Here are some quick images from the first of two tea party protests scheduled for today at Congressman John Olver’s office on Main Street
The people assembled were holding their signs and getting a fair amount of response from the drivers passing by. I only noticed one person giving a thumbs down while horn after horn was beeped in their favor.
I talked to people both on camera and off. Justin Brooks got involved in the movement in January mostly to find out for himself what was actually going on. He saw the negative spin in the media and the constant use of the …ism card, “race”-ism, “sex”-ism etc…etc…etc.
What he saw instead was average working people who were not at all what the media claimed to be. I met those people today and as I’ve seen over and over again they are the working class folk that was once the mainstay of the democratic party but feel that they are now being ignored.
Phillip Porter was first
His wife Arlene was very hesitant to go on camera, but she agreed in the end:
The Police asked the protesters to stay to the sidewalk and to be sure not to block parking spaces in front of Congressman Olver’s office, another officer swung by later. He said he had see the occasional protest maybe two a year in the 17 years he had been on the force. This was was no trouble, their main concern was to make sure that egress was not blocked for local businesses.
Jeff Wilson supported Scott Brown and he supports the tea party movement.
Michael Wertz had never protested before but he was protesting today
Some people passed by asking questions and some were interested. One man who worked at a local business had never seen any kind of protest like this (excepting the planned parenthood ones) in Fitchburg before. He also agreed that the health care bill was poor and if he was in congress would vote against it. Unlike the protesters he objected to the lack of a public option. He believed that house democrats should have the courage of their convictions.
When you are dealing with the most liberal congressman in the house it is unlikely that the protesters were going to change his mind, but they wanted to be sure that even if he didn’t change his mind that he was aware of how they felt. Anne Andrews put it best:
“We are tired of an out of control congress.” she said, she was tired of being taken for granted. “We are not dust in the wind!”
Update: Michelle and Robert Stacy are on top of the national stuff.
Update 2: Another Instalanche thanks muchly Glenn. Thanks for stopping by. Learn why Roger Maris is superior to Mitt Romeny, See why the president’s “courage” argument is bogus, learn the wisdom of the Barber Shop, and remember if you want your story told anywhere in the country I’ll do it for $1k plus expenses, “Have Fedora will Travel“
Da Techguy's (no longer backup) Blog 
[…] And here’s a report from a protest at Congressman John Oliver’s office in Fitchburg, […]
Next time, please ask:
Is President Obama a secret Muslim?
Is President Obama a natural-born citizen?
Are you a fan of Sarah Palin?
How often do you watch Glenn Beck?
Who is your personal hero?
I think the answers to these questions would be more revealing.
Chris Chris Chris, I see you are working under the: ” If you are a tea party protester you must have issues” theory.
Deciding that if a person likes Sarah Palin their opinion can be dismissed, is evidence of a bigotry that is very unbecoming.
But for the sake of full disclosure I’ll answer the questions concerning myself and you can use that to judge if I am to be ignored and dismissed or no:
1. Is President Obama a secret Muslim? No
2. Is President Obama a natural born citizen Yes
3. Are you are fan of Sarah Palin? Yes
4. How often do you watch Glenn Beck? Very rarely, he is on at supper time and he’s not really my cup of tea
5. Who is your personal Hero? My father who managed to raise 5 of us ran 3 business’ over the course of his life all without ever getting beyond the 6th grade.
Hope I get an A.
Chris, how about the questions:
1. Do you think the USA is going in the right direction, i.e., making progress and doing well?
2. IF not, do you think it is time to VOTE THE BUMS OUT?
Your answers are no surprise. I wanted to know the protesters’.
Being a big fan of Palin isn’t necessarily proof of bigotry, but depending on the other questions, it can be.
[…] say a picture is worth a thousand words… By datechguy …well I think this comment left on my morning Tea Party post says a whole lot more about the gentleman who wrote it, (who […]
Hey J.,
1. We are not making progress as fast as I’d like to, but mostly that’s because of the Party of NO. Unfortunately, President Obama’s policy of trying to work together has come back to bite him – his mistake was relying on reasonable people on the GOP side. I am proud he hasn’t rammed things through President Bush style, but unfortunately, reason has been confused with weakness, as it often is.
