( – promoted by Sue Prent)
Billed as “The Largest Vermont Tea Party Rally in History,” Friday night’s “freedom bonfire” in Bradford at one point drew slightly over 30 people, including the organizers, the invited speakers, and yours truly. The audience was from the 50-and-above crowd, and several declared that they had, in fact, come from New Hampshire to attend the event.
Peg Coutermarsh of Bradford was the MC.
Speakers were Henry Lampman of the VT John Birch Society, who went on about the pervasive threat of socialism within the US since forever; John McLaughry of the Ethan Allen Institute, who talked at length about the recent debt ceiling debacle and argued that the coming election was the right time for the tea party to take over the State House in Montpelier; Rutland City Treasurer Wendy Wilton, who had brought along her (in)famous spreadsheet (alas, no Powerpoint) of the endless horrors (in the shape of taxes) that would befall us all when Peter Shumlin got his way with Green Mountain Care. Finally Steven Howard of the Vermont Campaign for Liberty tried to make the argument that our inherent sense of liberty is what makes us so uniquely American, and warned that the flame of liberty was smoldering.
Howard then had the honor of lighting the bonfire, while participants were given the opportunity to write their messages to President Obama on sticks to throw in the flames (apparently the Tea Party hasn’t gotten the memo that the president prefers Twitter).
Unlike with last year’s event, there appeared to be zero media interest in this year’s Vermont Tea Party bonfire.
More pictures from the epic event here.
Love the snoozers in the bottom pic!
…in which John McClaughry might have been the moderate of the group.
I keep meaning to make it to one of these shindigs, and keep forgetting to look at their website.
This made me laugh. A grand total of 0 have RSVPed:
Central Vermont Friends of the Tea Party
Sharon, Vermont
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
6;30pm to 8pm
Sharon elementary school
Sharon Elementary School
RSVP Count 0
Dick Tracy (organizer)
802-763-7906 (organizer phone)
Note the famous comic book hero who is organizing the event.
They probably are not publishing them. But it is hilarious. I went to one in Montpelier several years back. They marched down dressed in 17th century garb, drums, and fife, and all that, yelping about taxes, socialism, and most of them on Medicare. No media showed up:) There might have fifty or so attendees, that was all. I loved the picture of them snoozing.
LOL. I bet he would. We should get him to try it on:) 17th century was a typo at 2:30 am. Meant 18th century. But that 17th century garb would look real good on Salmon:)
Nothing more wholesome and American than a good old fashioned whip-cream pie on a Summer day. Was this really a Tea Party rally or part of Bradford’s FAIR–you know, the freak show section? Did they display their brains in jars? Where are the snakes?