FRANKFORT, Ky. — Whipped up by conservative commentators and bloggers, tens of thousands of protesters staged “tea parties” around the country Wednesday to tap into the collective angst stirred up by a bad economy, government spending and bailouts.
The rallies were directed at President Barack Obama’s new administration on a symbolic day: the deadline to file income taxes. Protesters even threw what appeared to be a box of tea bags toward the White House, causing a brief lockdown at the compound.
Shouts rang out from Kentucky, which just passed tax increases on cigarettes and alcohol, to Salt Lake City, where many in the crowd booed Republican Gov. Jon Huntsman for accepting about $1.5 billion in stimulus money.
“Frankly, I’m mad as hell,” said businessman Doug Burnett at a rally at the Iowa Capitol, where many of the about 1,000 people wore red shirts declaring “revolution is brewing.” Burnett added: “This country has been on a spending spree for decades, a spending spree we can’t afford.”
In Boston, a few hundred protesters gathered on the Boston Common — a short distance from the original Tea Party — some dressed in Revolutionary garb and carrying signs that said “Barney Frank, Bernie Madoff: And the Difference Is?” and “D.C.: District of Communism.”
In Atlanta, thousands of people were expected to gather on the steps of the Capitol, where Fox News Channel conservative pundit Sean Hannity was set to broadcast his show Wednesday night.
The tea parties were promoted by FreedomWorks, a conservative nonprofit advocacy group based in Washington and led by former Republican House Majority Leader Dick Armey of Texas, who is now a lobbyist.
Organizers said the movement developed organically through online social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter and through exposure on Fox News.
While FreedomWorks insisted the rallies were nonpartisan, they have been seized on by many prominent Republicans who view them as a promising way for the party to reclaim its momentum.
“All you have to be is a mildly awake Republican candidate for office to get in front of that parade,” said Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform.
The movement attracted some Republicans considering 2012 presidential bids.
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich planned to address a tea party in a New York City park Wednesday night. Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal sent an e-mail to his supporters, letting them know about tea parties throughout the state. South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford planned to attend two tea parties.
“There is no such thing as so-called free money and that includes stimulus,” Sanford told several thousand people outside the statehouse in Columbia, S.C. “Paying down debt is an old American theme and never a bad thing.”
There were several small counter-protests, including one that drew about a dozen people at Fountain Square in Cincinnati. A counter-protester held a sign that read, “Where were you when Bush was spending billions a month ‘liberating’ Iraq?” The anti-tax demonstration there, meanwhile, drew about 4,000 people.
In Lansing, Mich., outside the state Capitol, another 4,000 people waved signs exclaiming “Stop the Fiscal Madness,” “Read My Lipstick! No More Bailouts” and “The Pirates Are in D.C.” Children held makeshift signs complaining about the rising debt.
“I’m really opposed to spending the way out of our problem,” said Deborah Mourray, 56, a business administrator from the Detroit suburb of Troy. “How I run my home is: I don’t spend more money so my situation improves. Save and conserve.”
In Salt Lake City, where more than 1,000 protesters gathered outside a downtown federal building in the rain and snow, Kate Maloney held a cardboard sign that read “Pin the tail on the jacka$$”, with a picture of Obama on a Democratic donkey.
“I want to get back my way of life again,” said Maloney, who runs a small costume business and said she’s recently had to lay off 10 of 33 workers. “Right now things change too much.”
Other protesters also took direct aim at Obama. One sign in the crowd in Madison, Wis., compared him to the anti-Christ. At a rally in Montgomery, Ala., where Twisted Sister’s “We’re Not Gonna Take It” blared from loudspeakers, Jim Adams of Selma carried a sign that showed the president with Hitler-style hair and mustache and said, “Sieg Heil Herr Obama.”
Still others talked of their children’s futures. In Washington, D.C., Joe Hollinger said he took the day off to attend the protest with his 11-year-old daughter.
“I’m concerned about the incredible amount of debt Congress is going to put on our children,” Hollinger said, pointing to his daughter’s sign, which read, “Congress get your hand off my piggy bank.”