama channel (Morning Joe), operates as part of his campaign/advisors/propaganda, doing every thing they can to assist him in his devious plans.

[Bobc]

Bush & now Obama have spent and spent. State & local taxes are going up, the price of goods is up, utilities are going up and we still have politicians flying all over this world, on our dime.

We being retired, did the right things, paid our bills, mortgage and saved in a 401k, now that our retirement has tanked, our government takes to bailout wall st., people who could never pay their mortgages, car mfgs.,
etc.

We can't pay for all this, and they still are going around telling foreign countries just how much money of ours, they are going to give to them!

Hey all you crooks, from D.C. to Wall ST., you killed our life savings!

[jay]

Why did you tea party people choose NOW to
protest excessive spending? Why not during
Reagan or Bush 41? Why not during 8 years
of Bush 43? What is different NOW?

[Frank in Spokane]

I'm a Christian "conservo-libertarian" -- in short, I think people are the most free following Christ (rather than Ayn Rand), regardless of the political model they live under.

As to politics, my wife and I left the GOP reservation in the 1992 Bush-Clinton race to support third-party candidates like Howard Phillips and Michael Peroutka, and and we haven't looked back. (Of course, we supported GOP candidate Ron Paul last year -- but even he admits that he's a Bob Taft Republican, not a George Bush one.) We hope to see our country return to a federal government of constitutionally-limited powers where states' and individual rights are prominent.

So, re. the Spokane TEA Party?

We participated. We made eight signs posted front-and-back on four sticks, and gave two away to another couple who arrived with no signs. We also flew one of the several big yellow "Gadsden" seen there.

So here's my point (at last!):

Both at the Spokane TEA Party and from some of the rhetoric we heard on talk radio leading up to the nationwide April 15 events, we sensed a certain amount of anti-Obama, anti-Democrat backlash and "sour grapes" from purported conservatives. But they would do well to remember that the whole GOP/Democrat "two-party" model is really just a Good Cop/Bad Cop, Socialist Party "A" vs. Socialist Party "B" paradigm. Their beloved George Bush got us into two wars that have cost us a tremendous amount of blood and treasure, expanded the interventionist and surveillance State, spent our great-grandchildren into more debt than we've ever seen ... and Americans are arguably MORE taxed, yet LESS safe today than we were before we invaded Iraq (and we still haven't caught Bin Laden). The statist ship that Obama now helms is the same one that Bush helmed before him, and Clinton before him, and Bush before HIM ... (And don't even get me started on The Great Communicator -- for whom we voted both times, because we simply didn't know any better back then!)

On the other hand, we also sensed -- by the signs we saw and the conversations we had -- a broad dissatisfaction with BOTH party establishments. We hope that dissatisfaction causes more and more voters to look past the false Red State/Blue State dichotomy, and takes a deep enough root that, in future elections at all levels of government, people begin to identify more as constitutionalists rather than as "Republicans" or "Democrats" -- i.e., as Statists of either stripe.

But we've only just arrived in Spokane from Phoenix late last August -- and we've only gotten steady employment in the last 2-3 months, so we have yet to find and plug in to the Spokane area "liberty movement." We hope that the TEA Party gets  Spokaners to realize that, dang, that Ron Paul guy was right! And that it whets their appetites for a fundamental political sea change.

[pontesisto]

How about a protest against the credit card companies and banks who are raising interest rates whenever they feel like it? We should be marching and holding "Tea Parties" in front of their offices. Maybe we can call them "Usury Parties" instead. The banks are behaving much worse than the government in this case. Most of our taxes have not gone up at all but our interest rates have sky rocketed!
If you would like to help pressure Congress to pass a credit card bill of rights please join our voting bloc at:
http://votingbloc.org/Credit_Card_Rights.php

[Rick From Bakersfield, CA]

Great job Spokane!

My wife and I attended the Tax Tea Party in Bakersfield CA and were amazed to see thousands of people show up with the exact same concerns that we have regarding Obama's tax and spend agenda.

Our primary concern was that the tax and spend agenda will change the America that we love so much and has, historically, not worked to solve the economic crisis.
In that, most historians understand and acknowledge that the tax and spend policies of FDR extended the Great Depression.

