About 20 people at a local pub here. Very interesting group of folks and polite and not confrontational at all.I enjoyed it as there were a few of us that were not tea party folks there. These are my observations and I am being judgemental here and admit it:
They started with everything being black and white. All Democrats are bad and most Republicans are good. A few of them were trying to get away from that but never would.
They were upset that at the Atlanta rally Bob Barr was allowed to speak as he had worked for the ACLU. They all claimed the ACLU was always bad. I asked them if they knew the ACLU was the leader fighting against bans on street preaching and they advised they did not know that and would look into it. Again, these folks were very polite and the entire evening was enjoyable.
They avoided the social security/Medicare debate 100% and countered with we need to end all welfare. When confronted with the fact that SS/Medicare consumes almost half the budget they waffled and stated that sometimes the numbers do not tell the entire story and seniors deserve it and they earned it and side stepped it.
Immigration is their favorite topic by far. I was surprised as I thought it was a tax movement. One guy suggested a 50 foot wide firing range from the Pacific to the Gulf. He was a fireman, a veteran and a nice guy as I sat right next to him. We disagreed on a lot but he was okay with it.
Foreign policy was not discussed and I liked that.
Tax policy was debated and there were differences in the group. I liked that. However,the common theme was that we can continue with SS/Medicare and cut taxes. They offered no way to do it.
The men dominated the session with the women sort of as support. There were two women that were very vocal and their subject was always about Sarah Palin. God,guns and country was the slogan. One of our bunch asked why Todd Palin was allowed to have so much power and one of the other women stated that is what conservative women do. Some of the men followed up on that and stated that it was good to have a man support his wife and offer help. Sort of a here you go girl, bend over and let me help you with that mentality. That surprised me but it was how it happened.
As a whole these folks were very opinionated and I believe a lot of it was hype but they were willing to discuss and listen to others attentively. We drank a few beers and ate chicken wings. It was a lot of fun and I came out of it with a positive attitude. I might disagree with them on many issues but it is their right to believe what they want and stand up for that. They were willing to debate it civilly and we are meeting again next month.
They started with everything being black and white. All Democrats are bad and most Republicans are good. A few of them were trying to get away from that but never would.
They were upset that at the Atlanta rally Bob Barr was allowed to speak as he had worked for the ACLU. They all claimed the ACLU was always bad. I asked them if they knew the ACLU was the leader fighting against bans on street preaching and they advised they did not know that and would look into it. Again, these folks were very polite and the entire evening was enjoyable.
They avoided the social security/Medicare debate 100% and countered with we need to end all welfare. When confronted with the fact that SS/Medicare consumes almost half the budget they waffled and stated that sometimes the numbers do not tell the entire story and seniors deserve it and they earned it and side stepped it.
Immigration is their favorite topic by far. I was surprised as I thought it was a tax movement. One guy suggested a 50 foot wide firing range from the Pacific to the Gulf. He was a fireman, a veteran and a nice guy as I sat right next to him. We disagreed on a lot but he was okay with it.
Foreign policy was not discussed and I liked that.
Tax policy was debated and there were differences in the group. I liked that. However,the common theme was that we can continue with SS/Medicare and cut taxes. They offered no way to do it.
The men dominated the session with the women sort of as support. There were two women that were very vocal and their subject was always about Sarah Palin. God,guns and country was the slogan. One of our bunch asked why Todd Palin was allowed to have so much power and one of the other women stated that is what conservative women do. Some of the men followed up on that and stated that it was good to have a man support his wife and offer help. Sort of a here you go girl, bend over and let me help you with that mentality. That surprised me but it was how it happened.
As a whole these folks were very opinionated and I believe a lot of it was hype but they were willing to discuss and listen to others attentively. We drank a few beers and ate chicken wings. It was a lot of fun and I came out of it with a positive attitude. I might disagree with them on many issues but it is their right to believe what they want and stand up for that. They were willing to debate it civilly and we are meeting again next month.
