The Waco Tea Party’s second annual tax day protest Thursday was focused squarely on the November elections, still six months out.

The event, which coincided with the deadline to submit federal income taxes, hit on a familiar message of limited government.

But the passing of health care reform legislation and the nearing of midterm elections — which are typically tough for members of a sitting president’s party — provided fodder for speakers.

Suzanne Angel, of Austin, waves flags at the Waco Tea Party rally Thursday at Indian Spring Park.
Duane A. Laverty/Tribune-Herald

“We’re not going to sit down, we’re not going to hush up, we’re not going to go away,” Waco Tea Party president Toby Marie Walker said.

Walker also said the movement’s image was under siege and has been the victim of unfair media coverage.

That’s in addition to reports that outside agitators posing as Tea Party activists might try to discredit the group.

The creator of a newly created Web site of CrashTheTeaParty.org has said he’s recruiting people to attend Tea Party events and make the movement appear outside the mainstream.

It was unclear if the Waco protest drew any Tea Party impersonators (there was a Thomas Jefferson impersonator), but organizers urged vigilance.

“When we see people like that, we’re going to point at them and say ‘plant,’ ‘infiltrator’ or ‘provocateur,’ ” Walker said.

She also denied Tea Party members protesting health care legislation spat on a black member of Congress or chanted anti-gay slurs at another Democratic lawmaker in March.

“We’re not going to take it when they say we’re spitting on people or using vulgar terms when we’re not,” she said.

Hundreds attend rally

Event organizers handed out numbered tickets to try to get an exact count of their crowd, which included attendees from as far away as Lampasas County.

An event organizer said the Tea Party had distributed 977 tickets.

A police officer declined to give a crowd estimate.

mshapiro@wacotrib.com

757-5707