Tea Party U.S.A.: The Movement Grows

[David]

This is exciting. Even Bungalow Bill should love this. He always supports people taking to the streets confronting tyranny. Santilli fever is catching.

Tea Party U.S.A.: The movement grows

Tea Party U.S.A.: The movement grows
By Michelle Malkin • February 21, 2009 04:16 AM

Seattle on Monday. Denver on Tuesday. Mesa AZ on Wednesday. Overland Park, Kansas today. What a week, huh? We got the anti-stimulus, anti-entitlement protest ball rolling — and now the movement, spurred further by CNBC host Rick Santelli’s call for a “Chicago Tea Party,” is really taking off.

David Hogberg at Investor’s Business Daily has a nice piece out today spotlighting the growing taxpayer revolt the rest of the MSM won’t cover. He interviewed our registered commenters Liberty Belle Keli Carender, who spearheaded the Seattle anti-pork protest, and HuskerGirl Amanda Grosserode, who organized today’s anti-stimulus demonstration against Democrat Rep. Dennis Moore in Overland Park, KS.

I’m happy to report on several new protest events now on the docket.

My friend Michael Patrick Leahy of Top Conservatives on Twitter and his crew are spearheading “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” for next Friday.

Time: February 27, 2009 from 12pm to 1pm
Location: Chicago, Washington DC, other cities, Twitter
Go to OfficialChicagoTeaParty.com for all the info.

Co-sponsors of the events with #TCOT include #DONTGO, Smart Girl Politics, Americans for Tax Reform, Heartland Institute, and American Spectator Magazine. The tea parties will be “simultweeted” with the hashtag #teaparty. You can find me tweeting here.

There’s a Facebook page here for the DC Tea Party. I hear that PJTV will also be stepping up to the plate.

If you are in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, reader Mark Christopher Frimmel has come forward to put a Tea Party ‘09 event together. He put up an ad on Dallas Craigslist, has contacted local radio and TV, and wants you to be there. The protest will be held on the outside stage at The Cowtown Bar & Grill on Friday, Feb. 27, from 3pm to 7pm, located at 7108 Camp Bowie Blvd Fort Worth, TX. Music, food, and great fiscal conservative company guaranteed.

Are you in Georgia? Reader Patrick e-mails that he’s “getting a tax protest off the ground in Atlanta. I’d appreciate it if you’d pass on the word. The blog is http://atlantataxprotest.blogspot.com.” He needs your help. Calling Neal Boortz!

Here’s a snippet from Hogberg’s IBD piece to get your motors running:

As unemployment soars and anger over Wall Street bailouts mounts, public outrage will seek an outlet. Populism could go in many directions — and could easily ebb when the economy revives. But if it takes shape as an anti-spending movement, it could revive conservatives much as the 1970s tax protests did.

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.

Grosserode received considerably more publicity after e-mailing popular conservative commentator and blogger Michelle Malkin.

“I think the taxpayer revolt is the new counterculture,” said Malkin, who has been publicizing the protests on her blog. “People want to stand up and say, ‘Hey, I’m paying for that, I do not support that.’ “

Brendan Steinhauser has a terrific set of detailed tips on how to organize your own tea party protest.

Don’t wait for someone else to do it.

Don’t make excuses.

Don’t think you can pull one off because you’ve never done it before? Look at mom-bloggers Liberty Belle and HuskerGirl.

Yes, you can!

SOURCE

[David]

More reactions to Santelli's rant.

SOURCE

[David]

Out in front of Dem Congressman's office.

Posted on Sat, Feb. 21, 2009
Hundreds rally outside Moore’s office in tax protest

Hundreds of people turned out on a cold and windy Saturday morning for an anti-tax protest outside U.S. Rep. Dennis Moore’s office in Overland Park.

The rally, which was promoted by Americans for Prosperity’s Kansas chapter and other groups, was directed at Moore for his vote for the $787 billion stimulus package.

