Tea Party protests

This article is about the 21st-century protests themselves. For the Tea Party movement as an ongoing entity, see Tea Party movement. For protests in colonial America, see Boston Tea Party, Chestertown Tea Party, Edenton Tea Party and Philadelphia Tea Party.

Tea Party protests
Part of response to government social and fiscal policies
Date	Predominately 2009–2010
Location	United States
Caused by	Government spending and red tape, US national debt, taxation
Goals	Government adherence to the Constitution, reduce taxation, reduce spending and waste
Methods	Non violent protest Picketing Demonstrations Internet activism Direct action
Status	Ongoing

A Tea Party protest in Hartford, Connecticut, on April 15, 2009.

Tea Party protesters on the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol and the National Mall on September 12, 2009.

The Tea Party protests were a series of protests across the United States that began in early 2009. The protests are part of the larger political Tea Party movement.

Among other events, protests have been held on:

• February 27, 2009, to protest the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP) U.S. financial system bailouts signed by President George W. Bush in October, 2008, and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 stimulus legislation signed by President Barack Obama;
• April 15, 2009, to coincide with the annual U.S. deadline for submitting tax returns, known as Tax Day;
• July 4, 2009, to coincide with Independence Day;
• September 12, 2009, to coincide with the anniversary of the day after the September 11 attacks;
• November 5, 2009, in Washington D.C. to protest health insurance reform;
• March 14–21, 2010, in D.C. during the final week of debate on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

Most Tea Party activities have since been focused on opposing efforts of the Obama Administration, and on recruiting, nominating, and supporting candidates for state and national elections. The name "Tea Party" is a reference to the Boston Tea Party, whose principal aim was to protest taxation without representation. Tea Party protests evoked images, slogans and themes from the American Revolution, such as tri-corner hats and yellow Gadsden "Don't Tread on Me" flags. The letters T-E-A have been used by some protesters to form the backronym "Taxed Enough Already".

Commentators promoted Tax Day events on various blogs, Twitter, and Facebook, while the Fox News Channel regularly featured televised programming leading into and promoting various protest activities. Reaction to the tea parties included counter-protests expressing support for the Obama administration, and dismissive or mocking media coverage of both the events and its promoters.

History

A Tea Party protester holds a sign saying "Remember: Dissent is Patriotic" at a Nashville Tea Party on February 27, 2009.

See also: Taxation history of the United States

The theme of the Boston Tea Party, an iconic event of American history, has long been used by anti-tax protesters with libertarian and conservative viewpoints. It was part of Tax Day protests held throughout the 1990s and earlier. The libertarian theme of the "tea party" protest has also been used by Republican Congressman Ron Paul and his supporters during fundraising events in the primaries of the 2008 presidential campaign to emphasize fiscal conservatism, which they later claimed laid the groundwork for the modern-day Tea Party movement. Young Americans for Liberty, with the endorsement of Rep. Paul, organized a protest in late-2008 for January 24 the following year with participants dressing in Native American costumes and dumping soft drinks into New York's Susquehanna River in protest of former NY Governor David Paterson's proposed 18% tax increase on soda. As home mortgage foreclosures increased, and details of the 2009 stimulus legislation became known, more organized protests began to emerge.

Tea bag campaign

On January 19, 2009, Graham Makohoniuk, a part-time trader and a member of Ticker Forum, posted a casual invitation on the market-ticker.org forums to "Mail a tea bag to congress and senate," a tactic that had first been attempted by the Libertarian Party in 1973. The idea quickly caught on with others on the forum, some of whom reported being attracted to the inexpensive, easy way to reach "everyone that voted for the bailout."

Forum moderator Stephanie Jasky helped organize the group and worked to "get it to go viral." Jasky is also a member of FedUpUSA - a fiscally conservative, non-partisan activist group whose members describe themselves as "a group of investors" who sprung out of the market-ticker.org forums. The group had previously held D.C. protests in 2008. On January 19, 2009, Jasky had posted a formal invitation "to a commemorative tea party." She suggested that supporters, in a coordinated effort, send tea bags on February 1, 2009.

