Inside DC's Tea Party Protests: Turmoil, But No Consensus

On Saturday afternoon, tens of thousands of 'Tea Party' protesters gathered at the foot of the U.S. Capitol. Many were carrying hand-lettered signs about their anger over health care reform. But though that was the issue of the day, a consensus on what they wanted was hard to pin down.

Many were dressed in Revolutionary War period costumes or wearing flags; Dale Lusk, who had come from Tennessee, was draped in an American flag with the number 76 stitched on it -- "for the founders," she said, She was also sporting a "Member of the Mob and Proud of It" tee-shirt.

"I'm a Christian, 70-year-old lady with high moral standards," she said of the shirt. "And they've called us a mob." She said her chief worry was that "older people won't be given the proper care,'' under health care reform. "What are they going to do with old people? Just throw us in the gully, I guess."

Blair Bielick is 24, unemployed and uninsured. She came from Idaho, primarily because worries about government spending. She says she wants health care reform, but not the current plan. "I want tort reform, and more competition so that I can choose a plan to buy," she said, though both are goals of the president's plan, which she opposes.

Heather Hodges, who had traveled from Texas, agreed that government spending was worrisome, but there was another reason she made the trip: "Why haven't we seen (the president's) birth certificate?" she asked. Asked if she didn't trust all the evidence that the president was, indeed, born in Hawaii, Hodges said thought he was a citizen. "But, still I think he should produce it," she said shrugging.

Some of the signs and slogans she had seen during the protest did concern her, though. "They're worried we're turning to a more communist government, but equating (the president) to Hitler is a stretch," she said. "And, there were some people that were ugly to congressmen and senators when they wanted to see their offices yesterday. I think there's a way to protest without the ugliness."

Among that signage at Saturday's event was a homemade "Deliver us from evil" poster, made by Jerry May of Virginia. Sandwiched in between symbols of Nazism and the old Soviet Union, was the trademark "O" that the Obama campaign had used during the 2008 elections. When asked if the sign was trying to equate the current administration to the policies of Nazi Germany, May replied, "We're not talking about the genocide, we're talking about the socialism."

"It's all about perception," said 18-year old Kathryn Parsons, who had been holding May's sign. "Some people have said we're taking it a little far," she acknowledged.

Sprinkled around the crowd were also a few tourists, who had stumbled upon the protest while making their way around the national mall. Dell Ann Dyar from Oregon was on a reunion tour with old school friends. "This really frightens me," she said waving towards the crowds near the Capitol building. "The comments and the signs we've seen -- I saw a machine gun printed on a flag. They're inciting violence."

"We're all seniors," said Carolyn Wilson of Texas, who was traveling along with Dyar. "This man just told me that seniors are all shovel-ready. Well, none of us are afraid -- and we all have Medicare," she added, before stopping a man to correct the spelling on his sign. "It's insure! With an 'i,'" she called out after him.

"People are protesting different things," Lusk said of the crowd. "But, we are all tired of being pushed around."