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Huffington Post: Jane Hamsher of firedoglake.com says the Tax Day Tea Parties are organized by "lobbyists and influence peddlers."



Instapundit Glenn Reynolds: It's not "astroturfing," it's "grassroots."

BuffaloPundit blogs about the Tea Party held March 30 in Buffalo.

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Syracuse, NY -- Joanne Wilder has never protested anything in public before. She's never boxed with City Hall, let alone Washington.

"I've been a quiet little person my whole life," she said.

But today in downtown Syracuse, the 60-year-old great-grandmother will lead a Tax Day Tea Party protest against the spending policies of the Obama administration and Congress.

The demonstration -- at 11:30 a.m. outside the James M. Hanley Federal Building -- which Wilder estimates will draw 2,000 people, is one of more than 1,500 rallies planned in 550 American cities on the deadline day for Americans to pay their 2008 income taxes.

The protests are being coordinated by a coalition of national conservative groups and promoted by celebrity conservative commentators such as Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh.

But they're being carried out across the country by new grass-roots leaders like Wilder, who are upset that the government seems to be bailing out everyone but them.

A second demonstration, scheduled for 5 to 7 p.m. today at Long Branch Park in Liverpool, is being organized by Jim Smith, of Radisson, who is also making his debut as a protester. (Clarification: Today's Post-Standard incorrectly reported the demonstration would be near the Salt Museum. The demonstration will be at the north end of Onondaga Lake Park off of Long Branch Road.):

Smith predicted his protest will draw 4,000 to 5,000 people.

In Rome, a third tea party protest is being planned at 4 p.m. outside Fort Stanwix.

The Central New York efforts are a small piece of the picture. Organizers expect 50,000 people, including Beck, to attend the tea party outside the Alamo, in San Antonio. Fox News commentator Sean Hannity will broadcast from the event in Atlanta. Former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich will be at the tea party in New York City.

Wilder and Smith said the events are not political, not aimed solely at Obama or the Democrats in Congress.

"This is not a Democratic problem. Not a Republican problem. It's all of them together," Wilder said.

They concede they did not publicly object as the federal budget deficit soared during the Bush administration.

"President Bush kept me safe," Wilder said as an explanation.

The grievances against the government that she and Smith talk about sound identical to the complaints raised by their favorite conservative talk radio show hosts: wasteful bailout spending approved by Obama and the Congress; assistance to poorer homeowners with bad credit who are defaulting on subprime mortgages; Obama's plan to raise taxes on the wealthiest Americans; affirmative action; and entitlement programs that undercut capitalism.

The two credited the February televised rant by CNBC commentator Rick Santelli against a federal bailout of poor homeowners who can't pay their mortgages for transforming them from passive listeners of conservative talk radio into rabble rousers.

In his remarks, Santelli said he was thinking of organizing a tea party on Lake Michigan to protest the direction Obama was leading America.

"The first shot of the revolution was fired by Rick Santelli. It was the first wake-up call," Smith said.

The two organizers have been using social networking Internet sites and e-mail to connect with others who are angry about the government.

In March, Wilder and a friend formed Central New York Patriots, a group with a home page on Meetup.com to spread the news about her protest. The same month, Smith formed a group called Glenn Beck's Central New York We Surround Them Meetup Group -- with a Web page at www.cny912.com to promote his demonstration.

"People wonder if we're militant. No. Not even close," Smith said. "Each and every one of us believes in the system."

But they are mad.

After a lifetime of working, paying taxes and raising three children on her own, Wilder is struggling.

She said she retired on disability from M&T Bank three years ago after undergoing knee replacement and back surgeries. She lives on her Social Security and disability benefits. Last year, she petitioned the bankruptcy court for protection from creditors.

She said she did not have to pay federal income taxes last year because her income was too low.

"I don't want to see this country turn into a welfare, nanny state, where we stand in line for groceries, and we're in welfare lines, and in socialized medicine lines," Wilder said.

Divorced and raising a teenage son, Smith, 49, owns a driveway sealing business.

He is organizing the protest in Liverpool even though the National Tax Day Tea Party Coalition is not sanctioning or promoting it on its Web site.

The national coalition thinks the Syracuse community is too small to support two events, said Amy Kremer, the nationwide event coordinator. She said she pushed Smith to join forces with Wilder, but he declined.

Smith said he became involved because Obama is causing class and racial divisiveness by promoting policies that benefit select groups of Americans.

Americans need safety nets, but Obama and Congress are pushing programs that foster dependency and weaken capitalism, said Smith, who acknowledged he collected food stamp benefits for a few months last year.

"Obama is horribly divisive," Smith said.

--Mike McAndrew can be reached at mmcandrew@syracuse.com or 470-3016.

