What I saw at the Milwaukee teabagger rally

Stopped by the tea bag rally at the lake front, leaving a few minutes before the festivities began.

Quick reactions:

• Attendance was respectable for an event of its kind, but by no means huge. I'd put the crowd at about a thousand, possibly north of that (it took up a fraction of the cordoned area). People were still coming in as I left. A decent sized rally -- but if someone was hoping to see a mass turnout showing mass opposition to the Obamapocalypse, this ain't it. Still, Charlie Sykes will call it huge.

• No truly vile posters, just ones complaining about spending, socialism, taxes, etc. Birtherism was represented by one saying  "Don't blame me -- I voted for the American".  Then there was "Obama -Stalin - What's the difference?" Or "Stop spending money like my ex-wife." (edited)

• As the last bit of witticism suggests, the crowd skewed 50s-ish though there were some younger people as well. But it was did skew older and, obviously, white.  (Though I did see James T. Harris musing hiply.)

More later, with pictures.

JUST IN! The Journal Sentinel says "several thousand" -- which I'm taking to be journalistic vaguery for between 2,000 to 3,000 based on the crowd I saw as I left -- at the rally and interviews the guy holding the ex-wife sign.

Renee Crawford pegs the crowd at 300-500. Don't know when she was there but that seems an undercount (UPDATE: Or a typo?). The brawl she describes is frightening and the fact Joe the Plumber was in the midst of it is intriguing:

I looked up and saw an angry mob of angry white men chasing an older white man with a backpack. He was yelling "I have a right to free speech too." The crowd was yelling, "You should die. You're not an American., etc..." They started grabbing at him as he kept trying to leave the event. The crowd was growing (eventually to about 30 people) and the man clearly scared and angry and being grabbed, pushed and surrounded to impede his attempts to escape, I believed was in imminent danger. He was shouting back at them and attempting to defend himself from the crowd and the sheriffs about 300 yards away couldn't see what was going on because of the vendor booths in their way. I made a decision and ran to get the sheriffs.

The man traveled about 300 yards attempting to escape the growing crowd. The crowd was riled up and screaming en masse, continuing to chase the man down, stop his movement, push and pull on his and in general attack the guy.

Then Joe the Plummer joined the tussle. I kid you not. I have no idea his role in it, just that he was IN THE MIDDLE of the crowd. The sheriffs get there, I turn to look at Joe the Plummer and the next thing I know the guy being assaulted by the crowd is bloody on the ground under the knee of two sheriffs and being cuffed. His face was bloody, there was something about a broken camera and I became scared of the crowd who were cheering and congratulating the sheriffs for "doing a great job". There was a girl who said something about someone in that crowd punching her. I decided to walk away from it all because honestly, I saw a sign denouncing the org I work for and was afraid I might be spotted by someone who recognized me and become the next target of the crowd. I just wanted to listen to the speakers and tell what I saw, and I'd seen enough.

 

Of course, top sheriff David Clarke was one of the speakers there. No mention of this fracas in the the Journal Sentinel. Should be an interesting follow-up story...

 

JUST IN! Dad29 points to growing crowd at Milwaukee tea party, pegs crowd at end of event at 4,000-5,000. He says Malkin was "very good, as one should expect" and "sharp," so his estimates should be taken with a grain of salt.

 

JUST IN! Illusory Tenant appears to have dropped in during his 9.3 mile run, observes a grunting Glenn Grothman. He pegs the crowd at 2 million, which could be accurate. Though I attribute the turnout to the free hot dogs.

 

JUST IN! Video of the arrest.

 

JUST IN! "One injured in fight at tea party event"

Comments

[Renee Crawford]

Here's what I saw... http://www.crawfordstake.com/2009/09/anti-govt-rally-masked-as-anti.html