The Tea Party Express set off from California this weekend, starting a tour set to end in Washington, D.C., on Sept.12, holding protests against health care reform all along the way.
At a stop Sunday in the small city of Ely, Nev., the Tea Party Express got funky. Like lady-tea-partier-chorus-line funky. Note the sign that reads, “Elect Anyone Butt Harry Reid,” and the woman in the American flag shirt who, at the end, tells the black emcee, “I don’t care if you’re pink with blue polka dots, as long as you’re American and love America.”
The emcee here is Lloyd Marcus, the spokesman for the political action committee behind the bus tour, “Our Country Deserves Better.” The PAC is headed by Howard Kaloogian, who you may remember as the GOP-er who, when running for Duke Cunningham’s seat in 2006, said a picture of a street corner in Istanbul was taken by his staff on a trip to Baghdad, in a claim that the city was doing well. His chief strategist on that campaign, Sal Russo, is now strategizing for the PAC.
The Tea Party Express is a caravan of buses, RVs and SUVs planning 33 rallies en route to D.C. Tea party groups from across the country are planning to gather in the capital Sept. 12 to protest health care reform. So far, the Express has found hundreds of supporters waiting for them at each stop.
Late Update: More on Kaloogian, Russo, and Our Country Deserves Better here from TPMmuckraker .