In addition, the Bakersfield Tea Party had a cross section of political parties and one of the speakers was a Democrat that felt cheated by the first months of the Obama Administration and stated that this was not the change that Obama spoke of during the campaign.

My wife and I will postpone our 4th of July activities to further protest and have been reading everything around to help educate ourselves i.e. Liberty and Tyranny" by Mark Levin.
Rick From Bakersfield

[marsha ross]

Fairhanded treatment that mirrors my own experiences at my local tea party. My town is very small and the lliberal paper says we had 400. An even smaller town 35 miles away had 100. No politicians had a role. Ours had a local furniture maker who organized it and a B&B owner/cook war the speaker. I saw people I knew and did not know. All were very ordinary people. Very respectful and no obscenities as the left does or Anderson Cooper used to smear us.

[Linda Tracy Jones]

We are the people who are aware of everything, we read, we watch, we vote and we go to work. We don't have time to demonstrate. The government has crossed the line. We are, above all, Americans. Now we have to speak. Expect to hear more from us and less from the slanted media which is finally beginning to reap what it has sown .

[CornerJ]

I'm an Independent. I don't have a "political team" to root for. I also own a small business. If I could afford to take even one day off, I would have gone to a tea party protest. I'm thankful others could.

Our government, whether run by Republicans or Democrats is out of control. At all levels. It just keep growing bigger and bigger. And my taxes keep getting bigger and bigger. It's time to start paring down government, and it's non-ending appetite for taxes, before it kills our businesses, our jobs, and our lives.

[Dina]

There are many democrats out there too who are fed up with our wasteful government. (me)

Try not to make this a partisan issue. Unless of course you want nothing to change.

[Carolyn]

I was at the Santa Ana party. The papers estimated 700-1000 while the organizers counted 2000. I was there and it was very crowded ~~ at least 2000.

[Ralph Woods]

The liberal talking head pundits of the old dying MSM are trying to link the Tea Parties to the Republicans, but that is a false premise. The Tea Parties are "throw the bums out" parties. Both Republicans and Democrats better beware the next two election cycles.

[Joe A Plumber]

You folks have it all wrong. This isn't grass roots organized, it's deluded people funded by those who choose to remain behind the scenes and allow other seemingly grass roots people to be the public face of this contrived "movement." Where were you people when George W. Bush and Cheyney were running the economy into the ground? This is another lame attempt by those who were voted out en masse and who've been given the deaf ear by the majority of this country to somehow regain relevant voices after the debacle of the last eight years. I'm sure Herbert Hoover and his ilk had their supporters too. It's pathetic that the "teabaggers" attempting to gain traction with this hypocritical cynical "issue" have come to the fore now, with empty-headed, short-sided knee-jerk remedies now that they have been widely repudiated for their lack of vision over the recent past administration.

[Soldout in San Francisoco]

What a bunch of hooey. These people don't understand the way things work or their role in society. They're just a bunch of self-centered "don't spend *my* money" idealists.

[Jorge Mata]

The people at these Tea Parties were hardworking Americans who see our sovereignty slipping to our creditors (China), and global courts. Anyone who believes the Chinese will allow us to devalue our money to get out of our debt is smoking something and inhaling. This is what the tea parties really looked like, not what CNN portrayed. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9wxqoEbey4

[Lee Vanden Brink]

The Teaparties work and the Main Stream Media just does not like that...But... "The Teaparty" is here to stay and hopefully a long time here in "Galeeforneeya"... Need a Sunday laugh about all of this... http://leevandenbrink.blogspot.com

[Pom Pom Girl]

MSNBC CNN Mockd Tea Parties & Violated FCC Guidelines and Journalistic Integrity / Ethics

I heard about the CNN reporter badgering attendees and quoting the Obama party line and looked up the link in the attached.
They are links to CNN and MSNBC stories on the tea parties with Tea Bagging sexual slurs that included prepared comedy routines, using Dick Armey in a disgusting way as well as combative reporters challenging protestors instead of simply reporting.
How can I not now be convinced that the Media (in the guise of CNN and MSNBC at least) are in the bag (no pun intended) for Obama. This is shameful. WHere is their journalistic integrity????? Do they not know their history? Do they not know the dangers of encouraging cults of personality and no opposing views?

