Da Techguy's (no longer backup) Blog

When the day began it almost seemed as if the crowd would never come.

At 6:30 Alewife parking lot was fairly empty a single pair of ladies getting on the subway from the station heading to the park street station in anticipation of seeing Sarah Palin.

At 6:45 or so the Boston common was a beautiful green sight, people were strolling by on their way to

work and the business of the city carried on as if nothing special was going to happen in the next several hours.

This year the Tea Party rally was scheduled for the opposite corner of Beacon as I walked past the State House hill where hundreds had gathered the year before to the crest of the hill you could see the first signs that something was up. A media platform had been setup, a few barriers were in place and a long of Television trucks had already secured their spots with

early morning reporters and cameras in place to prepare their viewers for the Spectacle to come.

Vendors were already unpacking their wares and hoped to do a brisk business in flags, t-shirts and pins. Park Rangers with years of experience in all kinds of events calmly surveyed the scene answering questions asked.

At the stage area already about 9 people sat, A Motorized Wheelchair in front a girl who had camped overnight to see Sarah Palin and a few more hearty souls were the only people in place.

By 9 a.m. the area between the media platform and the stage filled. The Tea party

Express Buses were on the street and maybe a thousand or two were in place and it appeared the turnout might be in doubt but in the last hour the crowd swelled to the point were the crowd extended beyond the exhibitor area to the hills beyond. The stage was full of song, speeches and live entertainment.

When Sarah Palin took the Stage the Crowd went wild. She spoke for nearly 30 minutes clearly laying out the position of the tea party movement. Limited Government, rejecting massive new programs and expanding

domestic energy production. She spoke of the tea party express uniting many people across the county and the dedication of the ordinary person “The Constitution provides the perfect path to a more perfect union.”

Even more significant when she was finished 80% of the crowd stayed for the rest of the program. Sarah Palin is a popular pol, a star of the tea party movement but the movement itself and the principles articulated by speaker after speaker were the real stars.

If this remains the case across the country the Tea Party movement will be a force that will shape political thought and action throughout the land for many decades to come.