Tea Party protesters stir things up in Grand Prairie

11:20 PM CDT on Thursday, April 15, 2010

By IAN McCANN / The Dallas Morning News
imccann@dallasnews.com

GRAND PRAIRIE – With signs, American flags and yellow "Don't Tread on Me" banners by the hundreds, Tea Party activists packed QuikTrip Park for a tax day rally Thursday night.

Participants said they were protesting against a government that spends too much and reaches too far into Americans' lives.

"I don't like the way the Congress is spending our money," Vincent Bustamante of Dallas said. "We need to get people in office who are fiscally conservative. I'm trying to educate people. That's why I'm here."

Similar rallies across the country also attracted thousands of Tea Party supporters with conservatives speaking. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich addressed an event in Austin.

Republican candidates and officials touted the tea parties, billed as a resurrection of the 1773 Boston Tea Party, as a sign their party will see a surge of support in the November midterm elections.

Although the Tea Party movement, which is not its own political party, is strongly conservative, many organizers have stressed unhappiness with Democratic and Republican incumbents alike.

At the Grand Prairie event, organizers estimated attendance at 18,000, though no count from police was available. The ballpark has a seating capacity of about 5,400, but thousands more crowded the outfield.

Speakers included talk radio host Mark Davis, who was the rally's emcee. He rebutted accusations that the Tea Party movement is intolerant of minorities, immigrants and others.

(Davis' show can be heard on WBAP AM 920 and 96.7FM from 8:30 till 11AM. You might know Davis since he has filled in for Rush Limbaugh on Rush's radio show)

Instead, he listed things that he said he and Tea Party activists oppose.
"We will not tolerate spending so high and a debt so massive that it threatens our children's future," Davis said.

He added to that list people who disregard the Constitution and government that does things individuals should do on their own, among others. Davis also had a jab for the Republican Party.

"We will not tolerate Republicans who talk a good game ... but who betray the voters when they go to Washington," Davis said.

People at the rally signed a 50-foot-long "postcard" that Tea Party organizers said would be delivered to the White House. Messages included "Shame on you!" "November is coming," and "Throw the bums out!"

Signs related to economic issues dominated, such as "The Obama recession continues," but others had messages such as "This is the first time I am scared of my own government."

Marci Bucklaew of Hurst said she attended the rally Thursday night because she is mad. Mad at Congress, mad at the president and mad at how the media portrays the Tea Party movement as a group of extremists.

"I want the health care bill repealed," she said. "Let the people take care of each other."

Bucklaew said she is more politically engaged this year than ever before. She's pushing people to write their elected officials and keep the Tea Party movement energized.

"To change things, we need to stay unified," she said.

Radio host Chris Krok rallied the crowd late into the evening, railing against President Barack Obama and urging people to make a difference at the ballot box.

"He has tried to make us look like the enemy," Krok said. "He has awakened a sleeping giant. That giant is you."


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