Palin Rallies Tea Party Crowd On Boston Common

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M.R.F. Buckley of The Boston Channel reports:

Thousands of Boston-area residents fed up with what they see as a tax happy, free-spending government got a shot of political adrenaline at a Tea Party Express rally on the Boston Common Wednesday, waving flags and signs as they listened to former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin take shots at Washington.

"From now until November, when they say, 'Yes, we can,' we're going to say, 'Oh no you don't,'" said marquee speaker and 2008 Republican Vice Presidential candidate Palin, voicing the grassroots movement's dissatisfaction with Congressional politicians and the Obama administration.

"We'll keeping clinging to our Constitution and our guns and our religion and you can keep the change, because the voters are coming," Palin said, to rousing cheers.

[...]

With husband Todd by her side, Palin called for a reduction in taxes and criticized Obama's $800 billion stimulus spending program. She said Americans now spend 100 days out of the year working to support their government.

"We are now headed toward being a country where, instead of the people deciding how much money our government has, now it's our government deciding how much money the people have, and that's backwards and we're going to turn that around. It is time to remind them that government should be working for us. We should not have to work for the government," Palin said.

More coverage from Associated Press, Politico, Boston Herald and Boston Globe.

Ed Morrissey comments at Hot Air:

"Sarah Palin delivers the speech every Tea Partier wants to hear today. Palin traveled to Boston as part of the Tea Party Express, speaking in front of their bus to a cheering throng. Calling the Obama administration 'all Alinsky all the time,' Palin sent a message to the White House that 'we’ll keep clinging to our Constitution, our guns and our religion and you can keep the change!' It’s not far off from her speech at the SRLC in terms of topics, but there’s a much heavier emphasis here on rallying the crowd as one would expect at this event."

[...]

"Palin’s critics keep trying to claim that she’s out of the mainstream, but the rapid growth of Tea Party support demolishes that claim. If Democrats think this is a passing phase, they will find themselves very surprised in the midterms."

From Jim Hoft's post at Gateway Pundit:

[Boston radio talker] "Ken Pittman called to say that police told him that there were 13,000-16,000 patriots at the rally today – By far the largest conservative rally he’s been to in Boston."

More coverage and commentary as it comes in...

- JP

Video: Sarah Palin’s Full Boston Tea Party Speech

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Courtesy of The Right Scoop:



- JP

Wednesday Morning Sarahcuda Bites for April 14, 2010

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Please come to Boston for the springtime: Today's the day of the Boston Tea Party 2.0, with Sarah Palin and an expected crowd of 10,000. A commendably snark-free editorial in today's liberal Boston Globe posits that:

"Getting people engaged in politics, and feeling that they can make an impact on the local scene, freshens a sometimes-stagnant system. Palin, whose commitment to grass-roots reform remains her most appealing trait, deserves credit for motivating her supporters."

[...]

"A lot of good can come from open engagement. In that respect, Palin’s visit is a plus for Boston, and she should be welcomed by all."

The race-baiting communists at Workers World were considerably less reasonable in their editorial, using some form of "raaaacist" no less than eight times in just three paragraphs. The Reds who edit WW were somewhat more restrained with their use of "faaaascist," choosing to employ the epithet only twice in the aforementioned three graphs.

The Commies/Socialists/Whatever aren't the only ones who will be counter-protesting the Tea Party protest. Their fellow-travelling Democrat cousins will be doing so, as will some infiltrator filth. Nobody likes party crashers, at least nobody on the sane side of political center, that is.

The busybodies who get so wee-wee'd up over how financially successful the 2008 GOP vice presidential candidate has been since the end of July may be surprised to learn that Gov. Palin will not be paid for her Boston Tea Party appearance, that is if they are capable of learning anything at all:

“She’s appearing because she supports the Tea Party Express and the Tea Party movement,” said Tea Party Express chairman Mark Williams. “She’s doing this on her own dime.”

Tea Party TV will be streaming the event live, as will Boston's WHDH-TV. CNN Live and Fox News LiveStream may also provide coverage. With Congress back in session, we wouldn't count on C-SPAN to do the same. There are live threads going at Free Republic and Conservatives 4 Palin.

Bull’s-eye in the Big Easy: Jedediah Bila believes that Gov. Palin's SRLC speech proved that she's "ready for the next step, whatever it may be":

"Make no mistake: Sarah Palin has definitely arrived."

Play it Again, Sam: Rick's Café Américain blog quotes Israel Matzav, for whom Sarah Palin's statement that "Jerusalem is not a settlement, and Israel is our friend" was music to his ears.

Tough Act to Follow: Times-Picayune reporter Stephanie Grace is focused on Bobby Jindal's political prospects, even though the Pelican State's governor has made it clear that he's not at all interested in jumping into the 2012 presidential race:

"He didn't electrify the room like Palin did, but... he lives to fight another day."

Good on you, Stephanie, for standing by your man.

The Last Honest Liberal: Sen. Joe Lieberman advises that anyone who underestimates The Arctic Fox as a political force "does so at some peril."

Taking a Long Shot: Jim Rutledge, who is challenging three-term Democrat Barbara Mikulski for her seat in the U.S. Senate is not ashamed of his working-class roots:

"I’m proud to share the same conservative values as Sarah Palin, Newt Gingrich, and J.C. Watts."

J.C. Watts? Didn't he vote for Obama or something?

- JP

Michael Graham: Let the party begin!

