Let us kick off this tour of the recess rallies held ‘round the country this past Saturday with the hundreds of protestors who braved the unusually high California summer temperatures, which reportedly neared the century mark that day, in the town of Pleasanton and marched on the district office of Representative Jerry McNerney (D-11th Congressional District) to demand he hold a town hall meeting. Representative McNerney has staunched refused to meet with his constituents and when asked why he has hid away from the very people who got him into office, staff members refused to ask the question and demanded the camera, which was recording the event, be turned off.
Pipe Line News has full coverage of the turnout as well as video of the rally:
Rep. McNerney is certainly walking on thin ice. Sure, the district he represents does reside within the San Francisco area, an infamous hot bed of socialistic liberalism known throughout the country, but it also has a partisan voting index of R+1. It isn’t heavily Republican, admittedly, but neither is it a safe zone for him politically.
The Tennessee Tea Party organized rallies in front of the offices of Marsha Blackburn, representative for the 7th Congressional District, in Franklin and Jim Cooper, representative for the 5th Congressional District, in Nashville. It was in Nashville that the tea party protestors clashed, though not violently, with over a hundred pro-Obamacare drones.
In addition to these, there was also a rally held in Knoxville in front of the Federal building. Below is a video of the protest:
Slightly east, about one hundred and fifty people showed up in front of the office of Heath Shuler, representative for the 11th Congressional District of North Carolina, to voice their opposition to Obama’s government-run health care proposal. The Asheville Tea Party group sponsored the rally. While the attendance does seem rather low compared to others, Rep. Shuler has already stated that he will oppose the president’s health care bill.
Jim and Rachel Pereira have photos – though, sadly, no video – of the thousands who showed up to the rally held in Orlando, Florida. Among the attendees were Hulk Hogan and his daughter. Mr. Hogan was also promoting his new website, Guaranteed Lower Property Tax.
Continuing across the state of Florida, about two-dozen protestors showed up in front of the district office for Representative Kathy Castor (D-West Tampa). Rep. Castor is now infamous for the town hall event held in early August, which she attended at the last minute and where SEIU hit men roughed up a business owner named Randy Arthur. Among those in attendance were members of the newly formed Citizens Protecting the Republic from nearby Pasco County. The Tampa Tribune reported that only one counter protestor showed up. Carol’s Closet has a full report on the Tampa Recess Rally.
Moving up north to Birmingham, Michigan, it is reported that somewhere between seven hundred and fifty to over a thousand protestors showed up in opposition to the president’s proposed federal takeover of the health care industry. The Blog Prof, who was in attendance at the event, correctly points out how nearly every sign was hand-made, not professionally manufactured like the ones held up by the drones of ACORN, SEIU, and Organizing for America, and that majority of those who showed up were seniors. Also in attendance at the rally were conservative Michigan politicians including Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson, Oakland County Commissioner David W. Potts, and Oakland County Sheriff and Michigan gubernatorial candidate Michael Bouchard.
Here’s a quick video overview of the crowd:
The Blog Prof, Conservative Teacher, and the Detroit News have additional coverage of the rally.
Heading out west, there were a number of rallies held in opposition to Obamacare in the state of Missouri, two of which were quite notable. The first was held in front of the office of Senator Claire McCaskill in St. Louis. It was closed that day, so unlike before, Gateway Pundit noted, there was no one to lock constituents out and call the police. Hundreds showed up, some even decked out with fife and drums. Among those in attendance was Kenneth Gladney who was brutally attacked by a SEIU thug in the parking lot following a town hall event in St. Louis earlier this summer. The local ACORN organization must have been falling down on the job considering there were only fifteen pro-Obamacare counter protestors that showed up across the street. Gateway Pundit notes that while there were no altercations with the police, there were some who became uncomfortable with a police officer who walked up and down the sidewalk across the street swinging his club around.
Gateway Pundit, 24th State, Josh Schroeder, and American Power have tons of photos as well as additional information regarding this rally.
The other was held in front of the Brentwood office of Representative for the 3rd Congressional District of Missouri Russ Carnahan where the St. Louis Tea Party Coalition rallied one thousand one hundred protestors.
Below is video of the event:
About three hundred protestors showed up at Representative Carnahan’s Crystal City office. Although Mr. Carnahan did not have the gall to meet his constituents himself, a registered Democrat was kind enough to leave a note taped to his office door telling what he missed … in addition to the notice that he was not voting for him in the upcoming election. Sharp Elbows has further coverage of the protest, including more videos like the one below.
The St. Louis Tea Party Coalition has estimated that over two thousand protestors were in attendance in all five rallies held throughout the greater St. Louis area on Saturday, August 22nd.
Even further west, the Tucson Tea Party estimates as many as a thousand protestors showed up at one point or another during the course of the recess rally held in front of office of Representative for the 8th Congressional District of Arizona Gabrielle Giffords.
All-in-all, early estimates suggest that as many fifteen thousands individuals attended the recess rallies held across the country on Saturday!
