Most of these loudmouths aren't from this region. For most of them, their job is to travel from city to city to stir up trouble. They're professional right-wing operatives.
In the spring, they protested the stimulus bill. But - showcasing their mission creep - now they're attacking health care reform.
A particular target of their hateful invective is members of Congress who defeated right-wing incumbents. They've set their sights on Cincinnati congressman Steve Driehaus - a Democrat who defeated Republican Steve Chabot. (Chabot was known for his support of the now-defunct Kids Helping Kids cult.)
The BTPers' gimmick in their drive against Driehaus is: "We surround him." To symbolize this, they plan on gathering at most exits off Interstate 275, a loop around Cincinnati.
I learned of this because the Cincinnati Enquirer insists on republishing the BTPers' press releases verbatim, in an effort to drum up support for them. Well, I read 'em too, so they may be in for a little bit of negative exposure - as they were this past spring.
The press release said the I-275 gatherings will occur at most exit ramps to and from this beltway. I assume that includes those in Kentucky, even though Driehaus's district is in Ohio. (They sure know how to misspend their resources.) These events will take place today, tomorrow, and Friday from 4 to 6 PM.
I already planned to peep the reopened 8th Street Viaduct tomorrow, so maybe afterward I'll take a little jaunt into hostile suburbia to monitor these sore losers.
The LOSEianne crowd's finale will be Saturday from 4 to 6 PM, in which they plan to encircle the Carew Tower skyscraper in downtown Cincinnati. The Carew Tower contains Driehaus's office, you see.
Hate to disappoint you, BTPer peeps, but I doubt there's anyone at Driehaus's office on weekends. This is already shaping up to be like the Palin cult's bombarding of the Capitol switchboard on a federal holiday.
After that, they plan to march across the street to Fountain Square for what seems to be another rally like their complain-a-thons earlier this year.
Their ideology is one of aggrieved wealth. They are privileged pied pipers of Potemkin populism. And if I happen to see them, I'll call them out here once again on their propaganda.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
I surround them
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Hi Tim,
ReplyDeleteI'm Mike Wilson and I founded the Cincinnati Tea Party. I'm a lot of things, but a professional operative is not one of them. I actually work in IT and haven't been very poltically active (although I was very opinionated) prior to February.
Like me, all of those involved in the leadership of the Cincinnati Tea Party are from this area and none of us are travelling the country causing a ruckus (unless you count those of us who rallied in DC on 9/12). I appreciate the compliment of being called professional, but none of us are paid for our time. It's all volunteer and we are raising funds from our own members. Heck, due to the logistics challenges of getting fliers to all of the exits, the people who are helping this week are printing them out themselves.
I realize there is a lot of misinformation out there about groups like ours, but I'll be glad to engage in dialog. We aren't fans of namecalling on either side and I think we do a pretty good job of avoiding hateful invective.
As for being a sore loser, not so much. In fact, my frustration with the election was that I didn't feel like I had either party on my side. Neither party at the national level does a good job of representing their average constituent. The TARP bailouts (yes, I do criticize things that happened on Bush's watch) were a good example of what happens when Big Government mixes with Big Business - the American taxpayer gets fleeced.
Health care is another good example. We agree with the need for reform, but we think the current approach in Congress is destined to move us towards a single payer system that will either completely destroy a budget that is already stretched thin or will lead to rationing.
Our version of reform is to level the playing field across states and allow insurance companies to compete across states lines while implementing tort reform which will reduce the amount of wasted, defensive medicine.
Unlike our supposed betters in Washington, we actually stand on our principles and are willing to discuss, persuade, debate, and even change our minds if we find out we were wrong. If you want to find out in person, we'd be glad to do so. I think it's worth trying to build bridges and find our common ground. You can find my email easily enough if you're interested. I'll even buy the first round of drinks.
One last thing before I go - the effectiveness of the protest. I don't really care if Driehaus is in his office on Saturday and I'm well aware of the geographical boundaries of his district. The bottom line is that he is someone in our region who is potentially swayable and I want to remind him of his public statements and demonstrate our resolve and determination. It also gives us a chance to reach many people who maybe aren't familiar with our values. Many of those surely live outisde of his district, but just because the Republicans are on our side on this issue doesn't mean that we don't want to grow our numbers in their districts. There will be many times with which we break from them on things they support (see Ohio Issue 2 for an example).
This protest may or may not be effective, but it is silly to suggest that we don't know his district or are expecting him to be in the office on a weekend.
Mike