So, remember just last week when derivatives-trader-turned-working-man-populist Rick Santelli delivered his infamous rant about Obama's housing and other economic plans? Remember when Andie Collier at Politico announced that Obama was in trouble because America was "a nation of Santellis" (presumably, good news for McCain)?
Remember all those "Chicago Tea Parties" Americans were supposed to participate in, taking out their righteous anger against Obama's anti-American economic plans? It was supposed to the be first wave of Americans taking to the streets against socialism, the birth of the New Minutemen. Michelle Malkin insists there's a growing tax revolt that "the MSM won't cover." It seems there was an army of angry citizens waiting to storm the barricades, holding "Obamination" signs and taking back the Republican Republic for sweet laissez-faire liberty.
Well, those were on for today. The protests received the assistance of numerous conservative organizations and their email lists, from The Heartland Institute to Americans for Tax Reform to the American Spectator, and were all scheduled to happen today, the 27th of February.
The results? Not so impressive.
Let's see...The Pittsburgh party was canceled due to rain. A whopping 79 people showed up today in Jacksonville, FL. Looks like maybe over a dozen showed up in Asheville, NC. Almost 10 people made it to the Buffalo, NY, protest. About 100 people throughout all of Los Angeles came out to Santa Monica Pier. All of about 300 people made it out throughout the entirety of Atlanta. 250 made it out to Dallas for the tea party there. 150 in Lansing. Looks like about 100 went to watch the Joe the Plumber and Michelle Malkin teabag fest in D.C. (if you had to retch, it's not my fault, just your dirty, dirty mind...)
The very best numbers these jokers managed to pull was 1,500 people in St. Louis (UPDATE: St. Louis wasn't anywhere close to 1,500; it was more like 400 if that--delusional, pathetic FAIL), and somewhere between 500-1,000 in Chicago--if reports from the organizers are to be believed.
Perhaps most hilarious is the 250-person turnout in Houston which was said to be
pretty good turn-out considering the livestock show barbeque cook-off in Reliant Park was a competitor.
Because an all-or-nothing, bare-fisted fight against a Commie takeover of the United States just can't compete with the lure of livestock barbeque, not even for a few hours. That's patriotism for ya! The new Republican motto might be: "Give me liberty, or give me short ribs! Aw, hell, just gimme the ribs already."
The saddest part is that conservatives like Instapundit think that managing a couple hundred people in major cities to protest the biggest spending bill in American history is somehow a success.
Poor conservatives. Challenged with attempting to draw the sort of popular support enjoyed by Barack Obama and progressives in general, and using the media establishment's favorite tools like Santelli as their crutch, they can only manage a pittance of loonies to show up for their protests. Forced to match the support of enthusiasm so evident at Obama's inauguration, they can't even manage to compete with a local barbeque in one of their own red redoubts.
Compare that with the hundreds of thousands who marched in big cities all across America in opposition to the Iraq War, though no such opposition was to be found on any major television or radio station across America, with little media coverage or fanfare to attend the collective anger of nearly half of Americans at that time.
Pitiful. Given the overwhelming support enjoyed by Obama and his economic agenda and the obvious paucity of popular grassroots opposition, the only thing that remains unclear is why the media establishment gives the likes of Santelli and his few fringe extremist supporters any air time at all.