Today was the Tea Party Express's stop in Bloomington, Indiana and they could not have picked a rainier day to do it on. Go figure.
My interest in going was not as selfless as I like to think: I went to recruit for the Appleseed Project and to see one of the few truly grass roots political event take place in my lifetime.
So, I went out early in order to find a good place to park and worried that the turnout would not be good. On the other hand, I figured the counter protests might not even show up. Who knows.
Well, I had to park much farther away and the turnout was bigger than I could get a good picture of:
Like the previous TEA party, there were a variety of folks there, some with signs that caught my attention particularly. This guy got some special talking to as he gets the idea of citizen versus subject whether you agree with his application of it:
Here's a family who comes prepared. Not only did they do just fine in the rain, the kids played on the slide while others sat out the protest at home because of the rain. Could you guess dad is in the Army? He's a Chaplain:
Soon the TEA Express crew made their appearance. They are now a big enough deal to have two tour bus's:
And then the singing and speeches began. I could not get close enough for a good picture, but there was some nice singing and even some chants of "USA, USA" and "DON'T TREAD ON ME".
Now, the TEA Party Express is much more of a deal than the last time I went and is beginning to draw political attention in that one candidate got wet with the crowds and shook a whole bunch of hands:
That's him in the blue shirt chatting here:
He was very nice and extremely interested in getting to know Indiana's gun owners better. I switched hats for a minutes and did some INGO talk with him. For those interested here is his website: Travis Hankins for Congress
There were also other small political groups around passing cards and pamphlets. Oodles. Grass roots activity is happening for sure.
Now, there were some counter protesters and I do not have pictures of them. Why? Mostly because I know some of them personally and did not want to embarrass them. Out of the 10 I saw, I talked with almost all of them and at least one is likely to come to an Appleseed.
Another counter protester is someone who came to the first TEA party borderline interested but got told she was gonna rot in hell for being a democrat and a Jew, so she came back with friends and with a vengence. I again extended my invitation to come shooting with me and otherwise will talk to her in a separate venue. Sadly, she was on a fence and some dork pushed her into the waiting arms of a different side. Remember all, you have the power to help or hurt with your words. She is a good example.
Now, my favorite part of the event was buttonholing the embedded CNN reporter and talking with him about history and shooting for nearly 15 minutes! He is a national reporter and an occational shooter. He was so interested in attending an Appleseed that he took out his Blackberry and emailed me on the spot.
All in all it was a good event. I will say that I was dissappointed in the fact that the rain ended just as the rally did. On the other hand, I got to see a couple of INGO members (Dr. Falcon and the Mrs.) as well as Hawkhavn & DaveD (although I spent nearly zero time with them).
The rally was very nice and the protesters were even very patient with the counter protesters. I did see the police at one point, but it was some kind of parking issue and quickly resolved:
Sorry if I missed anyone there, the crowd was just too large and definitely a day of playing "Battle of the Umbrellas".
My interest in going was not as selfless as I like to think: I went to recruit for the Appleseed Project and to see one of the few truly grass roots political event take place in my lifetime.
So, I went out early in order to find a good place to park and worried that the turnout would not be good. On the other hand, I figured the counter protests might not even show up. Who knows.
Well, I had to park much farther away and the turnout was bigger than I could get a good picture of:
Like the previous TEA party, there were a variety of folks there, some with signs that caught my attention particularly. This guy got some special talking to as he gets the idea of citizen versus subject whether you agree with his application of it:
Here's a family who comes prepared. Not only did they do just fine in the rain, the kids played on the slide while others sat out the protest at home because of the rain. Could you guess dad is in the Army? He's a Chaplain:
Soon the TEA Express crew made their appearance. They are now a big enough deal to have two tour bus's:
And then the singing and speeches began. I could not get close enough for a good picture, but there was some nice singing and even some chants of "USA, USA" and "DON'T TREAD ON ME".
Now, the TEA Party Express is much more of a deal than the last time I went and is beginning to draw political attention in that one candidate got wet with the crowds and shook a whole bunch of hands:
That's him in the blue shirt chatting here:
He was very nice and extremely interested in getting to know Indiana's gun owners better. I switched hats for a minutes and did some INGO talk with him. For those interested here is his website: Travis Hankins for Congress
There were also other small political groups around passing cards and pamphlets. Oodles. Grass roots activity is happening for sure.
Now, there were some counter protesters and I do not have pictures of them. Why? Mostly because I know some of them personally and did not want to embarrass them. Out of the 10 I saw, I talked with almost all of them and at least one is likely to come to an Appleseed.
Another counter protester is someone who came to the first TEA party borderline interested but got told she was gonna rot in hell for being a democrat and a Jew, so she came back with friends and with a vengence. I again extended my invitation to come shooting with me and otherwise will talk to her in a separate venue. Sadly, she was on a fence and some dork pushed her into the waiting arms of a different side. Remember all, you have the power to help or hurt with your words. She is a good example.
Now, my favorite part of the event was buttonholing the embedded CNN reporter and talking with him about history and shooting for nearly 15 minutes! He is a national reporter and an occational shooter. He was so interested in attending an Appleseed that he took out his Blackberry and emailed me on the spot.
All in all it was a good event. I will say that I was dissappointed in the fact that the rain ended just as the rally did. On the other hand, I got to see a couple of INGO members (Dr. Falcon and the Mrs.) as well as Hawkhavn & DaveD (although I spent nearly zero time with them).
The rally was very nice and the protesters were even very patient with the counter protesters. I did see the police at one point, but it was some kind of parking issue and quickly resolved:
Sorry if I missed anyone there, the crowd was just too large and definitely a day of playing "Battle of the Umbrellas".