SOURCE

[BUngaro]

Bungalow Bill thinks that this is a faux issue: While the simple minded people who are easy to instigate and agitate, are acting out the insurgency wishes of Rush, the Governors are lining up to take advantage of the help that the Yabama plan is sure to provide.

You have to ponder who is connected who is reacting to agitation. I say that the Governors are the ones who know the needs and wants of their State. The folks who are reacting to instigations are mere tools of the Anti Revolutionary elements.

Who the hell is Santelli? Is he a learned person or just another uneducated fool like Rush?

[BUngaro]

OK, I googled Santelli!

Here is the lowdown on him. Got Bachelors Degree in Science from some off the beaten path school. I guess he thinks that his science degree makes him highly qualified as a Money Changer. His work history is totally that of a Trader on Various Finacial Markets.

Now, if I am not mistaken, he would be a Card Carrying Member of the Goon Squad that gor our country in the dissaster that we are trying to cope with.

Is he unbiased? Do we need his opinion? Should we pay attention to him?

The answer to all of those questions is a resonding NOOOOOOOOO. I feel sorry for those who do.

[schaabdl]

University of Illinois - Champagne/Urbana - not a bad school to have credentials from - I think I've used some sources from their engineering research in my past. I note that it says he has BS - but not is major (and BU conveniently left this out - maybe because it wasn't public knowledge!)
***
The only think I can say about papers is that it gives a sense of pedigree but far too many Harvard and Yale grads have screwed this country royally. Maybe we need a bit more fly-over people taking charge.

[blaze]

"President Obama, are you listening?"

That quote could be something to run on (in 2010 and 2012).

I can see it on bumper stickers, shirts, placards.

The quote heard 'round the world.

[David]

Knocking Santelli is gonna get Bungalo Bill nowhere. Knocking one of America's great public universities is plain stupid. His experience dealing on the Chicago Board of Trade for 20 years gives him a very close up view of how the economy functions. Did you guys see the spontaneous affirmation from others on the floor? If it comes down to Obama and the Santellis of this world I can tell you who will win that fight.

[David]

Santelli's Chicago Tea Party: The Quest for Our Nation's Soul

SOURCE

[David]

“What about people like me who are playing by the rules, who got a mortgage we could afford?” said Carpenter, 52, who programs building management systems for MIT Lincoln Laboratory. “Maybe I’m too old school, but you sign on the bottom line, and you’re responsible for it.”

Carpenter is among the vast majority of Americans who work, pay mort gages, borrow responsibly, and now find themselves facing the bill to bail out those who didn’t. Over the years they lived within their means. Now they’re asking: What for?

The anger underscores the dangers government faces in private sector rescues. . . . Randy Schmid, 50, of Worcester, is one of them. A self-employed consultant, Schmid and his wife Dominika are renters. They looked into buying a home a few years ago. They hoped to find a house they could afford on a single income, so if one of them lost work, they could still meet their obligations. They didn’t.

“If we would have lived beyond our means,” he said, “we would have gotten a handout.”

SOURCE

[dcannady]

Poor Bungaro! Only one month and the revolution is falling apart.

I think you're gonna have to get some new revolutionaries. These guys just don't have the stones to get the round-up and execute thing happenin'.

[BUngaro]

There is a biiiig difference amongst members attitudes on this board. I have suffered through eight years of GWB, yet I can honestly say that I have never wished failure for his programs. I knew that his failure would also be our country's failure.

I have to question all the ill will directed at Yabama by some. Alll the glee some get out of the insurgencies thrown at Yabama. Surely you do not wish bad things for our country.

Yabama has been in office ONE MONTH. The problems our economy is having are not his doing. The big Government, big Spender and no Controls GWB is the one to blame.

The people elected Yabama. He deserves a chance. Those who are wishing for his failure are wishing continued hardship for our coumtry.

