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Published January 25, 2017
This is a rush transcript from "On the Record," September 8, 2009. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
GRETA VAN SUSTEREN, FOX NEWS HOST: The Tea Party Express is open throttle, headed down the superhighway to where else? Washington, D.C.
Griff Jenkins is live with the Express at stop 25 in Troy, Michigan -- Griff.
GRIFF JENKINS, FOX NEWS: That's right, Greta. It's the 25th stop in Troy, Michigan. Today was a Michigan day. It started in Jackson, Michigan. It went to Brighton, and today here in Troy, we had, oh, about 3,000 or 4,000 people, in Brighton even bigger crowds, and a smaller crowd in Jackson.
But the whole day -- I would say 10,000, 12,000 people turning out. Now, as you can see, maybe it's because summer is over. People are back to school, back to work. The crowds that gathered behind us have left. I'm in front of the Troy city hall. It was held here. All those folks have gone on, but no less excitement, the same sentiments we saw.
Here's a little look at what happened today. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm out here to get my country back, all right? And that's what we're all here for.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There's a lot of us that worked hard for our health insurance. We want it left alone.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm worried about my future. I can't vote, and I don't have a say.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everybody says that we're an angry mob. Are we an angry mob?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No!
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right . No.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I just could not let this rest. As you can see, all these other people, they couldn't let it rest, either. And I don't trust anything run by the government!
JENKINS: How do you feel about being out here? What do you think of this?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's pretty cool. It's fun.
JENKINS: Do you support the president's health care initiative?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, I don't. I pay for my own health care because I want my own choices.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They don't need to be telling us what doctor we can go to!
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, he has raised that sleeping giant in all of us.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The solutions are in each and every one of us. It is not found in the buildings.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Throw all that stuff away and start over and be honest about everything, and open.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Get it together! Get real! And let's just do what we need to do and let's be honest!
(END VIDEOTAPE)
JENKINS: Well, there you go. The passions are still very fired up. Greta, a couple of observations. Perhaps it's because the president will make his case for his health care initiative tomorrow night to the nation, there's a lot of health care talk today. In Brighton, we saw probably 50 or more pro-Obama, pro-health care initiative, pro-government-run health care plan folks. They were certainly out there. No shoving, no fights, no violence. But that was in full force.
And you know, this is the 25th stop, as we pointed out, so you have to begin to say, What is this? What did we learn? What does this mean? Having covered almost every one of these, I think you think -- I think you can say simply, Greta, that there is a political movement afoot. But what will it ultimately lead to? I'm not exactly sure. You know, how many will turn out in Washington? We don't know.
I think of 25 stops, it's safe to say 40,000 to 50,000 Americans have turned out to voice their opinions. Their themes are very similar. They're concerned about their future, the direction of the country, the bail-outs, that sort of stuff. Talked about it before. But you know, what happens if 25,000 turn out in Washington? What happens if 250,000 turn out? It's still yet to be seen, but it's certainly a fascinating movement to be watching -- Greta.
VAN SUSTEREN: Griff, thank you.
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