About 500 Tea Party protesters lined up in front of University Mall on Davis Highway, one of the busiest streets in Pensacola. Pensacola is a conservative stronghold lying in the Bible Belt and a home to a major military base — Pensacola Naval Air Station. President Barack Obama earned only 39.8 percent of the votes in Escambia County, the western most county in the Florida Panhandle and where Pensacola is located.
People were clad in red, white and blue, some with T-shirts with American Flags on the front that read “America, Not Socialism” on the front and “Tea Party Patriot” on the back. Many marched up and down the sidewalk, waving signs protesting the Obama administration, government bailouts and taxes. The atmosphere was one of a small-town festival with a band playing patriotic tunes, as well as a sound system. The emcee under a tent periodically led chants, such as “No more pork!” and announced free giveaways such as “Obama Deception” DVD.
Some of the home-made signs read, “Got Pork?” “Put God Back in America,” “Read My Lipstick – No More Bailout.” Others held American flags or waved banners that said “Don’t Tread on Me.”
Also there was another smaller Tea Party protest of more than 100 people in downtown Pensacola, Fla., in a park called Ferdinand Plaza. They gathered in the park and then marched about five blocks down one of Pensacola’s main downtown streets, Palafox Street, to Pensacola Bay. It was a diverse group of children and elderly, some carrying American flags and holding homade signs such as “End the IRS and Federal Reserve.”
Sarah Rutherford, 62, Pensacola, a healthcare worker, said she hasn’t protested since she was a 23-year-old “flower child” in Washington, D.C., in 1970. Then she was protesting the Vietnam war. Rutherford said, “Back then we protest civil rights, women’s lib and the war. I hadn’t had any interest in doing all that until this year again. It’s been a bad year. I’m scared to death of the way government is going. The administration says our foundation is built on sand and he (Obama) is going to rebuild it on rock. That’s so damn arrogant, that made me so mad.”
Stephanie Gzybowski, 29, a stay-at-home mom and former high school chemistry teacher, came to the protest with her 21-month-old daughter who was was wearing a Navy blue jumpsuit with white polka dots. Her daughter sat in a stroller with an animal cracker in one hand and a sheet of paper in the other that read: “Stop spending money I haven’t earned yet.”
Gzybowski (cq) said she came out because she favored a Fair Tax: “I really believe in the fair tax and wanted to come out and support this historic event. I don’t like our tax system now. It punishes you for working hard. Under a fair tax everyone is treated the same way whether they are rich or poor. We could be the No. 1 tax haven and bring a lot more business here.”
Waving a sign in ominous black lettering that read: “Obama administration is bankrupting America,” was Veronica Etheridge, 70, a retiree. Etheridge said she became an American citizen almost 50 years ago after moving here from England.
She said: “I’m a naturalized citizen and learned what a wonderful country this is an how brilliant our forefathers were. We don’t want to become a socialist country. England is. I would tell Obama to, ‘Please resign.’ We need someone who loves America in office. I would tell our Congressmen that they’ve forgotten who they’re representing and what America stands for.”
Also there was another smaller Tea Party protest of more than 100 people in downtown Pensacola, Fla., in a park called Ferdinand Plaza. They gathered in the park and then marched about five blocks down one of Pensacola’s main downtown streets, Palafox Street, to Pensacola Bay. It was a diverse group of children and elderly, some carrying American flags and holding home made signs such as “End the IRS and Federal Reserve.”
–Report by E. Murrow Jr.