The founder of market-ticker.org, Karl Denninger, a stock trader and former CEO, published his own write-up on the proposed protest. Titled "Tea Party February 1st?", it railed against the bailouts, the national debt and "fraud and abuse in our banking and financial system" which included the predatory lending practices currently at the center of the home mortgage foreclosure crisis. Karl Denninger, who helped form FedUpUSA in the wake of the March, 2008 Federal Reserve bail out of Bear Sterns, had been a guest on both Glenn Beck and CNBC. By February 1, the idea had spread among conservative and libertarian-oriented blogs, forums, websites and through a viral email campaign, and Denninger has since been credited as one of the founders of the movement, and the organizer for the first Tea Party event.

On February 11, 2009, talk radio host and Fox Business Network personality Dave Ramsey appeared on Fox and Friends, waving tea bags and saying: "It's time for a Tea Party." He was on the show criticizing the newly confirmed Secretary of the Treasury Timothy Geithner, who that morning had outlined his plan to use the $300 billion or so dollars remaining in the TARP funds.

"Porkulus" protests and "First Tea Party" claims

The dominant theme seen at some of the earliest anti-stimulus protests was "pork" rather than tea. The term "porkulus" was coined by radio talk-show host Rush Limbaugh on his January 27, 2009 broadcast, in reference to both the 2009 stimulus bill, which had been introduced to the House of Representatives the day before, as well as to pork barrel spending and earmarks. The term proved very popular with conservative politicians and commentators, who began to unify in opposition against stimulus spending after the 2008 General Election.

Competing claims have emerged over which protest was actually the first to organize. According to FreedomWorks state and federal campaigns director Brendan Steinhauser, activist Mary Rakovich was the organizer of a February 10 protest in Fort Myers, Florida, calling it the "first protest of President Obama's administration that we know of. It was the first protest of what became the tea party movement." Rakovich, along with six to ten others, protested outside a townhall meeting featuring President Obama and Florida governor Charlie Crist. Interviewed by a local reporter, Rakovich explained that she "thinks the government is wasting way too much money helping people receive high definition TV signals" and that "Obama promotes socialism, although 'he doesn't call it that'". She was invited to appear in front of a national audience on Neil Cavuto's Fox News Channel program Your World. Regarding the role Freedomworks played in the demonstration, Rakovich acknowledged they were involved "right from the start," and said that in her 21⁄2 hour training session, she was taught how to attract more supporters and was specifically advised not to focus on President Obama.

New York Times reporter Kate Zernike reports that some within the Tea Party credit Seattle blogger and conservative activist Keli Carender with organizing the first Tea Party on February 16, 2009. An article written by Chris Good of The Atlantic credits Carender as "one of the first" Tea Party organizers.

Carendar organized what she called a "Porkulus Protest" on President's Day, a few days before Rick Santelli used the phrase "Tea Party" in what has been characterized as a "rant" broadcast from the floor of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.

Carender contacted conservative author and Fox News contributor Michelle Malkin in order to gain her support and publicize the event. Malkin promoted the protest in several posts on her blog, saying that "There should be one of these in every town in America," and that she would be supplying the crowd with a meal of pulled pork. The protest was held in Seattle on Presidents Day, 2009. Malkin encouraged her readers to stage similar events in Denver on the following day where President Obama was scheduled to sign the stimulus bill into law.

A protest at the Denver Capitol Building was already scheduled to coincide with the bill signing. Malkin reported that it was organized by the conservative advocacy group Americans for Prosperity and spearheaded by the conservative activist group Independence Institute, as well as former Republican Representative and presidential candidate Tom Tancredo. Another protest organized by local conservative talk radio station KFYI was held in suburban Phoenix, Arizona, on February 18, and brought 500 protesters. KFYI organized the protest in reaction to Obama's visit to the local high school to hold his first public talk on elements of the stimulus bill. By February 20, Malkin was using her nationally-syndicated column in an attempt to present these three protests as a movement to her fellow conservatives, continuing to call for more. "There's something in the air," she wrote, "It's the smell of roasted pork."

