Thread: Video Tea party activists rally across Texas

Video: from the Tea Party Rally William Gheen spoke at yesterday at Sam Houston Raceway Park in Houston Texas.

Click on link below to watch the video

by MojoPages


Tea party activists rally across Texas

by Associated Press, khou.com staff

Posted on April 15, 2010 at 11:54 PM

AUSTIN, Texas -- Flag-waving tea party activists gathered at
tax-day rallies around Texas on Thursday, denouncing big government
while cheering on former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich and other
politicians.

Gov. Rick Perry wasn't set to address any of the rallies where
thousands were expected from El Paso to Tyler, but he did warn
organizers to watch their backs for liberals trying to make them
look bad.

About 300 turned out to hear Gingrich and watch him sign a tea
party pledge at an Austin hotel -- chanting "Newt!" when a
moderator asked about his political plans. Gingrich dodged the
moderator's question but later told reporters he didn't know if
he'd run for president in 2012.

Gingrich, well-known for his support of the Contract With
America that helped Republicans recapture Congress in 1994, drew
loud applause and hoots when he signed a pledge called the Contract
From America, in which tea partyists ask those seeking elected
office to adhere to 10 core conservative principles.

Gingrich praised the movement as crucial to conservatives'
chances of taking back Congess and the White House.

"I would be very concerned if the tea party movement drifted
into a third party because if we split our side, we re-elect Pelosi
and Obama," he said to cheers. He drew applause from the crowd
when he predicted a balanced budget amendment would emerge as a
major issue this summer and when he repeatedly called for the
repeal of President Barack Obama's health care legislation.

Gingrich got a rock-star greeting at the event, drawing a
prolonged standing ovation and repeated applause throughout his
speech. As the event concluded, throngs of people followed him out
of the room, seeking his autograph and snapping pictures.

Although Republicans are ideological allies of many tea partiers
-- and GOP operatives are involved in some of the organizations --
they are also part of the establishment that many in the movement
want to upend.

At other tea party rallies across the country, Republican
participation drew opposition. In Wisconsin, a half dozen tea party
groups from around the state decided to boycott Thursday's rally in
Madison because former Republican Gov. Tommy Thompson was among the
speakers.

In an invitation-only call with tea party organizers on
Wednesday, Perry said that they need to "continue looking over
your shoulder ... for people trying to make the tea party into
something that it's not."

Perry, a frequent Washington basher who capitalized on the tea
party movement to defeat Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison in the March
primary elections, said the movement was certain to be
mischaracterized.

"You can bet that every dirty trick is going to get played on
tea parties, trying to marginalize them, trying to make them into
something that they're not," said Perry, who faces Democrat Bill
White in November's gubernatorial election.

There was plenty of flag waving and shouts opposing the federal
government and health care at a lunchtime rally Thursday on the
south steps of the Capitol in Austin. One woman held an anti-tax
sign that said, "Even my God only asks for 10 percent." Others
held flags showing a picture of a cannon and the Texas Revolution
slogan "Come and Take It."

One man at the rally, Jim Dillon, approached the crowd carrying
an AK-47 on his shoulder that he said was unloaded and legal. A
state trooper stopped the man, examined the weapon and then left
him alone.

"Our rights are hanging by a thread already as it is," Dillon
said, referencing the constitutional right to bear arms. "If we
don't exercise our rights frequently, we'll lose them."

Barry Walker, leader of a tea party group called New Revolution
Now, roused the crowd with his speech about the movement.

"There is a revolution under way in America today," he said.
"We're at the very beginning of it, but make no mistake, it is
happening."

Before any speakers addressed the rally, a man who identified
himself as a former Baptist minister gave a fiery prayer that said
the nation is under siege "by enemies abroad and domestic."

Republican state Reps. Leo Berman of Tyler and Wayne Christian of
Center also spoke to the crowd about resisting federal overreach.

State Rep. Jim Dunnam of Waco, leader of the House Democrats,
said tea party activists are being duped by Texas Republicans who
are criticizing the very federal largesse they relied to keep the
state afloat financially.