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/julia-seymour/2009/04/15/cnn-correspondent-claims-tea-parties-anti-government-anti-cnn
This link is video and text on a cnn correspondent getting combative with an interviewee in tea party crowd and calls them anti government anti cnn and even tries to challenge them on the merits of obamas tax rebate. THis reporter should be fired!

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/jeff-poor/2009/04/14/msnbc-place-low-brow-teabag-humor
THis link shows msnbc going off on tea bagging at the tea parties. WHere is the FCC? We all know what tea bagging means! Repulsive!

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/matthew-balan/2009/04/15/cnns-anderson-cooper-its-hard-talk-when-youre-tea-bagging
This is Anderson cooper riffing on tea bagging. He should be fired and his channel should be fined heavily for airing this trash. These are prepared profane statements and that cant be in the spirit of what the FCC allows to be aired!

[Larry Marso]

My photos of the San Francisco Tea Party

http://lmarso.smugmug.com/gallery/7915046_B55Ps

[Steven Swinney]

These tea-party folks are everyday, hard working citizens with enough common sense to understand how out of control the past administration was on spending, and how the current administration is leading us to future disaster.

They are saavy enough to know that the next level we're heading to is spending in the Quadrillions. (Yes, thats a thousand trillion!). They know that Obama and crew are shooting in the dark, taking us into uncharted territory which we will not recover from.

And people call the tea-party folks "fringe-wackos"?

[Ruth Skidmore]

I attend the protest in San Jose, Ca. where protestors wereof all ages and many brought their kids to make the point of how current spending would affect them. I totally disagree with bailing out thiose who can't keep up their mortgage payments and bought the houses they couldn't afford. We deeply distrust all of the career politicians and corruption in D C. Furthermore won't support socialism. we pay for schools, welfare and a health system for the poor enough! Politicians of both parties seem only intrested in using our taxes to buy votes and increase their power, no more! Then to be called terroists or extremist is downright insulting. Never b\een arrested or responsible for an act of violence against another. Counter protestoprs were drowned out with shouts of USA, USA.

[Frieda]

Its interested how MSM media has been covering anti-tax rallies. they have ridiculed them and have belittled the people who have attended...but if this was a "anti-war" demonstrates, they would cover them 24/7 .

just amazing!

[Christine Beatty]

If the FOX "News" talking heads who promoted these whine & bleat fests are irrelevant, the sheeple who attend them ("Obama is a fascist because he just *is* a fascist") are even less relevant. Whenever I don't have time to turn on the TV to see whay FOX is saying I just read on of Andrew Malcolm's blogs.

[Dan]

These protests against big government and for personal liberties should continue. Our founders would be proud. Ron Paul is correct on so many things from foreign policy to economic policy. These people at these tea parties were libertarian in spirit and railed against both democrats and republicans. If the republicans finally listen to Paul and adopt again many of the ideas of fiscal and personal responsibility, humility on the world's stage, and economic policy that counters fascism, we may get somewhere.

[Stuart]

The Tea Party movement is about principle over party. George Washington was a prescient historical figure when he warned us of the corrupting influence of the parties. This is why those who reside in Washington D.C. fear the People.

[John Costello]

Jay--

the reason I did not protest under Reagan was the Soviet Union. I was a Russian Language/Soviet Studies major. As for Bush, m y only reason for supporting him was 9/11. I objected to his massive social spending. As for Obama, he will have a deficit equal to the entire Bush era every year for the next ten years. The only way to pay for everything is to print money. Do the words "Weimar Republic" mean anything to you? Or "Zimbawe

[Pug]

The Tea Party movement is about principle over party.

The tea parties were pushed non-stop by Fox News. The vast majority who showed up are Fox News viewers who are, by and large, Republicans. This is about Republicans upset that Obama won the election.

You never heard a peep out them when Bush was president. Don't forget, Obama inherited a $1.3 trillion defecit and an economic disaster that started last year.

