By Jim Holt
Rocky Mount Telegram
Friday, March 26, 2010
The rally, which speaker Joe Price identified as Nancy Pelosi’s retirement party, began with the Pledge of Allegiance, a singing of the national anthem and then a prayer.
Robert Calvert, 47, of Rocky Mount said he attended the Tea Party because of a deep-seated concern for the way the government is abandoning the U.S. Constitution. He said he was pleased to see the large turnout and attributed it to a growing sense of fear and anger toward the behavior of politicians at the local, state and federal levels.
Richard Minor, 65, of Rocky Mount said he thinks the Constitution already has been abandoned. He said he feels the United States is heading toward socialism.My main problem is with bankruptcy, when a federal judge can take your earnings from you and give it to another person,” Minor said.
Only one man thought to bring a sign. It displayed a picture of President Barack Obama in Nazi fatigues with a red swastika armband and Hitler’s signature rectangular mustache.
The Tea Party’s keynote speaker was Dallas Woodhouse, the North Carolina state director of Americans for Prosperity. Woodhouse ignited passion in the crowd with a speech that touched on everything from health care reform to junk lawsuits to the Environmental Protection Agency’s attempts to administratively put a tax on energy users. “We need to elect people who will swear on the Holy Grail that they will repeal this (health care reform) bill,” Woodhouse said. “Don’t mend it; we have to end it.”
He told the packed convention center that if they thought Congress was bad, the North Carolina state legislature is no better and probably worse. Woodhouse beckoned those in attendance to be involved and reminded them that “the left never goes away and never rests.”
“The three strongest words, outside of the Bible, are ‘We the People,’” he said. “As hard as they’re trying to take (the country) away, we can take it back.”
Woodhouse also spoke of a new Web site aimed at keeping conservatives united. It’s called November is Coming and features a petition at November Is Coming.com that people can sign that says if their respective member in Congress voted yes on health care, they’ll vote no on them in the upcoming November elections.
“Am I looking at a bunch of attack dogs or racists?” Cressionnie asked. “All I see is normal Americans fighting for their property rights. If we don’t act now then history will look upon us with disdain.”
Woodhouse then asked how many council members were there that night. After a brief silence and the beginning of a roomwide laugh, one woman stood up to be recognized.
Nashville Town Councilwoman Louise Hinton was in attendance. A Democrat, Hinton said she had to see for herself if the mainstream media’s coverage of Tea Parties and of those who attend them was true.
“Some of my constituents may not approve of me being here because it’s not politically correct, but I’m way past political correctness now,” Hinton said. “I was looking around in the parking lot and said that these people are just like me.”
Local attorney Steve Stroud said he was so excited at the exuberance in the room and the sight of regular people showing up and organizing behind a cause.
E.S. Buck Newton, when asked where the country will be four years from now if it continues on the same track, he replied, “Broke and being foreclosed on by China.” Newton said people are fed up, and that’s why he is challenging N.C. Sen. A.B. Swindell, D-Nash.
The next meeting is a Tax Day rally scheduled for April 10 and will be called, “Bring Two for Tea.” The location is pending.
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