My take on the teabaggers: Very white, older and very, very angry

Today, as we all know, was Teabagger day in D.C. This morning, my running partner, Courtney and I did our long run along the Mall so we could check out the scene. We were among them.

Early on, the organizers had predicted millions would attend. Not even close. I was at the inauguration and saw what millions looked like. This was very far from it. Very far. The Washington Post reported there were "tens of thousands." Teabaggers have been tweeting a fake picture (of a sunny day and today wasn't sunny) apparently to claim they had a bigger crowd. Mike Stark has a video showing the size of the crowd, which really didn't extend too far down the Mall. In fact, the National Black Family Reunion took up most of the mall today. Yes, that event was taking place at the same time the teabaggers were protesting. (At 14 seconds into Mike Stark's video, you can see the white tents for the family reunion on the other side of a big patch of empty lawn.) Quite a juxtaposition.

I've been rooting around to find photo galleries of the protesters. Josh Nelson captured the essence of the event here. And, I did see that "Obamacare" hearse. Huffington Posthas an array of photos, as does Think Progress. My overall take: The teabaggers were a very white, very angry and older crowd. There were a smattering of confederate flags around. The only thing missing was the white robes and hoods. Let's just say, if one of them had a concession stand selling white robes and hoods, they'd have made a bundle.

I'd like to make a friendly suggestion to the teabaggers: Get a hobby, do some volunteer work, or better yet work out and get some exercise. These people needs lives. They were a stream of vitriol walking to the Capitol. Watching them, if you didn't know better, you'd think that somehow Obama was some kind of third world dictator. Here's a note to the teabaggers: We have these things in America called elections. Our side won. That's why Obama is in power. Your side lost. It's called democracy. My goodness, they are sore losers.

Meanwhile, the rest of D.C. and the country went on with our relatively non-angry lives. One does wonder just how many of those folks wandering around today are on Medicaid or some other government-sponsored disability program. This is going to sound bitchy (but it's true), this wasn't the healthiest looking group of people who were descending on the Capitol. Granted, I was doing a 15 mile run and was feeling like quite the athlete, but, wow.

After my run, I spent the afternoon at orientation for the English as a Second Language program where Carlos and I volunteer each week. Being a better teacher of English to immigrants seemed like a very productive use of my time when there were so many angry and bitter people wandering around my city.