Birth of the national Tea Party movement

On February 19, 2009, in a broadcast from the floor of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, CNBC Business News Network editor Rick Santelli loudly criticized the government plan to refinance mortgages as "promoting bad behavior" by "subsidizing losers' mortgages", and raised the possibility of putting together a "Chicago Tea Party in July". A number of the traders and brokers around him cheered on his proposal, to the apparent amusement of the hosts in the studio. It was called "the rant heard round the world". The following day after Santelli's comments from the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, roughly 50 national conservative leaders participated in a conference call that gave birth to the national Tea Party movement. In response to Santelli, websites such as ChicagoTeaParty.com, registered in August 2008 by Chicago radio producer Zack Christenson, were live within twelve hours. About 10 hours after Santelli's remarks, reTeaParty.com was bought to coordinate Tea Parties scheduled for the 4th of July and within two weeks was reported to be receiving 11,000 visitors a day.

Also on February 19, Young Americans for Liberty NY State Chairman Trevor Leach created a Facebook page called "The Capitalist Chicago Tea Party—Rick's Revolution," in response to Santelli's call for a national Tea Party. According to The Huffington Post, a Facebook page was developed on February 20 calling for Tea Party protests across the country. Eric Odom of the conservative activist group FreedomWorks was one of the group administrators, and it was created by Phil Kerpen from the conservative advocacy organization Americans for Prosperity. Soon, the "Nationwide Chicago Tea Party" protests were coordinated across over 40 different cities for February 27, 2009, establishing the first national modern Tea Party protest.

Protests

See also: List of Tea Party protests, 2009 and List of Tea Party protests, 2010

Tax day events

Tea Party protesters in Louisville, Kentucky on April 15, 2009.

April 15, 2009, was the date with the largest number of tea parties, demonstrations reported to be occurring in more than 750 cities. Estimates of numbers of protesters varied by location and source. The Christian Science Monitor reported on the difficulties of calculating a cumulative turnout and said some estimates state that over half a million Americans participated in the protests, noting, "experts say the counting itself often becomes politicized as authorities, organizers, and attendees often come up with dramatically different counts." Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform, estimated that at least 268,000 attended in over 200 cities. Statistician Nate Silver, manager of FiveThirtyEight.com, has stated that the largest protests were in capitals and large cities while many others had little or no reliable media coverage and were thus not included in his estimate. He reported a cumulative crowd size estimate from credible sources of 311,460 for 346 cities, which accounted for all capitols and major cities. The largest event, in Atlanta, Georgia, drew between an estimated 7,000 to 15,000 protestors. Some of the gatherings drew only dozens.

On April 15, 2009, a Tea Party protest outside the White House was moved after a box of tea bags was hurled over the White House fence. Police sealed off the area and evacuated some people. The Secret Service brought out a bomb-detecting robot, which determined the package was not a threat. Approximately one thousand people had demonstrated, several waved placards saying "Stop Big Government" and "Taxation is Piracy".

Spring and early summer protests

Tea Party rallies continued in various locales around the nation. Many of these events were focused on opposition to state or local taxes and spending, rather than with national issues. Late April saw Tea Parties in Annapolis, Maryland, White Plains, New York, Jackson, Tennessee, and Monroe, Washington. In May, there were six more Tea Party events in Tennessee, New York, Idaho, Ohio, Nevada, and North Carolina. During June, 2009, another dozen events were held in North Carolina, California, Rhode Island, Texas, Ohio, Michigan, Montana, Florida, New York, and Washington State. On June 29, 2009, in Nashville, Tennessee, four thousand people rallied against proposed emissions trading (cap and trade) energy in Congress and universal health care.

Independence Day rallies

A number of Tea Party protests were held the weekend of July 4, 2009, coinciding with Independence Day. "The rally followed a national effort that drew thousands of activists to Tea Party events across the country on April 15, 2009 when income taxes are due."

On July 17, 2009, there were additional Tea Party protests around the nation organized by a group called Tea Party Patriots, this time against President Obama's proposed health care overhaul that they labeled socialized medicine.

