Patterico's Pontifications

4/15/2009

Tea Partying in Santa Monica

Filed under: Current Events,General — Jack Dunphy @ 7:16 pm



[Guest post by Jack Dunphy]

The Divine Mrs. Dunphy and I (along with Mrs. D’s sister and niece, in from out of town) drove down to Santa Monica this afternoon to see for ourselves what all this Tea Party business was all about. We didn’t expect much of a turnout; Santa Monica, after all, is a town where every fourth car is a Prius with an Obama sticker on it. Conservatives in Santa Monica and L.A.’s Westside tend to operate as Christians did in the Soviet Union: maintain secrecy at all costs. But imagine our surprise to arrive and find a few hundred people gathered at the entrance to the Santa Monica Pier, some waving signs and flags, others just milling about in a state of semi-wonderment at being in the company of so many fellow citizens who, like themselves, are immune to Barack Obama’s many and wondrous charms. And just as surprising were the many horn blasts from sympathetic drivers passing by on Ocean Avenue.

There were of course some in attendance one might label as eccentric, and most of the news reports will no doubt focus on them so as to discredit the movement now coalescing, but for the most part the crowd seemed pretty normal. A small contingent from Code Pink were the ants at the picnic, but no one seemed to pay them much attention. I don’t think they stayed long.

I know there were far larger gatherings elsewhere today, but for Santa Monica it was a remarkable display. I can’t wait for the next one.

–Jack Dunphy

36 Responses to “Tea Partying in Santa Monica”

  1. I went to the one i Mission Viejo, a bit more conservative community than Santa Monica. At 5 PM there were about 400 to 500 people standing on the four corners in the center of town. I took what I thought were photos but got home to find I had pushed the wrong button on my cellphone camera. I went back at 6:30 and there abut 100 left. I took some photos, too.

    Mike K (2cf494)

  2. It is not just conservatives who are concerned about government spending.

    How exactly does a political party that bends over for public employee unions, illegal aliens, and perverts supposed to represent the common man?

    Michael Ejercito (7c44bf)

  3. Speaking of extremists, the Texas governor today raised the specter of secession.

    Andrew (288aa4)

  4. Look at all those right wing extremists…………

    Techie (9c008e)

  5. I love knowing those Prius’ with their Obama stickers were forced to crawl through the protest… Could you hear the lamenting wails conjuring up Dorothy Parker, What fresh hell is this?

    Code Pink, you’d think they’d learn – pink just isn’t their color.

    Dana (d08a3a)

  6. Nah…Tex-Gov just gettin’ some folks’ attention…
    It’s a big country, and not everybody works at a coffeehouse, a daily newspaper, or at a Junior College.

    Andrew2 (8a94e5)

  7. The LAT still hasn’t acknowledged any of it happened. What’s it like living in their alternative universe?

    Good pics from the OC Register: At Least They Covered It.

    Patricia (2183bb)

  8. Silly Patricia, don’t you remember what we learned from the KFI rally: The LAT doesn’t report on just any protest!

    Dana (d08a3a)

  9. […] the Tea Parties. HotAir talks about the rallies as writing on the wall, Jack Dunphy relates the Santa Monica Tea Party, Karl at Patterico reminds us that the lack of coverage indicates the continuing peasant mentality […]

    The Tea Party in Dayton, like others, a success « Wellsy’s World (fb05f5)

  10. I really wanted to be there. I live very close by the SM pier, but I was unfortunately stuck at work. Glad to see some sane residents of the People’s Republic of Santa Monica out and about.

    h2u (147639)

  11. I went to the local Tea Party in Albuquerque today–it was being held at a small family restaurant right next to the laundrymat I use–and I was expecting maybe 30-50 people at the most. I figured I’d be able to sit down, shoot the shit with some of the folks, eat my burger, and head home.

    Instead, the boulevard was lined up on both sides with protestors for about a mile, and drivers were honking their horns like crazy. I wasn’t expecting that kind of turnout at all.

    The best part is that no one blocked traffic or caused any of the typical street theater you usually see with the professional protestors like Code Pink. Just people waving signs and flags.

