Tea Party Protesters Protest Metro Service
A bit of unintentional irony arose from this weekend’s anti-government demonstrations: The protesters have complained that the government-run transportation system did too little to accommodate them. Brody Mullins:
Rep. Kevin Brady asked for an explanation of why the government-run subway system didn’t, in his view, adequately prepare for this past weekend’s rally to protest government spending and government services.
[…]
The Texas Republican on Wednesday released a letter he sent to Washington’s Metro system complaining that the taxpayer-funded subway system was unable to properly transport protesters to the rally to protest government spending and expansion. “These individuals came all the way from Southeast Texas to protest the excessive spending and growing government intrusion by the 111th Congress and the new Obama administration,” Brady wrote. “These participants, whose tax dollars were used to create and maintain this public transit system, were frustrated and disappointed that our nation’s capital did not make a great effort to simply provide a basic level of transit for them.” A spokesman for Brady says that “there weren’t enough cars and there weren’t enough trains.” Brady tweeted as much from the Saturday march. “METRO did not prepare for Tea Party March! More stories. People couldn’t get on, missed start of march. I will demand answers from Metro,” he wrote on Twitter.
Brady says in his letter to Metro that overcrowding forced an 80-year-old woman and elderly veterans in wheelchairs to pay for cabs. He concludes that it “appears that Metro added no additional capacity to its regular weekend schedule.”
But just think how much money that saved! We’ve got a deficit, dontcha know.
As a general matter — and I’m in a minority here — I find Metro service to be atrocious. Metro trains are generally cleaner than those in New York and Chicago — based on my admittedly limited experience — but they’re simply not dependable during off-peak hours.
They do a reasonably good job of providing service within DC proper during rush hour and even during the workday, but they’re just awful for providing service to the suburbs — even those suburbs with Metro stations — and during weekends and late night. (And, yes, Virginia and Maryland pay for Metro service.)
Photo by Flickr user Ivy Dawned under Creative Commons license.
Not to mention that, you know, there was not one but two people who committed suicide via metro rail this weekend.
Just further evidence that Teabaggers are gullible dupes that don’t even know what they’re protesting… That, and “Texas Republican” is becoming more and more of an anagram for “complete idiot”.
I haven’t seen Chi-town’s but they’re miles ahead of NY in terms of cleanliness. But on the downside, when I lived in DC from 93-97, they weren’t very dependable even during peak times…
I really don’t understand why they had such a problem. The DC fire department claims that only 60 to 70 thousand people came to the rally. Considering how many buses dropped people off at union station the metro should not have had a problem with such a limited crowd. Could it be that there were more people then the media reported?
Or could it be that people who take Glenn Beck for their intellectual leader are easily confused by loud noises and maps.
Chi-town’s stations are atrocious compared to DC, but their trains are generally on par in cleanliness, IMO.
That said, I was in DC for inauguration, and the trains in DC did an amazing job considering the circumstances. Chicago’s system would have utterly failed when faced with such a rapid influx of people. Something to consider when they are pitching for the 2016 Olympics.
Well, let’s see. Metro reported that there were 437,624 “entries and exits” for this past Saturday, compared with 362,773 a year ago, an increase of 74,851 or ~20%. Let’s assume, generously, that all of the increase is due to the protests. Of course, you have to reduce that by half because each trip produce both an entrance and an exit (the odd number arises because sometimes people don’t go through the stalls for various reasons). So we’re down to ~37,425. Now, assuming that people both took the metro to the protest and then home, which means for each person attending the protest there were 4 total entrances/exits, we’re down to 18,712 people who took metro to the protest.
So, I would have to answer the posed question in the negative.
So, what accounts for the metro delays? Well, since there was a 20% increase in ridership, and that increase was likely concentrated in two parts of the day (around when the protest started and ended), plus the aforementioned suicide, it’s hardly surprising that there were delays and that’s entirely consistent with the reported crowd size.
Goes to show what happens when you rely on a government run entity for service.
