St. Louis Tea Party Draws 4000
November 28, 2009
St Louis Today
Tea partiers score Democrats agenda here
ST. LOUIS — Criticizing the Democrats’ health care reform plan, proposed climate change legislation and the media, members of the St. Louis Tea Party coalition gathered at Kiener Plaza on Saturday for their fourth major local rally.
Coalition officials estimated about 4,000 people showed up for the rally billed as the “Letting Off a Little Steam” Tea Party.
Many wore red, white and blue and waved flags. Others carried signs that read “Get Educated: Watch Glenn Beck” and “Redefeat Communism in 2010.” Boos rung out at every mention of President Barack Obama, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.
The featured speaker was James O’Keefe, the activist filmmaker who produced the video released this year that shows ACORN employees giving advice to people posing as a pimp and prostitute. O’Keefe appeared as the pimp.
He described how ACORN employees in cities all over the country gave him advice that ranged from how to set up a brothel with a dozen girls to contacting Larry Flynt, the publisher of Hustler magazine.
“This is citizen journalism at its finest,” O’Keefe said. “Never in the history of the United States has something had such an impact in such a short time.”
ACORN officials have described the videotapes as doctored and filed a lawsuit against O’Keefe and his colleagues.
O’Keefe told the Kiener Plaza crowd that he shot many more videotapes that will soon be released. He described them as “devastating.”
“You have more power than the New York Times if you have a video camera because you have courage,” O’Keefe said.
Mike Carey, president of the Ohio Coal Association, blasted the proposed climate change legislation, saying it would allow Congress to dictate what Americans ate, where they lived and what kinds of vehicles they drove.
He urged crowd members to support Republican Oklahoma Sen. James Inhofe, a longtime global warming skeptic, in his efforts to bring more attention to what’s being billed as “ClimateGate.” That scandal broke two weeks ago when e-mails were released showing climate scientists having heated disagreements about recent warming trends while sharing derisive comments about skeptics. “Drill, baby, drill and mine, baby, mine,” Carey said.
Much of the rally focused on health care reform, a plan many coalition members said they believed would bankrupt the country.
Stephanie Rubach, a registered nurse and conservative activist here, told the crowd that she thought the U.S. health care system was the best in the world and that those calling for reform often twisted statistics.
She said current health care reform proposals would prevent doctors from accessing the tools they need to adequately treat patients.
“How many ACORN groups might be spawned from such corrupt legislation?” she asked.
Many of the people who attended Saturday’s rally said they were outraged with Obama and Congress, citing a litany of problems — the rising deficit, the bailout of large corporations and the stimulus program were among the top gripes.
Kim Wiele, a physician at Barnes-Jewish Hospital, said the government has adopted an extreme agenda. He said he was opposed to any socialized form of health care.
“I don’t think my tax dollar should pay for abortions,” said Wiele, 52, of St. Louis.