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Boston Herald columnist and WTKK-FM (96.9 Boston Talks) host Michael Graham says he can see Palin Derangement Syndrome from his house:

You’ll see it too if you come to Boston Common tomorrow morning when Sarah Palin and the Tea Party Express roll into town. I’ll be broadcasting my radio show live during the event and I’ve been asked to be part of the program as well. But what I’m really looking forward to is seeing the gathering of hate-spewing, anger-crazed lunatics.

Or as they’re more commonly known, “Massachusetts liberals.”

What - you think the Tea Partiers are angry? You obviously haven’t picked up the latest copy of the Weekly Dig, a local “progressive” publication that invited readers to design signage to welcome Palin and push back against Tea Party hate speech.

Among the signs published are several featuring a word very similar to “witch,” a couple of swastikas, a Hitler mustache and - in an odd move by anti-Second-Amendment liberals - one with an American flag, a bleeding tea bag and numerous bullet holes.

Stay classy, Boston liberals!

These unhinged leftists, says Graham, claim that Gov. Palin and the Tea Partiers are name-calling idiots, so...

"... the only responsible, progressive thing to do when they come to Boston is to show up at their rally, wave idiotic signs and call them names."

Here's a preview of some of those idiotic signs the wacko left will be waving. Don't expect the lamestream, state-controlled media to get as wee-wee'd up over these signs as the ones the Tea Partiers will be carrying. That would be fair and balanced reporting, a practice which died about the same time that journalism was lowered into the grave.

Don't expect the media running dogs to mention that some of the organizations demonstrating against Gov. Palin are Red Star front groups, either. That's a side of the left in this country that the Obamunist media dare not expose, lest folks get the right idea or something.

Angry, race-baiting "progressives" have been organizing their protests for weeks, so there's no telling what these Loony Tunes leftists will do Wednesday when the Boston Tea Party, 2020 edition, gets going. One thing you can take to the teller -- it will be nasty. Nasty is as nasty does.

Read Graham's full Herald column here. And if you plan to attend, don't forget to bring along your camera to document any moonbattery committed by the unhinged ones.

- JP

Politico: Brown says no snub intended; he will be at work Wednesday

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Staffers for Sen. Scott Brown have told Politico that the Massachusetts Republican never planned to attend Wednesday's tea party event in Boston featuring Sarah Palin and that his absence should not be interpreted as a snub:

Brown spokeswoman Gail Gitcho told POLITICO that coming off of a two week legislative recess, Brown had always planned to be in Washington this week.

Brown drew notice Monday after the Boston Herald reported that Brown was skipping the rally.

In a story headlined “Scott Brown snubs Sarah Palin, bags Tea Party rally,” Herald reporter Edward Mason wrote that “Brown’s decision to skip the first big rally in Boston by the group whose members are credited with helping him win election has some experts saying he’s tossed the Tea Party overboard, as he prepares for re-election in 2012.”

The story was fodder for bloggers eager to highlight any GOP slight directed at Palin or a rift between a GOP lawmaker and the tea party movement.

Among those bloggers who tried to make political hay out of the non-snub were not only the nutroots left, but also a few conservative bloggers, most notably Dan Riehl:

"Is Brown better than Kennedy? Yes. But if his post-election tendency to immediately go Hollywood, opting for matinee idol status over substantive individual who wanted the job so he could go to work wasn't enough, his slight of the very people who helped him win suggests he's the type of self-serving jerk we need fewer of in Washington and not some Mr. Smith."

We can understand why leftist bloggers would seize upon a less-than-accurate story just to slam Sarah Palin and the Tea Party movement. But why did Riehl go after Brown? Although he's been critical of Gov. Palin at times, we doubt that smearing her was his intention. Rather, we suspect an itchy trigger finger. In fairness to Riehl, he's not the only one who was fooled by the state-run lamestream media's divide-and-conquer attack. Moonbattery, one of our favortie surfing sites, fell for it too.

Those of us on the right often criticize our opposition on the left for not doing their homework. They tend to take any story from the lamestream media at face value, especially when it suits their agenda, and casting dispersion on the Tea Party movement and any Republican, especially Gov. Palin, is a large part of their agenda. Scott Brown is also a favorite target of the left because his special election hit them hard right where they live -- in one of the bluest of the blue states.

But that's no excuse for conservative bloggers. A simple telephone call to Sen. Brown's office would have provided a plausible explanation for Brown's absence from Wednesday's Boston Tea Party, and Riehl should have made it before jumping the gun. Showing up for work is a pretty good excuse, especially at a workplace like the U.S. Senate, where many of the employees (former Sen. Barack Obama is a good example) all too often find things more important to them to do than their actual jobs. Brown sits on the Senate Armed Services Committee, and there's an important hearing scheduled for Wednesday. That's where we need him to be.

Speaking Monday afternoon with Boston-area talk radio host Howie Carr, Brown said that he is “not avoiding anybody.

“I’m doing my job…They elected me to do a job,” Brown said, pointing out that he missed some of his daughter’s basketball games for votes. “This is what I do.”

Conservatives have an unfortunate tendency to form into circular firing squads, even when we have the leftists on the run. Most of us have been guilty at one time or another of going after right of center politicians for whatever reasons, which only provides fodder for the Left to attack our side. We've got to stop eating our young if we hope to get back into the driver's seat some day. We've also got to stop letting the lamestream media manipulate us, as they seem to be able to do with ease at times.

h/t: Free Republic

- JP