I was one of the several hundred Tea Party patriots who showed up on Friday night to battle the rain and cold. It was easy for me to get there but for others it wasn’t. A pile up on I-5 kept most of the freeway slow or blocked and streets in downtown Portland were closed down because of some gunman on the loose near PSU. I’m sorry if you couldn’t navigate through. Nevertheless it was the best program yet. And I don’t mean because of counterprotesters who were quite entertaining and vile. They brought their best racist chants. Hmmmm… See below.
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| Protesters Discover Date of 1st T Party |
John Kuzmanich and the Oregon Tea Party organized a terrific roster of speakers. Kuzmanich gave a rousing speech about freedom and what the Tea Party stands for. He spoke passionately and eloquently about the left turn the country has made and how more government leads to tyranny. Alex Laws, formerly of Timberline Dodge, Chrysler, Jeep, told the story of how Obama and his car czar took over two car companies and then put him and thousands of others out of business by brute force. His comments were moving and poignant. Obama put 150 of his employees out of work. This was another case of government picking winners and losers instead of the market.
Todd Wynn of Cascade Policy Institute, Jeff Reynolds of the Tea Party and Multnomah County Republicans, Matt Evans of Americans for Prosperty and Kristina Ribali of Freedom Works were terrific as usual. I spoke for a couple of minutes drawing comparisons between the protesters and the Tea Party–which the Willamette Week managed to screw up (here). My fellow blogmates, Rees Lloyd and Pete the Banker, were in the crowd of several hundred–braving the cold to support the cause.
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The counter protesters were the usual Friday at Four Professional Protester bunch but with some extra friends. They tried to shout us down–using illegal bullhorns, airhorns and whistles–and called us epithets and used disgusting language on their signs.
Photos of their signs appear nearby minus the ones containing potty talk. My personal favorite was, “Victoria Taft is Daft.” 
<p>&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;The left’s racism is on full display here.&amp;amp;nbsp; &amp;lt;br&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;</p>