Taxpayer March on Washington

Protesters walking towards the United States Capitol during the Taxpayer March on Washington, September 12, 2009.

Main article: Taxpayer March on Washington

On September 12, 2009, Tea Party protests were held in various cities around the nation. In Washington, D.C., Tea Party protests gathered to march from Freedom Plaza to the United States Capitol. Estimates of the number of attendees varied, from "tens of thousands" to "in excess of 75,000". A rally organizer asserted that one local ABC News station had reported attendance of over one million, but he retracted the statement after ABC News denied making any such report.

Using the counts of those in attendance, the march may have been the largest conservative protest ever held in Washington, D.C., as well as the largest demonstration against President Obama's administration to date.

First Tea Party convention

On February 4, 2010, the first Tea Party national convention was held in Nashville, attended by 600 people. The convention received broad media coverage as former GOP Vice Presidential Candidate Sarah Palin was the featured speaker. Some tea partiers condemned the event, questioning the main sponsor, Tea Party Nation, a for-profit group, as well as the several hundred dollar ticket price. The former Alaska governor was criticized for receiving as much as $100,000 to address the convention.

Tactics

The New York Times reported on August 8, 2009, that organizations opposed to the President Obama's health care legislation were urging opponents to be disruptive. It noted that the Tea Party Patriots web site circulated a memo instructing them to "Pack the hall. Yell out and challenge the Rep’s statements early. Get him off his prepared script and agenda. Stand up and shout and sit right back down." The memo continued, "The Rep [representative] should be made to feel that a majority, and if not, a significant portion of at least the audience, opposes the socialist agenda of Washington."

Some Tea Party organizers have stated that they look to leftist Saul Alinsky's Rules for Radicals for inspiration. Protesters have also appropriated left-wing imagery; the logo for the 9/12 March on Washington featured a raised fist design that was intended to resemble those used by the pro-labor, anti-war, and black power movements of the 1960s. In addition, the slogan "Keep Your Laws Off My Body", usually associated with pro-choice activists, has been seen on signs at tea parties.

On April 8, 2010, it was announced that the National Tea Party Federation had been set up to publicize the movement, and organizers said it would issue news releases, respond to critics and help get the word out about tea party rallies and initiatives. Tea Party activist Mark Skoda noted the slow response to critics who have charged the protesters with racism, stating: "It took us 72 hours to respond to John Lewis... We're not needing to meet every week. But there will now be a way to have a call to arms to respond to attacks with a crisp and clear message."

Reports of abusive behavior

There have been allegations of racism and other abusive behavior by Tea Party protesters.

On March 16, 2010, at a Tea Party protest at the Ohio offices of Rep. Mary Jo Kilroy, a counter-protester with Parkinson's disease was berated by one of the protestors and had dollar bills thrown at him with additional protesters also mocking the individual. The man initially denied the incident, but later apologized for his "shameful" actions.

On March 20, 2010, it was reported that protesters against proposed health care legislation used racial and anti-gay slurs. Gay Congressman Barney Frank was called "homo" and a "faggot several times." Several black lawmakers said demonstrators shouted "the N-word" at them. Congressman André Carson said that as he walked from the Cannon House Office Building with Representative John Lewis and his chief of staff, amid chants of "Kill the bill" he heard the "n-word" about fifteen times coming from several places in the crowd: "One guy, I remember he just rattled it off several times. Then John looks at me and says, 'You know, this reminds me of a different time.'" Moments after the incident, Carson was asked if the people outside were dangerous: "Oh absolutely. I worked in homeland security. I’m from intelligence, and I’ll tell you, one of the largest threats to our internal security…I mean terrorism has an Islamic face, but it really comes from racial supremacist groups." Congressman Emanuel Cleaver said as he walked several yards behind Lewis, he distinctly heard "nigger", and he was also spat upon by a protester while walking up the stairs of the Cannon Building, although whether the spitting was intentional has been questioned. The New York Times, in a correction to a 'Political Times' column, stated about the protestors: "While Tea Party supporters have been connected to a number of such statements, there is no evidence that epithets reportedly directed in March at Representative John Lewis, Democrat of Georgia, outside the Capitol, came from Tea Party members."