You can argue about the spending in the stimulus plan all you want, but are you going to argue the government should stand by and do nothing while the banks and the economy collapse? That is Hooverism. Are these folks foolish enough to allow another Great Depression?

[oldowan]

Jay,

He's outspending everyone by a factor of 5.
His own budget director says that it's unsustainable.
My son asked me to speak up becaus he cannot afford it.

These are different.

This is not a partisan issue. This is an issue for the citizens being asked to mortgage our future and the futures of our children to bail out those 'too big to fail'.

We smell a rat.

That's part of why 'now'.

You have a future. You may have children.
For heaven's sake, why aren't YOU joining us 'people'?

It's not too late.

Best regards,

--oldowan

[M Stuart]

The tea parties are the most positive thing I've seen in years. The government is not representing us any more. I don't believe in bailouts. I believe in the free market.

America's arrogant Speaker and the immature Dear Leader have decided to dismantle the America we have known. It is no surprise that Texas has mentioned secession, and I hope GA does too. We are having our freedoms and our resources stripped from us by an arrogant group in Washington who think they know what's best for us.

The tea parties are huge, and I hope that the people rise up against the vote stealing, cheating, confiscating, and bad behaviour rewarding nuts in the swamp.

No more bailouts! Balance the budget! No more paying for benefits for non-citizens with taxpayers' earnings! No more talk of elimination of self protection! Time for Americans to take back America.

[JohnJay60]

I was looking for signs that said "Clinton = Balanced Budgets, Bush = Doubling The National Debt: Vote Democratic" but somehow that fact seems to have been forgotten as opinions took over where a simple check of history would have shown where to place the blame for our our huge debt.

I could not attend: unlike those at the Parties, I have a real job and real responsibilities to pay taxes to cover the interest expense on Reagan-Bush debt.

[Barbara T]

Why now?
Yes, Bush did make government larger, but the size of money Obama wants to pump in in 2-3 trillion more than Bush is unbelievable.
this is nothing to do with political parties....we, the people, do NOT want to pay higher taxes and we do not want more powerful government.

[Jef Wallace]

It's so great to see the Republican Party disintegrate like this ! I hope the millionaires and billionaires who back Bush and Cheney realize this - the absurd nature of these protests, given their hypocrisy, renders each and every Republican out there a traitor in the eyes of their own party.

Party on !!!

[Terri Y.]

Obama "inherited" the deficit?? He VOTED for the deficit spending, and his party denied that there was a problem with Fanny Mae or Freddy Mac. Bush had 911 and two wars to boost the deficit, which was on it's way down before the crisis in October. Obama's picks for Treasury don't pay their taxes/penalties. Obama,his cronies AND Republicans voted for TARP--THAT is what the tea partiers are decrying--stop spending OUR money. BTW--where's the 3 million jobs it was supposed to create? So far it has helped 25 policemen (who will lose their jobs next year) and about 30 people doing some construction work...Guess it's the millions going to ACORN, and the UNIONS--that's real stimulus alright!

Oh, and I tried to get help from the govt. with my mortgage, but because I bought a house I could afford (I have had some personal financial probs since..)--I couldn't get any $$$. Seems if I hadn't worked so much extra, my paycheck wouln't have been so big--the mortgage has to take 38% of your income...So much for helping people who work hard to pay their bills--damn I should have only worked the 3 days a week I was scheduled...or bought a 200,000 house!

[submandave]

Like many, I am saddened by the blatant partisanship that often dominates much mainstream political reporting. As such, I am compelled to give a resounding "Well Done" and BRAVO ZULU to the LA Times for hosting this report. I look forward to being similarly surprised by your paper in the future.

[Pom Pom Girl]

John Jay 60 Clinton ran deficits as well just check the GAO. As for Bush he had to deal with Katrina, Terrorist Attacks that came to fruition during his first 8 mojnths in office but were put into play under Clinton, as well as a financial meltdown driven by 1) Fannie Freddie which was created & coddled byt he Dems going back to the 1930's and by 2) Bill Clintons final budget that had a rider in it that allowed banks to loan at aobut 30 to 1 under their investment arm.

Obama is planning on running a deficit in his first 4 years that is more than triple 8 years of bush and it assumes no specific unexpected crisis to deal with.