    I’m not sure if this is going to have any momentum or not, but if this thing keeps up, it could be for the Democrats and more than a few Republicans what Iraq and social spending was for the Republicans the last decade–a galvanizing issue that causes a lot of people in Congress to lose their jobs. Unlike 2004, Obama won’t really be able to run on a “security” platform like Bush did.

    The main message is pretty clear–if Bush spending $4 trillion with borrowed money is bad, why is Obama spending $13 trillion with borrowed money better?

    Another Chris (a3bb8f)

  12. Speaking of extremists, the Texas governor today raised the specter of secession.

    You say that as if you actually care whether they stay in the Union or not.

    Another Chris (a3bb8f)

  13. So many conservatives not on the job, with free time in the middle of a work day. Reaganomics.

    DCSCA (9d1bb3)

  14. The rallies I attended were after work. The others were at lunch hour. DCSCA apparently doesn’t understand that.

    Mike K (2cf494)

  15. Well, let’s take a look at what our esteemed Governor actually said, according to the Dallas Morning News. At some point in the rally, he did, indeed shout “Secede.” Talking to reporters later he was reported as saying:

    Perry called his supporters patriots. Later, answering news reporters’ questions, Perry suggested Texans might at some point get so fed up they would want to secede from the union, though he said he sees no reason why Texas should do that.

    “There’s a lot of different scenarios,” Perry said. “We’ve got a great union. There’s absolutely no reason to dissolve it. But if Washington continues to thumb their nose at the American people, you know, who knows what might come out of that. But Texas is a very unique place, and we’re a pretty independent lot to boot.”

    I’m not going to quibble. He said what he said. But I seriously doubt he sincerely meant Texas should secede.

    When Texas joined the union in 1845, it did have a right to divide itself into four additional states, but it not have the right to secede.

    Since Texas aligned itself with the Confederacy, despite the objections of Sam Houston, I believe it forfeited the right to divide under the conditions of rejoining the union, although I could be wrong.

    Nonetheless, no serious Texan wants to secede, and I think that includes Gov. Perry. But some of us are, indeed, an independent lot.

    Since the recent threat of the Department of Homeland Security, I’m reluctant to say this: However, the states were organized as a loose confederacy to advance the mandates of the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights while maintaining the sovereignty of the states to deal with their own issues.

    Of course, the Civil War changed this, for good reason.

    Nonetheless, the states should still have the rights accorded to them by their electors and courts to serve the voting public as they see fit, while adhering to the Constitution, its amendments and the Bill of Rights.

    I guess my ramblings are a way to say: Read and vote.

    Ag80 (d205da)

  16. Yeah — We do actually know how to throw a Tea Party in the Peoples’ Republic of Santa Monica

    Okie was there and a YouTube was born: Santa Monica Tea Party — Tax Day 2009 — Film At Eleven

    Read ya tomorrow!

    ‘Okie’

    Okie (376093)

  17. 500 or more people at Van Nuys tonight, according to the cops i talked to there.

    a few Laup Norian moonbats, as well as a few garden variety ones, but most just your average Valley residents…..

    redc1c4 (9c4f4a)

  18. The main message is pretty clear–if Bush spending $4 trillion with borrowed money is bad, why is Obama spending $13 trillion with borrowed money better?

    It is not , which quite a few liberals have figured out.

    Michael Ejercito (7c44bf)

  19. We attended a Tea Party in Augusta, GA at 5pm yesterday but had to leave at 6:30. The rally was scheduled to last until 10. Our first ever protest and it was FUN. Reminded me of the old college pep rallies. We estimated about 1,000 people were there during the hour and half. Best
    “slogan” “We’re sending a S. O. S. Stop Outlandish Spending”.

    krusher (b3d7a7)

  20. Crowd estimates at the Chicago rally downtown were in the single digit thousands – right in Obama’s center of support. This city has always leaned heavily Democratic, but this may have been too much for even the hardcore types – we’ll see.

    Dmac (1ddf7e)

  21. It would have been more effective to throw a Liberal Democrat activist into the harbor yesterday, but then the EPA would be on your donkey for polluting the water.

    PCD (02f8c1)

  22. but then the EPA would be on your donkey for polluting the water

    I like this – can we trademark it?

