Tea Party Video: Right-Wing Tax Protests Caught On Tape

HuffPost has comprehensive coverage of the Tax Day Tea Party protests. Click here for the latest photos and video.

Anti-tax activists are assembling around the country today for Tax Day Tea Parties. HuffPost is following these protests with the help of citizen journalists. Check back here throughout the day for new video.

Citizen reporter Jenny Hatch surveys the Tea Party crowd in in Denver, Colorado. One participant tells her, "It's better to be an American than a hyphenated American...":

Media Matters has put together a mash-up of the Tea Party media coverage today:

Judd Legum describes the scene in Annapolis, Maryland:

The audience, which was quite large despite a heavy rain, was told that Obama was leading the country toward "dictatorship." The government, we were told, was creating a crisis "100 times as grim as 9/11," the people were being "brainwashed" into complacency by the media and soon "the face of big brother will be exposed and the slogans of a classless one party system are revealed to us."

At a protest in Concord, New Hampshire, one protester held a sign depicting "Obamanism" as a gun robbery, and another sign said "B.O. Stinks And So Does His Big Government Agenda":

One HuffPost citizen reporter, who goes by revhatchell, sent in a video of the Santa Monica, CA tea party, where anti-tax demonstrates were not happy to share their space with Code Pink, an anti-war organization.

Demonstrators in Nebraska sign a petition to send to the state legislature:

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In Louisville, Kentucky, protesters sing the national anthem, which segues into a country-music anti-bailout song:

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EARLIER:

Several events happened on Feb. 27, less than two weeks after CNBC's Rick Santelli howled about irresponsible government spending and called for a Chicago tea party in an impromptu rant. And several people brought video cameras to those events. Herewith, a roundup of some of the best vids, which hopefully provide clues for what to expect on tax day:

GIANT TEABAGS: A big crowd came out in Dallas, with some protesters dressed up in medieval stocks costumes (attached signs said the protesters were "shackled to the stimulus"). The whole tea party meme presents countless opportunities for fun costumes. These particular getups have the added bonus of a remarkable resemblance to giant teabags:

CONSPIRACY THEORIES: A video by bloggerinterrupted showcases a string of protesters from a Feb. 27 event in Cleveland who don't believe President Obama was born in the United States. Any good protest will have its fringe weirdos, but the birth certificate deniers may be emerging as an undercurrent in the tea party movement -- D.C. tea party organizers booked Obama-birth-certificate-skeptic Alan Keyes to speak at the tax day event outside the Treasury Department.

MICHELLE MALKIN: This video, from a tea party event in Washington, D.C., does a great job transitioning from the Santelli rant to a small protest outside the White House, and with some sweet background music. The crowd might be weak, but it's peppered with conservative celebrities like Michelle Malkin, who is prepared to defend earnest tea partiers from saboteurs:

ANGER: This video from a tea party in Chicago (which Santelli did not attend) shows Dan Proft, a political commentator for a local TV station, stirring up an enthusiastic crowd. He starts to lose them (around 2:45) after insisting that the Republican party ought to get with the program and start speaking up for small business. An angry guy off camera starts cussing up a storm. It gets even worse when Proft talks about reviving the Republican party in Chicago, and the angry guy really flips his wig and a few others start booing. "I don't represent the Republican party," Proft pleads at the end.

MOTORIZED PIGS: Protesters in Fort Worth take the prize for protest flair by riding around on motorized pigs next to a highway. The cowboy hats, boots, and the PORK DC sign make an awesome visual.

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.

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Comments

[FloridaBlogger]

I filmed this in Fort Walton Beach, Florida. Be sure to watch the part where the mayor of a neighboring city says that Obama is more dangerous to the future of the U.S. than Osama Bin Laden. I contacted him directly and told him how inappropriate I thought his comments were.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUX9W6JpK4c

[csturgeo]

PLEASE look and listen to this guy in small town Medina, Oh.
He's Chris Long of the Ohio Christian Alliance and he says Washington is a greater threat than 9/111!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wH0f2AqLrk

Really? Get a grip. You lost the election fair and square. The majority ruled and now you say it doesn't. Which is it?

