NOT WHAT HE EXPECTED FROM THE PEOPLE HE THOUGHT SUPPORTED HIM!
Hundreds of people holding signs denouncing big government, taxes and illegal immigration gathered on the lawn of the Texas Capitol on Saturday, booing a U.S. senator and cheering multiple jabs at actions in Washington.
Sen. John Cornyn, who'd been invited by organizers, was booed at the start and close of his remarks assailing federal spending and taxes. Many shouts concerned Cornyn voting last year for the federal bailout of Wall Street approved by Congress, the Troubled Asset Relief Program.
"You're the problem!" one crowd member hollered. "You voted for TARP," yelled another.
Boos interrupted Cornyn, who won his second term last year, after he said: "This is a day of celebration, the day we celebrate our Founders, who defied empires and declared their independence."
He resumed: "I realize not everybody wants to listen, but maybe some people do."
The boos dissipated while Cornyn awarded a Purple Heart to William Warren, a Copperas Cove resident injured in Iraq in 2006.
Cornyn later tried to distinguish himself from the Washington scene that the crowd and speakers were protesting.
"I'm not part of Washington," he said after his speech. "I happen to work there, but on behalf of Texas, and I can vote no on these reckless spending bills, on the refusal to cut taxes."
Gov. Rick Perry, among other Republican officeholders to speak, drew scattered boos, notably about his advocacy of toll roads to relieve traffic congestion.
"Washington needs to hear you loud and clear with one simple message," Perry said. "Cut the spending! Cut the taxes! Shrink the government! Read the Constitution of the United States!"
The gathering was the second smaller-government "tea party" in Austin this week and one of many held nationwide over the Fourth of July weekend.
People who attended held signs with messages such as "Say no to Socialism and Obamaism," as well as "We can't deport them all but we can start with you" and "Call 911 — We are being robbed" plus "Coming Soon! U.S.S.A." Many people in the crowd wore stickers that read, "I resist Socialism."
Don Crawford, host of Christian radio's "The Eagle and Child Show," got the crowd to chant "That's an Obamination" to statements about abortion, socialism and the right to bear arms.
The tea party, organized by the Texas office of Americans for Prosperity, a nonpartisan group that says it advocates economic freedom, differed from one held Friday at Zilker Park, to which elected officials weren't invited.
Saturday's speakers included U.S. Rep. Louie Gohmert of Tyler and Wayne Allyn Root, the Libertarian Party's 2008 vice presidential nominee.
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