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This 'tea party' boiling mad (Columbus, Ohio)
Columbus Dispatch ^ | April 16, 2009 | James Nash and Alan Johnson

Posted on 04/16/2009 1:55:51 AM PDT by Zakeet

On the same spot where then-candidate Barack Obama delivered closing arguments for the presidency last November, thousands of Ohioans gathered yesterday evening to issue a rebuttal.

The "tea party" on the lawn of the Statehouse was one of hundreds of events around the country on the federal tax deadline to protest Obama's tax policies and the federal stimulus package.

Organizers said about 7,000 people attended.

The message was simple: The federal government, already bloated by decades of growth, now is gorging on the next generation's earnings with a stimulus plan that relies on billions of dollars in borrowed money.

After nearly two hours of speeches by politicians as recognizable as state Auditor Mary Taylor and former U.S. Rep. John Kasich -- who is exploring a run for governor -- and as obscure as candidates for the Columbus City Council, the crowd had dwindled to a few hundred faithful by twilight.

[Snip]

Nationally, Democratic groups belittled the protests as the handiwork of wealthy Republican investors. They pointed to recent polls showing that many more Americans trust Obama's economic policies than the Republicans'.

"While we support the right of Americans to petition their government, what's clear is that the overwhelming majority of folks support President Obama's plan to get the economy back on track and provide 95 percent of working families with tax relief, because they are no longer going to accept 'more of the same' as an answer," Democratic National Committee spokesman Hari Sevugan said in a written statement.

(Excerpt) Read more at dispatch.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Government; News/Current Events; US: Ohio
KEYWORDS: aar; bho44; columbusoh; porkulus; tax; taxday; tea; teaparty
They apparently plan to post a slide show of the event sometime later today.
1 posted on 04/16/2009 1:55:52 AM PDT by Zakeet
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To: Zakeet
I went to the event. The signs and people were great. Unfortunately, the speakers were lame politicians who totally missed the point. There was one business owner from Marysville who was pretty good.

There was a guy plugging the fair tax. He pushed fair tax but did not emphasize reducing actual spending and cutting programs (As if how we collect taxes will make things all better) .

They had a Delaware county recorder get on stage and talk about how important his (gov't) job is. I left at that point. I figured that if this is the best our side can muster than we have lost. I was appalled at the lame politicians who grabbed the microphone on this event and said nothing but lame platitudes and "safe" speech.

It really bugs me that they brought in 4000 people and they had the nerve to put politicians on stage to talk about their accomplishments and how great they are. I am still ticked by it.

2 posted on 04/16/2009 4:11:26 AM PDT by BRL
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To: Zakeet
I was there and the crowd was bigger than I expected plus it was enthusiastic. My guess of the crowd size was at least 5,000, although I didn't really have a good vantage point to estimate its size. The turnout was good, especially considering the weather.

John Kasich was the main speaker and the crowd responded really well to him, chanting "John, Run, John!". He is expected to run for governor in two years against our paper-pushing current governor, Theodore Strickland.

Another speaker, a local talk show host, spoke about the abuse of the constitution by our politicians and government.

3 posted on 04/16/2009 4:56:05 AM PDT by Loyal Buckeye
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