Conservative commentator Andrew Breitbart, who wasn't present at the protests, said the racial slurs were fabricated as part of a plan to annihilate the Tea Party movement by all means necessary and that they never actually happened: "It’s time for the allegedly pristine character of Rep. John Lewis to put up or shut up. Therefore, I am offering $10,000 of my own money to provide hard evidence that the N- word was hurled at him not 15 times, as his colleague reported, but just once... If you [Rep. Lewis] provide verifiable video evidence showing that a single racist epithet was hurled as you walked among the tea partiers, or you pass a simple lie detector test, I will provide a $10K check to the United Negro College Fund," Breitbart said. The amount was later raised to $100,000 for "hard evidence." In addition, the National Tea Party Federation sent a letter to the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) denouncing racism and requesting that the CBC supply any evidence of the alleged events at the protest.

Representative Heath Shuler of North Carolina backed up his colleagues, telling the Hendersonville (N.C.) Times-News that he too heard racial slurs. "It was the most horrible display of protesting I have ever seen in my life ... It breaks your heart that the way they display their anger is to spit on a member and use that kind of language," Shuler said. Using the Hendersonville (N.C.) Times-News as his source, Jesse Washington, who covers the "race beat" for the Associated Press, named Shuler as a "corroborating witness" to the slurs alleged by Rep. Cleaver. The AP later clarified that Shuler heard slurs against Frank but not Cleaver, and it was only "after Shuler's office did not return phone calls or e-mails, [they] quoted the News-Times report in a story on the controversy over whether racial slurs had been shouted. Shuler said: “It's obvious that there was a misunderstanding between me and the reporter. Questions have been raised as to why I did not immediately call to correct the paper, but I understand people make mistakes."

Richard Trumka, president of the AFL-CIO, corroborated Lewis' version of events during a confrontation with Breitbart at a Harvard Institute of Politics forum by saying, "I watched them spit at people, I watched them call John Lewis the n-word. [...] I witnessed it. I saw it in person. That's real evidence." One of Representative Anthony Weiner’s staffers reported a stream of hostile encounters with tea partiers roaming the halls of Congress. In addition to mockery, protesters left a couple of notes behind. According to the New York Daily News, one letter "asked what Rahm Emanuel did with Weiner in the shower, in a reference to the mess around ex-Rep Eric Massa. It was signed with a swastika, the staffer said. The other note called the congressman "Schlomo Weiner."

Journalist Kate Zernike, author of Boiling Mad: Inside Tea Party America, has observed, "Rather than explain it as a fringe of the movement, which they plausibly might have, they argued that the ugliness had never happened. Wasn't it suspicious, they asked, that there was no video of spitting or slurs, in an age when everyone's cell phone has a camera? It was difficult, if not disingenuous, for the Tea Party groups to try to disown the behavior." Politicians from both political parties, black conservative activists and columnists have argued that allegations of racism do not reflect the movement as a whole.

See also

• 9-12 Project
• List of Tea Party politicians

Further reading

• Flanders, Laura (2010). At the Tea Party. New York, New York: OR Press. ISBN 978-1-935928-23-2.
• Lepore, Jill (2010). The Whites of Their Eyes: The Tea Party's Revolution and the Battle over American History. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-1-4008-3696-3.

External links

• "Katie Couric interviews Tea Party Leaders", CBS News, January 25, 2010.
• Video coverage, the Taxpayer March on Washington, by C-SPAN
• Signs of Discontent: 9-12-09 in DC, slide show by Life magazine
• Signs of the Tea-Party Protests, photo essay by Time magazine
• "12 Tea Party leaders to watch", National Journal, February 4, 2010.
• Tea Party Express Comes To A Head On Tax Day by NPR
• "The Tea Party and the Economy", About.com, September 30, 2011.
• "A definiton of the tea party", About.com.