Vitter Wants National Tea Party Day

The tax day tea party movement is gaining steam, as TV celebrities and political figures try to glom onto what might be a burgeoning populist groundswell. Neil Cavuto and Sean Hannity of Fox News will join events in Sacramento and Atlanta. Newt Gingrich will be in New York. And on Friday Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) proposed to make a law honoring April 15 as National Tea Party Day.

Vitter's got a Web page that says "millions" of Americans will join protests "to register their displeasure with our government's addiction to wasteful spending, bailouts for big business, and higher taxes."

Before they register that displeasure, Vitter wants them to register as Citizen Co-Sponsors of his effort to "force the Senate to recognize this day as a formal protest by the people against these policies."

An organizer of the tax day protest outside the Treasury Department in Washington, D.C. told the Huffington Post that several Republican politicians -- it now seems Vitter might have been one of them -- had asked to speak at the event, only to be rebuffed because, as the organizer puts it, "We're not a function of the Republican party."

Newt Gingrich might be an unwelcome guest at the event in New York if anybody reminds protesters that the former congressman flip-flopped to support the bailout of the financial industry.

CNBC's Rick Santelli, the man whose barely-intelligible cri de coeur brought this whole thing about, will not be participating in any tea parties on tax day.

The Huffington Post wants to have citizen journalists at as many of these events as possible. If you think you'd be interested in attending one of the Tea Parties and reporting back to us with dispatches, photos, or video, click here to sign up. We'll contact you shortly with further instructions.

Comments

[skippy20008]

How about national No Obscene Government Contracts for Halliburton and Companies Like Halliburton Day?

[michiganman2]

why isn't this guy in prison?

or at least back in louisiana where he belongs

[cjt1957]

Ever heard of Freedom of speech and freedom to assemble?

[kevinw]

Is that where you protest the taxes paid on your fee to the prostitute and the madam of the house?

[Rog49Thomas]

I recommend a double espresso - no sugar.

Hopefully the caffeine will jolt him back to reality.

[Paulied]

I think this is a mistake. What Senator Vitter wants is a national teabag day.

[Scalawag]

lol!

[stargazer13]

please make it go away

[Horus45]

When they start throwing boxes of tea into public waters they should be indicted for "Polluting Public Waters".

[LawrenceNC]

Does anyone (especially his wife) take this "John" seriously?

[GeorgeKaplan]

NO!

[nobozos]

As much as I hate to agree with Vitter, millions of Americans ARE furious. I know I am. Bailing out the fat cats while I try to survive on $800 chaps my a$$.
I wrote to the White House to express my anger.

[solarian]

throw all these clown in the ocean and throw them a anchor for a life preserver

[DoomtoNeoCons]

d-d-d-diap-p-pers?

[CatoTheCensor]

They said 'tea party,' not 'teabag party,' Mr. Vitter. Put your diapers away.

[AxelDC]

The Boston Tea Party was December 16, 1773. We already have enough holidays between late November and mid-January.

Is this an even to commemorate American Patriots (I mean the real ones from the 18th C), or just a political stunt to protest taxes in an era of record deficits?

If anything, Americans have been heavily undertaxed since Ronnie Raygun. I support deficit spending in a severe recession, but we've been running up the bill for decades now. This idea that the government can run the largest defense budget in the world and provide for the general welfare without receiving taxes is driving the US into bankruptcy.

Republicans are intellectually bankrupt, so they have to resort to distorting history and lying about budget realities to regain some sense of relevancy.

[Horus45]

"Republicans are intellectually bankrupt, so they have to resort to distorting history and lying about budget realities to regain some sense of relevancy."

If they did not do this, how would they manage to get the low wage slobs to back their protest against higher taxes for the VERY wealthy?

[lmvd3]

That's been done already. They never have a single original thought, do they?

[AxelDC]

Vitter probably got it from his madame.

[DoomtoNeoCons]

Or read about it on the side of a Depend's box.

[walleymr]

tea party? are they going to dumb barrels of tea into the harbor dressed as natives? oh, that'll really show the monarchy across the pond.