Tea party protesters take to South Florida’s sidewalks and streets on tax day (with video)
Anthony Man, Sun Sentinel
"I've never been into politics other than voting," said Susan Garmon, 58, who drove from Weston to Fort Lauderdale, where she stood holding a sign quoting tea party favorite Sarah Palin: "How's that whole hopey changey thing working out for ya?"
"They're scaring me to death. We need to let everyone know we're not sitting down and taking it any more," she said. "I have grandchildren who deserve the good world I inherited, not the debt that they're getting now."
Besides the growing national debt that's making the country dependent on financing from China, she said she's especially concerned about the new health care law. "They pushed that through when they knew the majority didn't want it."
Heather Landstrom is concerned about the next generation. She brought her 5-year-old daughter — holding a sign "Hands of my piggy!" — to the West Palm Beach rally.
"We're just worried about the country that our children are going to inherit," she said, "We want to make a statement before it's too late."
Dave Welch, 60, of Boca Raton, said he took the afternoon off work to attend the Fort Lauderdale tea party "just to show that we are not a bunch of nuts that the media wants people to believe we are. We are sane, intelligent people."
Welch liked what he was part of. "It's my first one, and I assure you, it won't be my last."
There were other occasional jabs at the media, lots of signs and some speakers bashing Obama, and — in Fort Lauderdale, at least — repeated references to U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Weston. She's extraordinarily popular in her district where she racks up more than 70 percent of the vote. But tea partiers greeted every mention of her name with a chorus of boos.
"I see good, average American citizens. I don't see right-wing lunatics the way they're going to paint us on the television," said Ed Napolitano, who emceed the Fort Lauderdale event. And the Rev. O'Neal Dozier of the World Wide Christian Center in Pompano Beach used his opening prayer to ask God to "please stop this wicked and ungodly Congress and administration.
Former U.S. Rep. Clay Shaw, R-Fort Lauderdale, attended with his wife, Emilie, to show support for the cause — and found a group of people who represent "a majority of America today."
SXG sxgflrda@fellsouth.net
April 15, 2010