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Tea Party Video: Right-Wing Tax Protests Caught On Tape

Arthur Delaney | HuffPost Reporting From DC
April 10, 2009 at 04:52 PM

Hundreds of tea party protests are scheduled in cities and towns across the country for tax day (help us report on them [ http://org2.democracyinaction.org/o/5397/t/4543/signUp.jsp?key=856 ]!). But the curious don't need to wait till April 15 to get a sense of what these protests might be like. Several events happened on Feb. 27, less than two weeks after CNBC's Rick Santelli howled about irresponsible government spending and called for a Chicago tea party in an impromptu rant. And several people brought video cameras to those events. Herewith, a roundup of some of the best vids, which hopefully provide clues for what to expect on tax day:

GIANT TEABAGS: A big crowd came out in Dallas, with some protesters dressed up in medieval stocks costumes (attached signs said the protesters were "shackled to the stimulus"). The whole tea party meme presents countless opportunities for fun costumes. These particular getups have the added bonus of a remarkable resemblance to giant teabags:

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CONSPIRACY THEORIES: A video by bloggerinterrupted [ http://bloggerinterrupted.com/ ] showcases a string of protesters from a Feb. 27 event in Cleveland who don't believe President Obama was born in the United States. Any good protest will have its fringe weirdos, but the birth certificate deniers may be emerging as an undercurrent in the tea party movement -- D.C. tea party organizers booked Obama-birth-certificate-skeptic Alan Keyes to speak at the tax day event outside the Treasury Department.

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MICHELLE MALKIN: This video, from a tea party event in Washington, D.C., does a great job transitioning from the Santelli rant to a small protest outside the White House, and with some sweet background music. The crowd might be weak, but it's peppered with conservative celebrities like Michelle Malkin, who is prepared to defend earnest tea partiers from saboteurs [ http://michellemalkin.com/2009/04/06/get-ready-for-the-anti-tea-party-sabotage-and-smear-campaign/ ]:

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ANGER: This video from a tea party in Chicago (which Santelli did not attend) shows Dan Proft, a political commentator for a local TV station, stirring up an enthusiastic crowd. He starts to lose them (around 2:45) after insisting that the Republican party ought to get with the program and start speaking up for small business. An angry guy off camera starts cussing up a storm. It gets even worse when Proft talks about reviving the Republican party in Chicago, and the angry guy really flips his wig and a few others start booing. "I don't represent the Republican party," Proft pleads at the end.

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MOTORIZED PIGS: Protesters in Fort Worth take the prize for protest flair by riding around on motorized pigs next to a highway. The cowboy hats, boots, and the PORK DC sign make an awesome visual.

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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/10/tea-party-video-right-win_n_185577.html [with (currently 4,359) comments]

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