Fodor's Travel Talk Forums - Trip Report did I meet the Tea Party?

Whilst staying in Pacific Grove last month we were in a coffee shop and across the street I could see a stall manned by two young people. A large poster proclaimed ‘Impeach Obama”. I crossed the street, leaving husband cowering behind a newspaper. I introduced myself as a visitor and told them I was interested to know why they wanted the President to be impeached.
The young woman immediately started to rant about the Glass Steagall Act. I had to stop her there and ask what that was. As I understood her diatribe it would seem that the repeal of the Act removed the separation between investment banks (Wall Street) and deposit banks. Obama voted for this and so he needed to be "brought to justice". Ergo he is to be held personally responsible for the failure of banks?? The ‘discussion’ went on to other areas such as healthcare reforms, troops in Afghanistan and so on. I’d noticed that the picture of Obama on the poster had a ‘Hitler’ moustache drawn in. I told the couple that I found this most offensive and there was no way you could compare Obama to Hitler who killed millions of people. The boiled down response: ‘He’s killing our people………. ( ……through the Medicare reforms) ”.
In the middle of all this, a middle-aged guy rushed up to the stall demanding ‘where do I sign? Give me the petition…..let me sign”. I turned to ask him why he wanted to sign to impeach the President. Hearing my English accent, he turned to me, jabbing his finger in my face and yelling….. ‘Great Britain is dead! The British Empire is finished! You lost in 1770….” I politely requested he stop shouting. Another woman who had been listening advised me to walk away as ‘there’s no talking to some people’.