The contrast could not have been greater.
Last night, I was at the Jacksonville Landing, speaking at a rally held by the First Coast Tea Party that was keynoted by Florida Gov. Rick Scott. The weather was gorgeous with temperatures in the mid to high 70s and the mood of the patriots gathered there matched the sunny climate. There were skits and laughter amid the speeches that dealt with the solemn issue of fiscal responsibility.
This morning, I made my way from Jacksonville to Atlanta to Memphis to Chicago and then on to the icy Wisconsin war zone. The temperature hovered around freezing as I arrived in Madison. Bitter cold rain gave way to snow but that didn’t stop thousands of Wisconsinites from coming out to make a stand and hear from a number of great speakers including the woman I was privileged to introduce, Sarah Palin.
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But there was another group also there to greet us; the shock troops sent by Richard Trumka and president Obama’s Organizing for America. This was my second trip to Madison in the last couple of months and the defeats that the union’s leadership have suffered in that time have plunged these losers into an even more animalistic state of frenzy. Still stinging from last week’s election reaffirmation of Gov. Scott Walker’s policy of requiring public sector unions to face some of the economic realities that the rest of us have to deal with, the counter protesters both homegrown and bussed in them were louder, ruder and more desperate than ever. Their goal is to be as intimidating as the Green Bay Packers offensive line and it’s one of the only areas that they’ve had success.
The TV cameras showing the speech caught little of this phalanx of thugs that we had to walk through. Middle fingers flew and the trendy talking point insult of “Koch Suckers!” was everywhere. Sarah Palin was called names that made me wonder if Bill Maher was writing for this mob. Apparently, women-hating sexual mockery is acceptable if directed at the right, even if that woman’s children are present.
The Wisconsin Tea Party supporters made it all worthwhile. These are men and women who have braved a battle and come through victorious not by bullying but by being part of the silent majority willing to support tough-minded, adult decision making. The message from speaker after speaker was that Wisconsin’s example of not being intimidated by the bankrupt tactics of the left is something that all Americans need to hear.
Of course, don’t expect that message to come from the mainstream media, whose sentiments are more with the union driven threat machine than the taxpayers.
As I took to the stage, the shouting from those trying to disrupt the Tea Party intensified. Inarticulate shouting becomes their last weapon as their policies crumble. I thought of the hypocritical calls for civility amidst the dishonestly cynical opportunism of blaming Sarah Palin who shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. I thought of the smug entitlement of government workers demanding to keep their gold and benefits packages while the nation tightens its belt. I thought of the business owners and politicians being bullied in an official capacity by the unions and then actually threatened by zealots who took the union policies to their only logical conclusion.
I’m proud of what I said. I told the sanctimonious shouters promoting class warfare to go to hell.
There may be those on the left who really want civil discourse. It’s possible there are some who realize that our national debt is, in fact, out of control. There’s a chance that sane debate is the actual goal of a number of self-proclaimed liberal activists.
But I didn’t see any of those people in Madison on Saturday morning. I’m not going to pretend that I did. It was a mob, whipped up by the divider-in-chief and his cronies who live off of union dues and taxpayer funded handouts. And in case any of you in the back row missed it , I repeat – go to hell.
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