TEA Party snuffs out bonfire
The Danville TEA Party has officially cancelled its bonfire and effigy burning planned for Saturday after the event received nationwide interest, according to the group’s chairman, Nigel Coleman.
Coleman said Monday the owner of the property in Blairs has pulled the plug on the event because of the negative attention the rally has garnered. The bonfire originally included burning effigies of Rep. Tom Perriello, D-5th District, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., in response to their support of the health care legislation.
“The media attention has gotten pretty large,” Coleman said. “(The property owner) didn’t want to be viewed poorly, and of course we didn’t want that for them.”
News of the event quickly spread online to national news outlets, blogs and even Comedy Central. The effigy burning is “definitely ruled out” for the future, Coleman said, but the intention was to teach “a history lesson” and compare the event to the birth of the Sons of Liberty after the 1765 Stamp Act.
“I feel like I obviously handled this poorly, as far as the press goes,” Coleman said. “We really should have thought this through more … and seen how this was going to affect not only us, but other TEA parties and the TEA party movement in general.”
Coleman, who seemed disappointed, would not say whether he had received any specific requests from other TEA party movements to cancel the event, but said that “I’m always in contact with other TEA party leaders and I always take their feedback into consideration.”
Republicans react
Some Republican leaders have distanced themselves from the event. Tucker Watkins, chairman of the 5th District Republican Committee, declined to comment. Three of the seven declared challengers to Perriello for the 5th District seat in 2010 responded, including Laurence Verga, of Albemarle County; Feda Kidd Morton, of Fluvanna County; and Ron Ferrin, of Campbell County.
“I think we need to have very open and civil discourse in this country,” Verga said. “Reasonable adults can disagree on points and come together as Americans, but that (event) to me is an unconscionable thing to do and I would not participate in any way shape or form.”
Morton praised the Danville TEA Party for “engaging voters of the district to voice opinions on the health care debate.”
“Perriello’s blatant disregard for the opinion of his constituents voiced in town halls he hosted shows his lack of commitment to those who elected him and the needs of his district,” she said in an e-mailed statement. “I have tremendous respect for the TEA Party’s effort and its commitment to protecting our liberty.”
Ferrin disagreed, saying he believed “we can do better.”
“While I certainly understand the frustration…” Ferrin said in an e-mail, “I do not believe that burning anyone in effigy would yield any positive result… I believe that the change we were sold is a change we cannot live with and I will work to repeal it.”
The remaining four candidates could not be reached for comment: Ken Boyd of Albemarle County; state Sen. Robert Hurt, R-Chatham; Michael McPadden, of Albemarle County; and Bedford County resident Bradley Rees, who is running as a member of the Virginia Conservative Party.
A political bellwether?
Bob Holsworth, president of the nonpartisan VirginiaTomorrow.com, said the national TEA Party movement shows — to some level — what many Americans are feeling.
“While the Democrats have by and large attempted to frame the TEA parties as the invention of political crackpots,” Holsworth said, “my sense is that they reflect a frustration that is felt even more broadly than the people that actually participate in them. And that frustration is a sense that the government in Washington is too large, moving too fast over too many issues.”
Holsworth doubted that the bonfire would have had a direct effect on Perriello.
“He’s gonna get a stiff challenge no matter what happens with the TEA parties,” he said.
Liberal political blogger Ben Tribbett, who runs the popular “NotLarrySabato” blog, called the planned burning “stupid,” but acknowledged that there seems to be much discontent with Perriello in the 5th District after his votes for both health care reform, which angered conservatives, and the Stupak-Pitts abortion amendment, which angered liberals.
“Tom has walked himself into a corner on both sides,” Tribbett said. “… And it doesn’t put him in a great position politically for 2010.”
As for the effigy burning, Tribbett said “it’s like a third-world country to take pictures of someone and go burn it in the street.”
Patricia Evans, a member of the Danville TEA Party, defended the group’s interests in an e-mail to members Monday.
“Many people across America are extremely upset by the actions of our government,” Evans said, “but we must always represent the conservative movement in a strong but respectful manner. Winning over hearts and minds is the only way we will get our country back. Nigel loves his country and just let his feelings take over in this case.”
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Assuming there was a typo of a “D” vs and “E”, since they are right in the same keyboard area.
Posted by Randall D on November 21, 2009 at 6:19 am
I don’t mine the debt that the US holds. Eventually, we will come out on top with that.
Quote from Gordie: “It is okay that someone who kept throwing the debt around in this comment section, finally agrees it is not as bad as it seems. It is my opinion as well.“
If you were directing that towards me, I never said, even hinted, that is not as bad as it seems. And it is at least 4 times worse since Obamasama became Prez. Along with unemployment, debt has risen sharply. Anyone who thinks you can spend your way out of debt is a lunatic. We need to quit bailing out corporations that failed because of CEO’s mistakes. Put the tax money back in the taxpayers pockets. Cut down on welfare. Prosecute the frauders. Quit paying out multiple checks for one payee. If someone paid into SS, there shouldn’t be checks for each child, each wife, paid out later after he passes away. If more is being paid out than is coming in, then changes have to be made. Cuts have to be made. Where is the common sense in this country? All these entitlements must be paid for somehow. And borrowing so much is ridiculous. Our economy can’t sustain it. Interest paid to foreign countries on their parts of our national debt is food out of our citizens mouths. We should be looking out more for our own, and less for foreigners. Yes, this sounds harsh. But reality is harsh. This is a mean, cruel world we are living in. The fantasy of disputing the truth, denying the things we don’t like, gets us nowhere. So it is well past time that some solutions, even if they hurt, are implemented.
Randy Dowdy
Sorry, you are wrong….....
