As soon as I saw Santelli’s rant, I knew a chord had been struck.
It was only a month after Obama’s inauguration and conservatives were down-in-the-dumps. But I didn’t believe for a moment they would surrender their country lying down.
Everytime I saw that video people were leaving comments that a tea party event should happen.
The first true organized event I recall came about through the Don’t Go Movement. I’m not sure how I came upon that group since I don’t “Tweet,” but within days of the Santelli rant, they had organized a Chicago Tea Party. In fact, during the planning stages of the national February 27 parties, these events were referred to as “Chicago Tea Parties.”
From my experience with the 2000 election vote recount protests in Sacramento, I KNEW we Freepers had a major role to play in all this. It was just perfectly natural to put out the call on FreeRepublic and, of course, FReepers led the charge that day!