Tea Party Convention: Meet the Participants

By: Brian Montopoli
Topics: In The News

C-Span has posted interviews with a few attendees at this weekend's National Tea Party Convention in Nashville, Tennessee. In the video at left, one shows off a large poster of Sarah Palin -- who she calls "our next president of the United States."

The woman, Tania Ashe, says she came to the convention to show her support for Palin as well as "learn a little bit more about networking -- meeting other conservatives that are trying to get our country back on the right path." As Ashe shows in the video, the flip-side of her Palin poster is covered in signatures from people around the country who "love Sarah."

In this video, a man dressed as Button Gwinnett, who signed Declaration of Independence, discusses why he came to the event from Georgia. Gwinnett (real name William Temple) says he is there "to unite the Tea Party Nation, the Tea Party Patriots, and to discourage big federal government."

He said he wants "a focus on the targets for the 2010 and 2012" election to emerge from the convention, and that everyone there is going to give Palin, the keynote speaker at the event, "a kiss for her stand and support of the Tea Parties."

He added that attendees are going to "target all of those, part of the political class, that still thinks they are necessary. And we're going to get them all kicked out, regardless of whether they're Republican, Democrat or independent, and replace them with new people that understand the Constitution."

This video shows a vendor and attendee named Kerry Schimelfenig who notes he manufacturers his apparel in the United States using American workers.

Schimelfenig says making shirts for Tea Partiers "became a passion for the company" after he saw imported goods being sold at Tea Party events.

One of the company's shirts, shown in the video, features an Obama logo and the words "because everyone deserves some of what you've worked hard for." C-Span has also posted a video of a couple from Idaho showing off their gift bag from the event, which includes a "Tea Party Nation" t-shirt.

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