Free Republic

This is the best high level panoramic pictue I've seen of the 9/12 Tea Party. It was shot from high up in the Capitol dome during the demonstation.

The huge “9/12” protest in Washington was the latest expression of discontent over President Obama’s leftward policy thrust. The discord is evident from the “Tea Party” movement to the chaotic “townhalls” on “healthcare reform.” The mainstream media and American left are thrown off by this, clearly wanting to dismiss it as a giant, petulant right-wing rant. Some “journalists,” as well as Democratic members of Congress, have described these genuinely concerned citizens in very demeaning terms, from “racists” to “Nazis.” I know why the left is dismissive: First off, it’s difficult to know if the protesters are mostly people who didn’t...

I have been doing some research analyzing photos and crowd data to try and ascertain the crowd size of the 9/12/09 Tea Party protests (which I blogged on here). It seems the best, most recent reference point is President Obama’s inauguration, which was estimated at 1.8-2.0 million people. If you look at the pictures from last January’s Inauguration it looks at first glance like the Obama crowds dwarfed the Tea Party crowds. The Tea Party Crowds did not extend back the Washington Monument (there were other events on the Mall yesterday). On the flip side, the inauguration is a controlled,...

This event had been promoted as a taxpayer “tea party” but the crowd’s concerns were wide ranging, from outrage at ACORN and Obama’s socialist cadre known as Czars, to Obama’s untruthfulness. Protesters also displayed signs mocking Nancy Pelosi and others for smearing the grassroots movement as “astroturfers” and as an “angry mob”.I think this gathering should be appreciated as the extremely important historical event that it is. This is the first great conservative anti-statist manifestation in American history. The conservative movement, which developed in the post-WWII, Cold War environment has now fully matured into the most significant political movement of...