The protest occurred on a Saturday, when the frequency of trains are at a fraction compared to weekday service. And I bet there were extensive track maintenance going on that day because of last Summer’s fatal crash. I happend to drive by the Vienna metro station at the end of the Orange line in Virginia that morning. There were lines of people on the bridge over the I-66 freesay waiting to enter the station stretching at least hundreds of feet before the turnstyles. I saw a train depart the station, and it was packed to the gills.
I think comparing it to the previous weekend would be more accurate due to the recession.
The rider ship statistics from D.C. Metro became available after being delayed, apparently because of a fatal accident on the Metro tracks. The Heritage Foundation, using these figures, computed that Metrorail rider ship was about 235,000 greater than the previous weekend. Cut that figure in half for a round trip and you have 117,000 people attending just from the metro, this doesn’t include the 4500 bus permits or people like me who drove in with a carload of people the night before.
Exactly, which is why it is foolish to have been relying on the armed forces to win the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, damn government run entities can’t do anything right. The american people should banded together and directly paid Blackwater to do those things.
Bill according to estimates there is 1.25 million square meters of space in the Capital Mall. So if there were but 75,000 people attending the tea party protests. Each attendee would have 16 square meters around each one of them. Pictures I saw looked like the density was greater than that. However there are those here who claim any phonos differing with their accepted estimates must be photoshopped. Denial is not a river in Africa.
That if photos, not phonos. Sorry for the typos
ZR – the protest organizers slipped in aerial pictures of the crowd from the Million Man march a decade ago (irony of ironies) and claimed it was their own.
Well let’s compare to the saturday two weeks ago, since the previous saturday was labor day weekend and we wouldn’t want to compare it to that (though that puts us in August, with congress still out of town and 1/2 the city on vacation). Entries/exits for that day were 303,997 (down ~10% from a year ago). Dividing the increase of 133,627 exits/entires by four we get 33,406 extra riders, still well within the DC fire department’s estimate of a total crowd of 60 to 70 thousand, and about 1/2 taking metro seems about right to me (based on nothing in particular).
The better comparison will likely be to this coming Saturday, when I would guess ridership would be higher than the saturday in august but not as high as during the protest.
ZR – if you could point me to the aerial photos of this past weekend’s protest showing the entire mall packed with people, I would love to take a look at them, thanks.
http://iowntheworld.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/capitol-view-lo-res.jpg
All those yellow flags are the gadsden flag carried by the protesters.
Thanks, are there any aerial photos though? This one looks like it’s been taken from the capitol steps.
Well given the projection by the House leadership that 2 million could attend, it was quite negligent of the METRO not to prepare to handle such a crowd. They basically blew off advice from their bosses.
On the otherhand, if you are traveling in groups of more than one and you aren’t vouchering your transportation costs to your agency, then it is cheaper to drive than take the METRO, barring gridlock.
The organizers didn’t have any taken. There was a helicopter planning the crowd so I’m certain the government has pictures, if you can ever getthem.
That was panning the crowd. Sorry for the typos.
Ugh
Yes a private run military would be more efficient. The government oversight and bureaucracy is why a hammer cost $750. The actual servicemen do an outstanding job but like in many areas of government they are constraint by the bureaucrats. Also I am not sure if the public would go for a private military. It is also one of those areas that is unique like the State department.
You would think the tea baggers would have applauded this. They hate public transportation anyway, claiming it is a waste of money, and the DC Metro service saved them money by not running extra trains for their tea bagging rally. If they are against big government spending, why should they expect DC Metro to supply them with more trains, since that requires extra government spending from the taxpayers. The tea baggers are seeing the results of their ideals at work in terms of the trains. If we funded public transportation more, the service would be better. Complaining about train service and then going to a rally that protests taxing and spending that includes funding for services like public transportation defies logic.
Goes to show what happens when you rely on a government run entity for service.
Exactly. So why were these brave, rugged individualists who are anti-government depending on a public transportation system in the first place? And why are they whining now?
