Pictures of the St Louis Tea Party Protest are at this set on Flickr. Feel free to use them in posting - though a link back to 24thstate is requested of bloggers and required for the media.
There are more pictures up on Photobucket under the TCOTTV album
It was cold, blustery, and hard to tweet, but it was absolutely worth it. I got a count of the the protestors, going through and counting the people standing on three steps, and then multiplying - there were 130 in a band on three steps in front of me, and a good 15 to 20 bands up and down the stairs.
My estimate is 1500-2000, a truly astounding number for a first time protest. Gateway Pundit has more pics, and says there were 1500. KTVI has a short report on the matter - the reporter says 400, but its doubtful she did more than guess. By the time 11:30 rolled around, there were at least 1500 there.
Unlike ACORN sponsored events, there were no calls for violence, no flag burning, and no plots to illegally register dogs, children or people in the nearby cemetery. There were people from all walks of life fed up with government spending, and furious that politicians like Claire McCaskill, Russ Carnahan, Nancy Pelosi, and Dick Durbin were out there giving our money away.
Jay Nixon came in for some abuse for his comments about letting our kids and grandkids pay our bills.
Dana Loesch is seen here firing up the crowd. Other speakers include Shamed Dogan, Ed Martin Jr, NFL Hall of Famer Jackie Smith, and Bill Hennessey, as well as Gina Loudon and a couple of others.
We even had protest babes - a surprising number of children out there - bunded up tight, but with parents willing to come down and say no more.
What will these protests mean? It remains to be seen, but these are unique events. Conservatives don't turn out to protest in large numbers, and if this is the beginning, rather than just a piece of street theater, you can expect to see more organization, more protests, and ultimately, direct action by a populace fed up with being treated like children.
The real story in protests isn't the crowd size. It's the fact that people who commit some of their time are often willing to commit more of their time. More of their time, money, and hearts. Thank you all for coming, and thank you to Dana and Bill and the others for organizing the event.
Yes, my count was about 1500, also.
Cheers
Posted by: Doctor Bulldog | 03/08/2009 at 07:15 PM