2. Yes, I will be taking advantage of my first opportunity to vote Scott Brown out.
Very generous of you.
I’m fascinated, can you explain to me which answers make a person a bigot and why. Also what combinations make a person’s opinion worth ignoring? Is there an official guide to this so that the plebes can be made aware of what is allowed and what is not?
Inquiring minds want to know!
BTW quick FYI to everyone, I’m going to be taking off in about an hour, so If after that time I don’t get comments approved right away it’s because I’m out. I’ll take the laptop with me and if I can get an open net connection I’ll try to get in and keep the dialog going.
I didn’t bring up bigotry. You did.
I argue the answers can bring into question their degree of reasonableness. 1, 2, and 4 are probably the most revealing as to whether the person is a whack-job, and whether their opinion should be ignored.
If your answers read:
1. Yes
2: No
3: Hell yes
4: Every day, as well as Hannity!
5: (Hannity, Beck, Palin, assorted extreme far-right pundits)
Then your opinion is probably unreasonable, jaded, and misinformed and should be ignored.
Just like from people who said 9/11 was a conspiracy by the Bush administration.
I want to know what drugs Chris is taking, and what universe he is on. Obama working together with the republicans…..get a grip. Even HE isn’t claiming that. And I think the trend in the USA is to vote the present congress and president out of power, NEVER to be heard from again. Obama was a delightful dream, a risky experiment and a complete disaster for this country.
Oh come on Chris,,get real… your questions were an attempt to portray the typical tea party individual within a framework of bigotry and you know it. No different than if I had asked the following questions of the new Coffee drinkers?
1. Do you listen to NPR?
2. Do you watch MSNBC?
3. Did you vote for Obama?
4. Do you think Bush and Cheney should be charge with war crimes?
5. Was the War in Iraq for their oil?
In any case, both sets are qestions directed to led the responder in a certain direction. Please do not think we are stupid.
[…] and Smitty have plenty of photos and links from the DC action. Michelle Malkin covered it, too. Da TechGuy covered events in Fitchburg, MA – there were some first time protesters there. Good for them! […]
Awesome post – very glad that you were out there today! :)
Good luck this evening. (Had I not had plans with “the nice young man”, I would be there.)
As for the questions:
I don’t think that Obama is a secret Muslim, but I’m pretty sure that he’s not a Christian. Aside from the fact that his church seemed to be more rooted in grievance-mongering than on issues of faith and the soul, I can’t help but think that any Christian would be humiliated by the constant comparisons to Christ.
Now, my questions to those who hate the Tea Party:
*Do you think that it is the job of the young and struggling to subsidise the health care of the people who have had twenty years in the work force?
*Does the current economy, in which about 50% of twenty-somethings are unemployed or underemployed, change your opinion of that?
*Since Medicare and Social Security are the two biggest unfunded liabilities in America, do you really believe that adding a third, similar, but larger programme will do anything but create chaos in our government?
*Do you think that the stimulus worked as planned (i.e. kept unemployment below 8%)?
J – it’s been his goal since the beginning. He’s had party majority for a long time and hasn’t abused it. That’s proof enough.
Don – I absolutely think those questions should be asked of protesters on my side. As I said abut my group of questions, it would be very revealing. Much more so than fluff questions. Although I do think being an NPR listener says much better things about the intellectual state of someone than the avid Glenn Beck fan.
Since Pete answered my questions, but J & Don haven’t, I’ll answer Don’s.
1. Yes
2. No
3. Yes
4. Depends. I trust that if there was a case or good reason to, Obama would have done it.
5. I don’t know.
[…] the block I saw some familiar faces from the morning. Anne Andrews was there as was Michael Wertz. A local reporter showed up and asked a few questions, unfortunately for the […]
1. No, but, as per above, he certainly doesn’t seem to have much affinity for any other major world religion.
2. Yes, but that doesn’t mean he gets to just say so and have us believe it; he is running the country and should demonstrate to us, to the best of his ability, that he meets Constitutional muster. As I’ve said before, if a kid working at Starbuck’s making caramel macchiatos has to show a social security card and a driver’s license, then the President can cough up a birth certificate. The high office means that he is subject to more rules than we are, not fewer.
