A group of friends and I got tickets to see Obama in Portland on Wednesday, and it was my first opportunity to see Teabaggers in action, up close. (It's not something that I would recommend.)
I learned many things from these folks as I waited in line to the see the President.
First, one of the signs informed me that, "liberals hate prosperity." I had absolutely no idea that this was the case. I've hired two new employees for my business in the last few months, and I'm sure that they're going to be disappointed when I shut my business down. If I hate prosperity, I certainly have no business...well, running a business, do I?
Second, I learned that the folks across the street were "against Marxism." I don't have an argument for that. Can't say I'm a big fan of Marxism myself. I did want to ask them some examples of Marxism in the US, but it was too much work to cross the street. Plus, I didn't want to get teabagger cooties.
Third, I guess everybody on my side of the street was on welfare, because one of the women yelled for everyone who was on welfare to raise their hands. No one did, oddly. Since the average age of the teabag group seemed to be about 65, I did want to ask them how many were on social security or Medicare.
Finally, one protester affirmed for me what I already suspected about members of the Tea Party: that they're outraged that a black man had the audacity to become president:
I thought this was refreshingly honest, although disturbing. And not something that I ever thought that I would find on a sign.
(Sorry for the poor image quality. My new smart phone suddenly became stupid and wouldn't take clear pictures. Perhaps it was affected by the stupid in the atmosphere or something.)
As for the rally itself, it was awesome and high energy and exciting. It was great to see all of the young people in the audience who were fired up to see the president and support Democrats in Oregon.
And I never did see any obvious America-hating Marxists.