Sarah Palin told thousands of tea party activists gathered in the Nevada desert that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid will have to explain his votes when he comes back to his hometown.The wind whipped U.S. and Alabama flags behind Palin as she stood on the makeshift stage, holding a microphone and her notes as she spoke to the crowd.
Why Alabammy flags in Nevada? Because it's a big blood red X on a plain white?
Palin says the big government, big debt spending spree of Reid, President Barack Obama and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is over, and "you're fired." She told the crowd that Reid is "gambling away our future."
"Someone needs to tell him, this is not a crapshoot," Palin said.
She says those protesting the health care overhaul aren't inciting violence, but says they shouldn't sit down and shut up.
Palin was the main attraction at the rally about 60 miles south of Las Vegas. It kicks off a 42-city bus tour that ends in Washington on April 15. Thousands gathered on a dirt lot in Reid's hometown for what organizers are calling the "Showdown in Searchlight."
The Tea Party Express had expected between 5,000 and 10,000 people. About 8,000 people were at the event as of 1 p.m., according to an estimate from Metro Police spokesman Jay Rivera. Traffic was backed up about five miles from Searchlight. Cars and RVs filled the area as people set up lawn chairs and braced against a stiff wind whipping up dust clouds and blowing dozens of flags straight out.
Police said there had been no arrests at the event through the early afternoon, but police did briefly detain one person who had a gun in an open holster. Police also said they responded to one medical call for an person having a seizure at the event.
The rally is targeting Reid and comes on the heels of the passage of the landmark health care reform legislation, which progressives are billing as the most important piece of social legislation since the mid-1960s passage of Medicare, the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act. Passed on a party-line vote, Democrats say the bill expands coverage to the uninsured and cuts the exploding increase in health care costs.
But to the small-government Tea Party movement, the legislation represents an unconstitutional infringement of liberty and a further extension of the welfare state.