Michelle Malkin » A Tax Day Tea Party cheat sheet: How it all started

A Tax Day Tea Party cheat sheet: How it all started

By Michelle Malkin • April 15, 2009 08:14 AM

It’s here!

For the Johnny-Come-Latelys in the MSM who will be dispatched by their editors to file obligatory stories about the hundreds of Tax Day Tea Party protests across the country today, here is a cheat sheet to get you up to speed.

Feb. 15: Keli Carender, who blogs as “Liberty Belle” spread the word about a grass-roots protest she was organizing in Seattle to raise her voice against the passage of the trillion-dollar stimulus/porkulus/Generational Theft Act of 2009. It’s the first time she had ever jumped into political organizing of any kind. She is not affiliated with any “corporate lobbyist” or think tank or national taxpayers’ organization. She’s a young conservative mom who blogs. Amazingly, she turned around the event in a few days all on her own by reaching out on the Internet, to her local talk station, and to anyone who would listen.

Feb. 16: An energetic crowd of about 100 people came downtown to lambaste the Chicken Little process and the lard-up of the stimulus bill:

(American Typo)

Here’s Keli with the yummy lunch. Yeah, big-money conspiracy! I pitched in a few hundred bucks to buy some pulled pork for the Seattle protesters:

Word of the Seattle protest spread across the blogosphere. Readers suggested there should be a Denver protest on Feb. 17 to greet President Obama for the porkulus signing. Separately, the local chapter of Americans for Prosperity was already working to put something together on the fly. I met the head of the state AFP for the first time on the steps of the Capitol. No conspiracy here, tinfoil hatters. It was a union of like minds in an impromptu show of outrage against the legislation-without-deliberation process in Washington. Also there: Jon Caldara of the libertarian Independence Institute on one end of the spectrum and Tom Tancredo on the strict immigration enforcement end (hundreds of the protesters were mad about the absence of E-Verify standards for the stimulus funding):

(Photo via People’s Press Collective)

More big-money conspiracy! I promised to bring a roasted pig. Paid for out of pocket. No corporate lobbyist pitched in. Tasted great and worth every penny:

Speaking of pigs, you can’t leave out the tax-and-spend revolt campaign against Chuck Schumer in response to his arrogant statement that only the “chattering classes” cared about the “teeny, tiny” pork amendments in the Generational Theft Act. Local radio host Leland Conway in Kentucky called on listeners to send Schumer pork rinds. A mountain of 1,500 bags poured into the station on Feb. 16 and was shipped to Schumer:

On Feb. 18, 500 fed-up taxpayers showed up in Mesa, AZ to oppose President Obama’s campaign for massive expansions of the government mortgage entitlement and to mock what SC Gov. Mark Sanford rightly called savior-based economics. No top-down organization. Just the effort of local talk radio station KFYI. No Beltway GOP involvement. Zero national media coverage. But reader Al Swanson shared his photos with us here:

On Feb. 19, reader Amanda Grosserode e-mailed that she was organizing a tax revolt protest in Overland Park, KS the following weekend. More than 400 people showed up in freezing weather to protest Rep. Dennis Moore’s vote for the bill. Glenn Reynolds did the reporting the MSM didn’t do.

Here’s Amanda:

On Feb. 19, CNBC’s Rick Santelli issued his now-famous “Tea Party” call — prompted, many people forget, by Obama’s mortgage entitlement expansion plans (proposals I’ve protested whether from Democrats or moron Republicans):

David Hogberg of Investor’s Business Daily was the first MSM reporter to cover the burgeoning tax revolt protests. Here’s an excerpt of what Hogberg wrote on Feb. 20:

To be sure, the protest sizes so far are a far cry from the left’s anti-globalization and anti-war demonstrations of the past decade. But they appear to have grass-roots origins. The organizer of the Kansas protest, Amanda Grosserode, calls herself a home-schooling mom who is “fed up” with the spending in Washington. She has been a member of Fair Tax Kansas City since last fall.

“My husband and I were feeling frustrated that the stimulus had passed with very little debate and no one had read it,” she told IBD. “I said, ‘We need to do something.’”