To be honest, I am surprised they would even consider using the Metro, since it is supported by taxpayer dollars and provided by the government which they hate so much. I would have expected most of them to drive their gas guzzlers to the rally.
Just further evidence that Teabaggers are gullible dupes>/I>
You would think the tea baggers would have applauded this.
What is it with you liberals and your continued use of homosexual slurs to describe TEA Party members? I thought it was considered the height of rudeness to use homosexuality as a slur against people you don’t like. Are you so full of hate that you find it acceptable to slur gays because you hate TEA Party members more than you hate gays?
Boy what a lot of lazy thinking. A person can’t be for lower taxes, smaller government and then use what government infrastructure and services they have already paid for? That’s just a version of reductio absurdum.
As for the number of protester I think time will yield some very good estimates based upon solid methodology. Trying to nail a figure right away can be a fools errand. I know people are trying to control the spin but shouldn’t the wiser people have patience?
And to those who continue to use “tea baggers”. Come on, grow up. It’s tea party. The veiled vulgarities make you look like adolescents.
Indeed! I wonder how many conservatives described the Iraq antiwar protesters? Hmm…
Indeed! I wonder how many conservatives described the Iraq antiwar protesters? Hmm…
If you have evidence that conservatives were using anti-gay slurs against antiwar protesters, then post the evidence.
It just amazes me that liberals, who are so haughty about sexual identity are so eager to slur TEA Party members that they’ll throw overboard any concern they have about slurring gays so that they can lob anti-gay slurs against conservatives. But then I shouldn’t really be surprised because back during the campaign the liberals were deeply embracing their inner misogynist as they paraded around in their “Sarah Palin is a C*nt” T-shirts.
BRAVO
What makes you think tea bagging is limited to sexual conduct between two men? I mean, in heterosexual conduct there is at least one person with — as they say — a “teabag” that may be dropped into the cup, no? Perhaps it’s your own projection?
What makes you think tea bagging is limited to sexual conduct between two men?
Go up to a man who is protesting that he is Taxed Enough Already and call him a dude who gargles another dudes balls in his mouth. Is that not a homosexual accusation/slur? Or do you mean it as positive affirmation, you know an appellation that you would feel comfortable directing at President Obama? “What’s there to be ashamed of folks, embrace tea bagging, even President Obama relishes gargling another man’s balls in his mouth. He’s not offended by such an act and neither should any of you protesters who feel that you are Taxed Enough Already.”
Secondly, do you find it more palatable to slur a woman who is protesting that she is Taxed Enough Already by accusing her of gargling a man’s balls in her mouth?
Again, Tea Bag Party
I think you would have to call him the tea-bag-ee, not the tea-bag-er, so no.
Awww…TangoMan, it really is quite touching to see you apparently so worried about the feelings of homosexuals (and definitely a change of pace for you)…
I don’t…but neither do you have any evidence that anyone is using any anti-gay slurs against these current protesters…you see, to borrow an example you have used in the past…teabagging need not refer to homosexuals at all…it is more than possible for a man and his adult daughter (both of whom are incapable of procreating together) to practice teabagging…hell, for all we know, such a couple was present at last weekend’s festivities…
Boy what a lot of lazy thinking. A person can’t be for lower taxes, smaller government and then use what government infrastructure and services they have already paid for? That’s just a version of reduction absurdum.
Yes, they can use the government infrastructure and services they paid for regardless of their opinion, but they have no right to complain about it when the very taxes and big government they complain about go to help fund services such as the Metro. They use the Metro to go to their little tea parties and protest taxes and the government that helped get them there by providing the service. Therefore, protesting taxes, then complaining about the frequency of trains on the Metro defies logic, because the only way to get more service on the Metro is taxing so the government can afford to add more trains to the service. The protesters have the right to use the Metro as they please, but they cannot expect to be taken seriously when they complain about the frequency of service on the Metro, which is a direct result of lack of funding, which requires taxes to fund. Protesting taxes and the government will not make the Metro service any better. In fact, if the protesters got everything they way they wanted, the service would be worse or non-existent.
