We’d like to know how many of you went to a Tax Day Tea Party and where, so please vote for the location you attended. If you didn’t go to one, let us know that, too. Then leave a comment on the thread about why you went or didn’t go, where you went if it’s not listed, what your experiences were, what you liked or didn’t like, and what you got out of it all.
At the Virginia Beach Town Center Fountain Plaza, reports range from about 1,000 to 3,000 people who turned out on their lunch hours today for that metro area’s Tax Day Tea Party. The turnout even got a shout out from former House Speaker Newt Gingrich on Sean Hannity’s show on Fox News Channel tonight, who said it was a “several thousand” turnout. These pictures are courtesy of Robert Dean of the Virginia Beach Taxpayer Alliance and the Tidewater Libertarian Party.
Thousands, yes thousands, of citizens turned out this evening for the Richmond Tea Party! Reports from across the state indicate large crowds at various events, but I don’t think anyone expected what is happening in downtown Richmond. Speaking with people there estimates ranged from four to seven thousand people - not exaggerations at all. Everyone was amazed.
Traffic in downtown was jammed for much of the late afternoon as people poured in. The weather is awful, but there are still people arriving…
These pictures don’t really do justice to the actual turn out, but it gives you some sense of the crowd.
The bet is that the media will downplay the size of the crowd and the enthusiasm. Let them. This is the kind of movement that will be dismissed by the far left…until after election day when they are left trying to explain the train that just hit them.
In yesterday’s News Stand, I noted that Democrat gubernatorial candidate Terry (T-Mac) McAuliffe did the typical bow and scrape to the teachers union, a radical bunch that lobbies not only on educational issues (and usually to block reforms at that, but always for more money) but for abortion and against lowering taxes and the entire liberal litany. But it goes beyond the ”I will raise Virginia teachers pay to the national average mantra” each liberal rotely obligates him- or herself to.
According to the Richmond Times-Dispatch, he also wants to help them with mortgages and car loans. No one is going to outbid McAuliffe. He’s also Mr. Pie-In-The-Sky — he refused to provide specifics on how it will be paid for or guidelines for qualifying for the goodies. The best anyone could get from him was from his press aide, Lis Smith, in an e-mail, no less:
“There will be a criteria for who would receive the loans. … Terry would work with the Board of Education and the Department of Education to determine what the criteria should be.”
That tells us a lot!
But it doesn’t stop there, either. T-Mac paid homage to the man that has his old job, Governor Tim Kaine who doubles as the Democrat National Committee chairman: He wants to expand the governor’s pre-K program.
Here’s a program no one asked for, no one wanted, that we got forced into despite the budget shortfalls over the last two years. Certainly, no one wants anymore of it, and no fiscally responsible candidate would say we could afford it. But in the mind of those who think the government must raise our children, we get it whether we want it or not, whether it works or not. If it’s to pay homage and seek favor from major party players and liberal special interests, all the better to perpetuate it.
As mentioned in the News Stand, last post, another Tea Party is scheduled in Lynchburg at 3:00 at Monument Terrace downtown. This wasn’t listed on the TaxDayTeaParty Virginia Web page, so we wanted to bring it to your attention in case you are in the area, or will be in the area, and can’t make the original one scheduled for 5:00 on the Waterfront. This makes 20 in Virginia today and 21 total incuding the one this past weekend in Williamsburg. Looks like Virginia has rediscovered its revolutionary roots.
It’s here. Tax Day. Have you filed yet? It’s here. Tea Party Day. Are you going to one?
Today also is Virginia’s political spring rite: The Shad Planking. Normally, one would expect a large turnout with so much interest in the statewide campaigns and so many candidates. But the weather is anything but spring-like, tickets cost money and that there are 19 free Tea Parties which promise to be more fun . . . hmmm. We’ll see. Some, doubtless, will do both. There are enough parties with staggered times that double or triple dipping is possible. (Probable?) In fact, according to the Lynchburg News & Advance, there are two in that city, with a new one organized by some businessmen at 3:00 at Monument Terrace in downtown. That makes an unofficial 20th Tea Party.
If you haven’t guessed by now, the News Stand is all about tea and shad today, for the most part. Enjoy each, virtually, here, and in person, where ever and whichever you attend.
News:
Richmond Tax Day Tea Party is on, rain or shine (Richmond Times-Dispatch)
Protesters Plan to Dump Tea Is Prohibited (Washington Post)
Tax protesters plan tea party for two (Lynchburg News & Advance)
Politicians gather today for annual spring rite — the Shad Planking (Richmond Times-Dispatch)
Shad Planking: Virginia governor’s race hits annual political festival (The Daily Press)
Moran pledges state support to create biotechnology jobs (Richmond Times-Dispatch)
National News:
How Gays Won a Marriage Victory (Washington Post)
Anti-Tax ‘Tea Party’ Protests Expected Across U.S. (FoxNews.com)
