Pictured: Teabaggers or hippies, either at yesterday's "Conservative Woodstock" or the one in 1969
Yesterday’s Tea Party event in Harry Reid’s hometown, headlined by the likes of the Quitter and Joe the Plumber, was billed as a “Conservative Woodstock” and was apparently supposed to be this huge gathering of Teabaggery.
Now, the actual Woodstock drew 400,000 people in 1969. Yesterday’s wingnut version, erm, came up a little short.
About 7,000 people streamed into tiny Searchlight, a former mining town 60 miles south of Las Vegas, bringing with them American flags and “Don’t Tread on Me” signs.
The 1969 Woodstock was attended by people mostly in their late teens and early 20s. Wingnut Woodstock?
While the audience, which thinned out rapidly after Palin’s appearance, was largely white and middle-aged, [Teabagger Ryan] Gill said there are no official efforts to market the movement to a more broad-based demographic, which might make it more politically powerful.
“We don’t split people into groups,” Gill said. “We reach out to people by talking to them about America’s ideals. We don’t see how that appeals to you differently if you’re black or young.“
The original Woodstock was a defining moment for a new progressive generation of Americans. The Wingnut Woodstock?
Dan Weinland, a 59-year-old visiting California, drove with his nephew from Santa Clarita because “it’s time to overthrow the socialist regime.”
At the ballot box, he clarified, but added, “If they come for me, I’m clinging to my guns, my God and my Bible and my country.”
Finally, the 1969 Woodstock showcased the music of Jimi and Janis and Joan and Jefferson Airplane. The Wingnut Woodstock — Victoria Jackson.
[Joe the Plumber] Wurzelbacher urged the crowd to get politically active, while [Victoria] Jackson performed a song that described Obama as “a communist dictator who is taking us to hell.“