She began contacting family and friends, and eventually received attention via Fair Tax Kansas City and local talk radio.

…Liberal supporters of the stimulus don’t see the demonstrations having much impact.

“These protests are probably ideological rather than practical,” said Robert Borosage, co-director of the Campaign for America’s Future.

He wishes.

On Feb. 21, the grass-roots Internet group, Top Conservatives on Twitter, founded by Michael Patrick Leahy and powered by Rob Neppell, announced “simultaneous local tea parties around the country, beginning in Chicago, and including Washington DC, Fayetteville NC, San Diego CA, Omaha Nebraska, and dozens of other locations” on Feb. 27. Patrik Jonsson of the Christian Science Monitor was one of the rare national MSM reporters who attended one of the tea parties (Atlanta) and provided a fair and balanced look at protesters mad at both parties:

To be sure, the federal spending package includes tax cuts for most Americans, and Obama has promised to eventually halve a US deficit the Democrats have largely blamed on the Bush administration.

But protesters like Kevin Tanner of South Dakota said deficit spending by both parties has unnerved Americans. “The Republicans have their own problems because we elected them and they didn’t do what we wanted,” says Mr. Tanner.

Many protesters expressed a sense that basic American freedoms of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are threatened by new Washington policies seen by many as more socialistic than capitalistic. The proposed taxpayer bailout of homeowners who may have inflated their earnings in order to secure mortgages is one example, says Jeff Crawford, a protester from Dacula, Ga.

“The first year after the Mayflower arrived, the colonists tried a communal method of storing and sharing food and it failed miserably,” says Mr. Crawford. “Why are things any different now?”
Eighteenth-century symbolism was rife at the Atlanta event as speakers drew comparisons with the Boston patriots who dumped the King’s tea in Boston Harbor to protest taxation without representation, an act that began the American Revolution and the founding of the United States.

Some kids at the Atlanta protest wore tri-cornered hats, and one held a sign that said, “When I grow up I want to be free.”

In Tampa, two dozen protesters held handwritten signs with slogans like “Keep Your Bailout; I’ll Keep My Freedom.” About 300 people showed up in 25-degree weather in Wichita, Kansas, and someone brought a pig.

In St. Louis, local media expected about 50 people to show up while actual turnout surged to over 1,000 people.

An Internet-based coalition spearheaded by TCOT, Smart Girl Politics, and the DontGoMovement formed to coordinate today’s Tax Day Tea Party. It is a totally unprecedented phenomenon that no Beltway GOP guru or elected leader can claim credit for. The grass-roots coalition has held open planning meetings on BlogTalkRadio every week and maintained the transparency that Washington abandoned during TARP/porkulus/budget process. They’ve spent weeks helping first-time political activists get connected, obtain permits, and learn the ropes.

Along the way, many different taxpayers’ groups, talk show hosts, individuals, and websites have stepped up to the plate to pitch in.

And along the way, detractors have fumbled and bumbled over how to discredit the Tea Party organizers — first blaming a cabal tied to CNBC, then jeering at the amateurishness of the participants before crying “astroturf,” then claiming the events were “financed by Fox News” or (fill-in-the-blank) conservative conspiracy, then smearing the protesters as crazed gun nuts (FNC’s Bob Beckel) and racists (FNC’s Geraldo Rivera).

Wouldn’t it be refreshing if MSM coverage refrained from parroting all the lazy, groundless, uninformed canards and reported the simple truth?

***

The good news is there’s no need to rely on the drive-by media. Live Tax Day Tea Party video coverage at the Bcast. You can upload your Tea Party statement on C-SPAN’s website here.

Instapundit will be all over the story. And, of course, stay tuned right here, where I’ll be blogging/reporting from Sacramento and on FNC/FBN with Neil Cavuto’s live broadcasts.

More here.

Keep sending your vids, pics, and reports. I’ll post as many of them as humanly possible.

Party on!

