I attended both Austin Tea Parties on Wednesday. The first, held at City Hall around lunchtime, drew about 1,500 people. Railroad Commissioner Michael Williams and Governor Rick Perry gave outstanding speeches.
Don't Mess with Texas Tea Party, Austin
There were some excellent signs, including this one, which was my favorite:
Stop Rewarding Failure!
Margaret Thatcher quotations are always good:
We had protest babes. And, as you can see, the crowd was not “lily-white”; in fact, it looked pretty representative of Austin.
We also had people who were especially good with puns.
There were many more people—around 6,000!—and many more signs later this afternoon at the State Capitol. The picture of Obama as leader of GM is priceless.
The children got into the act, too—sometimes with signs that were a bit too big!
A lot of the signs had thoughtful, much-needed messages:
Heroes of the Alamo
Some gave interesting diagnoses of the problem, and proposed solutions.
We had protest babes here too:
A few people seemed more concerned with guns than economics.
Once the crowd started moving, it stretched all the way from the steps of the Capitol to the Colorado River.
Spirits remained high as we crossed the bridge to dump the tea in Lady Bird Lake.
Austin!
UPDATE: My friend Lefty has an excellent slideshow here, with a better shot of the Obama/GM sign. And you can download a video of the crowd singing here.
Great pics! Sorry I missed you at City Hall. My favorite was a picture of the Trinity (Obama, Reid, Pelosi) photoshopped with pirate hats and the caption, “There Are Pirates In America, Too!”
Or maybe they are just members of the Voluntary Coast Guard!
Love the pic’s! Thanks for posting.
Great pictures! Let’s have another party!