Palin’s people: Tea Party activists rally around champion of the Right

By Mail Foreign Service
Last updated at 5:11 PM on 06th February 2010

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Activists of the grassroots Tea Party phenomenon which exploded in reaction to Barack Obama’s economic policies are gathering for their first national meeting.

Tonight Sarah Palin will speak to the 600 members gathered at the Gaylord resort in Nashville many of who see her as the right person to fly the flag for their limited-government, low-tax, freedom-fighting programme.

The question is, does she want it?

Sarah Palin will speak tonight to the 600 members gathered at the resort in Nashville many of who see her as the right person to head their movement

 

Retired U.S. Air Force Col. O. P. Ditch shows his support for Palin (below) ahead of tonight’s speech

 

Many openly declare that they didn’t vote for Republican Sen. John McCain in the 2008 presidential election – they voted instead for his running mate ‘Sarah’.

‘She is the one,’ says Loren Nelson of Seattle. ‘And she’s gonna do it.’

However the vice presidential nominee isn’t saying whether she’ll run for president in 2012.

In fact, Republican observers say she’s seemingly done more lately to establish herself as a political celebrity focused on publicity rather than a political candidate focused on policy.

If she does launch a White House bid, she has a natural constituency with this anti-establishment grass-roots network that’s motivated by anger over the growth of government, budget-busting spending and President Barack Obama’s policies.

In her latest media blitz since her ‘Going Rogue’ book release last fall and the publicity tour that went with it, Palin was booked to give to give the keynote address Saturday night for the inaugural national “tea party” convention.

Her fee is $100,000 for the appearance at the event. That sum has led to criticism from even some activists that it runs counter to the coalition’s image and could preclude people from attending.

Palin struck back at critics in a column in USA Today, saying she weighed whether to participate.

‘My decision came down to this: It’s important to keep faith with people who put a little bit of their faith in you.

‘Everyone attending this event is a soldier in the cause,’ she wrote. ‘I made a commitment to them to be there, and I am going to honour it.’

Without elaborating, she says she won’t benefit financially from speaking at the convention and any compensation from the appearance ‘will go right back to the cause’.

Enlarge   Making a point: Bill Bruss from Illinois gives away plastic bags to those attending the convention

Enlarge   Mark Skoda, a talk radio host who founded a Memphis ‘tea party’ group and helped organize the National Tea Party Convention speaks during a news conference yesterday. The Tea Party movement has grown out of protest at Obama’s economic policies

SO WHY ‘TEA PARTY’?

Although the organisation calls itself the Tea Party there is already some dispute over the name’s origin.

Some insist it was drawn from the 1773 tax revolt known as the Boston Tea Party (pictured below), others say it’s an acronym for ‘taxed enough already’.

 

In 1773, around 200 colonists, furious that the English crown was demanding payment of duties on cargoes of tea in three British ships, stormed the vessels in Boston Harbour and threw the boxes of tea overboard.

The event protested what the colonists considered taxation without representation.

‘The soul of the Tea Party is the people who belong to it,’ Palin says. ‘They have the courage to stand up and speak out … They believe in the same principles that guided my work in public service.’

She called the ‘tea party’ mentality an organic effort, a ground-up call to action.

Because of that, she said, ‘the process may not always be pretty or perfect, but the message is loud and clear: We want a government worthy of the fine Americans that it serves’.

The former Alaska governor also planned to tape an interview today to air on ‘Fox News Sunday,’ the network where she’s been employed as a contributing analyst since January.

Then it was off to Texas on Sunday to campaign for Republican Gov. Rick Perry, who is facing a bitter primary challenge from Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison.

Next month, she will speak at a rally in Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid’s hometown of Searchlight, Nevada, to kick off the Tea Party Express III tour.

In April, she heads to Boston for a ‘tea party’ gathering there around the one-year anniversary of the coalition that began last spring.

‘Tea parties’ popped up last spring in small towns and big cities alike as disillusioned Americans – many never before involved in politics – protested the $787billion economic stimulus measure, Wall Street bailouts and Obama’s health care plan.

The coalition was tagged as extremist because of disruptions during health care town hall meetings hosted last summer by members of Congress and signs like ‘Bury Obamacare with Kennedy’ that sprouted at a Washington rally last fall following Sen. Edward M. Kennedy’s death.

Local leaders have struggled over the coalition’s direction.

There’s even dispute over the name’s origin: Some insist it was drawn from the 1773 tax revolt known as the Boston Tea Party, others say it’s an acronym for “taxed enough already.”

In 1773, around 200 colonists, incensed that the English crown was demanding payment of duties on cargoes of tea in three British ships, stormed the ships in Boston Harbour and threw the boxes of tea overboard.

The event protested what the colonists considered taxation without representation.

Does this photo of President Obama in the Oval Office convey anything to you about his attitude?

Does this photo of President Obama in the Oval Office convey anything to you about his attitude?

Would you speak with the Chief of Staff, your Chief Economics Adviser, and your Senior Adviser with your feet up on the Resolute Desk – a gift from Queen Victoria to President Rutherford B. Hayes in 1880?

 

We should inundate the White House with emails demanding he keep his feet off of our furniture.

This arrogant, immature & self-centered man has no sense of honor, or of simple decency.

While this posture is disrespectful in any culture, it is absolutely never done in any executive setting.

Further, in over half of the cultures of the world, it is recognized not only as disrespectful, but as an extreme insult.

He thinks of himself as a king — and not as a servant of the people, humbly occupying our White House for his term in office.

Electing him was an enormous mistake — and will cost us in many ways, for generations.