Posted on 08/26/2010 5:57:21 AM PDT by STONEWALLS
When Fox News and talk radio host Glenn Beck comes to Washington this weekend to headline a rally intended to "restore honor" to America, he will test the strength - and potentially expose the weaknesses - of a conservative grass-roots movement that remains an unpredictable force in the country's politics.
Beck, who is both admired and assailed for his faith-based patriotism and his brash criticism of President Obama, plans in part to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. as an American hero. He will speak on the anniversary of the "I Have a Dream" speech, from the spot where King delivered it.
Some "tea party" activists say the event, at which former Alaska governor Sarah Palin is also scheduled to speak, will have a greater impact than last September's "9/12" march along Pennsylvania Avenue. Though the attendance figures for that anti-tax rally are disputed, it was the first national gathering to demonstrate the size and influence of the tea party movement.
But with just a few days before the Beck rally, basic questions linger, including how big it will be and whether the event, which Beck says is nonpolitical, will help or hurt Republicans in November. Also unanswered is whether Beck can pull off the connection to King without creating offense - or confrontation with another event the same day led by the Rev. Al Sharpton.
Beck said in a recent broadcast that he did not intentionally choose the "I Have a Dream" anniversary for his rally - but that he believes the coincidence is "divine providence."
"Whites don't own Abraham Lincoln," he said. "Blacks don't own Martin Luther King. Those are American icons, American ideas, and we should just talk about character, and that's really what this event is about. It's about honoring character."
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Bravo Sierra! Beck is NOT the leader of the Tea Party.
Here’s an email from our radio station that I got the other day:
“Full Coverage of the RESTORING HONOR 8-28-10 event will be broadcast on Mountain Talk Radio starting at 9:00 am CST on Saturday 8/28.*
This will be a LIVE 3 hour broadcast direct from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC.
Hear all the speakers….Join the applause……Minute by Minute…As it happens.”
http://mountaintalk97.com/
(click the ‘listen live’ box.)
Save that link if no one in your areas will be covering it.
: )
Nothing wrong with the Tea Party. A large portion, if not the majority, of those in attendance will be Tea Partiers. 40 buses of TP folks are coming from the Richmond area alone.
I believe it will also be broadcast in its entirety on Sirius/XM
Glenn has not said it would. He said to catch the audio on Sirious (sp?) satellite radio, which to me indicates little TV coverage.
Totally agree that there’s nothing wrong with the TP, and sorry if I gave the impression that I thought otherwise.
I keep looking for a bumper sticker that says something like “I’m the Tea Party and you’d better believe I vote.”
I would proudly display that on my Expedition.
Great! Did you catch which channel on Sirius?
Nope, you aren’t the only one. Glenn Beck is Glenn Beck, not The Tea Party. He may support some of the same things, but his rally is hardly a measure of the TP strength or numbers.
I'm sure that racists, race baiters and political hacks from all parties will hate it.
Thank you. If anyone hears about TV “live” coverage, please let us know.
Would calling Fox help get it covered??? If so, anyone have a direct number that will actually be answered?
LLS
***Glenn Beck rally will be a measure of the tea party’s strength**
and the MSM’s ability to do new, newer and newest math measurements on crowd calculations.
Glenn requested specifically that participants not have signs....this is not a protest ...it is an affirmation of American values: faith, honor and truth.
Glad Sharpton will be attending...
What these lefty media types won't admit (or maybe don't understand) is that rallies are only part of the picture. In addition to, or instead of, rallies, many of us have shifted focus to getting our candidates elected. I'm now on my local GOP committee, and working hard toward November and beyond. We have a lot of new energy and new faces, which is very good news. On the local level, the tea party movement has infused new energy into our campaigns, raised the profiles of conservative candidates, encouraged new people to get involved, and helped to define the message. If some of these lefties look at the 8/28 rally as the only indicator of tea party strength and choose to downplay what is happening, they choose to underestimate their opposition. That's OK with me.
You’re welcome!
As frustrating as it is to a lot of us, I think Fox’s choice NOT to cover it is a smart decision. Why add fuel to the fire and make it look like it is a “sanctioned” event of FN? I’m sure they’ll have periodic updates and live spots during the day about it.
I was going to attend this rally...until Beck made his boneheaded comments about gay marriage.
I predict this event will not be as big as he had hoped as a result.
I’m so excited to be attending Glenn’s rally in DC this Saturday...myself and 121 other members of our local Tea Party will be pulling out Saturday at 3:45AM to make the trip...woooohoooooooo!!
There are 12 busloads going to the rally from our rural location. Everything I’ve seem points to a HUGE turnout.
Just gotta laugh at how Beck is said to have promoted his event “relentlessly,” yet when it comes to Sharpton there’s no such modifier.
Glenn, when I heard him, did not mention on which Sirius channel the August 28 event will be carried.
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