3. Yes.
4. About once every six months, tops.
5. Personal hero? Probably my dad or my grandparents. When my parents were young, had two kids, and divorced, they really stepped up to ensure that my sister and I would have a good life.
[…] the Wolverines, covered two TEA Party protests today in Massachusetts. Reports and videos here and […]
Roxeanne,
Thanks for proving my case.
http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/birthcertificate.asp
(many more links if you like – just ask!)
It isn’t his “just say so”
If you did even a modicum of research, you’d know that and wouldn’t have made such a ridiculous statement. This is why my chosen questions are so revealing – people on the right can’t help but put their foot in their mouth when answering them.
Numbers 4 & 5 are heartening at least.
We will get OUR FOUNDER’S SEAT back in 2012! http://www.FATBOY.cc
To Jeff Wilson –
You think I’m next? LOL!
All this will be forgotten by 2014 and I’ll be Windsurfing off Nantucket, like always – http://www.LIVESHOT.cc
Chris, I’m remarkably well-informed on this issue and don’t need some random dude on the internet to patronise me.
Now, you owe me an apology – I most certainly never claimed that Obama’s birth certificate was forged. In fact, my arguments against this are always predicated on it being real.
Whether or not the birth certificate is real is 100%, totally, unequivocally beside the point: a person is obligated to present the “best evidence” of his position in a court of law. Obama put his birth certificate on the internet. How cute and 15-year-old girl of him. How entirely un-lawyer-like.
Obama is acting above the law. Putting his birth certificate online is NOT the correct response; it is to either submit it to the Senate, to the Supreme Court, or even to the Secretarys of State who certify elections in the fifty states and DC. (John McCain, who was born in Panama, was more than happy to bring this issue before a legal tribunal, IIRC.) Alternatively, once sued, Obama could have entered the birth certificate into evidence and then made a motion for summary judgment. (Instead, he fought the lawsuits on standing grounds, arguing only that the citizens of the United States have no right to hold the President accountable to the same standards that they must follow.)
This isn’t an ideological blindness thing; it’s not a “Roxey is misinformed and needs Chris to straighten her sweet little head out” thing; it’s a LAWYER thing.
I certainly don’t owe an apology, i only responded to what you said, which was, “he gets to just say so and have us believe it”
I didn’t accuse of of thinking it was a forgery. I accused you of being ignorant on the subject by stating that all he did was ask we take him on his word.
His credentials were presented to the people it needed to be in order to become president. I didn’t see anyone asking that President Bush present his birth certificate in court. What exactly makes President Obama different?
The majority of negative comments I’ve read thus far are from Chris Lackey. We all know there are paid and unpaid people planted by the extreme leftists to argue just like he is in these comments. How unfortunate that extremists like him refuse to see the writing on the wall. Health reform can be achieved by limiting power of drug manufacturers and insurance companies. There is no need for a 3,000+ page bill. The Dems are secretive about it all and won’t release a final version because they know the public would not accept it! Now the Dems are going to circumvent a final vote and pass a bill without a vote. Every single Congressman and woman voting for this bill should be voted out of office at the first opportunity. Don’t place all your faith in the Republicans either because they’ve sold us out to special interests in the past. Look for new faces in politics who believe in adhering to the Constitution.
I’ve personally spoken with two immigrants – one from Communist China, and the other from the former Soviet Union. They overwhelmingly agree that what they see happening in America today with this major takeovers by government by the left is exactly what happened in China and the Soviet Union. They were the first steps taken in a Marxist takeover of government and we can see today where it led them. These two immigrants are astonished that Americans are so uninformed about world history that they don’t see the writing on the wall. I suggest to all of you that you do your best to find Chinese and Russian immigrants and find out for yourselves why they came to the United States. God save America!
And Chris, we already know you opinion. If you don’t have anything better to do, I suggest you start by informing yourself about China’s and the Soviet Union’s history and how they managed to hoodwink the people in those countries by taking exactly the steps Obama and Congress are now using to move us toward Marxism.
So when someone else demeans the president or what I’ve posted, it isn’t negative, but when I say something, it’s negative, eh?
Seriously holding the length of the bill against it? Is it too “intellectual” or “elitist” for you?
Don’t worry, I’m not getting paid. Quite the case of paranoia you have there.
