The Danville Tea Party sponsored a “Freedom Rally” at Danville’s Ballou Park today. Let’s take a look at what happened using the infamous “random thoughts” format.
- It was a beautiful day for this rally with bright sunshine and 65 degrees temperatures.
- Our emcee for the day is Elmer Woodard and unfortunately, he’s dressed in a colonial costume. Yeah, I get it. Tea party, colonial days. That homage is really starting to fall flat.
- Nigel Coleman does a good job with his speech. He’s toned down his rhetoric and didn’t say anything stupid. I was impressed with his performance today.
- Virgil Goode was added on as a late addition to speak and if I didn’t know any better, I’d swear that he was either running for office or still in office. He knows how to get a crowd going.
- I’ve always been impressed with Danny Marshall, and he made another good speech & the crowd was very receptive. I’ve always found it interesting that lots of Tea Party members vilify Robert Hurt for his “tax increase” yet never say anything about Marshall or Charles Hawkins, as they voted for the same bill.
- Danny Marshall says he’ll be voting for Robert Hurt. The crowd has absolutely no reaction… not even from the 2 or 3 people who’ve been talking to no one in particular when they attempt to echo various speakers’ points.
- Marshall says that there will be a major jobs announcement in the next few weeks for Southside. We’ll have more on that later.
- There was approximately 150 people at the rally but after looking at the demographics, I sense a big problem with the Danville’s Tea Party message. Except for Nigel Coleman, the crowd’s racial background is totally white. If their message isn’t getting out to Danville’s black community, they’re missing a lot. The crowd also is skewed towards older people (with a few exceptions), which means that the young voters are a group that the Tea Party is missing out on and could incorporate into their fold. The Danville Tea Party has not gotten into local politics at all, and I’m wondering if that’s a major flaw in their thought process. With the Danville City Council race coming up, it’s an opening for them to get more recognition.
- Speaking of Danville City Council, it was good to see Councilman Fred Shanks at the event. Shanks has attended most, if not all of the Tea Party events. Since we’re in the middle of a city council race, it’s surprising that none of the challengers showed up to at least get some name recognition (even if they’re not warm to the Tea Party ideas).
- Virginia State Police Special Agent Mark Campbell, the coordinator of the Halifax/South Boston Regional Narcotics and Gang Task Force, spoke on the potential threats to homeland security that are in the region. Campbell is extremely knowledgeable in his field of expertise and represents an arm of the Virginia State Police that few people know about. His speech was excellent, yet it was a bizarre tangent to a political “freedom rally”. Campbell would be best utilized as a speaker that has the entire agenda dedicated to what he knows best.
- Daren Gardner was another speaker at the event. He plans on doing a “Constitution Ride Across America” on his motorcycle, visiting the lower 48 state capitols from August 15 to October 30, holding a rally at each stop.
- Tito Munoz spoke at the rally. He’s a Colombian immigrant who has built a successful construction business and is a frequent speaker at rallies like this. Munoz appears to be affiliated with the “Americans For Prosperity” group.
- Closing remarks went to Darriel Burnett, the vice-chairman of the Danville Tea Party. This was the first time that I had heard from Burnett and he impressed me with his “everyman” attitude. Dressed in a t-shirt & jeans, Burnett really seemed to have the genuine “spirit of the Tea Party” ideals in him. He didn’t have any of the fiery rhetoric that has made negative publicity. Burnett needs to get out and get more visible, and he can add some more credibility to the Danville Tea Party.
- Feda Morton & Jeff Clark were at the rally. Feda Morton is a candidate for the Republican nomination for the 5th District House seat, while Clark is running an independent campaign for the seat. I’m hoping to do an interview segment with both of these candidates on this week’s “Local Buzz” shows. I’ll be hosting Monday through Wednesday in the upcoming week.
- The iced tea was rather tasty. 🙂
Overall, I was pleasantly surprised by the total civility of today’s rally. I came in expecting more of the same (and fearing something like the one held at the Danville courthouse last year). If the Danville Tea Party continues on this path and away from the idiotic stunts, they just might gain some of the respectability back that they’ve lost. Today’s rally was a disjointed group of speakers, but it somehow worked out into an entertaining two hour event. We’ll have a photo slideshow from the event in an article on Sunday.
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The demographics of the Tea Party gatherings will never change. The young are too busy living their lives to notice that the American government is going to hell in a hand basket and blacks think that any stand taken against Obama’s radical policies is an anti-Black statement.
The Tea Party gatherings really don’t matter in the overall scheme of things because our representatives are no longer listening to the will of the people. Ultimately, the only thing that really matters is that every concerned citizen who does not like the direction the country is heading in get off their collective asses this November and vote for the most Conservative candidate(s) possible. That is the only chance we have left, as a nation, to return to the vision of America given to us by our Founders.
Have you considered that no one has ever raised hell against the other RINOs who voted for Warner’s tax increase in the Southside era is because politics in Southside, on both sides of the aisle, has been a good old boy network of favors and friends?
Look at the other regions of the state where Republicans who voted for Warner’s tax increase at least had challenges in primaries, and some lost. The rest of Virginia has a functioning political system. Southside is just barely ahead of the plantation style politics in which no one challenges their “betters” in society.
Also, what is up with Delegate Marshall saying that the US should be able to balance its budget because Virginia manages to. Does he know know the difference? Virginia HAS to have a balanced budget. If the state could go into debt like the national government we’d be in record deficits right now at the state level too. With such a “constitutional knowledge” no wonder he voted for Warner’s tax increase!
