Yes, I was there at the Freeper Teabagger Rally in New York today at City Hall Park. It was underwhelming, to say the least. Approximately 200 people turned out and most of them got up to speak. They announced that the new battle would be not Democrats vs. Republicans but Capitalists vs. Socialists. They called for Revolution. They exhorted everyone to send tea bags to "Nazi Pelosi." Obama was variously described as a Socialist and a Marxist. They wore stickers that read JOKE with an Obama logo for the O. Most of them arrived via public transit.
They brought signs.
The organizer is a "recently laid-off" architect. I trust he hasn't applied for unemployment benefits. That's him on the right.
They like to dress in American flag costumes.
Can you smell Revolution in the air?
They thought long and hard about what to write on their signs.
This guy's flag was a little the worse for wear. Not just ragged but something spilled on it.
EVERYONE got up to speak. I mean EVERYONE.
The sign read No Pork. With a "caricature".
Massive turnout. This is most of them.
This lady claimed Obama was imposing "sharia law." She was subsequently shouted off the stage for talking too long.
The speeches went on for almost an hour since anybody who asked was handed the megaphone. Below are some excerpts as reported by Roy Edroso of the Village Voice.
Runnin' Scared
200+ NYC "Tea Party" Protests Obama as Socialist, Communist, Hitler, Etc.
Posted by Roy Edroso at 6:23 PM, February 28, 2009
==snip==
The event was kicked off by activist Kellen Guida (pictured right) and Alex Zablocki, a candidate for the Republican nomination for public advocate. Guida said it was time to speak out in public "just like the Democrats do. They rally and they rally and they rally, and Republicans and real Americans, sometimes we don't. It's time we take the rallies right to the steps of Socialism and the White House and we tell them enough is enough and we will not take it any more!"
The first of the citizens to take the bullhorn declined to identify himself, though he said he had spent "ten years" at the University of Chicago, where he said he took an economics degree. "The people who robbed the bank are now in charge of the bank," he said. The Democrats "lied through their teeth when they said deregulation caused [the financial crisis], it was the regulation that caused it. They broke the system, they panicked the people, and now they're in the position where they're using this to hand out more money to people!"
==snip===
Jonathan Judge, president of the Brooklyn Young Republican Club, said, "When it comes to secular Socialism being passed into legislation, being made into law, what are we gonna do? Are we gonna sit around and do nothing? (No!) Are we gonna wait for somebody else to have the wisdom to do it for us? (No!) Or are we gonna do it ourselves? (Yeah!)" He urged the crowd to support "real Republican candidates who are gonna defend our rights, going to defend our principles before this entire city" in the upcoming elections.
***
Patrick Gibson, host of the Evil Conservative radio show on WVOX in New Rochelle, said "the same government that gave us the welfare state, the same government that created the problems that we're in right now, is the same government that says, 'Give us all the power and we'll solve the problems for you.'" His proposed solution was "tax cuts for business."
This young woman said, "Obama made his big speech in Berlin, a lot of people in Germany were creeped out by thatspeech. You know why? He reminded them of someone from their past that shamed them a good deal. And he reminds me of him. I'm a Jewish-American and he scares the hell out of me! And you people who voted for him, you should be ashamed of yourselves!... I'm sorry if that's shocking but that's just how I feel!" The crowd let her know they did not take offense at her comparison of Obama to Adolf Hitler, crying "Never Again!"
(check out the Voice for more photos)
Thus did the Conservative Republican Capitalist Revolutionaries of New York City kick off their insurrection. Yawn
(permission granted to borrow my pix, so long as you rehost them)