What We Saw at the 9/12 Tea Party Rally in DC

On September 12, 2010 in Washington, D.C., FreedomWorks sponsored its second annual 9/12 rally, based on the theme of "Remember in November." Among the speakers were FreedomWorks' Dick Armey and Matt Kibbe (go to www.reason.tv for an interview with them about their best-selling Give Us Liberty: A Tea Party Manifesto); former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson (go to www.reason.tv for an interview about his Our America initiative); "Tito the Builder," a Colombian immigrant and contractor who is an outspoken defender of free enterprise; Deneen Borelli of Project 21 and Tom Borelli of the Free Enterprise Project; and new media impresario Andrew Breitbart of Big Government.

This year's event drew a smaller but arguably more intense crowd than last year's demonstration. Attendees' attitudes toward President Barack Obama and the Democratic Congress were sharply negative and sometimes strayed from the Tea Party's traditionally narrow focus on curbing federal spending to issues such as illegal immigration and race relations. Yet there was no mistaking the main thrust of the day's event, which was, as Matt Kibbe stressed, that "November 3 is even more important than November 2." As Andrew Breitbart put it, "The beauty of the Tea Party movement is watching it hold Republicans accountable...These people are not going to stop holding their government and elected officials accountable, especially those that claim to represent their values."

Approximately 5.30 minutes. Shot and edited by Dan Hayes and Jim Epstein. Interviews by Michael C. Moynihan and Nick Gillespie.

Go to Reason.tv for coverage of last year's 9/12 rally and Glenn Beck's August 28, 2010 "Restoring Honor" rally.

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[toastedtoast415]

You almost never have anything good to say if you have to preface it with "I'm not racist but..."

[bosshog7169]

There is a small libertarian sect of the tea party I totally agree with. What worries me in the vast swarms of loonies. The signs just say stop it, but they don't go into detail or seem to know what they r mad about. The blame Obama for everything BS has got to stop. He sucks but Bush was worse and where was this group then? I still think the tea party is mostly batshit Republicans, but we do need a group like this, just not this one.

[Triumvirate888]

Whenever the military gets into a scuffle with somebody, should they launch a nuclear missile, and then decide AFTER they launch it whether or not it's a good idea? Or should they make the decision BEFORE they launch the nuclear missile at some other country?

The same logic applies to sex. Make the decision BEFORE you have sex whether or not to have children. If you want to have kids, then have sex. If you don't want kids, don't have sex. It's not rocket science.

[Triumvirate888]

I support a woman's choice of whether to have a baby or not too. But the problem with most pro-choice people is that they are idiots for thinking that the time to choose "whether or not to have a baby" is after the woman has sex. The time to choose is BEFORE the woman has sex. If she doesn't want a baby, she needs to make the choice to abstain from sex.

Rape and incest combined make up 1% of all abortions, according to 2008-2012 data.

[tanglediver]

2013 calling, how accurate were the warnings of 2010?

[Anthony La Manna]

R.I.P. andrew... miss u bro...

[qualityrkc]

unborn child lol. kind of like the living dead. Anyways no I don't support raping a fetus but I do support a womans choice of whether to have a baby or not and I dont support the government telling women what they can and cant do with their bodies. And i certainly dont support republicans attempts to punish or bully women with rape.

[mrblujet]

I sure do miss Andrew Breitbart.

[TedVoron]

Do you support raping the unborn child with phallic abortion tools?

[qualityrkc]

hahahha yes abortion toys are somewhat phallic. And you think bc that is true it is ok to rape women with instruments whenever you please even if it had no real medical benefits?

[TedVoron]

Aren't abortion tools somewhat phallic?