Posted on 09/10/2009 11:00:32 PM PDT by freespirited
Attracted by a national bus tour organized by conservative groups, about 500 people on Courthouse Square raged Thursday against President Barack Obama, cheering wildly as speakers accused the president of leading the nation into socialism.
The day after Mr. Obama's congressional address on health care reform, the 34-city Tea Party Express rolled into the city where Vice President Joseph Biden once lived, aiming to unravel Mr. Obama's plans for health care reform and much of the rest of his agenda.
The tour, accompanied by a CNN bus and national reporters and scheduled to end with a large rally Saturday in Washington, D.C., drew followers from as far away as New Jersey and upstate New York.
The conservative groups sponsoring the tour include Free Republic, an online message board; the Our Country Deserves Better Political Action Committee; the National Tax-Limitation PAC; Parcbench, a conservative Web site; the Multi-Cultural Conservative Coalition; and FreedomWorks, a lobbying group led by former U.S. Rep. Dick Armey that organized opposition to Mr. Obama's health care and climate change proposals.
They waved numerous American flags and yellow flags with the Revolution-era phrase, "Don't Tread On Me." In the spirit of capitalism, a tour member sold the flags.
They waved signs that said, "The Answer To 2009 Is 1776," "This Socialist Nightmare Must Come to An End," "Barney Frank Needs A Spank," "Impeach the Muslim Marxist" and "I'll Keep My Guns Freedom and Money, You Can Keep Your 'Change.' "
One man carried a photo with the president's face on the body of a man dressed in African tribal regalia, his face painted like a witch doctor.
One speaker, who was black, urged the mostly white crowd to push back against critics who portray them as racists.
"This is about principle," he said.
Declaring he's "not an African-American" but "an American," Lloyd Marcus, a black singer on the tour, performed his "American Tea Party Anthem."
"Mr. President, your stimulus is sure to bust, it's just a socialistic dream," Mr. Marcus sang. "The only thing it will do is kill the American Dream."
Mark Williams, a conservative radio talk-show host from Sacramento, Calif., on the tour, said America is "under attack from within" by people who "embraced the failed ideas of Marxism and socialism."
"We're here to celebrate our constitution, our nation and the system that made this the greatest nation in the world," Mr. Williams said.
As one local organizer of the event, Laureen Cummings of Old Forge, railed against Mr. Obama's health-care address, she asked, "Why would a president do this to the American people?"
"He's a tyrant," one woman shouted. "He's a communist," another wailed.
As Ms. Cummings suggested Mr. Obama's support of living wills amounted to allowing people to die rather than resuscitating them, Tom Zenker barked "Kill them!" and "Get our guns out" and "Communist bastards" while standing unknowingly next to a Times-Tribune reporter.
In an interview later, Mr. Zenker, 65, a certified public account from Scranton, said he doesn't want to kill anyone.
"You get passionate, that's all," he said.
He pointed to the government takeover of General Motors and Chrysler, Mr. Obama's appointment of so-called "czars" as advisers and his desire to "ram (health care reform) down Congress' throat in 35 days."
"I'm concerned about this communist takeover of America," he said. "His whole policy is communism. One of the reasons that the founding fathers armed us is that we would have an armed populace in this country. A communist, socialist government takes away an armed citizenry."
Nearby, Douglas Thomas, 12, a Tunkhannock Area seventh-grader, blamed Mr. Obama for the nation's deficits by holding a sign that said, "I Owe How Much? I'm Only 12."
"All the money Obama is spending, my parents can't pay it off so it's going to come down to us and all the other kids," he said.
As the rally ended, a handful paraded along the back of the crowd chanting support for health care reform. That riled up the anti-Obama crowd.
"It's about freedom, it's not health care," bellowed Joe Verdone, 69, a retired computer company director from Ramsey, N.J., who believes the president is inviting socialism.
The leader of the reform supporters later labeled all the "socialism, communism, Marxism" as "disturbing."
"Most of them don't even know the definition," said Roxanne Pauline, 50, of Taylor, a staunch Obama supporter. "I had a guy come up to me and say, 'Why do you want to be a communist country like England?' ... They want to do anything but argue. I didn't hear any defined message except screaming and yelling and the new revolution."
Contact the writer: bkrawczeniuk@timesshamrock.com
Roxanne didn't hear straight; he said "socialist"
They of course had no problem with the disrespect shown to Bush for 8 years.
It is very dangerous to tax people at the levels that are going to be coming very soon. It won’t just be the so called far right, it will be the average Joe on the street who will become unglued.
Who is this Tom Zenker fellow. Sounds like a plant. I have a hard time believing anyone was yelling ‘kill them’..’get our guns out’ ‘communist bast$#%’. Something doesn’t smell right with that part of this story.
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