[David]

Wall Street votes each day. Since he's clinched the Dem nomination its been downhill.No one is wishing him failure. Not even Limbaugh. We want to see the economy grow and our nation to remain safe. Period. I know for myself I am dismayed at what is coming down today. The country I love is adopting policies which are an anathema to me. Will not stay quiet on that front.

[dcannady]

What are the things you have suffered from, BUngaro?

[BUngaro]

DC,

Personali, I have suffered zero. I have created my own little world, totally free from any Capitalism induced hardships. However my children and grandchildren will pay the price for thirty years of stagnant workers earnings and for the horrific indebteddness, personal and public, that was built up during all those Republican Administrations.

David,

Wall Street and Santelli and alike have gone from being traders to being TAITORS. It's time to close them down. Let them collect un-employment for about six months. Let them get some of their own medicine. They have already and continue to bring Mayhem on our people.

[David]

Anyone you don't like is a capitalist. It is really getting old. santelli isn't important. It's the nerve he struck.

The Kennedy family Capitalists?
Rockefeller family Capitalists?
Herb Kohl Capitalists
Warren Buffett Capitalist?
George Soros Capitalist?
Robert Rubin Capitalist?
Hollywood movie moguls Capitalists?


It really is stupid and simplistic. What it amounts to is anyone you don't like is a capitalist. Now since you can't define the term this obsession of yours is all between your ears.

[David]

US News

Rick Santelli Rant: The Chicago Tea Party Gains a Member
February 21, 2009 07:00 PM ET | James Pethokoukis | Permanent Link | Print

Reader Pam Spears emails me:

Rick Santelli simply vented the frustration of millions of Americans who are working, continue to pay their bills and are very angry at being forced to reward the "Bad boys"(Wall street greed and homeowner greed) or the world comes to an end. Perhaps the focus should be on rewarding the prudent. The economy has slowed to a trickle because prudent people can't tell who's honest and who's isn't. That is as true of the bankers as it is of ordinary Americans. Everyday there's a new scandal in the news and so far the only accounting has been from the same senators and government entities that ignored the red flags in the past. Hardly a positive step forward.

In our household we stopped all discretionary purchases last September when Lehman failed. Our house value has tanked, and so have our 401k's. Those values are part of the larger issue out of our control and affecting the whole world. Our day to day household spending however, continues to be completely within our control.

Are we all poorer, absolutely! But it's time for the government to focus on calming and rewarding the people who continue to work to pay their credit cards and mortgages on time. Those are the customers that GM and Macy's and GE etc need to get the economy going. The paradox of thrift and velocity of money are real and needed to get the economy moving. However continuing to force banks to again loan to deadbeat borrowers and creating a huge stimulus that does not give every American an equal $$ amount only increases the angst and sends the economy deeper into the tank.

Thank you again Rick Santelli, I finally think the world heard what I've been feeling.

PS. This note applies to the rest of the world's governments also, reward good behavior.

Me: Remember the phrase "Work hard and play by the rules"?

SOURCE

[David]

http://www.chicagotribune.com/busine...,6124753.story
chicagotribune.com

Rant raises profile of CNBC on-air personality Rick Santelli


By Phil Rosenthal, Tribune media columnist

February 23, 2009

CNBC's Rick Santelli's self-described rant on TV last week, bemoaning that "the government is promoting bad behavior" with President Barack Obama's mortgage bailout plan, clearly resonated with many Americans, made him a viral video star and drew a White House rebuke.

Only during the weekend, however, was it occurring to him how his newly raised profile—part Howard Beale, the fictional "mad as hell" anchorman, part Howard Jarvis, the anti-tax champion of fiscal responsibility—might be parlayed into other opportunities.

"I don't think in those terms, but maybe I should now," Santelli, 52, a full-timer on CNBC since 1999 whose current contract is set to run out around the end of the summer, said from his west suburban home. "I have three daughters. I have the whole college thing and whatnot."

Santelli, who doesn't have an agent, said he already has heard from several publishers, a prospect that interests him. And he previously has enjoyed doing talk radio. That said, he noted, "I'm pretty happy with what I do."

