Tea Party Express Kicks Off National Tour in Cranberry
Tom Smith, Pennsylvania's GOP candidate for U.S. Senate, attended Friday’s event.
Photos
Fresh from winning the Republican nod in Tuesday’s primary election, Armstrong County’s Tom Smith—who will face incumbent Sen. Bob Casey in November’s U.S. Senate race— joined the crowd gathered at North Boundary Park in Cranberry for a Tea Party Express rally.
“This is the grass roots and this is what’s going to get this country back on track,” said Smith, who has been endorsed by the Tea Party Express. “These are my kind of people.”
Billed as the nation’s largest Tea Party political action committee, The Tea Party Express came to Cranberry Friday to kick off its Restoring the American Dream national bus tour.
Conservative talk radio host Rose Tennent, of The War Room with Quinn and Rose, served as emcee for the event.
Other speakers and entertainers included Tea Party Express Chairwoman Amy Kremer; Mike Holler, author of The Constitution Made Easy; Lloyd Marcus, who wrote The Tea Party Anthem; Diana Nagy, who preformed live during the Tea Party Republican presidential debate on CNN; conservative rapper Polatik and comedian Jim Labriola, who appeared on the popular TV show Home Improvement.
A regular on Fox News, Debbie Lee also spoke to the crowd about her son, Marc Lee, a Navy SEAL who was killed in 2006 during a firefight with insurgents in Ramadi, Iraq. Lee said her son, who held off the enemy while his team rescued a wounded soldier from a rooftop, made the ultimate sacrifice so Americans could continue to enjoy the freedoms they have today.
“To all you who have gone before us, Marc, and the rest of your buddies and teammates, we will never forget you,” she said in her speech. “Thank you for being those patriots that won’t ever forget the sacrifice our men and women have made in the military.”
The event attracted hundreds of people from around the region, many of them dressed in red, white and blue and carrying American flags or homemade signs. Among them was Harmony resident Tom Ayres, who said he had never been to a Tea Party rally before. He called the experience “eye-opening.”
“I’m tired of big government,” he said of why he attended Friday's event.
Traveling in two large tour buses, The Tea Party Express next heads to Cleveland for another event Friday evening. From there, the tour will continue with stops in Indiana, Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska and Texas. This is the organization’s sixth national bus tour.
Did you attend Friday’s Tea Party Express kickoff in Cranberry? What do you like or dislike about the movement? Share your thoughts in the comment section.
Janet Butler
5:13 pm on Friday, April 27, 2012
missed the one today, but have attended them before. They are so eye opening as to how far our country has strayed from what we were and what our country was founded on. We just want our freedoms back, with smaller government; and the government working for us and not the other way around!
tes
10:01 pm on Friday, April 27, 2012
We just want our freedoms back, with smaller government; and the government working for us and not the other way around!
So what does all this mean? What freedoms have you lost? Smaller govn. -? I guess the majority of tea party members are collecting social security checks(along with govn. healthcare) - wouldn't that be govn working for you. I realize the teaparty wants "their country back", which is code for wanting their country to be run by a white president.
Boyerwedum
8:22 am on Saturday, April 28, 2012
TES
That's nothing more than a typical left wing comment! You don't like what they say, so just label them as racist. You people on the left see nothing wrong with a "Nanny State" and want to be taken care of with no regard for freedom. What about morality? You could care less with saddling our children and their children with our debt. You also want our religious freedoms thrown under the bus.
Joseph Graham
11:06 am on Saturday, April 28, 2012
We want smaller government, smaller government involvement in my life, less government telling me what to do! Unless of course I am gay and want to get married then the GOVERNMENT needs to be BIGGER!! Or if I am woman and want to use birth control then the GOVERNMENT needs to be BIGGER!! Or if I am woman and want to legally have an abortion if I was raped then the GOVERNMENT needs to be BIGGER!!
Less/smaller government ONLY when it fits the teabagger agenda!! What a joke!
edj
3:30 pm on Saturday, April 28, 2012
Boyrudum
Why are you more moral than me. Do u think of the "Nanny State" when your SS check arrives? During 2000 to 20008 when we had two unfunded wars and increased our debt at never before seen rates, did U worry about our children and grandchildren? I'd say not. When the conservaturds were in charge and spending
and spending not one word was said by these individuals about debt. Remember what the "great American" Dick Cheney said: "deficits don' matter". So why do they matter now, boyrudum? Could it be because your guys aren't in charge.
Can you pronounce hypocrite. Just go spend some of your SS check
edj
3:49 pm on Saturday, April 28, 2012
boyerwedum:
Just look at the picture of the tea party people. You have old people, white people and dumb people. Of course they are racist. That is what started the tea party. It was financed by very wealthy white people(Koch bros). You are doing there dirty work while they are laughing all the way to the bank.
tes
3:53 pm on Saturday, April 28, 2012
edj:
You are correct. These people are bigots and racists. Unfortunately it is what it is.
Just when you think this country is moving forward bigotry raises its ugly face.
MollyP
4:22 pm on Saturday, April 28, 2012
The only comment necessary is for one to read the comments made by those on the left. Perhaps if they had applied themselves to studying grammar, spelling, history and civics they would have a better grasp on the problems confronting our country.
tes
5:31 pm on Saturday, April 28, 2012
Wow. A stellar response.
tes
9:09 am on Tuesday, May 1, 2012
History and civics? Hey Molly, does that include the history of racism and discrimination in this country? When the Teailban Party tells us they "want to take their country back", are we assuming that means back to when racism and discrimination were practiced openly.
It is hard to believe with all the right wing attacks on women that you would support discrimation and racism. Should we go "back" to a time when women were not allowed to vote?
tes
7:12 pm on Sunday, May 20, 2012
Come on Molly P, haven't heard from you lately. I will attempt to be nice to you because June is" be kind to bigots month".
Mark A.
7:43 pm on Sunday, May 20, 2012
Yo tes, last month called and wants its argument back.
Boyerwedum
12:55 pm on Monday, May 21, 2012
I wish I could say I am surprised by this, but no. Every argument presented by the left is that anything associated with the right and the tea party is racist. Argue back about spending more than you take in and their response is......ready?.....you're a racist. The right wants to take back the country...........oh wait........you're a racist. Let's just forget about morality and saddle our grandchildren with a debt they'll never overcome......sorry I guess I just threw on a KKK hoodie and said something racist! Oops, I used another racist term...."hoodie." My extreme apologies to all on the left for being such a racist. But, I will continue to live within my means....oops....another racist remark!
edj
5:53 pm on Monday, May 21, 2012
Boyerdum: You are so concerned about your grandchildrens debt. One question.
During the Bush presidency, when two unfunded wars and tax cuts caused the debt to spiral out of control, were you just as concerned about our grandchildrens debt?
One of your heroes, Dick Cheney, stated that the deficit doesn't matter. So what changed?(Sorry, two questions.)
BTW - tes commented on bigotry, not racism. Being a bigot does not necessary have to do with race, but being intolerant of other views. When you comment about
"the right wanting to take back the country", that speaks volumes about your views. You may not be a racist, but you are a bigot.
Mark A.
2:40 pm on Monday, May 21, 2012
Don't judge us all by what tes says. I don't think tea partiers are exclusively racist, although there are some, just like with any group. The real problem with tea partiers is that they are obsessed with religion, which is just backwards. Nonexistent gods and a 2000 year old tome don't apply to modern society.