Hundreds vent their anger at TEA party

At noon Wednesday, Orange Lake in Sims Park could have been renamed Orange Pekoe Lake, as about 200 residents showed up there for a "tea party," not with pinkies raised, but homemade protest signs instead.

One of the signs read, "Party like it's 1773."

The rally in New Port Richey, and another held a few hours later near the Gulf View Square mall just north of Port Richey were just two of thousands of protests around the country, dubbed "tea parties," a reference to the Boston Tea Party, in which American Colonists dumped tea in Boston Harbor in 1773 to protest British-imposed taxes.

On Wednesday, "TEA" was spelled in all capital letters, standing for "Taxed Enough Already." The 2009 TEA parties were scheduled for April 15, the annual deadline to file federal tax returns.

The "tea party" protest concept is a recent phenomenon that is often painted as a Republican strategy to turn a national political tide that has been drifting away from them. To whatever degree that may be true, Tracey Coker, who organized the New Port Richey event, felt the rallies were an equal-opportunity venue for the public to air their displeasure with the government over a number of issues.

"This is bipartisan," Coker said, "It's Republican, it's Democrat, it's Libertarian. You could quiz these people and guarantee you will find every party in this crowd.

"I think it's just a bunch of fed-up people."

"Organizer" might be too generous a term, Coker said. She had gone online and found the American Family Association Web site. The AFA has a long history of activism promoting conservative Christian values.

According to the AFA Web site, it had rallies registered in 2,049 cities Wednesday. This was in addition to other tea parties organized by FreedomWorks.com and others.

According to Coker, there was no organized national coordination on AFA's part; it was really more a matter of keeping track of where local citizens were planning rallies.

The AFA site did provide a list of protest topics to help focus public outrage. The list referred to bailouts and handouts of billions of taxpayer dollars, earmarks, catering to special interests and an overall condemnation of a government that more and more seems to serve personal and corporate interests while ignoring the American people.

Coker's husband Matt explained these rallies collectively serve to give both the people and the government a chance to get a glimpse of the magnitude of pent-up frustration that exists today.

"The enormity of the fact that there are going to be thousands of these across the country today speaks volumes," Coker said.

Once the crowd gathered, there was an opening prayer and then speeches by members of the crowd. As might be expected at a politically charged gathering in a statistically pro-Republican community, there were times when sentiments swayed a bit to the right.

The word "liberal," for example, induced booing every time it was uttered, as did "socialism."

In addition, there were frequent suggestions that the nation's most serious woes have developed in the 85 days since President Barack Obama took office.

Even though a few of the speakers drifted off-topic or, ironically, used the occasion to try to promote their own political careers, for the most part the rally managed to stay on course and remain a statement of overall displeasure.

"Tell them we're out here for our grandkids," Bill Norwood of Hudson said as he stood at the edge of the crowd holding a large American Flag.