As reported by Devilstower on the front page of the Daily Kos a couple of days ago, the Teabaggers were ready to hit the ground protestin’ at the Detroit Auto Show. Ready to protest bailing out the auto industry.
You know, the one that employs 60% of Michigan workers?
Well, they were outnumbered by some union folks who showed up with signs of their own. And both groups were outnumbered by the media.
(Photo by Mark Smith/Detroit Free Press)
Well, they thought they’d have a lot of Teabaggers there…
Charlie Gennara thought there would be a sizable showing for a planned “tea party” protest outside the annual international auto show in Detroit on Monday.For the first 45 minutes, though, it was just him and one other person voicing their displeasure with the billions in aid spent by the government on General Motors, Chrysler and auto lender GMAC Financial Services.
In These Times reports:
The auto workers scored an early victory, edging out the the National Tax Day Tea Party for a prime piece of protest real estate right outside the main conference hall. The tea partiers were scheduled to protest at 9:30. But when they hadn’t gotten their act together by 9:40, the cops gave their spot to four UAW counter-protesters from Ypsilanti, Mich.
(Photo by Bill Pugliano/Getty Images)
From the Detroit Free Press article:
“They think we can stimulate our way out of this economic malaise,” said Jeffrey McQueen, a Rochester resident and member of USRevolution. “But the only way out is to cut taxes.”Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard, a Republican gubernatorial candidate, came to the protest this morning to show solidarity with the Tea Party crowd, but left before the demonstration began.
Counter-protesters, made up mainly of auto workers, outnumbered the Tea Party groups, shouting pro-worker slogans and carrying signs like “there are no Teabaggers in soup lines.”
A reporter from Reuters had this bit of comedy to add:
Though it must be said that seeing protesters outnumbered by journalists, and there are hordes of us here, is always a surreal experience.
But the Teabaggers got an earful from some of Detroit’s union folks who weren’t happy with their message. The Labor Notes says “The most popular chant of the day: “Not some lousy bag of tea, union jobs for you and me!””
Oh, and the LaRouche faction was there and, as the Reuters article explains it, their Obama-as-Hitler signs make the Teabaggers uncomfortable:
One of the tea party activists to distance himself from this group was Andy Moylan, a 26-year-old who said that he had tried unsuccessfully to remonstrate with this group prior to the protest and asked them to discard the Obama-as-Hitler posters.“They’re sending the wrong message,” he said, jerking his head toward the group. “I oppose Obama’s policies vehemently. I don’t agree with what he is trying to do. But I believe that he is well-intentioned, even if he is dead wrong. Comparing him to Hitler is not only wrong on so many levels, it also reflects badly on us because all the pictures in the papers and on TV will be of them.”
“Our message will get lost in that,” he added.
We can only hope so.
I’m just sayin’…
