TEA PARTY ROUNDUP Updated

I went to the Fair Tax Tea Party on Thursday.  It was a smallish crowd, but there was plenty of passion.  The lowlight of the day was a gentleman who was passing out "Grayson for Congress" stickers.  I was with a friend who happens to be a reformed Hollywood Democrat, and his only comment on her sign was, "Are you really from Hollywood?"  She said yes and he just shrugged and moved on.  I guess a reformed Hollywood democrat is more than he wanted to deal with.  If she managed to see the light of reason even in the ultimate liberal bubble, there's probably no way in hell he's going be able to talk her back in!  You have to give him credit, I suppose, for braving the crazy extremist mob, right?  Perhaps Grayson was hoping the guy would get attacked or something and illustrate his narrative that the tea party is an unhinged fringe group.  Aside from the guy who used his sticker to blow his nose, things remained civil.  Here are some pictures from the event:

 

Here's the guy passing out Grayson stickers:

The guest speaker was Katy Abrams, who was the PA lady who spoke at Arlen Specter's town hall back in August:

She was a sincerely concerned citizen speaking from the heart.  In her speech, she described her ordeal with the press after her confrontation with Specter.  She went on MSNBC's Hardball with Larry O'Donnell, who made an example of her with his ruthless attacks - Beware, all ye who would stand up to the administration and it's minions.  He ripped her to pieces and spit her out in his quest to paint all tea partyers as know-nothings who have no right to speak their own minds.  Her speech was heartfelt and moving.

As obviously shaken as she was by the press ordeal, she refuses to let them get her down or make her quit.  She's just a stay at home mom, sure, but she is also a mama bear protecting her cubs' futures.  They can knock her down, but she will just get back up, dust herself off, and start all over again.  She is living proof that we can all stand up to "the man" and survive.  They are trying to intimidate us, make us doubt ourselves and give up hope, but we are made of sterner stuff than that.

We are, after all, Americans.  We should never, never be underestimated.

UPDATE:  Here is a great roundup of Tea Party crashers in San Francisco from Pajamas Media.  Check it out for some laughs.

TEA PARTY ROUNDUP Updated