Let’s use liberal math to calculate attendance at this week’s
nationwide Tax Day Tea Party protests. When left-wing activists make
crowd estimates, the algorithm is: Six figures = one million. An
incomplete survey of newspaper accounts and organizer estimates pegged
the Tea Party protest population at a minimum of 250,000. We can now,
therefore, officially call it the Million Taxpayer March.
Or the Million Rightwing Extremists March if you work for the Department of Homeland Security.
To George Soros-funded grievance professionals, 250,000 is an
insignificant number. But unlike recent anti-war and pro-illegal
immigration rallies padded with union workers, college students, and
homeless people, the Tax Day Tea Party demonstrations featured small
business owners, working taxpayers, and families. This wasn’t a weekend
or holiday, mind you. A quarter million people took time off in the
middle of the work week to raise their voices against reckless taxing
and bipartisan spending.
Multi-millionaire jet-setter Nancy Pelosi scoffed that the Tax Day
Tea Party movement was nothing more than “Astroturf” politics to
protect the “wealthiest people” in America. Democrat Rep. Jan
Schakowsky called the peaceable assemblies “despicable.” Other bitter,
clingy Tea Party-bashers grumbled that activists only showed up where
Fox News cameras were. But tens of thousands more came out in rain,
snow, and cold – in Bozeman, Montana; Eau Claire, Wisconsin; Carson
City, Nevada; White Plains, New York; Bend, Oregon; Lansing, Michigan;
Hilo, Hawaii; Nashville, TN; and everywhere in between — with no media
personalities or celebrities in sight.
If only the condescending cable TV anchors at CNN and MSNBC had
paused from wallowing in gutter puns about tea bags, they might have
reported an even more significant phenomenon: Tea Party protesters were
as vocal in their criticism of Republicans as they were of Democrats.
In Salt Lake City, Utah, a crowd of 2,000 repeatedly booed GOP Sens.
Orrin Hatch and Bob Bennett, who both supported the $700 billion TARP
bailout, and protested GOP Gov. Jon Huntsman’s decision to accept $1.6
billion in porky stimulus funds.
In Sacramento, Tea Party organizer Mark Meckler singled out
California GOP chair Ron Nehring for waffling on proposed $16 billion
tax hikes. The crowd of 5,000 greeted Nehring – who unsuccessfully
tried to hitch his wagon to the Tea Party movement – with a roar of
boos and catcalls. Speaker after speaker lambasted Republican Gov.
Arnold Schwarzenegger for abandoning fiscal conservative principles.
The loudest chant of the day: “Throw them out.”
In Madison, Wisconsin, GOP Rep. Paul Ryan – hyped as a conservative
“rockstar” – was well-received. But I heard from staunch fiscal
conservative constituents who refused to be silent about Ryan’s
complicity. He gave one of the most hysterical speeches in the rush to
pass TARP last fall; voted for the auto bailout; and voted with the
Barney Frank/Nancy Pelosi AIG bonus-bashing stampede. Milwaukee blogger
Nick Schweitzer wrote: “He ought to be apologizing for his previous
votes, not pretending he was being responsible the entire time, but I
don’t see one bit of regret for what he did previously. And I’ll be
damned if I’m going to let him get away with it.”
Other Tea Party participants pointed out that Newt Gingrich, who
jumped aboard the bandwagon, flip-flopped on TARP in the space of a
week last September and made common cause with Al Gore and Nancy Pelosi
in ads calling for immediate action on “climate change.”
Before the grass-roots Tea Party movement took them by surprise,
Beltway GOP strategists argued fervently that the party’s traditional
focus on taxes and spending had become outdated. The re-branders
pitched their own expansive ideas to replace the anti-tax-and-spend
agenda and inspire new voters. These included Gingrich’s “green
conservatism,” David Frum’s proposal to raise carbon taxes, and
open-borders Republicans’ plans for alternative forms of amnesty.
Newsflash: Eco-zealotry and in-state tuition discounts for illegal
aliens didn’t bring out thousands of first-time activists on the
streets. Stay-at-home moms weren’t up all night making signs that read
“Tax me more, please!”
What resonated on Tax Day were non-partisan calls to roll back pork,
hold the line on taxing and spending, end the endless government
bailouts, and stop the congressional steamrollers who have pushed
through mountains of legislation without deliberation. This is a
teachable moment for GOP public relations peddlers in Washington. While
they search for the Holy Grail of Re-branding in tony salons and
country club conferences, the agenda for 2010 is smacking them in the
face. It’s the three T’s, stupid: Too Many Taxes, Trillions in Debt,
and Transparency.
The GOP path to reclaiming power lies with candidates who can make a
credible case that they will support and defend fiscal responsibility.
That means acting on fiscal conservative principles now, not paying lip
service later. The reckonable forces of the Tea Party movement didn’t
let opportunists escape accountability on Tax Day. The GOP shouldn’t
assume they’ll get a pass on Election Day, either.
As one of the most popular Tea Party signs read: “You can’t fix stupid, but you can vote it out.”
Michelle Malkin
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