I’ve considered that but rejected that because Danny Marshall runs for re-election every cycle and rarely (never?) faces that issue. Marshall’s just as much a “good old boy” as Hurt & Hawkins. The other candidates have really nothing else to use against Hurt and a few of them are throwing this glob of horsecrap against the wall and hoping it sticks. It isn’t. They’ve failed.
Next, the acronym of “RINO” grates my nerves. One “wrong” move and it’s OH MY GOD THEY’RE NOT ONE OF US ANYMORE! I hate extreme partisanship in all forms and this “99% ain’t good enough for us” horsecrap doesn’t cut it for me. It was a cutesy-ass name for a while but I’m sick of it. I don’t care whether somebody calls somebody else a RINO, a WINO or even a ELLAFINO.
Finally, Marshall did state that Virginia requires a balanced budget. This ain’t his first rodeo.
Why would Marshall face the issue during reelection? Who among the powers that be in Danville and Pittsylvania would ever complain about Marshall’s vote for Warner’s tax increase? The Institute? Ben Davenport? Please! No one would ever, ever allow a Republican primary challenge to Marshall to get off the ground.
So in Danville, a vote for Warner’s tax increase is not reason enough to be thrown out of the Republican Party. But in the rest of Virginia, incumbents can and have been challenged entirely on that issue. What makes Danville so special? Is it because it’s not as conservative as the rest of the state? Or they care more about pork and other issues than staying true to fiscal conservatism?
Or perhaps one vote doesn’t make a “litmus test” to rational people? 😀
One vote does and should make a litmus test to some people.
If someone is a passionate pro-life activist, I can see how that can be a litmus test for them.
If someone is passionately opposed to the Iraq War, I can see how that can be a litmus test to them.
This is not High School Civics where we pretend that everyone carefully looks at where a candidate stands on all of the issues and makes up his or her mind based on their entire portfolio.
This is the real world, where a former Democratic Vice Presidential candidate can be ran out of his party because of his support for the Iraq War, or several State Delegates and Senators can be ran out of the GOP for their support of tax increases.
I’m constantly shocked and surprised that the Southside community stands in lockstep behind their Republican officials who voted for the 2004 tax increase and deny that the vote should be a litmus test. But I bet you if you picked another issue, say abortion or gay marriage, they’d be more than happy to run any “Republican” out of the party if he or she cast a vote with the liberals.
I think you’ve put blinders on when considering Hurt’s vote and how this primary is playing out.
You assume that the candidates opposed to him are just trying to do anything possible to defeat Hurt and are grasping at straws by bringing up his vote to raise taxes.
Have you considered that the field against Hurt is full of candidates from the more affluent suburban portions of the district?
The portions of the district where a vote to raise taxes is a third rail for conservatives, the Southside equivalence of voting to take someone’s guns away?
I don’t think that’s a conincidence. A conservative in Southside might not care about Hurt’s vote to raise taxes because they consider themselves a Republican for other reasons. Because they are a good Christian and a good Southerner who likes his guns. But go to the suburbs around Charlottesville or the areas around Roanoke and Lynchburg and I bet you’ll find more conservative Republicans who are far more passionate about the issue of raising taxes.
It is clear beyond crystal that Obama is President today because he was against the war. If Hurt is beaten it is also clear that his 2004 vote cost him plenty in the race.
What has always bothered me is why Hurt voted for it. The VA government was not going to “close down” as many revisionist have tried to mis-remember. Hurt has said he was tricked at one point. I think I’ve read at least three different answers that question. It speaks to the larger issue of Hurt and what can only be viewed as a no more than average legislative career. No big bills till he was spoon fed this year by the Governor. Look at his committees and previous sessions, where lives the evidence that this man will make a great congressman.
But lastly what has he done to burnish his fiscal conservative record since that vote that stands out?
NAS, you’re doing more commenting here than on your own site! Why? Not enough to talk about up there in “naaa-then’ Virginia? Hasn’t Verga given you the green light on something else you can promote for him lately? Are you tired of getting beat up on your own site and now trying to wing it on someone else’s site.
I, for one true Pittsylvania common-sense conservative, have heard enough of your vitriol down here on our site. This area has not condemned Marshall and Hawkins and Hurt for that vote because they DID NOT DESERVE condemning on that issue.
In the last 12 months, just exactly who do you think is doing the “condemning” in our area if someone needs it? Not the politicians, not the established political leadership, not the press, not the bloggers, not the business establishment, not the banking establishment! NOT! NOT! NOT!
In the southern portion of the 5th District, it is the PEOPLE who are doing the condemning and it is the PEOPLE who decide who deserves to be elected and who deserves to be booted from office!!!!!!!!! This is a valuable lesson that you “naaa-theners” should learn and learn it quick! Bloggers be damned and full speed ahead!
VaPatriot, I like this site! I’m a fan of commenting here, much like you are a fan of commenting on my site! What’s wrong with appreciating a site for bringing together a diverse community of observers and commentators?
I’m sad you don’t find my posts on Glenn Nye worthy of comment. Do you only care about the primary race in VA-05? Makes me wonder who is paying you! 😉
NAS, I am being paid by my full-time employer who has no political connections and, soon I hope, by an internet business I am starting. No political $$$ coming to me!
True, I have no interest in the other districts other than I hope all Democrats are defeated. I live and work in the 5th and that’s why it is important to me that Hurt be elected to replace Perriello!
After your entreaty, I guess there is some value in your commenting here but please expect myself and others to set you straight when you stray!!!!!