The Tea Party Express bus was met with roaring approval at Friendship Park in Battle Creek, MI. This Labor Day rally in Battle Creek occurred on Day 11 of a 16-day nationwide tour.
What Are the Chances?
This bus tour started on August 28 in Sacramento, CA and it will culminate on September 12, 2009 with a Taxpayer March on our nation’s capitol in Washington D.C. The organizers of the Tea Party Express are leaders in the fight against Obama Care, Cap and Trade, out of control spending, and Obama’s socialist agenda.
The bus arrived around 8:45 PM, about 75 minutes past the scheduled arrival time of 7:30. Despite the overdue arrival the crowd stayed put and remained enthusiastic. In fact additional attendees continued to stream in even as the bus arrived. Even intermittent periods of light rain didn’t dampen spirits. I would estimate the crowd size to be in the neighborhood of 1500. It was a great turnout as the crowd filled the park’s amphitheatre and overflowed along the street and across the way.
My wife and I arrived early, about 6:30, to get a good vantage point and talk with other likeminded individuals before the event formally started. Arriving early also gave me an opportunity to use my Sony boom box to serenade the crowd with sound bytes of Obama elaborating on his plans for America. Among other topics, these bytes included Obama lecturing a woman about how it might be better to give her elderly mother pain killers rather than surgery to correct her ailment, and how his Cap and Trade plan would necessarily cause electricity rates to skyrocket.
During the actual festivities there were speeches and musical entertainment. My hats off to the leaders and organizers of this bus tour as they are performing a great service for patriotic Americans all across our great nation. They are the catalyst bringing Americans of all political stripes together to combat Obama’s socialist agenda. They deserve our thanks and our financial support.
Statue of Liberty Costume
This rally is receiving national press coverage. Mark Williams, one of the leaders of the Tea Party Express, mentioned that there were reporters from CNN and the New York Times at
Young Kid with Obama Mask. The Sign Says it All!
the Battle Creek rally today. It is great to see this movement getting national press coverage. Will the coverage be fair or will it have the typical tilt to the left? I’ll report back after their stories are released. I also saw a Fox News reporter and cameraman, but I think they were a local station, and a man who appeared to be a local newspaper reporter. So the Battle Creek viewing area and newspaper should see coverage as well.
National media coverage is a great indicator of success for this grass roots movement. Coverage makes it difficult for our elected officials to ignore the will of the American people. While we should be proud of our accomplishments there is still much work to be done. As the evening came to a close an important reminder was given to all attendees. We must continue to grow this movement. We cannot return home satisfied that our efforts are generating nationwide attention. We must build on our successes and organize into a stronger electoral force. The entrenched powers in D.C. are betting that we won’t have the staying power required to either influence their votes or boot them out of office. We must and we will prove them wrong. Join your local Tea Party organization. Better yet, get your neighbor to join with you. If you are not from the Battle Creek area (I know of one couple from Warren, MI) and would like to stay involved, albeit closer to home, please email me at admin@limitgovnow.com and I’ll help find an organization with the optimum geographic fit for you.
dMarie1776 11:25 am on September 8, 2009 Permalink
I think you crowd estimate is spot-on. The story by the Battle Creek Enquirier estimated the crowd size as just 500. See http://www.battlecreekenquirer.com/article/20090908/NEWS01/909080314/1002/NEWS01
I don’t know if the reporter was there too early or cannot estimate a crowd. But I was there about an hour before the event until about 9:30 pm – and I know how to estimate a crowd size. I’ve seen TEA parties and rallies with anywhere from abour 400 people to 5000. This crowd was definitely about 1500 or so strong–perhaps even more.
You don’t mention this i n your articel, but I think it’s important. Mark WIlliams, the MC, at one point asked teh crowd if there were any people for whom this was their first rally and a very surprisning number of people siad yes or raised their hands. This is good news! It means this movement is growing!