***

Great idea: Several readers e-mail that they are holding food drives at their Tea Parties. Reader SG writes:

TOP TEN ITEMS NEEDED:
Canned meats/fish/poultry
Canned/Packaged Meals
Peanut Butter
Cereal
Soups
Canned Vegetables
Canned Fruits
100% Juices
Pasta and Pasta Sauces
Diapers

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#102

On April 15th, 2009 at 12:42 pm, KCK said:

Seattle. Let’s give credit where due – I never would’ve thought that Moscow by the Sound would be the starting point for a great movement.
#108

On April 15th, 2009 at 1:17 pm, fgmorley said:

On April 15th, 2009 at 12:42 pm, KCK said:
Seattle. Let’s give credit where due – I never would’ve thought that Moscow by the Sound would be the starting point for a great movement.

I couldn’t be more surprised either. I’m really glad that it isn’t quite as Red as we were led to believe. I have relatives there and they were never spouting the dhimmicrat line, so I had some hope. Except for their Washington-bred sons and daughters.
#109

On April 15th, 2009 at 1:22 pm, jbritely said:

On Twitter:

The light at the end of the economic tunnel has been turned off to reduce the carbon footprint.
#111

On April 15th, 2009 at 1:32 pm, CrazyFool said:

What did you expect from MSN-BS? Contrast this with their slobbering wall-to-wall coverage of Cindy Sheehan(sp)?

The local news here in Seattle are (once again) completely ignoring the event. Except for one very small blerp on KIRO TV website which makes it sound like a small washington-state only event sponsored by EFF…..
#112

On April 15th, 2009 at 1:34 pm, CrazyFool said:

Personally I think the media is waiting to see what sound-bites and hate-based videos the crashers can produce before they mention it.
#114

On April 15th, 2009 at 1:49 pm, California Red said:

today will come to pass as all days do. What next? Where does this momementum go? How do we ensure that this is not all forgotten when it is next time to elect our representatives?
#115

On April 15th, 2009 at 1:51 pm, T-Bone said:

CNN this morning ran some videos of “Americans” stating that they are happy to pay taxes because……

Then they put up a poll that showed that 60+ % of the people approve of what Obama is doing with taxes.

Then they giggled about how Obama must really like that poll so he shouldn’t be worried about these “people” showing up to protest.

I guess the CNN poll shows it’s only a few people that don’t like taxes. 60+% think they are great becasue taxes are used to pay for needed services.

Typical MSM spin on their coverage. Obama is great and these tea parties are just fringe kooks. How can you argue with a poll that shows a big majority appprove of Obamas tax policies? Where is the poll that shows most dissaprove? Until we get that poll, nothing will change.
#116

On April 15th, 2009 at 1:53 pm, fgmorley said:

On April 15th, 2009 at 1:34 pm, CrazyFool said:
Personally I think the media is waiting to see what sound-bites and hate-based videos the crashers can produce before they mention it.

Very good point. This is where it gets tricky and sticky, unless you have already spotted them and can neutralize their cams. Hard to do, but not impossible.
#117

On April 15th, 2009 at 1:55 pm, Jimnospin said:

Hey, Desert Lover and AZNeanderthal, what’s your 20?

I’m in 85226.

AZN,would you be attending the TP in Gilbert at noon, as you stated you’re attending more than one?
#118

On April 15th, 2009 at 2:01 pm, lgm said:

From the posted photos, and the ones from Yahoo news, the tea parties are pathetically small. Maybe 50 in DC.
#119

On April 15th, 2009 at 2:03 pm, fgmorley said:

I’m not sure to whom Mr. Lincoln was referring, but I have a current-day candidate. Good luck at the
TEA parties.

He can compress the most words into the smallest ideas of any man I ever met.

~Abraham Lincoln
#121

On April 15th, 2009 at 2:07 pm, T-Bone said:

On April 15th, 2009 at 2:01 pm, lgm said:
From the posted photos, and the ones from Yahoo news, the tea parties are pathetically small. Maybe 50 in DC.