Again, Tea Bag Party
Here is the website for the national movement – Tea Party Patriots. Here is a related organization – Tea Party Express.
The whole shtick was a play on the Boston TEA PARTY. Get it?
You’re linking to a site that is either a small, individual effort that never took off or more likely a liberal astroturf or sockpuppet effort. Some dude gets pictures of a protest and creates a website with prominent exposure to tea bags, yet none of the photos show people using tea bags as symbols.
I don’t…but neither do you have any evidence that anyone is using any anti-gay slurs against these current protesters.
The minds of liberals are truly amazing. Nothing a liberal does can ever be wrong. Directing sexual slurs at people, heck, if a liberal is doing it they know in their heart of hearts that there is nothing wrong with it, after all liberals are pure and enlightened beings, so when they put on their “Sarah Palin is a C*nt” t-shirts, they probably think that they’re helping the cause of women’s sexual freedom.
To everyone else, it just confirms what research has demonstrated, the moral framework of liberals is not as well developed as with the rest of the population. They skew very heavily on two metrics and are thoroughly stunted on the remaining 3 metrics.
They use the Metro to go to their little tea parties
Just as people used the Metro to go to the little Inauguration, right?
. . . and protest taxes and the government that helped get them there by providing the service. Therefore, protesting taxes, then complaining about the frequency of trains on the Metro defies logic, because the only way to get more service on the Metro is taxing so the government can afford to add more trains to the service.
It doesn’t defy logic. People have an expectation that the first use of tax monies paid should be for the provision of common services. Much tax money is used for redistribution of income and the common services are given the short end of the stick. The complaint is focused on misallocation of tax revenue. With the amount of taxes paid, the common services should be highly functional; they’re not, rather they are shortchanged so that the money can be spent on redistributing income.
No the CIA and various black ops programs are why a hammer costs 750 bucks. They’d rather hide funding as “government waste” then label it clearly..
First off they were the first ones calling themselves teabaggers and second off I rather enjoy teabagging girls but I also enjoy teabagging a cup of nice hot water. IN your eagerness to slander “the other” you are blinding yourself to the obvious (search teabag and sex in the city at youtube or teabag + hot water)..
Hey TangoMan, the inauguration was way bigger than the “little” tea party. The people who attended the inauguration would have the right to complain about the bad service of the Metro because they actually realize what has to be done to fix it.
For the rest of your post, it defies logic. People like you hate helping out the poor so much that you use the redistribution of wealth excuse to justify the Metro being underfunded. Since you brought it up, though, it only makes since to tax the wealthier at a higher percentage of their income since they make and have the highest percentage of the money, but I was not even intending to bring that up until you made that irrelevant point. The bottom line is that people like you have no right to complain about public services being sup-par, because they are currently underfunded, and increased taxation is the best way to go about correcting these problems. As I said before, if the tea baggers had their way, not only would we not have public transportation, we would not have police, firefighters, schools, libraries or a host of other vital services. We would not even have a national military. If the tea baggers had their way, corporations would control everything and the country would be lawless since there would be no taxes to fund government.
Yeah, I have been Taxed Enough Already.
Ohhh, so now it’s just sexual slurs, rather than anti-gay slurs…by the way, if we are going to judge all or even most liberals by the fact that a handful wore those Sarah Palin t-shirts (how that must have broken your little heart), then we can now judge all conservatives by the what a few extremists did at these recent protests, like comparing the president to Hitler…and do be sure to link to that supposed “research” about liberals…
People like you hate helping out the poor so much that you use the redistribution of wealth excuse to justify the Metro being underfunded.
Yeah, I hate redistribution, but since you love it so much why don’t you voluntarily send 90% of your income to the government. What’s stopping you from exercising your love of redistributing money? Start with your own money.
Since you brought it up, though, it only makes since to tax the wealthier at a higher percentage of their income since they make and have the highest percentage of the money,
That’s DISCRIMINATION!!!! Discrimination = evil.