    Dmac (1ddf7e)

  23. MIssion Viejo had about 400 to 500 people at 5 PM. I went back to take some photos at 6:30 (after I realized my iPhone camera didn’t get any at 5) and about 100 were still there. Lots of home made signs. One Ron Paul sign and one home made sign complaining about wars. The rest were anti-spending, not anti-tax which is another way the MSM does not get this. Of course, the taxes will come.

    Mike K (2cf494)

  24. Went down to the federal building in Ann Arbor at noon. A2 is like Santa Monica – conservatives generally keep their heads down. The entire city government and state and federal representatives for the area are Democratic. But there were 200 people at the tea party – and that with no announcement that I ever heard.

    It was amusing that 2 guys were also there trying to get people to sign petitions against sweatshops. They had makeshift shirts saying “no tax money for sweatshops” – trying to hijack the tea party for their own issue.

    Gesundheit (47b0b8)

  25. Dmac, I’ll give it to you if you promise to regularly visit my blog and maybe drop off a comment or two from time to time.

    Click on my name for link to blog.

    PCD (02f8c1)

  26. The main conflict is between those people who produce a tangible product and those who produce nothing but paperwork, almost useless labor, or live only through subsidized existence. I note not a single black face in any pix on any site. I assume you will not note a single government worker or anyone else who exists solely on tax collections.

    Those of us involved in product are on the short end of things and the over educated paper pushers will continue to gain ascendancy over the rest of us. Face it. Nobody in liberal media can possibly appreciate the fact that this “movement” is essentially a tax revolt by those of us who don’t need government.

    howard432 (3f8901)

  27. Yeah, too bad Cindy Sheehan didn’t show up. Then it would have been worth covering by the LAT!

    Patricia (2183bb)

  28. I was curious to compare your treatment of the fringe elements in the Tea Party protests with your (or Patterico’s) description of the fringe elements in the anti-war protests in prior years. You properly observe that it is unfair to paint the tea party protests with a brush colored solely with the more extreme voices and accuse the media of focusing on those elements to discredit the movement as a whole. In 2003, Patterico took a different approach to the anti-war protesters. After (rightfully) noting that those protests included some fringe (and extremist) groups, Patterico stated: “So the next time you plan to attend an anti-war rally, realize with whom you are associating yourself.” I just love how the rules change when the players are different! And don’t point out that folks on the other side of the spectrum do the same thing. As I think Patterico would agree, two wrongs do not make a right.

    mvatty (99d646)

  29. #15- Like I said, Reaaganomics. 9 to 5 days have been dead longer than Barry Goldwater. Most Americans work through lunch, brown bagging at their desks and stay after hours. It’s called productivity.

    DCSCA (9d1bb3)

  30. And here is where DCSCA can post his evidence that “most Americans” brown bag lunch at their desks.

    _________________________________________

    _________________________________________

    _________________________________________

    Post away, douchebag.

    carlitos (df673c)

  31. You know, if that brush were any broader, you could help Huck with that fence that needs whitewashing.

    AD (0053b8)

  32. Mike K – The list of ideas that ASPCA does not understand is practically endless.

    JD (6ed8b2)

  33. mvatty is right in there in the don’t unnerstand department.

    Arianna didn’t like them either:

    Those pathetic, corporate lobbyist-backed tea parties clearly didn’t do the trick. They were steeped in desperation. A bitter brew of misguided outrage and good-old-fashioned hate mongering

    Yup. They don’t like us. Now, if I had a 350 foot yacht like David Geffen’s, maybe she would warm up a bit. Alas, mine is only 40.

    Somebody else doesn’t like us, but I can understand. Her husband is going to jail for tax fraud.

    MIke K (8df289)

  34. Jan Shakowsky has been a shrill harpy since her days in the IL House. Thanks, IL.

    They need absolutely nothing to claim reichwing hatemongering, Mike K. They believe that it is an inherent part of our nature.

    JD (6ed8b2)

  35. “Like I said, Reaaganomics. 9 to 5 days have been dead longer than Barry Goldwater. Most Americans work through lunch, brown bagging at their desks and stay after hours. It’s called productivity.”

    DCSCA – You have provided absolutely no evidence here that you know anything about the subjects contained in the three sentences above.

    Carry on, clown.

    daleyrocks (5d22c0)


Powered by WordPress.

Page loaded in: 0.0822 secs.