K.T. McFARLAND: Tea Time in NYC -- The Start of Something Big

Thu, 16 Apr 2009 13:09:05 +0000 – By Kathleen Troia "K.T." McFarlandCommentator/Former National Security Official

Editor's note: Sent from New York City at 10 p.m. ET

Forget Keith Olbermann, or Rachel Maddow, or Wolf Blitzer. They scoffed and sneered and stuck up their noses at the Tea Parties But the fact is the Tea Parties today were HUGE. They were organized by amateurs -- most of whom had never organized anything bigger than the church bake sale. The people who went to them were non-partisan -- everything from independents to disaffected Democrats to conservative Republicans.

I've just returned from the NYC Tea Party -- the NYPD estimated there were 12,500 people-- housewives, city workers, vets, college kids.

There were guys in T-shirts, bankers in business suits and grannies who had taken the train in from the suburbs. They were black and white and Hispanic and Asian. And boy were they mad. They were united in their disgust over deficits, bailouts and pork barrel spending. They weren't there to bash Obama, but to rail against the arrogance, incompetence and corruption in Washington

The NYC Tea Party was in lower Manhattan, across from City Hall, near the place George Washington took his oath of office as our first president, and a stone's throw from the place where Abraham Lincoln emerged onto the national stage. The organizers, a young architect and a talk show host, were as amazed as the people in the crowd by how many people showed up. The crowd was three blocks deep, on both sides of the street. It was a "happening" like Woodstock for people with jobs.

The mainstream media missed the story. FOX News got it right. This is the beginning of a major national movement and no one can predict where it will go. But one thing is for sure -- it isn't going away.

Kathleen Troia "K.T. "McFarland served in national security posts in the Nixon, Ford and Reagan administrations. She was a speaker at the NYC Tea Party. For more Kathleen, click here.