Those who make more money do so in free exchanges. They’re not forcing anyone to pay them their high wages. In fact, those who pay them high wages or contribute to their high incomes do so because they think that they’re getting a fair deal in exchange. The level of earning in this group of people in no way implies that they have a greater burden to pay. Everyone has the same opportunity to leave their poorly paid job and try to earn a larger income.
The bottom line is that people like you have no right to complain about public services being sup-par, because they are currently underfunded, and increased taxation is the best way to go about correcting these problems.
I have every right to complain. I willingly pay taxes so that the services that government provides, which can’t be provided in the private sector, are operated. I don’t pay taxes so that some of the efforts of my labor can be redirected to some stranger’s benefit. Look, people who earn higher incomes tend to work longer hours than those who earn lower incomes. There is no justice inherent in lower income people using the power of political violence to extort money from strangers instead of working more hours to actually earn their own money by exchanging their time and skill for income.
As I said before, if the tea baggers had their way,
Why do you persist with your slurs against homosexuals? Do you hate people so much that you have to slur them with sexually derogatory terms?
do be sure to link to that supposed “research” about liberals…
I already linked it.
Got teabaged?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hiyuMoIbnyo
Why do you persist in being dishonest? Except for this “teabagger” term, you’ve never shown any concern for homosexuals…and that term does not even exclusively apply to homosexuals….
Interested:
Mr. Brimelow (TangoMan) has taken to heart the fact that I was able to discover his Batman secret identity and agenda by analyzing what he didn’t say. So he’s broadening his area of interest — adding attacks on the poor, a bit of shrugging Atlas, and some kinda weird gay stuff — to his usual monomaniacal race obsession.
But I think if we continue the thread long enough he’ll find a way to blame Metro’s weaknesses on blacks and/or immigrants.
Except for this “teabagger” term, you’ve never shown any concern for homosexuals…and that term does not even exclusively apply to homosexuals….
I don’t slur people by calling them names that describe sexual acts. It doesn’t matter whether they’re homosexual or not. Telling a male heterosexual TEA Party attendee that he gargles some guys balls in his mouth, yes, that is referring to a homosexual act. You’re deriding the sexual practices of homosexuals. Shame on you all of you liberal bigots.
Hmm…it would appear that Michael’s identity claim is spot-on…Michael, didn’t he try to use that exact same quote about the definition of a racist against you? It is rather amusing to be accused of bigotry by someone who apparently supports this…
t is rather amusing to be accused of bigotry by someone who apparently supports this…
Nice distraction there, Cynthia McKinney, that is your alter-ego, isn’t it? Anyone who claims to be a liberal and then uses sexually derogatory terms which besmear homosexuals is, in fact, a bigot as well as a hypocrite. Deal with it.
Actually, I myself haven’t used that term on this thread to describe anyone…rather, I’ve been trying to find out why it bothers you so much…so I really have nothing to deal with, Peter…the question still stands though…who are you to call anyone else a bigot if you support the racist trash written by Steve Sailer about Hurricane Katrina and black people…
Actually, I myself haven’t used that term on this thread to describe anyone.
Which is why I addressed the comment to “anyone” rather than to you in particular. If you’re not inclined to use the term, then you’re not a bigot nor a hypocrite, and you shouldn’t be offended.
I’ve been trying to find out why it bothers you so much.
You know how many liberals enjoy pointing out the hypocrisy of social conservatives who fall from grace, well it’s the same dynamic here. If a social conservative holds himself up to be a more moral person than a liberal and then is caught having sex in an airport restroom, the hypocrisy is so thick and rubbing the face of the social conservative in his own mess is just so delicious. Go to town say I. There is no double standard in that a liberal politician who is caught, let’s say, living with a homosexual who is running a prostitution ring out of his house, isn’t held to the same standard because that liberal doesn’t espouse the same values so he isn’t guilty of breaking them when caught.
