Anti-Tax Rally

Former U.S. Sen. Bob Dole told a crowd of about 800 conservatives gathered for a "Take Back Our State" rally that the upcoming election was the most important that he could remember in his lifetime. "If we don't wake up America, things are going to happen that are going to change your life for a long, long time -- and not for the better," Dole said. The rally, sponsored by anti-tax group Americans for Prosperity and held behind the Legislative Building, included a band, barbecue dinner and a giant pig statute with a sign reading, "Stop Pigging Out With Our Tax Dollars." Dole, the featured speaker, began with a series of one-liners, several poking fun at himself. "I figured the Senate would certainly have to shut down after I left," he told the crowd. "But they kept on doing the same thing they did when I was there -- nothing."
Once his talk shifted to serious topics, Dole sought to shift blame for the country's current economic woes from President Bush to the two years of "liberal control" of Congress. He ran off of list of indicators, from employment to home equity value, showing that the country was in better shape before Democrats won congressional majorities. A number of conservative groups, from the North Carolina Republican Party to the John Locke Foundation, set up tents at the event. Before Dole spoke, former state Sen. Robert Pittenger, a Charlotte Republican running for lieutenant governor, said the Russian Duma enjoyed more freedom of speech than the Democratic-controlled state Senate. (THE INSIDER, 6/26/08).