HA HA HA! Tea party rollback try fizzing

[robertpaulsen]

RIEHL: Tea party rollback try fizzing

By RICHARD RIEHL -- For the North County Times

Has the local tea party movement reached its peak? Comparing this year's Oceanside event with last year's led me to that conclusion.

Last year's crowd, after being revved up by speakers at the Civic Center, marched to the pier to dump sandbags marked "tea" into the sea. It was a family affair, with lots of kids, a few of them in strollers. As they marched along, the angry crowd chanted "USA! USA! It was a festive affair, but the signs claiming our elected leaders were traitors were unnerving.

Organizers said there were at least 5,000 in attendance.

This year's event attracted only about 1,500 true believers to the pier amphitheater, according to police estimates, and produced a more sedate, sit-and-listen crowd. Promoted as a family-friendly affair with face-painting for the kids, I was struck by the shortage of children. On average, this year's partiers appeared to be about 10 years older than last year's.

The scheduled headliner, San Diego's favorite conservative radio talk jock Rick Roberts, failed to show up. A lesser known media personality, feeling the need to fire up his audience, repeatedly begged, "ARE YOU READY TO ROCK?" The tepid response indicated many were not familiar with that kind of rocking.

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http://www.nctimes.com/news/opinion/columnists/riehl/article_a02eea4d-d42c-5deb-a351-a8b933bfb900.html