Evolving should not be confused with “secretive.”
Both you and your “immigrants” should really study world history. At least write a book, because you have some very odd ideas that haven’t been covered in any history books in any way near what you claim. Or did you get your education from Beck’s chalkboard? Did he stop drying long enough to get out a “history lesson?”
You keep sitting in your basement with your emergency food supply and “crisis garden,” fearing the coming apocalypse brought about by a Marxist conspiracy, and we’ll live our lives here in the real world.
TYPO! I meant to say:
Did he stop CRYING long enough to get out a “history lesson?”
Oops!
Well, this is my last comment on this post – I now understand the level of study and intelligence here in the comments section, and it clearly isn’t worth my time. It certainly isn’t up to the level of Pete’s original posts, and that’s disappointing.
Ask the questions!
Chris, If you want to write a longer reply in the form of a post on your blog I’d be happy to link to it. That way you don’t have to answer piecemeal.
Thanks, Pete. I appreciate that.
The invitation to come down and debate me on religion & PP is still very open to you. I’m willing to hear your terms to compromise to get it done. You have my email address. Please consider it.
I would still like to meet for lunch first, would wednesday work for lunch?
And Roxeanne I’d like to meet you for lunch and interview you too if we can find a day.
and of course you would get that blog interview if we have lunch if you want.
Pete, Wednesdays and Fridays are bad for me. Pretty much any other day for lunch is fine, including tomorrow. Please email me! Thanks.
How about 11:30 at the 5th street diner?
BTW one of the secrets to life is to be able to meet, greet and eat with people you disagree with.
Any chance of having it somewhere a little more… objective? I see that’s your usual stomping grounds, so I politely request somewhere we can “break bread” a little more privately and anonymously.
I’ve really never thought of it as an “nonobjective” site, I eat there but we don’t necessarily share politics, but if you have another suggestion I’d be happy to consider it. (At least as long as the pastrami is as good there as it is at 5th street)
Plus they take photos of new diners so it would be cool to have a shot of the two of us eating together, it ain’t quite ebony and ivory but it would be cool.
[…] with my arch enemy commentator Chris… By datechguy …You might remember him from this thread. We had a nice lunch where we disagreed on almost everything but the food was good and I always […]
Chris: my comment on Obama’s birth certificate was that he owes an answer to the American people. I elaborated on that by explaining the legal significance (or lack thereof) of his actions, and also by pointing to Senator McCain as someone who honourably and proactively addressed concerns about his eligibility for office.
Your response was to a) point me to a snopes.com article which debunked the idea that the birth certificate was a fake, and b) claim that I’m not making an argument that is sufficiently intellectual for you.
So I’m sort of confused as to why you linked me to that snopes.com article if you don’t think that I’m debating the authenticity of the online birth certificate.
Frankly, I’m also confused as to why you aren’t finding the arguments here to be intellectual enough for you; if I’m running around talking about the foundations of our legal system and you’re pointing me to irrelevant links and arguing against a straw-woman, it’s a little weird for you to retreat that way.
I personally think (and I’ve written about this) that the certificate isn’t released because it is to the administrations advantage for this debate to continue. It diverts attention from legitimate objections and give his team something to throw at opponents.
The White House wants just enough ambiguity to keep this stuff alive.
The whole thing is a trap for conservatives.
No disagreement.
If our side were better at presenting the argument (i.e. that the President is not above the law and that his job, legally and morally, is to prove this to either a court of law or to one of the persons described in my previous comment), then it wouldn’t be to his advantage to press this. When the “Birther” label is thrown on anyone who points out that the Constitution has meaning, however, it’s a losing battle.
2012 ought to be interesting. Some Secretarys of State may require proof of eligibility before entering a name on the ballot, and that’s when it’ll just get stupid for Obama to not comply, especially when the Republican candidate will.
Since he has traveled overseas in his youth he would have been traveling under a US passport and such a passport requires a birth certificate, so that would suggest that it wasn’t an issue.
BTW Roxeanne when can I arrange to have lunch and have that two min interview?
[…] let me point them to my coverage of last April’s Boston Tea Party or my coverage of the protests last week in Fitchburg and a comparative photo of two events last […]
Who is running against John Olver?