Tea Party Updates

[Taxman]

Did anyone out there participate? I hear there are about 3,000 people walking down Congress Ave carrying their Tea!

[The Annoyed Man]

The one we're going to is from 6pm-8pm.

[killerfly128]

The one we're going to is from 6pm-8pm.

+1

Rick Perry is talking about it on KLIF right now

[killerfly128]

Rick Perry is saying he will be at La Grave Field at 6:30 ish

[RiverRat]

Watching the Austin kvue 24 news, lead story is a tree in a park.... 30 sec report on tea parties…emphasized only right wing extremists, malcontents, and republicans..... Austin’s tea party at lunch had100 or so people…they left out they would let only a max of 200 to see the gov at lunch on their permit, the rest were turned away…..SA Alamo tea party on Beck-fox, 10000 folks, not on Austin news I knew the media was biased, but this is an eye-opener for me.

[optman09]

I am reading a headline on Fox news that "Perry suggested that Texans might at some point get so fed up that they would want to secede from the Union, however, Perry says he sees no reason for such a move". I agree that it's highly unlikely, but maybe saying things like that will get Washington's attention.

[Right2Carry]

I attended the one in Arlington at Legacy River Park. Gov. Perry was not scheduled to be there but he showed up anyway. Gov. Perry gave a great speech to fire up the crowd. I was impressed with his words because it is rare that you actually get to hear a politician speak like that. I had a good time and was proud to be part of the silent majority that is starting to raise its voice in Texas and America.

[flb_78]

I was at the Amarillo Tea Party. Id guess 1000-1500 folks there. Not too bad for Amarillo.

[pbwalker]

I was @ the Tea Party in San Antonio. Local news said 7,000 to 10,000 now...

Great time, but unfortunately the media will try to portray this as a right wing, anti-Obama rally. They are too blinded to actually report what it is about. They're too busy calling us "Tea Baggers"...stay classy media...stay classy.

(edited to fix crowd size)

[longtooth]

Nacogdoches here. About 2000 according to the news media.
Excellent speakers, responsive crowd.

[stevie_d_64]

Went to the Friendswood, Texas Tea Party yesterday and saw about 500 people there...

Just got back from the one in downtown Houston where I figured at least 5000+ attended...

The real trick is to see how the message was recieved tomorrow...Both the media and the elected officials need to take this message to heart...

My recomendation is to not get too bent out of shape by the mischaracterizations by the media down playing this, and elected officials going into a coma about all of this...

I am begining to believe that the Department of Homeland Security is rapidly becoming the BATFE on steroids...If anyone has read that 9 page load of bullbutter they put out last week in that report, you'll know what I am talking about...

I believe that was specifically designed to illicite a response out of folks like us to prove their idiotic assumptions...

These Tea Parties are a fantastic mechanisms that have been a long time coming...Too bad it took the election of a majority of socialist/progressive types to get everyone fired up like this...

I remind everyone to try and remember these first 100 days, and take this outrage to every single election day for the next few cycles till we can purge out this riff-raff...

[O6nop]

I'm no expert, but I thought this was supposed to be a "grassroots" style demonstration. I guess all organizers have a different plan but I heard most cities turned down any political figures (governors, congressionals and heads of the RNC) as speakers. Maybe I don't understand it that well.

There was some coverage on local news, not a lot. There was some coverage on CNN where one reporter was interviewing but kept interrupting and arguing with the interviewee. That one will be on YouTube... MSN's Olberman got a lot of giggles out of the "tea bagging" phrase, suggesting it in a rather obscene context. He could barely contain himself (I didn't get it until I looked it up on an urban dictionary). He declared the nation-wide event a complete failure. The lefties seem very threatened about it, actually.

I'll watch FOX tomorrow and get their take on it.

[ClarkLZeuss]

I'm no expert, but I thought this was supposed to be a "grassroots" style demonstration. I guess all organizers have a different plan but I heard most cities turned down any political figures (governors, congressionals and heads of the RNC) as speakers. Maybe I don't understand it that well.

I went to the Houston Tea Party downtown, and it was definitely grassroots (forget what the media says about this, it's all baloney). No politicians called me up asking me to do, and the majority of people there had hand-made signs, and otherwise just seemed like regular Joes like me. I met several people on the way there who you could tell are not frequenters of protests, but are simply fed up with the feds.

As for why politicians weren't asked to speak, here is a good quote from the Houston Tea Party's website:

We’re trying to not be a platform for elected officials and candidates. No one who’s frustrated with political shenanigans wants to come see a politician telling them how they are taking care of you or why you should vote for them. This is something we share and hear from others and are sensitive to. You still may see some speak though, as we’ve reached out to a few that we want there simply in capacity as tax-paying citizens who might have a first hand account to give us an account of what’s going on around them. We will be working closely with these type of speakers to help them craft their message as to not let it become about them but instead for us.

Here's a picture I took which ya'll will enjoy.

[TxDrifter]

I attended the one at Rob Fleming Park in The Woodlands. I have a lot of pictures on my Facebook page. I'm not sure if the link will work, but it is worth a shot:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2017715

That is an album of the signs. You may be able to get to others that have the petition, speakers and random shots.

[boomerang]

Some local coverage was fair: http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/video?id=6763704" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

TxDrifter: is there a way to view your facebook album without signing up?