You wish. Yeah, only 50 people showed up at each one. It’s only 600 people in the country that want to lower taxes and cut spending. What a tool.
#124

On April 15th, 2009 at 2:21 pm, iamsaved said:

LGM:

If you’re looking at MSM photos, sure it’s going to look like only 50 people in DC attended. These so called photo journalists can make a group of 20 rag-tag anti-war demonstrators look like 1000 or take a group of 1000 protesting a cause they don’t agree with and make that group look like 50.

I attended a Teaparty in Fredericksburg, VA where it wasn’t even officially announced as a Teaparty site – blogs, emails and other informal venues is how the word got out; it was in the low 50s and a slight drizzle yet around 300 or more attended. Pretty good turn out I’d say.

Also remember, Teaparty protestors aren’t your typical, liberal, cry-baby, complain about everything, whiners, the Dems are so used to supporting. These are law-abiding, tax paying, decent citizens so the protests are going to be subdued and peaceful. And guess what? I doubt they’ll leave a ton of garbage behind like the liberals do at their protests.
#125

On April 15th, 2009 at 2:22 pm, DBNinKY said:

The Tea Parties are like the Limbaugh Bake Sales of the early nineties – they started out small but as word spread, grew w/ each successive meeting.
#126

On April 15th, 2009 at 2:52 pm, love2rumba said:

From the posted photos, and the ones from Yahoo news, the tea parties are pathetically small. Maybe 50 in DC.

So were the “The Million Man/Mom marches”, LGM
#128

On April 15th, 2009 at 3:28 pm, bradley said:

636 in attendance at the Brunswick/St. Simons Island, Georgia Tea Party today.

Next one is on July 4th. It will be bigger.
#129

On April 15th, 2009 at 3:34 pm, DBNinKY said:

I don’t know, LGM…50 here… a 1,000 there…and pretty soon you’ve got an effective political movement on your hands.
#131

On April 15th, 2009 at 3:39 pm, jbritely said:

In response to the tea parties today, the administration has proposed the Potomac Port Act, closing Washington DC to tax protesters. In further news, Parliament has just announced that they are reasserting authority over the United States as the original tea part was illegal.
#132

On April 15th, 2009 at 3:41 pm, bjc said:

*Time for LGM to join P-BO and his Clown Cluster; Would be a perfect fit.
*Tea Parties have to lead somewhere; Cannot allow the movement to be hijacked by the GOP, as they helped usher in the current problems; Keep it in the hands of the people and make it a Tea Party Nation.
*Great post Michelle; Keep up the great work.
#134

On April 15th, 2009 at 4:08 pm, flmom said:

lgm said:

Sneer away, you Thomas Frank wannabe.
#135

On April 15th, 2009 at 4:15 pm, AntonK said:

It’s weird, but according to Charles Johnson of Little Green Footballs, these are “Ron Paul Tea Parties”

http://littlegreenfootballs.com/article/33370_The_Ron_Paul_Tea_Parties

http://littlegreenfootballs.com/article/33372_Tea_Party_Reports_Open_Thread
#139

On April 15th, 2009 at 4:33 pm, karenhasfreedom said:

Michelle is on Cavuto now on Fox News.
#141

On April 15th, 2009 at 4:58 pm, Flyoverman said:

Small numbers is an issue? There were less than 400 people at Concord Bridge.

Things happen.
#142

On April 15th, 2009 at 5:05 pm, spaceycakes said:

she can read???

One would hope so; most lefties spend about 20 years in college–effectively educating themselves out of the work force.
#144

On April 15th, 2009 at 5:23 pm, CrazyFool said:

Check out this CNN coverage

Hat Tip Jawa Report.

You can comment to the C)ommunist N)ews N)etwork Here.
#161

On April 16th, 2009 at 6:26 pm, Graham Dawson (archonix) said:

@AntonK: Charles Johnson is obsessed with Ron Paul and presumes to be the voice of conservatism in America, when he is nothing of the sort. His obsession is driving him to repudiate every conservative movement that he can even remotely link to Paul, no matter the actual involvement.

Ron Paul has claimed he was the source of it because he’s a self-publicising attention seeker. In other words, he’s a politician. That LGF is taking this at face value rather than treating it as an obvious attempt to hitch a wagon to the movement speaks volumes.