[Margo Arrowsmith]

I asked many people about their signs. What does 'taxation without representation mean?' Who calls Obama 'The Messiah'? Do they know who started that? I got a lot of blank looks, some hostility and one person who would talk. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EyFg4LxDDBI

[Principaldad]

Great video Margo.

[paco0862]

This came about because people are sick of being shown lip service ever four years without action. It isn't a vast right wing conspiracy and the people who say it is are scared because this is a mass demonstration against their beloved party leaders and anointed savior. We all know the GOP could not have organized this massive demonstration because their party is tattered. Both parties should be scared. I hope there is a grass roots effort that leads to a viable third party to keep both these corporations, because that's what both political parties are, in check. Our system was built upon checks and balances and currently a check needs to be placed on our leaders, by normal citizens, before my future and my children's future are mortgaged away. As citizens we are forced to spend responsibly and within our means. Government is meant to lead and set an example, what an example it has set.

[AlexTinker]

While reactionary citizens carried out their tea party stunt yesterday, young clean energy leaders nationwide prepared for 100+ town hall forums with members of congress and other elected officials to discuss real economic and environmental solutions as part of Focus the Nation 2009: A nationwide town hall on the clean energy future. Find out more at http://www.focusthenation.org.

[Da Centrist]

I went to a tea bag party yesterday and I think that a few of them would actually fit right in with people like Senator Bernie Sanders. because a few of them recognize that too big to fail is too big to exist.

the problem is most of these tea baggers are hate mongers who don't don't now that the people they are hating on are the ones who are trying to help them and the people encouraging the tea bagging are really the ones who they are mad at.

[Anele]

WHAT IS WRONG WITH ALL THESE PEOPLE AND THEIR STUPID TEA PARTIES? DON'T THEY HAVE SOMETHING MORE CONSTRUCTIVE TO DO? WHERE WERE THEY WHEN BUSH WAS SPENDING ALL THE MONEY IN IRAQ AND SENDING OUR YOUNG PEOPLE TO WAR FOR SO MANY YEARS?

[DickClark]

Where is the site with all of the far out signs?....I saw the one of President Obama as Hitler....
Where is the one of President Obama with big ears and fat lips.... Knew that was coming....expected it during his first 100 days and it came...and was not disappointed...
We need a collection of these abominations to spread so the uninformed can see the extent of the disfunction out there regarding our first black president.

[MJJM]

President Obama was correct again, when the GOP is bitter, they cling to GUNS and god, in that order!

Tea without COLOR is BITTER hot water!

Bitter Bag Party!

[Elephantinroom]

I still don't understand why people clinging to their guns and their God is a bad thing.
I do, however, think that borrowing money from China to throw at frogs and pigs
is a bad thing.

[deepfreezevideo]

The Burleson Texas Tax Day Tea Party can be seen at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUSmoZ1WPe8

[RobertWV1964]

What I see is a bucnh of morons backing an out of control government by trying to turn it into something get people to back these mad men in Washington.They had better remember how this country got started and get with the responsible ones out here who are looking for the best for this country and stop this crazy spending and if you do not like it when it is all over and done with you can take you ass out of my country and you can start packing now.

[kittenz]

How STUPID are these "protestors"? Most of them are only parroting what Rush Limbaugh has told them to say. Do they think that "Freedom isn't free" applies only to soldiers? The jobs that government spending creates, and the infrastructure it builds, help keep our country free and uphold our standard of living. Do these ignorant people want it so that only the rich can afford telephones, schools, and electricity? Not to mention roads, bridges, and parks. Taxes are part of the cost of freedom. These people need to stop shouting inanities and THINK for awhile.

[ObamacratInCA]

So after two weeks of free, promotional saturation by Fox, on television, via social networks and email the nationwide total of teabaggers was 262,025 according to fivethirtyeight.com, which was very accurate during the campaign season.

By comparison, the most conservative estimate for the Million Man March by the National Park Service, was 400,000.

[StillMadMatt]

Mad as hell at the wrong people. Also known as misdirected anger. Look in the mirrir for the real culprits:)

[Rolf618]

Well that was worth a good day of laughter.
And to think that some of us were worried about a dearth of political humor with Bush out of office...