This rally was held on February 27, 2010 in Atlanta, Georgia, shortly after some
references were made about the leadership of the Tea Party. The speakers at this rally
went to great lengths to stress that the Tea Party has no leaders. They filmed
participants saying “I am the Tea Party leader.”
Several years of white flight has made downtown Atlanta a place feared by many suburbanites, so it is interesting to see what kind of crowd shows up when the target audience is middle class white folks from the exurbs and the protest location is the state capitol in downtown Atlanta. A variety of signs were seen expressing points of view on a number of issues, mostly having to do with healthcare and taxes, and nothing was overtly racist. The oddest thing was the number of references made to venereal diseases and other unpleasant health problems and their association with elected officials.
Stroll to the protest
Some things you see at a protest are impossible to photograph and get the nuance. I observed a group standing around looking at a photo of Obama with his feet on the
presidential desk in the Oval Office, smiling and chatting with someone. “Just look at him!” one scowled. “That desk is over 200 years old and he’s got his feet on it!”.
Another chimed in, “You notice how he is showing the soles of his shoes to those people? To Muslims that’s a sign of disrespect.”
Muffin was not amused
