Prodromus

 The Tampa Tea Party was a huge success. Although most media outlets downplayed the number of folks that attended, you can clearly see that this was not a small protest.  My guess would be well over 2,000. This guy was one of my favorites, he walked through the crowd, creating quite a buzz.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  The protest was held in Lykes Gaslight Park in downtown Tampa Bay.  Protestors walked back and forth across the street while cars waited at red lights.  The folks in the cars  leaned out hollaring support and honking their horns in approval.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Look at this crowd!  Why was MSNBC minimizing the crowd sizes?  You can see hundreds in this one view, there was this number of people on all sides of me.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

  Folks of all backgrounds in the crowd, not just your crazy right leaning whackos.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 The population of Tampa is 10% African-American.  I do not believe that they we represented at the same rate as other races, however there were quite a few.  This did not appear to be a race or class protest.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Most protestors were outraged by two issues.
 1) The excessive spending by Congress
 2)  Unfair tax policies

 

 

 

 

 

 While some protestors were direct in blaming Obama, I believe that they were in the minority.  Most seemed to blame government as a whole.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 These folks were singling out Nancy Pelosi and Barney Frank.  ”Congress is a Toxic Asset”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Don’t Tread on Me

 

 

 

 

House Financial Services Committee Chairman Congressman Barney Frank in a hearing from September 2003 on an administration proposal to alter the regulation of GSEs like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

“I want to begin by saying that I am glad to consider the legislation, but I do not think we are facing any kind of a crisis. That is, in my view, the two government sponsored enterprises we are talking about here, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, are not in a crisis. We have recently had an accounting problem with Freddie Mac that has led to people being dismissed, as appears to be appropriate. I do not think at this point there is a problem with a threat to the Treasury.”

“The more people, in my judgment, exaggerate a threat of safety and soundness, the more people conjure up the possibility of serious financial losses to the Treasury, which I do not see. I think we see entities that are fundamentally sound financially and withstand some of the disastrous scenarios. And even if there were a problem, the Federal Government doesn’t bail them out.”

In the 2008 election cycle, the list of the top recipients of donations from the financial services, insurance and real estate sector included the leading presidential candidates.

Democratic nominee Sen. Barack Obama took in $22.5 million, followed by New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton with $21.5 million. Arizona Sen. John McCain, the Republican nominee, was close behind with $19.6 million.

Money also rained down on the top members of Congress. Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.), a candidate for president during the primaries, received $6 million. His counterpart in the House, Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), received $720,000 this year.

The No. 2-ranking Democrat on Frank’s House Financial Services Committee, Rep. Paul E. Kanjorski of Pennsylvania, collected $755,000, and ranking Republican Spencer Bachus of Alabama took in $704,000.

Are you surprised we are in this mess?  Stop the partisan bickering and blame game.  Our political leaders are held hostage by their corporate donors who finance their obscene lust to get re-elected.   What are YOU going to do to make a difference?  Do you honestly believe either McCain or Obama will represent change?  What would George do?