SLIDESHOW: Kids Say The Darndest Things At Anti-Tax Tea Parties

Written by Bess Kalb, a senior at Brown University, who attended the Providence, RI Tea Party as a HuffPost citizen journalist. She interviewed a surprising number of slogan-wielding youth along with a couple of adults. Eight interviews and their corresponding photographs are below:

1. Aviva, 11 and Isabelle, 8

Q: What brings you out here today?
Aviva: The big stimulus.

Q: How do you feel about the stimulus?
Aviva: It's not making me happy.
Isabelle: Obama is not making me happy.

2. George MaCauley

Q: Does that sign reflect your mood today?
A: I'm mad as hell, and I'm not about to take it anymore.

3. Emily, 8 and Samuel, 10

Q: Why are you here?
(silence)
Mother: To oppose Obama's trillion dollar budget. To cut the pork.
Samuel: For the pork.
Q: How do you feel about pork spending?
Samuel: I like pork.
Mother: No you don't. We don't like excess spending.
Samuel: I do. I like pork.

• • • • • • • •

Aviva and Isabelle are not happy. (all photos by Bess Kalb)

Story continues below

advertisement

4. Kaitlin, 9, Kyla, 5 and Jon

Q: Why are you here today?
Kyla: I don't know.
Jon: You did in the car.
Kaitlin: To lower taxes.
Jon: It's going to be them that bears the brunt of this.
Kaitlin: In the future.

5. Evan, 8, Marina, 9 and Vera, 4

Q: Is that Barney Frank?
Evan: No.
Marina: Yes.

Q: How do you guys feel about the job he's doing?
Marina: Bad.
Evan: I don't know.
Mother: If it were up to Barney Frank, Evan, you'll start your life in debt.
Evan: That's why we're protesting.
Marina: And term limits.

6. Dan Forbes, "No Relation" (Brown '97)

Q: You don't fit in here.
Dan: I'm a financial planner.

Q: Do you protest much?
Dan: Never. I've never gone protesting before.

Q: Why today?
Dan: I came to observe.

Q: You left the office at 3 in the afternoon.
Dan: I have a lot in common with these guys. We want the same thing, basically.

Q: What's that?
Dan: We want to better our financial situation. We've all got kids to send to school.

7. Victoria, "10th-grader"
"How Do You Like the Change So Far?"

Q: What kind of change would you like to see?
Victoria: I like change in general.

Q: What's wrong with change so far?
Victoria: I didn't make this sign. My friend did.

Q: Why are you holding it?
Victoria: The blue, see? (holds it to her shirt)

Q: Oh. It's the same color.
Victoria: I'm gonna go protest now.

8. Anne, 7 and Alexander, 9

Q: Your parents seem to be British.
Alexander: They're from England.

Q: This protest is modeled on the Boston Tea Party, when Americans ransacked British ships carrying tea.
Alexander: I don't think so.
Father: It's true. But we're over it.
Anne: I'm American but they're not.

Comments

[daydreambeliever93]

I'm in 10th grade, so I feel obligated to say that not all 10th graders are like that.

[Tommygun264]

"It's going to be them that bears the brunt of this."

A fifth-grade edumucation is terrible to waste on one's mind, also too, you betcha (wink).

[TheMightyMidget]

I can't decide whether this is funny or terrifying. Anybody?

[janie@atthelake]

Terrifying.

[Kiabell04]

Wow...hate starts so young.

[punkindmb]

LOL at little Anne. Out of the mouths of babes. And why would not citizens protest? LOL These people. They would be funnier, if they weren't packing.

[punkindmb]

Jeez. I meant, why would non citizens be at a protest rally? Guess I was thinking of little Anne turning her parents in at the slightest provocation! LOL She said it like they should go to jail for not being born here.

[sasidechick]

The fact they use CHILDREN is sickening. The fact the little girl likes her sign because it's "BLUE" tells you all you need to know. They don't know why they are there. Their parents told them how they should think. It seems this is normal behavior for the Republicants.

[evaesthetic]

The really scary thing is...The girl with the sign matching her shirt? In 10th grade. NOT one of the little ones.

[Tommygun264]

She's just the way the right-wingers like their gals - purdy and not askin' too many questions.

[LoreLeo]

To be fair, it's no different than the cute pics of kids campaigning for Obama that we were enjoying six months ago. This is why kids don't get to vote.

[cnobody]

Q: How do you feel about pork spending?
Samuel: I like pork.
Mother: No you don't. We don't like excess spending.
Samuel: I do. I like pork.


well, obviously 10 year old Samuel is a socialist.

[Tommygun264]

And a chubby one at that.

[whiteboyblues]

I am paying LESS income tax since Obama took office, so what is the big deal?

[Duros62]

Exactly. I would defy anyone to find a dozen people who know what these protests are really about.

The sad thing is, not only are we liberals laughing at you flea-baggers, but your corporate overlords are laughing at you too.

[exPatPatti]

Some people just shouldn't breed.

[Tommygun264]

Especially when they have the same grandparents.

[NJmikeV]

Mixed company ?

They're all white. Go figure.

[nocoward]

lol I was looking for a MIXED crowd

[Sweetie4Obama]

Start 'em off young, huh?

[flymic]

Trust me Samual-- Mommy likes the Pork Too. We ALL like the Pork.

[nocoward]

daddy likes it the most 'porkie'

[loper2008]

Brainwashing the young children ... lovely.

The best part is these dummies don't realize the stimulus was about 1/2 tax cuts. They are really ignorant.

[achilles83]

Is me or do you find it odd that there are no people of different ethic backgrounds in these so called teabagging rallies?

[Netkat]

I noticed it too but I am not surprised. I think the only people that don't know what this protest is really for is the protesters.

[Tommygun264]

That's because brown and black people don't have a problem with a black President, and when you get down to it, that's the primary motivating factor for most of these teabaggers.

[JPFranklin]

These are the same people who want to round up all the Mexicans and ship them back, then build a wall out of barbed wire, rattlesnake and fir to keep them out. The Republican party is the party of ignorance and hate, I doubt there were many homosexuals there as well.

[montecarlo408]

These parents should be ashamed of themselves for involving their children in that nonsense. They don't even know why they are there. It's pathetic. Where's Child Protection when you need them?