Tea Party Express hits the road in protest at Obama healthcare plans- London Times Online

TimesOnline ^ | 9/8/2009

[GVnana]

Followers of the Tea Party Express opposed to the excesses of 'big government' have made their voices heard at rallies across the countryside Giles Whittell in Jackson, Michigan

On a warm, wet night in Michigan, Jan Crandall stands to attention while Taps is played on the sound system in honour of America’s war dead. Then she explains why she is carrying a placard bearing an astonishingly large number: $11,801,149,166,949.

It is the US national debt — and it is rising by $3.5 billion a day. “We came out tonight because of the excessive spending,” she said. “We don’t like the Government trying to take over everything. We are for healthcare reform, but they are not going about it the right way.” After a pause Mrs Crandall added: “Gee, are we going to talk about Barack Obama? We might get on his hit list.”

A powerful cocktail of hard-headed conservatism and wilful paranoia is driving a quixotic bus convoy from California to Washington, where Mr Obama will try tonight to rebut its claims and regain the initiative in the most important domestic policy speech of his presidency so far.

The Tea Party Express has no leader, no big donors and no formal goal except to “take back our country” from an Administration it believes has fundamentally misunderstood the role of America’s federal Government — and from Republicans who abandoned fiscal restraint to bail out the country’s banks last year.

[GVnana]

"The President’s problem is that no US legislation this ambitious has ever been passed with a majority of Americans opposed to it. A Gallup poll yesterday showed that only 37 per cent of voters back the Bill now being worked on by the Senate Finance Committee."

[davidlachnicht]

;)

[Bob J]

“It would be no more than a fringe attraction had its members not already wrong-footed the White House in the health reform debate with talking points for hundreds of Republican town hall meetings over the summer. One of the brains behind the movement is Sal Russo, of Russo, Marsh and Associates, a Sacramento campaigning firm, formerly an adviser to Ronald Reagan and Rudy Giuliani.”

Huh?

[GVnana]

with talking points for hundreds of Republican town hall meetings over the summer

Well, we KNOW that's BS.

Russo Marsh and Rogers website here: http://www.rmrwest.com/index.php/RMRWest/Index2/

I receive Joe Wierzbicki's, (an RMR principal), emails for fundraising and publicity for the Tea Party Express.

Obviously Russo is no "brains behind the movement." There isn't one. But as a former press agent, I think it's only logical that someone is managing the tour's media exposure. How else do you think they got any?

[American Preservative]

FYI read the article ping.