April 15: MSM Still Clueless, Party Crashers a No Show

My April 15, 2010 Tax Day rally experience – when compared to my April 15, 2009 Tax Day rally experience – felt like a rite of passage. The kind that makes you think “yeah, this kid’s gonna be alright.”

The 2009 Tax Day rally in DC’s Lafayette Park (documented by video #11 in my ‘T.E.A. Party Festival’ YouTube Playlist) occurred on a bleak, rainy day. The feel of the crowd was something like a small band of committed partisans gathering in the hills, to begin the resistance to an invading army. The only MSM covering the rally was Fox (ahead of the competition as always.)

Fast forward one year. The weather is perfect. And my choices for rally attendance are greatly expanded. I could have chosen from among any of several held throughout my home state of Virginia. There were two distinct large rallies in downtown DC itself – The TEA Party Express III rally held on Freedom Plaza in the morning, and the Freedom Works rally down by the monuments in the evening. I chose to attend the Freedom Plaza rally, took a recuperative nap afterward, and made a last minute decision to skip the Freedom Works rally - because things were going so well for the movement by that point I figured I could prioritize real life ahead of politics for the moment. Hey, I’m not that activated, yet. If I ever am, I will have become either a professional politician or a dedicated Leftie.

The following pics document the two-sided sign I carried at the Freedom Plaza rally.

I had a lot of fun with the “Who is Jason Levin?” sign. My original idea was to make sure it was prominently displayed next to any ‘TEA Party Crasher’ infiltrators. The unexpectedly good discovery of the day: I don’t think any infiltrators even bothered to show. Not a swastika, N-word, or violence provoking sign in sight. Looks like the Party Crashers is an epic FAIL without my help. (Yeah, this kid’s gonna be alright.)

I took to asking MSM operatives if they knew who Jason Levin is. The PBS person did not. I told her to prepare better for her assignment next time. The CNN guy did not. I told him to ask Fox. Somebody with a camera and a microphone, wearing all black, wouldn’t say who he worked for and wouldn’t say if he knew who Levin is. I told him politely. I accept the risk it might show up on a Leftie blog photo-shopped and audio edited. I saw this guy later trolling the crowd looking very disappointed in an angry kind of way. A guy from Politico knew who Levin was, then proceeded to conduct a 5 minute interview with me that I can only describe as hostile – designed to trap me into saying something that could be used to caricature me as an escapee from the Tin Foil Hat Academy. I don’t think I gave him anything, but I’ll watch Politico closely anyway. Plus I’ve got his business card. I saw him later with a prominent place on the credentialed MSM grandstand. MSM still clueless. (see comments for explanation of the strikethrough).

The best media experience I had was with a California Internet Radio outfit. They politely and transparently identified themselves as “Ron Paul” guys. I politely explained how I’ve blogged about Ron Paul being my 80% political friend, and touched on the differences I have with Paul on national defense. We compared prior uniformed military experiences. Their on-site producer was in the Army in same general region of Germany in which I was in the Air Force, at approximately the same time. The thing we had most passionately in common on this day was smoking out Leftie provocateurs. I gave them the live Internet radio interview and we had a good chuckle over the Party Crashers’ epic fail. The "Ron Paul Internet Radio" guys took the pics of my sign.  Citizen journalism and federalism in action.

According to my unscientific survey of the private citizens – approximately 50% already knew who Levin is. The other 50% instantly understood the situation after the briefest explanation. (Yeah, this kid’s gonna be alright.)

After the rally broke up I had three encounters worth noting.

1) The second face I saw that was truly twisted in anger was a Leftie observing things on the fringes across the street. She knew who Levin was, and labeled me “ignorant” for being afraid of allowing him to express his views. I think maybe this was God giving me the one “Through the Looking Glass” experience I came seeking.

2) I had a fairly long discussion with a kid who might have been 20 years old or so. He had already figured out that there was no chance of him seeing a dime of Social Security benefits if things don’t change. (I told him I had figured that out for myself 20 years ago). The problem is: what little political philosophy he seemed to possess sounded basically Anarchist. I gave him a couple of data points that might lead to further growth in his political philosophy. Who can know?

3) I had another fairly long discussion with a patriot from Pennsylvania. We had a nice academic type discussion on the street about reforming how the nation chooses its Vice Presidents. I don’t anticipate this discussion yielding anything actionable. However, I do think I planted a seed that will prove to be actionable. I made the point the only thing that matters from here is winning the House in November. If we can get the Appropriations Committee back in 2011, everything else becomes possible. If we allow the Progressives to hold the Appropriations Committee in 2011, it just might be all over.

November is kind of important now, patriots.  We need to get this one right.