That said, liberals are quite preening when it comes to sexual identity, so in this case they are held to a higher standard when they start besmearing their ideological opponents with gay smears. The hypocrisy here is quite thick. Same thing with liberals who wear the “Sarah Palin is a C*nt” t-shirts. Liberals are supposed to be very sensitive to gender issues and yet, there was wide spread acceptance, or tolerance, of the misogyny because it was directed at a conservative woman. A conservative who said “women should stay in the kitchen” can be written off as a neanderthal because liberals don’t expect him to hold a higher standard, but if a liberal says the same thing, then they open themselves up to far more legitimate criticism.
Liberals who address people attending Taxed Enough Already protests as the equivalent of nutsack garglers are not living up to their self-professed image of sensitivity and enlightenment and so it is a delight to call them on their misbehavior.
When social conservatives who build their image on sexual morality and religious fealty transgress then they become targets for liberal mockery, similarly, when liberals fall off their high horse then they should have their feet held to the fire. If you build your self-image on a set of standards then you should conduct yourself to those standards. Simple, isn’t it?
Indeed…as simple as the hypocrisy of someone who would call out others as bigots and, at the same time, support the racist views of Steve Sailer…
What is it with you, can you not defend your positions and that’s why you consistently resort to attacking people? You’re engaging in a logical fallacy, ad hominem attacks. The truth or falsity of a position is not influenced by the holder of the position.
If you want to have a debate on Sailer, then write a post on his writings, don’t hijack a thread with more ad hominem attacks as a means of deflecting attention away from your impotence in defending your position. If you were a dude, Cynthia, I’d tell you to take an Intellectual Viagra pill, but it seems that you’ll have to find some other method of dealing with your intellectual inadequacies.
Post stuck in the moderation que.
I believe these Fox News publicised right wing general purpose protest groups used the “tea bagging” terminology as a clever update on the Boston Tea Party but then downplayed the term when they found out the term used as verb has another meaning. Which they found out about from the widespread ridicule. By the way – homosexual slur? No, just an activity. And hardly an idea unique to the gay community. A couple of years ago a straight guy at work made a joke about tea bagging, clearly meaning it as a straight sexual activity (implying personal experience if I remember correctly) and all the straight guys and women in the room got it.
re: TangoMan | September 18, 2009 | 12:39 am
Dear sweet Peter, your speculation is so funny…you have no idea whether I am a man or a woman…either way, I wouldn’t be caught dead in some of the outfits that McKinney has worn…nice try, though, Mr. Brimelow…one more time, it is hypocritical to call anyone else a bigot if you are one yourself…
so where the tea baggers upset with the tax cut part of the stimulus bill? I would assume that they are all willing to give that part back right?
i am confused on all this homosexual talk…
if we called em blowjob’ers, you wouldnt say, homosexual slur, even though yes, two men can give each other blow jobs, and yes some of the men there wouldnt want to get a blow job from another man
teabagging is not and has never been an exclusively male on male activity and has no association with the homosexual community
i think the reason some of us liberals find the term teabagging somewhat funny is because anyone who didn’t know what that term meant hasnt been outside for some time; it goes to show how uninformed many of this fringe are (inb4 something about conservatives not knowing what sexual promiscuity is because of their upright moral lives…im morally very conservative and have only ever had relations with my wife, yet i know what that term means).
either way, making fun of the opposition isn’t particularly bad, it doesnt do much to specifically move the conversation forward, but a little humor on both sides could go a long way to relieve some of the pent up stress and help us all relax.
tangoman, stop reaching so hard, it makes you look foolish.
So let’s assume it’s not a homosexual slur. It’s still a vulgarity that has no place in grown up conversation. It exposes a lack of clear argument when the opposition resorts to such behavior.
When the going gets tough the tough should start thinking instead of name calling.
whereas i agree with you steve plunk, its kinda hard to take back a self-placed label when your team realizes that its got a rather upfront, different meaning than you intended and were aware of.
i myself shy away from the term, though i think ive used it once or twice for lack of any other label (tea bag patriot just aint gonna work; i hate the word patriot).