If nothing else, his value to CNBC has increased demonstrably with the exposure his commentary on the housing plan has brought to the cable network owned by General Electric's NBC Universal. His video has set a record at CNBC.com, scoring many times as many page views as the site's previous leader, a 2007 rant by Jim Cramer.

"I've been associated with them 14 years, 10 years on the payroll, and you never see me much in commercials and whatnot," Santelli said. "Boy, has that changed in the last 36 hours."

A former trader and financial executive, Santelli said he appears on CNBC about 12 to 16 times a day and typically goes off on a tear a couple of times a week.

"I'm just a fired-up kind of guy, and it's all spontaneous," he said. "The ranting part, I'm just prone to do that. This one was just different. And, no, I certainly didn't expect it to turn out any different. It's just that with this one, we really, really tapped into a nerve."

With an allusion to communist Cuba and traders around him voicing their support, Santelli said from the Chicago Board of Trade floor early Thursday on CNBC: "This is America! How many of you people want to pay for your neighbors' mortgage that has an extra bathroom and can't pay their bills? ... President Obama, are you listening?"

Someone at the White House was. At his briefing Friday, Obama press secretary Robert Gibbs shot back—hard—likely out of concern for the traction the so-called Rick's Revolt could gain. "I feel assured that Mr. Santelli doesn't know what he's talking about," Gibbs said.

Yet Santelli's rant, the points he raised and the White House response were the talk of the Sunday-morning TV roundtables, an acknowledgment that he had given voice to many unhappy with where the bailout seems headed.

"About this populist backlash, I think they're worried [at the White House], and rightly so," National Public Radio's Mara Liasson said on Fox Broadcasting's " Fox News Sunday." "In this kind of a situation, you want to be dishing out the populism if you're the president. You don't want to be on the receiving end."

Santelli said the issue, in his view, isn't political. It's philosophical. He wasn't for the first stimulus package under the Bush administration either.

"I've been very consistent on this," he said. "I understand what derivatives and toxic assets are. I was in that business. These things are complicated, and I don't know that the taxpayers should own them."

His goal, he said, was to spark a debate.

"I want the new administration to win this one," he said. "It's a question whether spending our children's money is going to make us win or not, or is it going to take its own time to heal, like a cold going away?"

[dcannady]

Originally Posted by BUngaro

DC,

Personali, I have suffered zero. I have created my own little world, totally free from any Capitalism induced hardships. However my children and grandchildren will pay the price for thirty years of stagnant workers earnings and for the horrific indebteddness, personal and public, that was built up during all those Republican Administrations.

David,

Wall Street and Santelli and alike have gone from being traders to being TAITORS. It's time to close them down. Let them collect un-employment for about six months. Let them get some of their own medicine. They have already and continue to bring Mayhem on our people.

But, somehow, a trillion more in debt is good?

Anyhow, you said "we" suffered during the Bush administration. That kinda assumes participation, but it really doesn't? In fact, all of that "suffering" is something that you and your fellow utopians conjured up for purely political reasons to advance your social agenda.

Your social agenda is going to inflict more harm on more working people, in the coming years, than anything the morons who voted for Obama can imagine. Their children's children will be paying for something that we are going to get but only a few like you asked for.

[David]

Tea Party USA Watch: Taxpayers coming together
By Michelle Malkin • February 23, 2009 02:56 PM



Tons of groups and individuals are stepping up to the plate in the wake of last week’s anti-stimulus/anti-entitlement protests and the call for a nationwide Tea Party.

PJTV’s clearinghouse for protests is here.

The New American Tea Party page from “a coalition of citizens and organizations concerned about the recent trend of fiscal recklessness in government…dedicated to the Washington, D.C. effort specifically sponsored by the American Spectator, the Heartland Institute, Americans for Tax Reform, the National Taxpayers Union, Americans for Prosperity, and the Young Conservatives Coalition” is here.

SOURCE