"All of the Republicans who are banging the drums at these tea
party rallies all voted to receive and spend the stimulus -- if they
voted for the state budget, they did," Dunnam said. "It's rank
hypocrisy ... I think ultimately people are going to figure it
out."

In the Houston area, tea party organizers made extra security
arrangements and asked their crowds to be "vigilant to make sure
no one tries to misrepresent us," said Suzanne Guggenheim,
president of the North Houston Tea Party Patriots.

Speakers at rallies there include conservative radio talk show
hosts, state lawmakers and Rick Green, an evangelical former state
lawmaker who was defeated in the GOP runoff election Tuesday night
for a seat on the state Supreme Court.

Organizers at Sam Houston Raceway Park tea party, which park officials said drew 11,500 attendees, said their large gathering reflected that the movement is gaining momentum.
“We want all Americans to realize that this is such an important movement," said Cathy Locke, a protestor attending the party.
"So many people are forgetting how many people fought for this country, and I don't want to see it go down the drain," said Allen Bishop, another Tea Party attendee.

In the year since the movement took off, hostility over Wall
Street bailouts, the national debt and government spending helped
Texas tea party candidates beat two longtime House Republicans in
recent elections.

http://www.khou.com/home/Tea-party-acti ... 06359.html

And not to forget smaller cities - both of these are in the Dallas area. WFAA-TV, Dallas, grudgingly led last night's news with a very brief report of the Grand Prairie Tea Party before rushing on to other subjects. Photograph at source.

McKinney Courier-Gazette > News

Tea Party members protest taxes, remind politicians of looming elections

By Zach Markovic, zmarkovic@acnpapers.com

Published: Friday, April 16, 2010 2:06 PM CDT

The big show might have been in Grand Prairie, but Plano Tea Party members still made a showing on Tax Day in the city.

Armed with signs, flags and spirit, a large group gathered in the afternoon at the four corners of Preston and Park on Thursday. The group was there for a multitude of reasons: protest, reinforcement and celebration.

Waving a large American flag, Plano resident Suzanne Blackstone said the gathering was a protest against the federal government and all of the money it is taxing American citizens. She said it was also a continuation of the protest that is a large target of the Tea Party: health care reform.

“I think people are upset and scared of what this is going to cost and what it is going to mean in limited services,â€

McKinney is near Dallas and is the county seat of Collin County, where both Plano and a portion of Frisco (below) also are located. Photograph at source.

McKinney Courier-Gazette

Tea Party protest marks rush hour in McKinney

By Andrew Snyder, asndyer@acnpapers.com
Published: Friday, April 16, 2010 2:06 PM CDT

The corner of Eldorado and Craig became the staging grounds for a Tax Day demonstration, as members of the Collin County Tea Party gathered to display their disapproval of the Obama administration and voice support for smaller, more conservative government. Gathering at the intersection during rush hour, the protestors received a strong flow of supporting honks from cars passing by.

Jim Johnson, who carried a sign that read ‘Wake up America before your money and your freedom are gone!,’ said he came out because of strong feelings about the issues, including recently passed health care legislation that he called a government intrusion on constitutional rights.

“When they’re going to tell you that you have to buy insurance now, I would say that’s infringing,â€

The headcount I heard was at 7,500 and people were still coming into the Sam Houston Race Park so I think this attendance estimate in this article is low

Tea partiers rally on tax day
Protests held in Houston, Austin and across the nation
By R.G. RATCLIFFE
HOUSTON CHRONICLE
April 15, 2010, 9:44PM
Billy Smith II Chronicle

AUSTIN — The Texas capital city became one of the national hubs of anti-federal government sentiment on Thursday as former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich rallied tea party activists unveiling their new “Contract From America.â€

* APRIL 16, 2010

Tea-Party Activists Stage Tax-Day Rallies
Filing Deadline Brings Out Protesters Against Big Government, Administration Policies; 'Tsunami of Conservatism'

By NEIL KING JR., DOUGLAS BELKIN and LOUISE RADNOFSKY

Tea-party activists held rallies across the country Thursday, the deadline for filing federal tax returns, to highlight what they said were onerous taxes and a bloated federal government.

