The Political Whore

By Mitch Perry
PoHo contributor
Mitch Perry is the anchor of the WMNF Evening News on 88.5 FM community radio.

Last Saturday in Brandon’s Clayton Park, approximately 200 citizens gathered for a TEA Party (Taxed Enough Already) organized by conservative activist Terry Kemple, and featuring a rally-the-troops speech by State Senator Ronda Storms (right).

It was one of what was supposed to be over 1,000 such expressions of outrage at government spending under the Obama administration around the country on Independence Day, and followed a similar outburst of conservative sentiment at the first “Teabag” parties held on Tax Day, April 15th.

That day was also dedicated to federal largesse, though you may recall it more as a media battle between the seeming outright advocacy of the Fox News network, and the derision of it by more liberal commentators, including way too many allusions to what the phrase ‘teabagging’ meant. (This Keith Olbermann bit was just part of that onslaught.)

The growing federal deficit was on the minds of most of the citizenry. Despite the fact that a large part of the current deficit can be laid at the feet of former President George W. Bush (as my previous column, referring NY Times columnist David Leonhardt, can attest to), those in attendance on Saturday were of no mind to hear such specific facts.

Susan O’Connor from Valrico said indignantly, “Now you have to remember the debt that Obama has given us is what? Quadruple what any other president has ever put us in. You can’t even compare that debt. What he’s done in 6 months is how many trillions more than all other Presidents combined.”

Mary Tyer from Brandon identified herself as a “proud American” who said the country couldn’t afford the change Barack Obama is advocating. She grew increasingly more irritated by my questions. “He’s stealing our money every day!” When I politely mentioned that though there would be tax increases in a health care reform package, the only taxes that have gone up so far under his administration have been for people who purchase cigarettes, this senior citizen didn’t want to hear about it.

““Oh yes, this country was in good shape when he came into office. Look at it now! Do you like it?” Her voice grew more agitated, and at this point I think she just didn’t like me anymore.

“You know something, young man, you’re going to have to have to pay it, too!”

“But ma’am…he really hasn’t raised taxes yet,” I interjected. “The deficit grew tremendously under George Bush-”“

“PLEASE DO NOT BRING GEORGE BUSH INTO THIS! OUR COUNTRY WAS SAFE WHEN THAT MAN WAS IN OFFICE. WHERE ARE WE NOW? DO YOU KNOW?” And with that she skulked away.

I then walked around looking at the various signs in the crowd. One depicted House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and President Obama as “The Axis of Evil.”

Another sign, held by Bob Hunter from Sun City Center, included photos of Pelosi, Reid and California Representative Henry Waxman, co-author of the Waxman-Markey cap-and-trade legislation that barely passed the House late last month. His sign was captioned “The Three Stooges.”

Hunter is a recent transplant from Pennsylvania. His face grew red after I mentioned the words “Arlen” and “Specter” to him. Commenting on the Senator’s conversion to the Democrats, he wondered how he could have been re-elected so many times. Then the answer came to him.

“If it wouldn’t be for Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. Those were the two areas with the greatest population in Pennsylvania, and all the people on welfare, that’s where they live, and they’re not going to kick out the Golden Goose.”

Elected officials and those aspiring to higher office spoke in the park.
Two Congressional candidates vying for the Republican nomination in District 12 (the seat being vacated by Adam Putnam) — Thomas Snider and Polk County Commissioner Randy Wilkinson — gave short speeches. As did District 56 House Representative Rachel Burgin.

But the star of the afternoon was Hillsborough area State Senator Ronda Storms, who touched on a variety of issues in her 10-minute address.

Looking patriotic in her stars-and-stripes blouse, Storms stayed on the main theme of the afternoon: too much dependence on the federal government. And she blasted some of what she called the excesses of Hillsborough County’s indigent health care system, effusively praised recently in the wake of the passing of Phyllis Busansky, who helped craft the program back in 1991.

Storms said that the program paid for a citizen to be flown to New Orleans for, “I kid you not, the medical replacement for Viagra. That’s the kind of program we want to avoid.”

Somewhat stunned by this comment, I asked Storms about that allegation in a follow-up individual interview. She said that she’s been amazed that the local media have not done a comparison between the indigent program and what’s happening in Washington. “We learned that given unlimited amounts of money, it reduces the motivation for efficiency.”

Storms says she does believe the health care system needs to change, and is not a fan of managed care.

Also in her speech, the State Senator remarked that in addition to the federal government taking over banks and car companies, they were also taking over the media. To buttress her point, she cited as her main source for this allegation veteran White House reporter Helen Thomas, generally the butt of tasteless jokes by the Republican right.

In fact last week, Thomas called out Press Secretary Robert Gibbs for controlling the press in a way she said was worse than Richard Nixon.

Storms added, “You know what? You and I know, it’s the truth.”

In our interview, Storms also predicted that Hillsborough County voters will reject the one-cent sales tax for transit that is expected to be on the 2010 ballot.

“It’s going to go down in flames. It’s not going to pass, because people are sick of it. There is an anti-rail system sentiment, and an anti-tax sentiment. It’s being generated by a narrow group of people …and most of those people have something to gain from it. There are a few true believers, but the people don’t want it.”

There has been much blather in the media this year about who speaks for the Republican Party. With over three years before the next presidential election, that may not be the right question to ask (especially in a week that saw the fortunes of Mark Sanford and Sarah Palin diminish). But Democrats emerged from the desolation of John Kerry’s loss in 2004 by having grass-roots groups like MoveOn.Org coalesce around opposition to George Bush. Excessive federal spending on behalf of the Obama administration seems to be the one thing conservative activists are excited about, in what could be the most important year for changing domestic policy in a generation.

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