The earth is a natural greenhouse and is kept warm by water vapors, carbon dioxide (CO2), and other gases in the atmosphere, which absorb the sun’s energy and radiate it back toward the earth. This type of warming is called “natural greenhouse effect.” “Enhanced greenhouse effect,” on the other hand, causes global climate change due to excessive levels of CO2 in the atmosphere.
Without the atmosphere to create a greenhouse-type effect, the average temperature on Earth would be just 5° Fahrenheit (F).g
Natural levels of CO2 in the atmosphere have varied throughout history between 180 and 300 parts per million (ppm). Today’s CO2 levels hover around 380 ppm, representing a 25% increase over the highest recorded natural levels.
In the year 1997 alone, the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere increased by 2.87 ppm; this increase is more than any other year on record.
The year 2005 was the warmest on record, and the years 1998 and 2007 are tied for the second warmest. The eight warmest years on record have all occurred since 1998.
Scientists expect a 3.5° F increase in average global temperatures by the year 2100, resulting in the warmest temperatures in the past million years.
To justiceisgreat, the earth has been warming since the ice age, when glaciers covered most of the earth. Glaciers caused the hills and valleys we have here. Obviously it warmed up, because all the ice in this part of the world melted. So the burning of fossil fuels wasn’t around back then, and it still got hotter. It is pure BS to blame it on Co2 emissions. Those dinosaurs were here when it was warm, then it turned cold and there was an ice age. Then it got warm again, and the ice melted. Anyone with some common sense shows that this warming/cooling runs in cycles. Nasa has determined that other planets in our solar system are also warming right now. Are you gonna blame that on us too? It is natural for the earth to warm/cool, change is constant. Humans, even as bad as pollution is, are only a minute part of this. This earth warms, cools, warms, cools. The biggest contributor right now is all that hot air coming out of the Demorats in DC. We can’t stop it, and it is foolish and futile to try. It is OK to dream that we have control of the climate. But reality must set in, and when you look at the big picture it is obvious that the warming we are experiencing right now has never been under our control. We simply are not to blame. This doesn’t give us a green light to continue polluting. Just like we need to realize that global warming is out of our control, we must realize that pollution creates dangers to human life. Oxygen levels must remain high enough for humans to survive. Land must remain fertile, not contaminated like FPC and Goodyear did to Dowdy Lane at the Bryant Farm Drum Dump, so that crops and food can be produced.
So yes, we need to clean up this earth. But no, climate change (global warming) is not due to human neglect, fossil fuels, nor cattle farts. The scare tactics are just ways to keep people scared of themselves, to give the government more control over peoples lives. After all, one large volcano can change the atmosphere more in one year than mankind does in a century. Do some research, open your mind, quit taking everything the gov’t says as fact. Many scientists are even backing up now and saying that things aren’t as they have been preaching for the last decade or two.
Randy Dowdy
‘United we stand and be divided we fall”.....this is true. in light of the bon fire, I say DO IT. fellow American citizens ESPECIALLY black folk need to speak out if you do not agree with everything Obama does. We can’t all agree on everything, but we can agree on the fact that we are all American, and should express our right of free speech while we still have it.
I agree with not having a bon fire on your personal property, however a public park is neutral turf.
Sorry but this time it means it’ the polls showed that.
JP - You said earlier that you didn’t want to have any further “discourse” with me. Yet, here you are again directing your comments to me. If you don’t want me to respond to you directly, why do you keep addressing your remarks directly to me?
Being voted in by a majority doesn’t mean you’re the best person for the job. It only means you ran the better campaign. Obama said if we would only give him his precious $787 Billion stimulus bill, unemployment would not under any circumstances go over 8%. So was Mr. Obama lieing to us, or was he just wrong?
Glad he’s not my President!
Rockit. You can say he was wrong on the issues you mentioned, but he was voted in by a very clear majority of Americans to do exactly what he is doing. These are all issues he ran on, and they are issues that need to be addressed, which is what he has been doing for the past 10+ months. You can say he was “wrong” as much as you want, but a majority of the Americans are saying that he is right - his poll numbers are down because he has lost many progressives and independents who want him to do all of these things, but faster. Patience is not a trait of many American voters; patience would have kept us out of Iraq.
‘Nuff said. Peace.
Thanks to those that commented, looked up Article II, Section 2 and saw the joke without going over board with insults.
Thought it was a good topic after last nights vote. This type of politics should end, but no one is really a traitor for using it. The public has to make their decision at election time, if this is good for the country.
If I were a Republican Senator in one of these 3 states I would really wonder if I really did the right thing with my “NO” vote.
The poll described the motion to proceed, for example, and asked respondents, “In the Senate, before a bill can be voted on, there must be a vote to allow it to be debated. Regardless of whether you support or oppose the health insurance reform plan itself, do you believe that it should be debated on the floor of the Senate?“
Support was overwhelming in all three conservative “red” states—88% of Nebraskans, 82% of Louisianans, and 84% of Arkansans all agreed that health care reform should be debated. (It makes one wonder how voters in, say, Maine might feel if they knew that both of their “moderate” Republican senators are opposed to even letting the bill comes to the floor for a debate.)
The poll then asked about cloture: “Once a bill has been debated in the Senate, senators must then vote on whether to allow the bill itself to be voted on. Regardless of whether you support or oppose the health insurance reform plan, do you believe that senators should allow it to be voted on?“
The numbers weren’t quite as strong, but again, support was largely one-sided—80% of Nebraskans, 77% of Louisianans, and 77% of Arkansans agreed that senators should let health care reform come up for a vote.
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_11/021087.php
Rockit, I guess we are both traitors. First beer is on me!
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