Hundreds attend Bettendorf tea party rally

?With a mix of songs, flag-waving and political rhetoric, speakers at the Tea Party Express stop Tuesday at Leach Park in Bettendorf event were critical of government spending, bailouts, President Barack Obama, Democratic leaders in Congress and the new health-care law.

The tour, which began a little more than a week ago in Searchlight, Nev., the hometown of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, will end with an April 15 rally in Washington, D.C.

Organizers said more than 1,000 people attended the morning rally. Bettendorf Police Chief Phil Redington said “several hundred” were there and possibly “close to 1,000.” He said people were moving in and out of the event.

Rally-goers at Tuesday's event said they turned out to protest the direction of their government. Several complained that the country is moving toward socialism.

“Too much is being taken out of the private sector by the government,” said Judee Buescher, of Sperry, Iowa, a small town near Burlington, Iowa.

Laura Kauffman, of Calamus, Iowa, said she's worried about rising debt levels.

“We can't afford it,” she said. “There's no money.”

She said she's become more politically active in the past year.

The president was a primary target for people at the rally. “Stop Obama's socialist agenda” and “Obama America's enemy” read two of the signs being waved.

Greg Guy, of Davenport, who ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic nomination in Iowa's 1st Congressional District 10 years ago, said the president and other top Democrats are trying to subjugate the American system to the International Monetary Fund and the United Nations.

“These worldwide bureaucrats, that's their dream,” he said.

There were at least a couple of Obama supporters there. Two Democratic activists showed up to watch the rally and said they praised the president and the congressional leadership.

“If they want to tell lies, fine,” said Art Heyderman, of Bettendorf. He predicted the tea partiers would split the Republican vote in the fall. “As a Democrat, I think it's great.”

A handful of Republican candidates worked the crowd, including representatives for some of the Republicans seeking to run in Iowa's 1st Congressional District. Republican Bobby Schilling, who is running against U.S. Rep. Phil Hare, D-Ill., in the Illinois 17th District, also was there.

Obama wasn't the only target at the rally, however. There was some criticism of Republicans. Todd McGreevey, the publisher of the River Cities' Reader, said government has grown larger, no matter which party has been in control.

In addition to speeches, sign-wavers also demonstrated on a wide array of political causes, with some criticizing government subsidies and lax immigration policies, while others exalted the Constitution and term limits.

There also was a tribute to the country's military, with veterans asked to join the Tea Party Express organizers and performers at the end of the two-hour event.

-- Ed Tibbetts, Quad-City Times