D.C. Tea Party Protest Stymied By Rain, Police

Tea party protesters braved some very uncooperative weather Wednesday to join a tax day tea party in a park next to the White House in Washington, D.C. Several hundred protesters (an event organizer tallied no fewer than 1,500 attendees) withstanding driving rain to chant slogans and wave signs decrying government spending and taxes.

"Hell no, we won't pay!" they chanted.

"I'm here to protest the spending and the taxes and the government running the private affairs of private industries," said Steve, 51, a computer programmer who took the day off to drive from Northern Virginia and pay "a big chunk of money" to park in a downtown garage. "I'm here to protest the bailing out of companies when they should be going bankrupt."

Steve came prepared. He'd waterproofed his sign, which depicted 1990s sitcom icon Steve Urkel saying "Did I do that?" next to a downward-sloping stock market graph. The other side of his placard showed Obama with a long Pinocchio nose.

Rain aside, the event hit a few snags. The original plan had been to dump a million teabags onto the ground, but authorities shot that down. There was also supposed to be a second event outside the Treasury department, but authorities said no to that as well. Chalk it up to the fickle D.C. police department.

"We thought we had a permit but then they were like, 'No, you don't,'" says organizer J. Peter Freire.

Many tea partiers stressed that they were not attacking the administration from the Right.

"My sign is non-partisan," said Jill, who took a day off from her job in the insurance industry to commute from Woodbridge, Virginia. Her sign said she was registered to vote and that Congress was in trouble. "I'm hoping this is a non-partisan event."

Another non-partisan attendee, 29-year-old Abraham Mudrick, says he flew in from Oregon just for the tea party. "There were plenty of tea parties in Oregon, but I wanted to be in the belly of the beast," he told the Huffington Post.

Freire told the Huffington Post that while famous types like Alan Keyes were scheduled to speak at the event, they were given not given better billing than regular folks who wanted to talk. At one point, a speaker yelled out, "To hell with the Left!"

The crowd responded with a chant: "USA! USA! USA!"

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Comments

[Citizen4honor]

05:49 PM on 04/15/2009

So next year when you all have to work 6 months of every year to pay your taxes you're going to be happy instead of the 4.5 months like working Americans making over $75,000 do now?

At some point, we are ALL going to have taxes raised to pay for this outlandish gov't spending.

Congress is high on our money.

[LexKitten]

05:04 PM on 04/15/2009

I love the sign about how this is what revolution must have felt like in 1776... Right along side the signs saying how we ARE a Christian nation... I think these guys have their world history confused.

[agnesmarsala]

04:48 PM on 04/15/2009

You know in my youth I participated in many protests in Washington, DC, Harrisburg, PA, New York City and various other locations around the country that were attended by thousands if not hundreds of thousands of people. We never got the type of serious news coverage these idiots get. Not to mention an actual response from the White House! It seems if those on the right protest, no matter that they're asking for what we finally have (taxation with representation, tax cuts, etc...) the press go out of their way to report it "objectively". I guess this is the price we pay for the 24hour news cycle, any boob can get on the tube!

[JustLucky]

03:46 PM on 04/15/2009

It's time for those irresponsible media crazies who've organized and publicized this nonsense to STOP - they're dragging all sorts of other nasty issues in - this isn't about taxes. When signs are saying things like "Hang 'em high! Traitors...", etc., things are obviously going into lunatic mode.

[Panglos]

02:50 PM on 04/15/2009

This is purported to be a "grass roots" phenomenon. This morning FOX News reported that a truck in Washington DC carrying 1,000,000 tea bags was turned away for lack of a permit. Which "grass roots American" arranged and paid for a million tea bags? Isn't it curious that FOX was aware that the truck was coming when nobody else was?

[henst]

02:17 PM on 04/15/2009

A sad spectacle.
Frightening for the reasons stunt man and professional wrestler Rowdy Roddy Piper found wresting fans frightening: They can reproduce and they can vote.

[IslandGyal]

02:10 PM on 04/15/2009

"I'm hoping this is a non-partisan event."; I willplay dumb, so no one will call me what I am you betcha **wink, wink**

[thepoliticalcat]

01:58 PM on 04/15/2009

If they're *really* nonpartisan, shouldn't they be shouting "To hell with the right!" as well? Given that the right have controlled the Senate and House for well over a decade now, and had the White House for eight years, AND gotten us into this huge mess by starting TWO unnecessary and very expensive wars? Nonpartisan, yeah, right.

[roquelaure]

01:56 PM on 04/15/2009

Man, these guys are out of practice. No permits, and no chant!

'"Hell no, we won't pay!" they chanted."

Psst. Guys. It's supposed to rhyme. Love, The Left.

[That Guy]

02:13 PM on 04/15/2009

lolz. They really can't do anything right, can they?

[LWilkinson315]

02:25 PM on 04/15/2009

yawn!
what a boring revolution...wake me when a Tea Bagger says something that actually makes sens