Unfortunately for the Tea Party patriots, this year Tax Day is not on the weekend, so the movement will have to settle for the day after. From Brenda Konkel:
On Saturday, April 16th, tea party patriots from throughout Wisconsin will gather at the state Capitol in Madison for a rally to celebrate past victories and rally for Wisconsin's future. The event will be emceed by talk show host James T. Harris and will feature John Fund columnist for The Wall Street Journal. Fund is an author, pundit and columnist who pens the weekly "On the Trail" column for OpinionJournal.com.
James T. Harris is hysterical. Sometimes he substitutes for Sly on WTDY. He literally knows nothing about politics. It's good to see John Fund of the Wall Street Journal in the lineup. It at least accurately reflects the forces behind the Tea Party. Limited government -- a concept that the neoconservative Wall Street Journal has only passing interest in -- is simply the code word the Tea Party uses to promote the Republican Party.
It will be interesting to see how many people turn out for the rally. When I went last year I thought the turnout of 10,000 was damn impressive, since I'd never seen a demonstration at the Capitol consist of more than several dozen people. Obviously the union protests have since raised the bar for a legit Capitol protest dramatically.
About 200+ have pledged to go on Facebook, and more will be notified through other mediums. However, I don't think the protest will draw anywhere near the turnout it did last year. It's harder to motivate conservative activists when Democrats no longer have complete control over the state and federal governments.
Unlike last year too, I think there will be a sizable counter-protest. It's so easy to mobilize a few hundred Madisonians to protest these days that I wouldn't be surprised if the counter-protest exceeded the Tea Party turnout.
One thing to watch during the Tea Party protest(s) is the complete reversal of narrative about "the people" form both political parties. While Republicans will claim the Tea Party demonstrates the will of the people assembled, the Democrats will paint the protests as the work of out-of-state big-monied interests, in much the same language Walker used to dismiss the massive pro-union demonstrations.