The activists protested Democratic policies and displayed varying attitudes toward prominent Republicans. Some groups invited marquee conservatives, such as former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who addressed around 500 people in Austin, Texas.

View Full Image
TEAPARTY
United Press International

Demonstrators holding signs Thursday at a rally in Freedom Plaza, Washington, D.C. Some groups were addressed by marquee conservatives.
TEAPARTY
TEAPARTY

Other organizers refused to invite politicians of any stripe, reflecting the deep distrust many in the movement feel toward elected officials.

In Wisconsin, several tea-party groups protested a decision to let former Republican Gov. Tommy Thompson address a rally in Madison. Saying it was "time for new voices and new faces," Mr. Thompson used his speech to announce that he would not challenge Wisconsin Democratic Sen. Russ Feingold in his bid for re-election.

The rallies in town squares and hotel ballrooms from Philadelphia to San Diego came a year after a similar spate of April 15 protests put the small-government, anti-tax movement on the national map.

Organizers said Thursday's rallies were more numerous and generally larger than last year's. But the gatherings also illustrated the conflicting aims and strategies that have sprung up within the movement, which is now made up of hundreds of local groups working under a dizzying array of names.

The Tea Party Express, a group organized by a California political-consulting company, concluded a nationwide bus tour with a rally in Washington, D.C., that prominently featured—and endorsed—an array of Republican candidates in the midterm elections. Most other groups have spurned such endorsements.

One candidate endorsed by the group was Sharron Angle, a former member of the Nevada State Assembly, who is among a dozen Republicans vying to challenge Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat. The Tea Party Express made her one of its 14 "heroes" in the November election.

"Good morning, American patriots," Ms. Angle said in her speech to about 200 activists. "You have brought a tsunami of conservatism across this country."

In Texas, which hosted numerous rallies Thursday, some groups said politicians were not welcome on stage.

"We have a rule against politicians speaking unless we can speak back to them. We don't want political speeches," said Josh Parker, a founder of the Houston Tea Party Society, which sponsored a large rally in Houston's Discovery Green.

Mr. Gingrich briefly addressed a hotel hall in Austin packed with tea-party supporters who then peppered him for recommendations on how to promote their aims.

In an interview, Mr. Gingrich said he was impressed by the crowd. "There were a lot of good process questions on what to do with politicians that don't listen to you," he said.

He cautioned against building the movement entirely on opposition to President Barack Obama's agenda. "I emphasized why we have to be the party of yes," Mr. Gingrich said.

The former House speaker also signed a "Contract from America" drafted by activists across the country. The contract, patterned on a set of pledges that Mr. Gingrich championed in 1994, seeks to get politicians to agree to implement 10 steps to shrink government and overturn the new health-care law.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry, a Republican who has sought to tap the movement's anger at Democrats and the Obama administration, did not attend any of the day's rallies. But in a conference call with tea-party organizers, he warned against imposters trying to undermine the groups' ambitions.

In downtown Chicago, several thousand tea-party protesters showed up at Daley Plaza to cheer demands to lower taxes, repeal the new health-care law and limit Mr. Obama to a single term in the White House.

The Obama administration has waged a campaign in recent days to counter the idea that it has raised taxes on most Americans.

"The reality is that tax payments, especially by middle-class taxpayers, are down this year," said Jared Bernstein, economic adviser to Vice President Joe Biden.

Organizers in Chicago said they had received about 200 requests from speakers to address the crowd but accepted only 15, among them just three politicians, all of them Republicans challenging Democratic incumbents who voted for the health-care bill.

"We're not around to elect politicians. We're around to move our principles forward," said Steve Stevlic, a tea-party coordinator. "Our main concern is about defining a sustainable future for our children."

Handmade signs reflected a deep anger at the current administration. One sign said: "What the government gives it must first take away." Another said: "Taxed Enough Already."

Write to Neil King Jr. at neil.king@wsj.com, Douglas Belkin at doug.belkin@wsj.com and Louise Radnofsky at louise.radnofsky@dowjones.com

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142 ... Campaign_4