'Patriot Rally' in Poplar Bluff draws about 500

POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. -- U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson spent Saturday afternoon at a "Patriot Rally" listening to speeches filled with fear that freedoms of all kinds are under direct assault.

When her time came to speak, Emerson told the crowd of about 500 that she is at least in partial agreement. Her speech didn't share the anxious and angry message that the U.S. Constitution is being left in tatters by a government controlled by internationalists and compromisers, but she said she has growing concerns.

"The pattern emerging in the government now threatens the basic rights of the people," Emerson said.

Emerson, a Cape Girardeau Republican, has faced no serious threat to re-election for a dozen years. As the new election year begins, however, she is being challenged by a Democrat who is a former Army officer and a Republican cattle farmer from Texas County who hammers her for lack of devotion to true conservatism.

Tommy Sowers, the Democrat, has shown an ability to raise money that outclasses all previous Democratic challengers to Emerson. Bob Parker, the cattle farmer, hasn't raised much money, but he has built his hopes on his appeal to the kind of people who attended Saturday's rally, billed as "the next generation of the Tea Party," at the Rodgers Theatre.

They stood and cheered when C.R. Woolard, a Poplar Bluff radio personality and candidate for Missouri Legislature, questioned President Barack Obama's legitimacy as president. Woolard said new security rules bar anyone "educated in a Muslim country, born outside the United States and who can't prove their citizenship" from airlines.

"It is really going to cost us some money now that the president can't take commercial flights," Woolard said.

The keynote speaker, former Marine sergeant and Republican legislative candidate Paul Curtman of Pacific, told the crowd they were being robbed of their sovereignty and rights by a government indifferent to restraints in the Constitution.

"It is nothing more than an ultimate grab for power that I can only describe as demonic," Curtman said.

Curtman, who led the audience through a discussion of Congress' powers in the Constitution, noted that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi shrugged off a question about whether health care legislation is constitutional.

"That happens to be the most important question at a time when the biggest socialist coup in history is underway," Curtman said.

Emerson, who spoke before Curtman, did not try to match the rhetoric of Woolard or the others. Instead, Emerson took a more measured tone, at one point listing seven items where government actions are eroding freedom.

Knowing both her main opponents are using her vote in favor of the $700 billion bank bailout in 2008 against her, Emerson didn't dodge some responsibility.

"Our government has taken a series of wrong turns, some of which my party is responsible for, but things are getting worse and worse," Emerson said.

The Tea Party movement was launched early last year, soon after Obama's inauguration. What started out as a reaction to bailouts and stimulus spending has continued as Congress considers health care legislation.

For some on hand Saturday, neither major party can be trusted.

"I am concerned about my children will not be able to live happy and fulfilling lives because of oppression, debt, insecurity and mistrust," said Joel Burgess, who drove from Farmington to attend the rally.

When asked about Emerson, Burgess said: "I have been pretty disappointed."

While Emerson said she doesn't agree with everything said on stage -- she singled out Woolard's joke about Obama's citizenship as one example -- she said she doesn't turn away from chances to hear from any constituents. "It was my first Tea Party, and I felt I should go and listen," she said.

Eddie Justice, an insurance agent and one of the main organizers, said that was a big part of Saturday's plan -- get the politicians on stage with activists and, while giving them time, force them to listen.

"The way we are working this is we want to create a dialogue," he said. "We want our politicians to come listen to us. In order to make that happen, we have to let them say their piece and then you allow them to hear what we have to say."

Parker, who asked to speak but was turned down, said he's worried the Tea Party movement may be co-opted by professional politicians looking for another constituency to take for granted.

"We do not want this movement to be taken over by these bailout voting politicians," Parker said last week. "Anybody who voted for the Wall Street bailout needs to be voted out of office."

rkeller@semissourian.com

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Poplar Bluff, Mo.